A great vertically scrolling manic shooter. In an otherwise peaceful world, the Shinra Empire began conquering nearby nations one by one to expand their territory gradually. Meanwhile, in the Shinra weapons lab, the Espgaluda project produced two successful prototypes: Agaha and Tateha. Fearing for their future, the project's head scientist, Hiodoshi, escaped with the two prototypes to a nearby kingdom, but time after were found by Shinra's troops and Hiodoshi was killed by the attack of the imperial army, the power of the galuda has awaken. You have the option of controlling one of two siblings each with different skills, Ageha faster but with narrower shooting capabilities or Tateha slower but with a wider attack. As you fly through the various stages various mechanical enemies attack with a high number of bullets, often nearly filling the screen. Aside from the regular shots, Ageha and Tateha also have additional abilities which help the player navigate through the numerous bullets. The first is a guard barrier; when activated the player is immune to collisions and as a bonus when the barrier button is released a more powerful laser shot is fired. A meter at the bottom of the screen indicates how much power is left in the barrier. The second ability is called the Kakusei mode; when this mode is activated your character gender is altered and is able to fire a more powerful shot. More importantly, when this mode is activated all of the enemies and their bullets slow down considerably while the players speed remains the same making it easier to navigate through a tricky pattern of bullets. Activating Kakusei mode will rapidly deplete the players supply of green gems; since the number of gems isn't limitless the player may not be able to remain in Kakusei mode for long. When not in Kakusei mode additional gems can be collected by destroying the various enemies. If the player completely runs out of gems, enemy bullets begin travelling faster than usual. Another bonus in the game is gold inguts which greatly increase the players score. These are found when in Kakusei mode; when an enemy is destroyed, all of its bullets will turn into ingots which can be collected by the player.
Reviews View More
Here's the gimmick: You have two shooting styles: the primary one, which is just your usual, straightforward type, and the secondary one, which activates "slow mode." While in slow mode, enemy projectiles will become much slower, making it easier to avoid them, and your projectiles will deal significantly more damage. The catch is that in order to activate slow mode, you'll need to collect emeralds, which can only be acquired by destroying enemies with your primary shooting type. This forces you to use your primary shooting style most of the time, destroy as many enemies as you can, and get familiar with every stage, using slow mode only when necessary. In fact, abusing slow mode will lead to the exact opposite effect: enemy projectiles will get much, much faster, making them almost impossible to dodge. This mechanic has so much depth and allows for so much experimentation that it alone makes subsequent playthroughs worth it. I'm still discovering little tricks.
On top of that, its action, coreography, and enemy projectiles are all so well crafted and thought out, so above much popular shmups that it makes me wonder... Why does this one not get the praise it deserves?
The music is also fantastic. I'm not a big fan of techno but shit slaps.