Giga Wing
released on Mar 01, 1999
Vertically scrolling shooter arcade game developed by Takumi Corporation and published by Capcom on their CPS-2 arcade system board and ported later that year to the Dreamcast console.
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This game was made when Takumi took the phrase "I'm rubber, you're glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you" too seriously.
A reflect bomb is such a crazy idea but Takumi took that idea and ran with it. This game is a bullet hell, but that twist allowed them to create bullet patterns where using your reflect was extremely advised. The best part of it is that this game has been cleared without using the reflect, so they even took self-imposed challenges into account when designing this monster of a shoot 'em up.
If you're unaware, you have a special sort of bomb in this game that allows you to reflect bullets and gives you a few seconds of invulnerability. It's on a cooldown, but it's pretty short, and you'll be using that reflect a lot during your play through. As the stages get harder, due to the ranking system where bullets get faster and the distance between them gets shorter, the density of the bullet patterns become harder and harder to micrododge, further reinforcing the use of your reflect. You'd want to anyway. Do you have any idea how good it feels to send hundreds of bullets hurdling back at your enemies?!
Your choice of four characters comes down to preference since all of them are pretty strong, except for that one guy who's really bad, but even he's good enough to get a clear with. The first 3 stages are random based on that selection and, much like ESP Ra.De., Strikers 1945, and several other shmups, have different difficulties based on the order of the stages.
The real game starts at Stage 5, however, which was the bane of my existence. Routing it was difficult, as a small mistake could easily extinguish one of your lives. I saved almost all my bombs for that stage, as I felt the penultimate boss and the final boss (only accessible if you're going for a 1CC), were easier to route. That stage has fast bullets, and tons of enemies. It's a big step up in difficulty. But man, is it fun to play.
I could go on, but a game to me has to play well to even be considered a 5/5, and this one plays too well. The music is probably a sticking point for some as I felt it was samey, the artwork is really nice on the eyes, and the visibility of the bullets is clear. I never felt like one snuck up on me, unless I just was not paying attention. If you care about presentation, you'll still get your fill, with some big explosions and spectacles coming from the bosses. The final pattern in this game is just hundreds of bullets that create an excellent feeling of slowdown and you ram them up the final boss's ass for stalking you the entire game.
Fuck you, man, I got a reflect bomb, and it makes reflect noises. 5/5. 10/10. Capcom, why the hell did you stop funding shoot 'em ups?!
My 1CC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aBpaB7r5S0
A reflect bomb is such a crazy idea but Takumi took that idea and ran with it. This game is a bullet hell, but that twist allowed them to create bullet patterns where using your reflect was extremely advised. The best part of it is that this game has been cleared without using the reflect, so they even took self-imposed challenges into account when designing this monster of a shoot 'em up.
If you're unaware, you have a special sort of bomb in this game that allows you to reflect bullets and gives you a few seconds of invulnerability. It's on a cooldown, but it's pretty short, and you'll be using that reflect a lot during your play through. As the stages get harder, due to the ranking system where bullets get faster and the distance between them gets shorter, the density of the bullet patterns become harder and harder to micrododge, further reinforcing the use of your reflect. You'd want to anyway. Do you have any idea how good it feels to send hundreds of bullets hurdling back at your enemies?!
Your choice of four characters comes down to preference since all of them are pretty strong, except for that one guy who's really bad, but even he's good enough to get a clear with. The first 3 stages are random based on that selection and, much like ESP Ra.De., Strikers 1945, and several other shmups, have different difficulties based on the order of the stages.
The real game starts at Stage 5, however, which was the bane of my existence. Routing it was difficult, as a small mistake could easily extinguish one of your lives. I saved almost all my bombs for that stage, as I felt the penultimate boss and the final boss (only accessible if you're going for a 1CC), were easier to route. That stage has fast bullets, and tons of enemies. It's a big step up in difficulty. But man, is it fun to play.
I could go on, but a game to me has to play well to even be considered a 5/5, and this one plays too well. The music is probably a sticking point for some as I felt it was samey, the artwork is really nice on the eyes, and the visibility of the bullets is clear. I never felt like one snuck up on me, unless I just was not paying attention. If you care about presentation, you'll still get your fill, with some big explosions and spectacles coming from the bosses. The final pattern in this game is just hundreds of bullets that create an excellent feeling of slowdown and you ram them up the final boss's ass for stalking you the entire game.
Fuck you, man, I got a reflect bomb, and it makes reflect noises. 5/5. 10/10. Capcom, why the hell did you stop funding shoot 'em ups?!
My 1CC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aBpaB7r5S0
Went to a bar-cade where I proceeded to spend 1/3 of my time completing every level in this game, with the help of NewPants0 of course. It's a decently fun bullet-hell, but it kind of occurs to me now that a lot of these random 90's arcade games are equivalent to today's oversaturated field of mobile games.
A pretty unique shmup where you have a recharging shield that, when activated, turns you into a bullet-reflecting menace. There's a rhythm between avoiding and embracing projectiles. Feels quite accessible, and has Capcom-quality art.
Been trying to 1CC this game. l almost 1CC'd, but beefed it on the second to last boss, so Imma just log this in and take a break for a bit.
I first encountered this at Cidercade Houston. Never had I heard of this game, and I was also surprised to see that it was a game not made by Capcom running on the CPS2 board. Needless to say my curiosity was peaked and I decided to give this a go while my friends played Ultimate MK 3. This ended up being a very nice surprise!
Visually this game is amazing. It's incredible to see what Takumi Corp was able to do with the CPS2 hardware in 1999. At that point we had Capcom putting out SF3 Third Strike and Heritage for the Future on the CPS3 board (Which was being slowly phased out). Takumi Corp really showed that the old board that gave us the SF Alpha was still capable of amazing visuals in 1999. Not only are the animations pretty immaculate, but there are points where it felt like they were using polygons but no those are all hand drawn sprites.
The gameplay is rock solid. It feels good to blow stuff up, and the collectables being gold trinkets does set off my dopamine's. The shield is a mechanic I very much enjoyed. At first I thought I could use this whenever I could and get away from bullets scot free, but then I noticed that it took just a few seconds to start up. That opened up a decent amount of strategy as I had to pick the ideal time to use it, and at the perfect threat to use it against. It can be used on weaker enemies, but then you could immediately face a bigger more aggressive enemy and then struggle more than needed. It's a great mechanic!
If I had one gripe with the game, it's that I think the final boss is kinda bs. Rarely did I feel like the game was being needlessly mean. But there were points in the final boss fight where I wasn't sure what I did wrong or how I was too anticipate something. Didn't help that it's attacks can get way too fast for the planes speed to keep up with.
If you see this game in an arcade, definitely give a shot. It's the most Capcom SHUMP not made by Capcom.
Visually this game is amazing. It's incredible to see what Takumi Corp was able to do with the CPS2 hardware in 1999. At that point we had Capcom putting out SF3 Third Strike and Heritage for the Future on the CPS3 board (Which was being slowly phased out). Takumi Corp really showed that the old board that gave us the SF Alpha was still capable of amazing visuals in 1999. Not only are the animations pretty immaculate, but there are points where it felt like they were using polygons but no those are all hand drawn sprites.
The gameplay is rock solid. It feels good to blow stuff up, and the collectables being gold trinkets does set off my dopamine's. The shield is a mechanic I very much enjoyed. At first I thought I could use this whenever I could and get away from bullets scot free, but then I noticed that it took just a few seconds to start up. That opened up a decent amount of strategy as I had to pick the ideal time to use it, and at the perfect threat to use it against. It can be used on weaker enemies, but then you could immediately face a bigger more aggressive enemy and then struggle more than needed. It's a great mechanic!
If I had one gripe with the game, it's that I think the final boss is kinda bs. Rarely did I feel like the game was being needlessly mean. But there were points in the final boss fight where I wasn't sure what I did wrong or how I was too anticipate something. Didn't help that it's attacks can get way too fast for the planes speed to keep up with.
If you see this game in an arcade, definitely give a shot. It's the most Capcom SHUMP not made by Capcom.
Mainly played this due to one of my favourite mangakas, Toume Kei, being involved with this game. She mainly did the character designs and they are very good :)
The game is a shootem up which I am not very good at, but it was a decent amount of fun.
The game is a shootem up which I am not very good at, but it was a decent amount of fun.