RADIO ZONDE

Radio Zonde is a free doujin shooting game made by Inudon Empire, the developer of Hellsinker and a fighting game called Dogma. The game considered almost complete, with unfinished starting menu, but fortunately fully playable. The first contact is brutal shock, marked by rapid pace of the game. Everyone agrees the game is extremely hard and complex. Radio Zonde is aimed for true fans of shooting games who looking for the ultimate challenge.   

Once upon a time, some huge and armed machines appeared at every corner of the world. No one knows where it came from, but the only thing known about them is that they are created by people of the old world. The machines never attack humans, but will kill anyone that enters their territory. Since humans are afraid of it’s existence, they attempted to solve the problem by destroying all machines. It’s actually possible for human army to destroy even the strongest ones among machines called the “Big One.” But after several days they will always mystically reappear in the same location.      

When humans finally managed to capture a defeated Big One, they find out that a young girl is inside the machine. This girl healed and given education as any other kids. People call her “Aoxola”. Aoxola posses some superhuman abilities with faster regenerates and stronger firepower. She is able to destroy every single Big One in the world in two days. Therefore, humans revere her as a hero.    

Sometime later, humans regenerated another girl in Big One, and she was called Denli. While not as successful as the first time, Denli is considered more than capable enough at keeping the Big One from raise again. However, when the regeneration process of the third girl Mahilo is completed, Aoxola and Denli suddenly disappeared….   

Radio Zonde shares gameplay mechanics to Hellsinker but with slightly less complex scoring system. It does have a similar scoring attributes, in this case Stella, Luna and Sol. They correspond to offense, defense and item collection, though it’s unclear which corresponds to which. All of these attributes are added to give together to give player overall score. Radio Zonde has six game modes:

• Touring, A regular game. Play (Stage 1 or Breakin), Path 1 (Stage 2 or Stage 3 or Stage 4), Path 2 (Stage 5 or Stage 6 o Overhaul), Stage 7, Stage 8
• X_Psy, Boss fight practice with unlimited lives.
• U_T_N, Survive for a fixed time with unlimited lives.
• Breakn/Overhaul, Simple practice stages, but player will not enter stages 7 and 8.
• Path 1/2, A short stages. The screen will be divided into colored vertical bars with a number in one. In Touring mode, this indicates the next stage player will play.
• Stage 1-8, See Touring.

The basic formula of scoring are determined by three factors: signal stability, clock and inherited blood or count for funeral. Each of these are responsible for a 10x multiplier with maximum up to 30 and all are added to final multiplier.

Clock is a meter at the top right of the screen. It starts at 100% and increases with kills, item collection, and grazing up to a coded maximums of %9999. The smallest type of green gems also give a very small clock bonus, therefore the best option is let them change into large green gems before collecting them. Clock meter decreases slowly with time, by about 200% upon pains (auto-bombed shot), and by 1/2 its value upon deaths. 

Signal Stability is a green gauge located on top lef of the screen. It is determined by your move tendencies. It gradually increases whenever player collect medium or large green gems and it is filled completely by popsickles. It is decreased by moving by holding any shot buttons. The best advice to keep this meter high is player must learn shoot without moving. Stability is also affected by powerups, collisions, and successful hits

Inherited Blood or Count for Funeral is a proportion of the value of every enemy on the stage.

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EXTERNAL LINKS
- Radio Zonde direct download at Vector

MIKI WARS PLUS

Miki Wars Plus is a doujin horizontal scrolling shooter with constant fast-paced action, but it features only one level with three difficulty modes. The sole purpose in the game is to survive and scoring as much as possible within three minutes. The game might seem too easy at the beginning, but that's just to warm up for the real challenges that awaits later in the next modes. Player need to be as far as possible from the enemies and bullets, because only with a single touch or hit by enemy bullets, the game will ends immediately. Miki Wars Plus is a freeware and can be downloaded from the link below.

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EXTERNAL LINKS

- Miki Wars Plus download link at Freem

DIGITALIS

Digitalis is a fine vertically shooters developed by Japanese indie developer Minimal Manufacturer using STG Builder that will take player in borderless digital world. Back to a simpler time where shooters didn't needed a complex story to be fun. In Digitalis the player take control of a triangular red ship, armed with two upgradable shot and a handful of screen-clearing bombs to take on the onslaught of enemies and bullets that come in your way. Digitalis using a single repeating background with clever little touch. The game features four stages, graze system, three continues with epic huge hexagon boss battle. Digitalis is a freeware and can be downloaded from the links below.

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EXTERNAL LINKS

- Digitalis at the official Japanese blog of Minimal Manufacturer

- Digitalis download links at Freem

ZEXIDE HORIZON

In the year 2880 one of Earth Federation aircraft has been shot down by Erna Tian, a destruction forces from another planet. The federation developing a high mobility fighter "Zefis" to encounter the next threat. Zefis equipped with three different weapons and Zex Side Cannon, a powerful explosive cannon that can wipe out enemies in sight. Unfortunately, threat was coming sooner than expected. The Erna Tian Empire flying above earth orbit and ready to launch greater invasion. Not taking any chances, Earth Federation launch uncomplete Zefis fighter to counter attack and save humans from annihilation.

Zexide Horizon is an excellent doujin shooting game developed by Crystal Light Stage fow Windows in 2014. Zexide Horizon utilizes high resolution 3D engine with flashy effects, but the general movement is a 2D horizontal scrolling shooters. Hence, the game could generate a better and realistic outer space battle. The ship is firing three attacks; focus beam, wide laser and back laser. The laser is powered up to a maximum four stages by taking the item labeled “P”. In addition, there are another power ups that give a boost for speed, life bar and shield. The most powerful attack is a bomb that serve as avoidance when the ship was surrounded by enemy bullets and enemy aircraft. After dropping, the fighter is invincible for about two seconds before comes back to the screen.

The game also provides VR-Training which is basically a tutorial for players. The best game feature is multiple endings where the players are required to play the game several times. Zexide Horizon is a freeware and can be downloaded from the link below.

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EXTERNAL LINKS

- Zexide Horizon direct download at Vector

GALAXY FRONTIER

Far in the future humans have spread to all corners of outer space to find a new planet to live. People who began live in Jupiter discover the ruins of advanced civilization buried deep underground. Mankind gained a rich life and prosperity from this civilization. However, this does not last long. A swarm of mechanical force from the sun suddenly attack human army and destroying anything on surface. Humans then sent a secret ship to investigate this incident and found that the machines wants the civilation restored. Humans then developing “Dione Type8086”, a special small fighter with single mission; destroy the core of civilization and restore peace.

Galaxy Frontier is a freeware doujin shooting game developed by Alpha Secret Base and Hello World Project in 2014. Unlike another shooting games in general, Galaxy Frontier has five phases, however, the bosses do not always appear at the end of each level. There is no power-ups and the game has unlimited continues which makes the player can surely complete entire game. The fun is lies on how player  creating chains by destroying enemies to achieve high scores.

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EXTERNAL LINKS
- Galaxy Frontier at the official Japanese website of Alpha Secret Base
- Galaxy Frontier direct download links

KIRISAME BLADE

Kirisame Blade is the third project developed by Bikkuri Software using Shooting Game Builder, a horizontal shooting game with the aim achieving the highest score possible in a fixed period time. The player controls a futuristic ship equipped with unusual weapon; dual energy blades similar to a high-tech scissors capable of cutting and destroying the enemy. Pressing the fire button repeatedly will make the blades destroy enemy at different heights. Holding down the same button will put the blades straight ahead, stronger but ship will move slower.

The most interesting part is the blades can be double for a limited time. With bigger size player can hit easily and more effectively. The ship can move at super speed for a few seconds and player may rely on temporary shield. There are four game modes but the goal remains the same; collect coins from fallen enemies to unlock new features from shop. Kirisame Blade is a freeware and can be downloaded from the available sites below.

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EXTERNAL LINKS
- Kirisame Blade at the official Japanese website of Bikkuri Software
- Kirisame Blade download page at Freem

REINCARNATION

Reincarnation is a decent vertical shooter developed by Y-NRG that has simple enemy designs and an uncomplicated gameplay system. The player can choose each of one of two weapon configurations before starting a game; primary, secondary and bomb system. Press the Z key to shot, and hold the same button to activate your special beam attack. The screen is wider than your average shooter, though that does mean more space to navigate in and dodge enemy projectiles. Weapons and shields charge up automatically, so players do not need to worry about collectibles or bonuses. Reincarnation is a good entry point for beginners.

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EXTERNAL LINKS

- Reincarnation at the official Japanese website of Y-NRG (download available)

- Reincarnation direct download

NAGINATA DESTRUCTION

Naginata Destruction is an excellent sample of Japanese freeware shooting game with in the same vein of classic Taito’s Ray series. As a score attack shooter only one stage is playable, but the game has numerous deadly enemies and a powerfull boss that ensures the players will back for more. The game does not allow continue and requires several tries to beat. The ship is equipped with a laser cannon that can lock onto a single enemy, and when fired all enemy ships in the path of the laser will be hit and damaged as well. The laser cannon can be upgraded by destroying enemies as much as possible.

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EXTERNAL LINKS

- Naginata Destruction Official Game Website (download available)

EVERY EXTEND

Every Extend is a Japanese freeware shooter game for Windows , developed by Kanta Matsuhisa under “Omega” pseudonym. While not technically a shooter, Every Extend gives the same feeling; bosses, powerups and enemies. The game is not very long and like many shooters the fun is derivated from repeating to achieve high score. Rendered in a flat cel-shaded style, the graphics have a purity along the lines of other abstract shooters. The light and heavy modes each have different background music. All in this all, gameplay is Every Extend’s focus which surprisingly depth and addictiveness.

Every Extend has one core mechanic which sets it apart from other shooters. Rather than destroying enemies by shooting them, the players must repeatedly detonate themself to destroy chains of nearby marshmallow-shaped enemies. The more you destroy at a time, the more points you receive.  Every time this ability is used, one extend is deducted from your total lives. Since the player does not have an infinite supply of lives, they must earn more by collecting points to reach a certain threshold. When player get a life, the threshold increase. A smart player will try to gain a life for each life he loses through self-detonation (hence the game's name) 

The level also includes mini-bosses and a final boss. A boss will appear when the time remaining drops below a certain value (4 * (# of quicken items + 5) seconds). Bosses die in one hit, but the real challenge is destroying them after a long chain for larger point bonus. The hard mode also features an alternative boss which the player can face if fulfills certain requirements.

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EXTERNAL LINKS

- Every Extend at the official Japanese website of Omega

- Every Extend direct download at Vector

XED

XED is a decent vertical freeware shooter by BomB that will please veteran shooting fans, but drive beginners mad even at it's default difficulty setting. The game sports great pixel graphics and consistent frame rate, though only two continues are allowed for each game. Hold the left shift key for spread shot, and use the Z key for concentrated firepower. Your special weapon can be charged by destroying enemy ships, then activated by pressing the X key. A stage select feature allows players to attempt levels previously completed. The config file can be used to change key configuration settings.

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EXTERNAL LINKS

- XED at Vector (direct download)

GALAX

On the Planet Wigert, the civilised society is dependent upon advance technology. All information and machines are controlled by a mechanical brain called Xenon. Xenon began work on a planetary scale network system called Vector. Xenon learnt all technology history and its reason for being. 3 years following its deployment, Xenon acquired all knowledge. But a fatal error occured at the same moment. Xenon began to attack all weapons were turned against the human race. All bases and plants linked to Xenon were quickly captured. People had no idea what to do. But then they discovered a fighter that had not been captured. They set their hopes for survival on this fighter.

Along with Cho Ren Sha 68K, Galax perhaps is one of the best freeware shooter game. Developed by masaHG in 2003 and then revised in 2010, it has a fairly unique gameplay with three command buttons; shoot, bomb and radar. While the first two are self explanatory, the third is the whole point of the game. When using radar, a rectangular appears, spread to the whole screen and lock the enemies. The player then go into manipulation mode by entering specific commands. Unless abort by re-pressing radar button, it is impossible to move during manipulation, and therefore player must find a safe spot. Locked enemies become harmless and they can not shoot or touch the player.

There are three manipulations, with different commands and effects;

CBA (yellow status), freeze enemies. They unable to do anything and take more damage than usual. The player will get 10 points for hitting them.

CCBA (purple status), let enemies self destruct. During manipulation the timer is running and enemies still shoot to player. Doesn’t work with bigger enemies.

Up, Down, CBA (blue status), control enemies for a brief moment. The player get points for every shot they take and technical 5000 bonuses if they destroy bigger ones.

EXTERNAL LINKS

- Galax at the official Japanese website of masaHG

- Galax at Vector with direct download