GunNail
released on Feb 01, 1993
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Played this at a shmupmeet in 2012. The thing I remember most is the score multiplier being inversely proportional to remaining shields, with 0 shields providing the biggest multiplier at the expense of a constant alarm sound.
Interesting game design that's a bit reminiscent of Tatsujin and risk-reward system.
Interesting game design that's a bit reminiscent of Tatsujin and risk-reward system.
Played two years ago. Don't remember much. Must later to give full thought.
Very pleasantly surprised by this! Gunnail, on first sight, appears to be a very run-of-the-mill, space-themed vertical shooter--but under the hood, there's a sweet little system that's finely tuned to both survival and score play, and that gives the game a unique feel.
In Gunnail, your ship has a 'shield bar'--which is really just your lives, or the number of hits you can take. The interesting part is that, at 500,000 and 2,000,000 points (relatively modest hurdles to clear), instead of awarding an extend, as many other shmups would, you get all of your shield hits back, plus one. Couple with this that, upon every hit, your score multiplier increases -- 1x, 2x, 3x, 5x, etc. ( though, note that this bonus doesn't span across lives) -- and you've got this funky accordion-like effect of dying getting you closer to your goal than you would've been otherwise.
Additionally, you have two special stages in which killing certain ships nets you an item that increases your speed up the screen, and grants you twice the score multiplier you have currently. The item runs out quickly, though, so the goal is to chain them all the way through the stage as a timer winds down... and if you go fast enough, a Las Vegas buffet of power ups, bombs, and scoring items await you at the end. (In my view, a whole game could be built around this stage mechanic -- it's super rewarding!).
What all of this boils down to is a really fun balance of "do I hoard my lives?" with "do I tank so I can score higher and get even more lives?" Of course, if you're an absolute psycho, you can suicide down to no lives at each opportunity and rack up points with a no-miss run; but there's a ton of ground for intermediate play, and the system makes it so that every run comes down to the wire, because even if you fuck up and die a few times early, all of a sudden the scoreboard is ablaze and you're nearing that bonus set of lives.
I'm rambling, but--it's cool!
For people actually interested in clearing, note that the best way to start is to drop immediately down to 0 lives, no-miss the first stage (not too difficult) and then do an easy boss milk to gain that extra set of lives and get your score to around 700,000. From there, the real game begins.
Now, to discuss BRIEFLY the actual gameplay, most of which is pretty standard (fun!) fare, but some of which is, undoubtedly, a pain in the ass.
- Most notably, you've got fast bullets in this one, so come ready to sweep and stream. (This is the most immediately-discouraging aspect of the game, but with a little repetition and study most areas can be organically cleared, with only a couple key pieces of a stage requiring a set-in-stone route.)
- The hitbox is reasonable enough, but still, micro-dodging is always dicey, and there are times where the game clearly requires it of you, which can frustrate.
- The absolute worst part about the gameplay is the weird screen shifts that happen left and right when you push up against the borders, as sometimes enemies hiding there will just point-blank you, or snipe you from across the screen. Awful.
- Lastly I'll mention that emulating this is a bit of a non-starter, as its native input lag is pretty bad and there is a horrific alarm that sounds the entire time you're without lives. Why someone would design a game based around having zero lives for maximum score, and then proceed to make that very situation audibly intolerable, I have no idea... but I suggest playing the excellent Arcade Archives port from Hamster if you're able, which fixes both issues.
Gunnail tested my patience for bullshit and made me memorize more than I initially believed I was willing to. Death after death, I stuck with it, because, in spite of its trad-to-a-fault look, there's just something about its particular blend of gameplay elements that doesn't really feel like anything else.
In Gunnail, your ship has a 'shield bar'--which is really just your lives, or the number of hits you can take. The interesting part is that, at 500,000 and 2,000,000 points (relatively modest hurdles to clear), instead of awarding an extend, as many other shmups would, you get all of your shield hits back, plus one. Couple with this that, upon every hit, your score multiplier increases -- 1x, 2x, 3x, 5x, etc. ( though, note that this bonus doesn't span across lives) -- and you've got this funky accordion-like effect of dying getting you closer to your goal than you would've been otherwise.
Additionally, you have two special stages in which killing certain ships nets you an item that increases your speed up the screen, and grants you twice the score multiplier you have currently. The item runs out quickly, though, so the goal is to chain them all the way through the stage as a timer winds down... and if you go fast enough, a Las Vegas buffet of power ups, bombs, and scoring items await you at the end. (In my view, a whole game could be built around this stage mechanic -- it's super rewarding!).
What all of this boils down to is a really fun balance of "do I hoard my lives?" with "do I tank so I can score higher and get even more lives?" Of course, if you're an absolute psycho, you can suicide down to no lives at each opportunity and rack up points with a no-miss run; but there's a ton of ground for intermediate play, and the system makes it so that every run comes down to the wire, because even if you fuck up and die a few times early, all of a sudden the scoreboard is ablaze and you're nearing that bonus set of lives.
I'm rambling, but--it's cool!
For people actually interested in clearing, note that the best way to start is to drop immediately down to 0 lives, no-miss the first stage (not too difficult) and then do an easy boss milk to gain that extra set of lives and get your score to around 700,000. From there, the real game begins.
Now, to discuss BRIEFLY the actual gameplay, most of which is pretty standard (fun!) fare, but some of which is, undoubtedly, a pain in the ass.
- Most notably, you've got fast bullets in this one, so come ready to sweep and stream. (This is the most immediately-discouraging aspect of the game, but with a little repetition and study most areas can be organically cleared, with only a couple key pieces of a stage requiring a set-in-stone route.)
- The hitbox is reasonable enough, but still, micro-dodging is always dicey, and there are times where the game clearly requires it of you, which can frustrate.
- The absolute worst part about the gameplay is the weird screen shifts that happen left and right when you push up against the borders, as sometimes enemies hiding there will just point-blank you, or snipe you from across the screen. Awful.
- Lastly I'll mention that emulating this is a bit of a non-starter, as its native input lag is pretty bad and there is a horrific alarm that sounds the entire time you're without lives. Why someone would design a game based around having zero lives for maximum score, and then proceed to make that very situation audibly intolerable, I have no idea... but I suggest playing the excellent Arcade Archives port from Hamster if you're able, which fixes both issues.
Gunnail tested my patience for bullshit and made me memorize more than I initially believed I was willing to. Death after death, I stuck with it, because, in spite of its trad-to-a-fault look, there's just something about its particular blend of gameplay elements that doesn't really feel like anything else.