In Super Xevious: Gamp no Nazo the player controls a spaceship named the Solvalou in its mission to destroy a powerful supercomputer named GAMP, which took over Earth during an ice age. Gamp no Nazo features a heavy focus on puzzle-solving, with each of the game's 21 levels posing a puzzle that must be solved to progress.
Also in series
Reviews View More
I think we all know what Xevious is. One of Namco’s most iconic arcade games…in Japan at least. Yeah it never really had a huge cultural impact in the US. Did you know it had a sequel on the Famicom? This isn’t related to the Arcade game Super Xevious, this is a unique game made for a console. Namco let TOSE make this one and I wanted to shine some light on this one to see if it was any good. Well the game is very mixed to me, let me explain.
This plays pretty much like Xevious where you have a normal shot and bombs. The plot involves time travel and learning more about the villain named Gamp (or Gump according to the ending text). The game is level based unlike the original Xevious and because this was still the early era for the system, getting to the end of the stage isn’t good enough. You’ll have to go through 17 levels to see the end.
Now it doesn’t start off too bad like level 2 having you rescue your friend who will then give you power ups ranging from a shield that you can have more than one of (black ball), bigger range for your bombs (yellow ball), and letting your shots also go behind you (blue ball). Level 1 however will do a little mean thing and ask you to go behind a cloud that may take you to level 2 but it’s entirely random. Missing the objective means the level will loop and if that isn't bad enough, the game will make harder enemy formations if you happen to loop about three times.
Take my advice, just use a guide. I know it might make you feel bad for doing so but this game isn’t fair about some things. Level 5 has you destroying all the glowing square ground enemies and if you miss one, it’ll loop. Level 6 requires you to bomb a specific area of the wall to move to the left side to find a hidden powerup which then you need to go back to the right to get to the exit. Level 10 has you bombing pyramids multiple times and even tries to trick you by having an exit but you need to skip it as you can go to an alternate level 11 that will help Solvalou get a stronger upgrade to destroy those wall tile enemies. That’s just the tip of it all, there’s some other stuff I couldn’t mention like failing to do level 16’s goal will not only not let you do the final level but boots you back to level 14 which is one of the worst levels in the game!
That said, hypothetically if you could figure it all out and do a perfect run. This could be seen as a good game and the Xevious gameplay is still here with more variety but another thing that pulls it back is there are no continues. There is a secret password system but it doesn’t do every level but even then that wouldn’t matter because you need to do alternate level 11 anyway to get that secret upgrade. Another annoying thing has to be the music. Ok I can compliment the team for making it look and sound like but the problem is this means every song is like a one second loop and it can get on the nerves pretty fast. It’s a shame because the last level actually has a pretty nice tune and makes me wish more of the OST was like that.
I feel bad being so harsh to this game. In some ways it probably is a good game and even better than the Famicom port of Xevious. There’s just stuff here however that can be frustrating and some of the more cryptic stuff can make it worse. Had it gotten unlimited continues then I think I’d be more forgiving of it but the game is like a good game with some odd awful issues that keep it from being something you want to go back to. I think it’s worth looking at as a curiosity but otherwise it’s probably best to just play other shmups. Gradius had already come out by this point and shmups were evolving, Super Xevious: Gamp no Nazo feels confused and unsure of its own design ideas.
This plays pretty much like Xevious where you have a normal shot and bombs. The plot involves time travel and learning more about the villain named Gamp (or Gump according to the ending text). The game is level based unlike the original Xevious and because this was still the early era for the system, getting to the end of the stage isn’t good enough. You’ll have to go through 17 levels to see the end.
Now it doesn’t start off too bad like level 2 having you rescue your friend who will then give you power ups ranging from a shield that you can have more than one of (black ball), bigger range for your bombs (yellow ball), and letting your shots also go behind you (blue ball). Level 1 however will do a little mean thing and ask you to go behind a cloud that may take you to level 2 but it’s entirely random. Missing the objective means the level will loop and if that isn't bad enough, the game will make harder enemy formations if you happen to loop about three times.
Take my advice, just use a guide. I know it might make you feel bad for doing so but this game isn’t fair about some things. Level 5 has you destroying all the glowing square ground enemies and if you miss one, it’ll loop. Level 6 requires you to bomb a specific area of the wall to move to the left side to find a hidden powerup which then you need to go back to the right to get to the exit. Level 10 has you bombing pyramids multiple times and even tries to trick you by having an exit but you need to skip it as you can go to an alternate level 11 that will help Solvalou get a stronger upgrade to destroy those wall tile enemies. That’s just the tip of it all, there’s some other stuff I couldn’t mention like failing to do level 16’s goal will not only not let you do the final level but boots you back to level 14 which is one of the worst levels in the game!
That said, hypothetically if you could figure it all out and do a perfect run. This could be seen as a good game and the Xevious gameplay is still here with more variety but another thing that pulls it back is there are no continues. There is a secret password system but it doesn’t do every level but even then that wouldn’t matter because you need to do alternate level 11 anyway to get that secret upgrade. Another annoying thing has to be the music. Ok I can compliment the team for making it look and sound like but the problem is this means every song is like a one second loop and it can get on the nerves pretty fast. It’s a shame because the last level actually has a pretty nice tune and makes me wish more of the OST was like that.
I feel bad being so harsh to this game. In some ways it probably is a good game and even better than the Famicom port of Xevious. There’s just stuff here however that can be frustrating and some of the more cryptic stuff can make it worse. Had it gotten unlimited continues then I think I’d be more forgiving of it but the game is like a good game with some odd awful issues that keep it from being something you want to go back to. I think it’s worth looking at as a curiosity but otherwise it’s probably best to just play other shmups. Gradius had already come out by this point and shmups were evolving, Super Xevious: Gamp no Nazo feels confused and unsure of its own design ideas.