PROCYON

Procyon is a 2013 horizontally scrolling shooter developed and published by DeadlyRedCube. In Procyon the player maneuvers a spacecraft known as the Procyon that must defend itself from the various alien enemies. The game also supports screen rotation where player have the ability to change the game screen to portrait which changes the view to more of an arcade view.

While most arcade shooter utilize distinct power up items that each correspond to a specific effect on the player ship, Procyon has no upgrade or ammo pickup mechanic and the ship has the same abilities at all times. The ship is equipped with two weapons;  a basic shot that fire in a spread pattern, and a continuous beam capable of locking enemies. The ship also has a special super shot that needs to be earned first. The Procyon is relatively weak and it only takes one hit to be destroyed. But player have a rechargeable shield. The shield could only protect the ship from bullets and not collisions, so player still have to dodge through enemies when it is activated. Holding down the button for the shield whilst shooting will create a far more powerful shot for a limited time.

Procyon is very short game, consisting of five levels only, each with gigantic boss. Fortunately, it does have interesting score multiplier system. Player is encouraged to take out enemies and keep the combos high. Three game modes are available; Normal mode is the main story in which player get five lives for each level and can continue from the start of any level whenever lose all lives. Attrition mode is similar to normal mode where player get five lives and earn one extra live per completed level, but no continues. Survival mode offers the biggest challenge as player must complete the whole stages with only a single live without continuing. Another nice feature is local co-op mode that allows player to destroy aliens along with a friend.

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EXTERNAL LINKS

- Procyon official game website

- Procyon download links at Pasted

IKARUGA

Ikaruga is a vertically manic shooter that was developed by Treasure. Initially published for Japanese arcades in 2001, and then Sega Dreamcast in Japan and worldwide on Nintendo Gamecube. The enhanced version was released on the Xbox Live Arcade in 2008 and later ported to Microsoft Windows in 2014. The PC version is based on the Xbox 360, but removes the online co-op which never really worked well. However, the game adds the ability to play as both player 1 and 2 on one controller as well as numerous screen rotation options. As the spiritual succesor of Radiant Silvergun, the concept of two attributes in Ikaruga was inspired by Treasure’s earlier shooter called Silhoulette Mirage. Even today, Ikaruga still considered as the most successful arcade shooter in any platforms.

Several years ago, on the island of Horai, the nations leader named Tenro Horai discovered a powerful objects the Ubusunagami Okinokai, or “The Power of the Gods”. The energy from this artifact gave her unimaginable power. Along with her followers known as “The Divine Ones”, she began conquering other nations one after another in the name of “peace”, but a group of freedom fighters called the Tenkaku arose to oppose them. They fought back against the Horai but were defeated, except for one man named Shinra who survived the attack and landed in a remote village known as Ikaruga. After recovered, the villagers entrusted him with their very own fighter plane also named Ikaruga. This fighter is capable of using both types of polarity energies. With Ikaruga in his possession, Shinra launched from the transportation device called the "Sword of Acala", and this is where the game begins.

Ikaruga can technically be completed in a half-hour run, but only if player lucky enough survive in this cruel bullet hell perfection. The gameplay in Ikaruga revolves polarity mechanics, where players are able to freely change the polarity of their ship between dark and light. All enemies are either black or white. Hitting enemies with same color only does 50% damages, therefore the best option is hitting them with their opposite color and does additional damage. In other terms: black bullets damage white enemies better that white bullets do, and vice versa. The player ship also able to absorb same-colored enemy fire to charges secondary attack; a powerful of polarized missiles. Take a hit from a fire of opposite polarity will destroy the player, however.

Whilst dodging all the incoming fire, Ikaruga also provides surprising amount of tactics known as chain combo system. A chain combo occurs when player destroys three ships of a certain color in a row. For example if player destroys three white ships, then another three white ships, and then three black ships, that is three chains (so 3, 3, 3, 3, etc). If player shoot a black ship then a white on the chain is broken. Chain combos can be a major challenge for maximum scores and encourages memorization of the enemies' patterns. Anyway, if players have zero experience with shooter games, focusing on survival is the best choice.

Behind the scene, Ikaruga has some interesting facts. First off, many of the ships are named after bird species. The name Ikaruga itself literally translated as Japanese Grosbeak as well as 2nd ship Ginkei, refers to Lady Amherst's pheasant. Interesting to note that both birds have some shade of black and white on them. Ikaruga also has some ties to Buddhism. The titles of each chapter; “Ideal” “Trial” “Faith” “Reality” and “Metempsychosis” are representation of the struggle human faces on the path of enlightenment.

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EXTERNAL LINKS

- Ikaruga at the official Japanese website of Treasures

- Ikaruga download links at Tinypaste

HANGEKI

Hangeki is a fixed shooter game developed and published for Windows by Pentavera in 2014. On the surface Hangeki is very similar to Galaxian or Galaga, but it plays quite differently once player get past initial appearances. The combat takes much more modern bullet-hell approach with flashy effects as players attempt to survive and advance each wave. The main theme of the game is a battle between a lone combat spacecraft and a technologically advanced race of mechanical aliens.

The objective of Hangeki is to destroy enough enemies, collect energy and finally unleash “Hangeki” to clear the screen before moving onto the next set of enemy patterns. Hangeki is a super weapon which acts as a finishing bomb that gets charged by destroying enemies. In each wave player is given a pattern of enemies of varied types. Enemies fly in impossibly tight formation on the top half of the screen. Unlike Galaga, enemies will not come down at the player’s ship. Some will just shoot back, some will take extra damages or just put out their own patterns. As for the difficulty, the first stage is very easy and so did the second. At advanced level, things ramp up quickly as enemies expand from simple bullets to hazardous bombs and lasers.

During the entire stage, the player fly around on the bottom and may fire upon the enemies until one side is obliterated. Hangeki introduces several new features over it’s predecessor. Among these are the ability to create chain that occurs if player destroys enemies without interruption. The ship shoots automatically, however, if player not hitting anything the chain will break and power meter will drop. In Hangeki planning and positioning is very important. As the game rewards speed and accuracy, simply firing wildly won’t give player high score.

Another gameplay feature is the game boasts an impressive of unique weapony counting in 51 pieces of unlockable equipment. These special weapons range from long shielding for invincibility in the roughest moments; to huge rolling waves of flame that’s capable to destroy large lines of enemies. As player progress the game, more formidable and insane weaponry will push player to revisit past levels. These specials can be equipped before a mission and player can have up to four special weapons that consume power meter.

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EXTERNAL LINKS

- Hangeki at the official website of Pentavera

- Hangeki dowmload links at Tinypaste

TWIN TIGER SHARK

Twin Tiger Shark is one of the earliest game developed by Wide Pixel Games, a biplane shooter inspired by the era of the 80’s and 90’s classic. Twin Tiger Shark clearly influenced by Taito and Toaplan’s classic such as Twin Cobra, Twin Hawk and Friking Shark. As a well made title, Twin Tiger Shark formerly released on Ouya and Xbox 360, and it can be purchased at very affordable price. The PC version basically available for free, though players are encouraged to make a donation to the developer.

Twin Tiger Shark contains all the core ingredients that make a shooter genre so addictive. Playing as a colourful red biplane, player’s mission is simply to battle against hordes of enemies from one runway to the next. There’s no back story. The ship has two weapon types; a standard shot and limited smart bombs with a modest blast radius. While the bomb doesn’t clear the screen entirely enemies, anything caught in its wake is generally destroyed. Power-ups dropped by certain enemies come in red or blue, representing player’s main shot; a straight ahead shot or spread gun. The best power-up comes in the form of ally planes, who create a formation around player, adding temporary shield and more firepower. Points are collected in the form of stars from destroyed enemies, vehicles or buildings.

Player fly across forest, beach, port, open sea and will encounter enemies from all direction – ground, sea and air. Naturally, there is a large boss waiting at the end of each stage. The bosses reveal futuristic technology with hefty life bar and multiple projectiles to fire. Finishing the first level feels like an achievement, but the difficulty soon ramps up. Similar to Raiden, when players dies they restarting a little way back from the last point rather than respawning. There are six stages, and with no continues once all lives have been expended, the game requires much practice. With all those features, Twin Tiger Shark is highly recommended not only for seasoned player but also novice.

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EXTERNAL LINKS

- Twin Tiger Shark at the official website of Wide Pixel Games (download available)

JIGOKU KISETSUKAN: SENSE OF THE SEASON

In a world similar to ours, Tenshi, a natural deity, is searching for the source of evil that is disrupting the natural balance of the planet. Will Tenshi and weird bunch of girls she is going to encounter on her journey find the origin of the menace and end the threat?

Jigoku Kisetsukan: Sense of the Season is a vertically scrolling shooter focused on bullet hell, made by indie developer Emad and was released on May 2015 as a freeware. Jigoku Kisetsukan is heavily inspired by Touhou Project which emphasizing in bullet memorisation and dodging skill. With it’s focus on shoujo characters, Jigoku Kisetsukan provides six playable characters with different style. The main character is Tenshi, the minor deity whose role is almost identical to Reimu Hakurei. Tenshi is an immortal spirit akin to nature who lives to protect the natural balance from anything that endangers it. The only thing that distinguishes Jigoku Kisetsukan from Touhou is pixel art graphics, chip tune musics and 18 game achievements.

Player starts the game with Tenshi, and another character can be unlocked once beating their stage. Each character has different reason and explained from character biography and few dialogues. The game features five stages and four difficultiy levels – easy, normal, hard and hell – with each one being harder than the previous one. However, the difficulty is quite high even in the easy mode, but still reasonable. The game gives player some time to build up lives before challenging the higher stage. Certain stage has some fog effect that reduces visibilty. While this could be a nice gimmick, it could distract player’s visibility and  hitbox.

Similar to Touhou, the player’s bullet power increases on a linear scale as player collect power-ups dropped by enemies, and eventually maxes out. Player can also collect green scroll to earn extra lives, purple scroll to earn extra bomb, and blue scroll to earn extra points. By pressing shift button the player can use “focus”, which slows down the player's movement, makes the collision box visible and create more powerful attack. By moving character to the top of the screen, will allows player to collect all visible scrolls on screen. Aura attack or bomb will destroy most enemies, cancel their bullets, grants invincibility for a few seconds and automatically collect scrolls dropped. If player manages defeat a boss without getting hit, extra drops and points based on how time was left will be obtained.

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EXTERNAL LINKS

- Jigoku Kisetsukan at the official website of Emad (download available)