This remake of Razion for the Neo-Geo, being a game that I have always wanted to try as I heard about how good of a shooter it was from its fans. Visually I can commend this game for its great use of colorful pixels, and the remake which adds really good scanlines to game which makes the pixels look like they would back in the day. Scanlines are something that I usually never give a game an up for especially when it is the default option, but the scanlines in this game are well implemented and when I originally saw screenshots for the game, I had thought that it was just part of how the game looked not something that could be turned on or off. In terms of the actual game, like some other shooters that I have played the progression is something to be desired. Instead of giving the player the option of turning on free play for the game, they instead have to unlock the credits for the game. Some people like it, as it allows them to spend more time with the game and learn the levels. Which is something that I did during my playthrough of the game, and very much enjoyed myself. I just would like the option to have a free play mode, as I actually find myself playing the game more with a freeplay option, which is why I do like other shooters such as the Psikyo collections and Shikhondo. But this is a small complaint overall, I just feel like it does slow the game down a bit for people who just want to experience the levels of this classic shooter. Don't let that dissuade you of how do this shooter actually is and give it a shot, as this game is very great visually and I didn't even touch the music (which is also great btw). The game is also very satisfying to play once you get the hang of how many shots it takes to kill an enemy, where to dodge and use your special shot. Great game for the price.

Horizontal shooter. Two shot modes with one firing a stream of bullet while the other does the same while also slowing down your ship and making your hitbox visible. A beam weapon fires a large destructive shot that travels through obstacles, destroy bullets, and freezes score cubes dropped by enemies. After using the beam your main shots are weaker until the beam charges again over time and by picking up score cubes (more for frozen score cubes). Music is ok, not really a fan of the visuals. Both like the fast recharge of the beam weapon that makes the scoring system interesting and gives you frequently useable shot to get out of trouble or hit blocked off enemies if you can deal with the tradeoff of weaker shots for a short time, unless you plan the shot to immediately pick up frozen score cubes.

You start with two continues, with one being treated as an arcade style coin and being used up immediately when you start to play, with up to 10 continues being unlockable by spending more time playing the game. It's a very easy game compared to a lot of shooters. The first time playing I got near the end of stage five on normal, then beat the game on easy gaining enough lives through score that I never used a continue, then put it on hard with three credits unlocked got about 2/3 of the way through with both some very stupid mistakes and a couple deaths where I had no idea what even hit me. The game might make you think that there are three different ships/pilots to choose from but they are all the same and just give you a color based on your difficulty (blue=easy, green=normal, red=hard).

There are occasional obscured bullets, made worse on the hard mode where you have more going on, and backgrounds/foreground objects that can obscure shots or make you wonder if you can run into it. Visually dull end stage that just throws some reused enemies at you but in a more difficult or faster shooting form and is.

Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/1591429914364116992

Video: https://youtu.be/Qwx2G9o5IHo

Didn’t expect to like this as much as I did! It’s got a great scoring mechanic involving shooting your power shot to freeze collectibles onscreen; and the longer you wait to collect them, the more they multiply. It’s pretty addicting. Visuals and music are cool, too, and the controls are snappy enough.

There is some jank—hit boxes spawning before their corresponding enemies do, bullets being hidden by decorative foreground elements, a boss that you can kill without moving in Novice mode, etc…. But nothing horribly detrimental.