Been playing a lot of scrolling shooters lately to make some progress on the various retro game collections I've had hanging around - ironic because it really isn't a genre I have much attachment to, so if you're a SHMUP head add a half or full star to all my reviews for your own reference. That said this is one of the better ones I've played, with incredible visual design. The organic enemies are fantastic, literally the first thing that flies at you when you boot up the game is a flock of flying squids. Incredible. Plays well too, although I don't like that the power-ups replace each other - definitely prefer the games where you can load up with a crazy build, although this way you don't lose as much if you die, so there's ups and downs.

Really excellent little action puzzle/platformer kind of game. Much like Crack Down (1989) which I played through yesterday, I find these tight little action games that are about careful and precise movement and shooting really compelling. Where Crack Down had a wall hugging mechanic to dodge bullets, Bonanza Bros. with it's 2.5D side view plays the clever trick of having one additional tile of depth - so there are functionally two flat 2D levels next to each other, and you can step forward and back between them to dodge bullets and enemies. It's really clever, and once you get the hang of things you can absolutely weave your way between enemy attacks and fire. Nothing more delightful than waiting for an armored enemy to approach you and perfectly stepping out as he steps in to avoid him. Plus I love the character designs. The two roundest crooks you've ever seen in your life.

There's some evil stuff in here. I realize the real super mario bros 2 (the lost levels) has the poison mushroom immediately upon starting it so that's the real origin point of evil mario levels, but there's some wild level design in here! It also feels a bit like Doom (ironic because this game was part of the inspiration for doom) in the way that there are hundreds of tossed off ideas in here that could be whole games, and eventually someone else WOULD pick them up and make them into their own games. Cool ass object, still fun to play, hard as hell.