The first mobile shmup I can respect.

It's tailored specifically for mobile as opposed to being a port of an arcade or console game with all the issues that entail. Bullets are made large and bright for visiblity, controls are simplified (shoot automatically, slide to move, double-tap to bomb), and stages are played one at a time rather than making you do a full run that's 30 or so minutes long.

My only real issue is that the framerate is lacking, at 25-30. But it's still quite playable.

Just going to preface this by saying that I haven't played the original Picross 3D so I can't compare this game against that one.

This is a solid 3D take on Picross, the modifications to the rules to make it work with cubes rather than squares work out quite well. I also appreciate that there are multiple difficulty levels for each puzzle to accomodate different skill levels or, in my case, different degrees of "I want to go ham" or "I want to take it a little easier."

My only real complaint is that this game uses "Mario rules" (i.e. immediate alert and penalties for missing) as opposed to Free/"Wario" rules (no penalties, but fix the mistakes yourself), but given the nature of working with 3D shapes as opposed to 2D grids, having to use the former ruleset is inevitable.

This is a pretty strange release to me because Dariusburst Another Chronicle EX already exists as part of the Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours package for PS4, PS Vita, and PC.

I understand this being a Switch release, but...why PS4 in particular? Why couldn't have this been added as an update for DBCS, especially both for PS4 and for PC, even if it had to be paid DLC?

Now, to Taito's credit, they did add some new content. They backported the Murakumo fighter from DBCS's CS Mode, added the events from the arcade release's online features and made them permanent, added some new events with one event course having remixed levels, but not enough new content to warrant a separate release again.

Also this version of the game has some very noticable jagginess in the graphics, almost like it's a 720p game upscaled to 1080p. Given that this is a 32:9 letterboxed game that's really more affective than a 16:9 non-boxed game at 720p. There is a secret command to zoom the screen in by pressing ZL or touching the screen but it only works in undocked modes for some reason and of course it ends up hiding 50% of the screen.

In short, if you already have DBCS, you'll likely find it hard to justify 40 USD just for what's basically something you already have with a few extras. But if you don't have CS already or just have Dariusburst CS Core on the same platform, then this is an alright way to enjoy ACEX.

Criminally-underrated Gradius game.

Yes, most people complain that a loop takes just 20 minutes and has "only" 5 stages. So? Maybe that isn't for everyone, but that makes it good for a quick session, 30 minutes like many arcade shmups can wear me out sometimes. And most modern bullet hell shooters are 5 stages anyway.

In terms of graphics and level design it feels a lot like a miniature Gradius Gaiden. Lots of unique twists on familiar level formats, with my only real complaint being the indestructible bone debris in stage 4.

Soundtrack sounds like the best of Gradius soundtracks in a similar soundfont to Gradius II and III, all arranged by the legendary Manabu Namiki. I'm glad this game gave some love to the MSX Gradius games, giving some of those games' tracks some solid arrangements. And speaking of, the game being a prequel to the MSX Gradius 2 is icing on the cake -- Gradius lore is also a thing that's underrated.

I'm praying to the gods of video game preservation that K*nami, Nintendo, and M2 can come to a deal to bring the ReBirth games to modern platforms. The fact that these games are left to be unobtainable by legal means if you didn't buy them back in the day should be a federal offense on Nintendo's part lmao.

This is one of those games where I totally get the hype around it, it's absolutely a well-crafted game with lots of great design ideas, but *I* personally just cannot vibe with this game and enjoy it much. It's a difficult juggling-act of a game and the scoring system leaves little room for error or experimentation. There aren't really many setpieces in this game that I feel give this series a strong identity.

Also this version in particular (the Nintendo Switch port by Nicalis) has this quirk where if you turn on continues, you cannot register high scores, even if you do not use continues at all. You have to turn them off in the options meny before starting a run. The most logical way to handle the relationship between high scores and continues is to accept the score the player gets on their 1st credit while disregarding all subsequent credits' scores on the same run. The GameCube version at least has continues always on and registers your score before handing you the continue screen, so that your choice to continue (e.g. for practice or just to explore the game) doesn't invalidate that sick new high score you just got.

This was actually my introduction to the Wangan Midnight franchise back in 2004 or so, before the Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune series. In terms of gameplay, there isn't too much to speak of, you race against 8 sets of opponents, with stages 4 and 8 being fixed.

Uniquely, this game adapts the lifebar system from the Shutokou Battle / Tokyo Xtreme Racer series, where instead of traditional "race from point A to point B" format, you and your opponent each have a lifebar that depletes when striking walls, other cars, or falling behind, and the first player to run out of life loses. That said, there is still the traditional method of being ahead of your opponent when time runs out, if the setting for that is on. In practice, many battles will end in timeout since it takes a bit for lifebars to drain over time, unless the timer is turned off, as was the case for Versus mode when I played this at my local arcade -- Nickel City in San Jose, California (sadly now defunct).

I personally love the soundtrack, it's by Yuzo Koshiro who many WMMT fans know from his trance soundtracks. It's considerably more dramatic and has a more jazzy and "old movie car chase" feel to it, combined with the moodier graphics compared to the WMMT games and it makes races feel more gritty.

"I said it was my favorite game. I didn't say it was good."

I had a brief brush with this game's Mega Drive port as a kid in the 90s, and got to revisit it proper as part of the Kyuukyoku Tiger Heli compo on PS4.

The game is pretty much textbook Toaplan. Your helico stats off with a basic gun that only fires straight ahead and can be upgraded by collecting power-up icons, and its weapon can be changed with color icons. Red Gun for balance of coverage and single-target damage, Green Storm for concentrated damage at the expenses of coverage, Blue Eye for good spread but requiring risky point-blank maneuvers to damage singular targets, and the Yellow Piss Cross for...when you really need to get enemies to the side of or behind you at the expense of reasonable DPS.

The combat with enemies has a very dogfight-y feel that I feel like is not replicated well by modern bullet hell shmups. Enemy choppers routinely flank you in patterns that vary from stage to stage, while tanks can snipe unwary players. You have to be able to analyze enemy attack rhythms and movements, as well as to utilize the "bullet sealing" mechanic - getting close to enemies to prevent them from shooting you. Strafing all day every day without rhyme or reason is a good way to stare at the player heli explosion animation for the 50000000th time.

Dying will set you back to the basic level 1 Red Gun and recovering can be quite the effort. If you are playing the "1P" Japanese version of the game, the checkpoint system will make sure you can't progress until you learn from your mistakes.

The one major complaint I have is the length. It is about 40 minutes long and half of that is because stages 6-10 are basically just stages 1-5 with harder enemies and the background tiles shifted some ways to the left. I cleared up to stage 7 and honestly that feels "1-ALL" enough for me. Clearing all 10 stages would feel like a 2-loop game.

Definitely not a game for everyone. The snipe-based enemy attacks and difficulty in getting back up after a hit can be a turnoff for many players who are inexperienced with the genre. But if you can stick with this game, I find it to be a solid title that presents a tough challenge, but a fair one unlike that of, say, Toaplan's later Fire Shark.