Gun Nac is a blast! On its intended difficulty it's quite easy, but it's a very fast paced experience with tons of weapons, upgrades, bombs, and enemies. If you're familiar with shmups I'd recommend setting the difficulty to 3 or 4 because otherwise first few levels can be completed way too easily with the third weapon: a seeking 8-way blaster.
I've tried difficulty 4 after beating the game and it felt more like a hardcore shmup. However, even then, the game doesn't make you completely helpless: upgrades and bombs are plentiful, and your ship can increase its HP by picking up "wings", basically options. Between levels you can buy more weapons, restock on bombs and so on. Even when dying, you'll usually climb back to full power fairly easily.
One thing I've enjoyed in particular is how sticking to one weapon seems to be a death sentense. Sure, I've enjoyed my seeker, until level 3 where I realized that it doesn't differentiate between targets and spends time around enemies that are still underwater. I've completely ditched the weapon on, I believe, level 4 where it would just run into barriers and be completely useless. Actually, on difficulty 2 before final two levels the biggest challenge was to retain a weapon I liked, because picking up a different number altered your gameplay way too much and led me to panic.
One cool thing about this game is that it has Performance Mode. Yep, a game from 1990 lets you choose between focusing on speed or sprites. I'd recommend switching to "sprites" because slowdown be damned one of the bosses on speed is just impossible to parse otherwise (I had to sit at the top of the screen and spam bombs of which I had a LOT)
It's a really good introductory shmup and I believe I've died only around 3-5 times on Difficulty 2, which can be set even lower, so if you feel like shooting aliens and collcting power-ups but are afraid of difficulty of many games, it's a no-brainer.
I've tried difficulty 4 after beating the game and it felt more like a hardcore shmup. However, even then, the game doesn't make you completely helpless: upgrades and bombs are plentiful, and your ship can increase its HP by picking up "wings", basically options. Between levels you can buy more weapons, restock on bombs and so on. Even when dying, you'll usually climb back to full power fairly easily.
One thing I've enjoyed in particular is how sticking to one weapon seems to be a death sentense. Sure, I've enjoyed my seeker, until level 3 where I realized that it doesn't differentiate between targets and spends time around enemies that are still underwater. I've completely ditched the weapon on, I believe, level 4 where it would just run into barriers and be completely useless. Actually, on difficulty 2 before final two levels the biggest challenge was to retain a weapon I liked, because picking up a different number altered your gameplay way too much and led me to panic.
One cool thing about this game is that it has Performance Mode. Yep, a game from 1990 lets you choose between focusing on speed or sprites. I'd recommend switching to "sprites" because slowdown be damned one of the bosses on speed is just impossible to parse otherwise (I had to sit at the top of the screen and spam bombs of which I had a LOT)
It's a really good introductory shmup and I believe I've died only around 3-5 times on Difficulty 2, which can be set even lower, so if you feel like shooting aliens and collcting power-ups but are afraid of difficulty of many games, it's a no-brainer.
holi şit çok eğlenceli oyun bu
Fun game. Looks and (surprisingly considering the time) sounds great. The shooter gameplay is pretty standard (I think at least, not well versed in the genre) but it never gets boring or feels too repetitive. The difficulty curve was mostly good (though arguably started out too easy) with the exception of the final level which had a pretty big spike that frustrated me at first.
Cute 'em ups já têm a fama de serem mais acessíveis e com visual mais criativo que shmups "normais". Mas eis a questão: os shmups da Compile já são acessíveis e com visual criativo? E agora? Como seria um cute 'em up da Compile?
Em vez de dobrar a dose na criatividade e acessibilidade ou, numa alternativa nefasta, dar stack overflow e virar um shooter hardcore e derivativo, Gun Nac é "só" mais um bom shooter da Compile, com alguns inimigos apropriadamente e moderadamente fofinhos.
"Só" mais um bom shooter da Compile. Nada demais. Isso dá em árvore.
Em vez de dobrar a dose na criatividade e acessibilidade ou, numa alternativa nefasta, dar stack overflow e virar um shooter hardcore e derivativo, Gun Nac é "só" mais um bom shooter da Compile, com alguns inimigos apropriadamente e moderadamente fofinhos.
"Só" mais um bom shooter da Compile. Nada demais. Isso dá em árvore.
It's a shame this game is so rare and expensive these days, because it genuinely deserves to be played by everyone. This is classic Compile shooting at its finest. Tons of personality and charm in the graphics, great memorable soundtrack, lots of weapons and bombs to choose from, and gameplay that's tough but forgiving. This game also has plenty of different options to mess around with, along with a shop to purchase items from in between levels. In short, this is an excellent shooter and probably the best shooter on NES.
A charisma-dripping, steak thick and satisfyingly paced, musically bombastic, and themed-level vertical shooter. A for sure pick-up-and-play. Recommended.
Gun Nac has climbed the leaderboards and has become my favorite Sh'mup. I only have played a scattering of them all mostly this year, its a genre I've barely touched.
Like Twinbee it has the satisfying mechanic of shooting certain items on screen to turn them into powerups which is fun. Tons of weapons and bombs to choose from, the choice of which is given by timing the roulette of corresponding numbers. Fly into them before they leave the screen, all while maneuvering between a sea of bullets.
Not too many though, the game has a pretty fair difficulty curve with just enough going on, never overwhelming. A shop is available between every level so you can stock up on any weapon or bomb type you want or even upgrade a weapon of your choosing to a higher level. Not all of the upgrades or weapons themselves even are made equal, but they do fit different playstyles. The variety is much appreciated even if frustration is sometimes caused by spending your quite limited cash on an upgrade you don't end up liking. Without a manual trial and error is required. The silver lining to this still meaningful flaw is that this does require a kind of experimentation that leads to you becoming a better player. Learning the kinds of gameplay styles are on offer and what enemies/stages are easier to blast with.
The wacky presentation is super charming while still being consistently "Gun Nac" in an iconic and memorable way. The music does get repetitive, however while it lasts you'll be jamming to some quite fitting tunes. The game is very childishly Japanese in a very comforting, retro way. Like the inverse of the "americana" look you get in a game like Chip's Challenge. Check out that review for more on that: https://www.backloggd.com/u/altron60/review/630327/
The title is certainly basic when compared to today's standard and a level select would certainly be nice. For that and a better way to curve the mildly frustrating difficulty towards the latter half of the game, emulating the title is pretty helpful. Even without save states however the final difficulty bump is only a bit of an annoyance thanks to unlimited continues and the game's arcade nature. It appears that if you get quite good you could horde cash, lives and bombs quite viably for the late game if need be.
Like Twinbee it has the satisfying mechanic of shooting certain items on screen to turn them into powerups which is fun. Tons of weapons and bombs to choose from, the choice of which is given by timing the roulette of corresponding numbers. Fly into them before they leave the screen, all while maneuvering between a sea of bullets.
Not too many though, the game has a pretty fair difficulty curve with just enough going on, never overwhelming. A shop is available between every level so you can stock up on any weapon or bomb type you want or even upgrade a weapon of your choosing to a higher level. Not all of the upgrades or weapons themselves even are made equal, but they do fit different playstyles. The variety is much appreciated even if frustration is sometimes caused by spending your quite limited cash on an upgrade you don't end up liking. Without a manual trial and error is required. The silver lining to this still meaningful flaw is that this does require a kind of experimentation that leads to you becoming a better player. Learning the kinds of gameplay styles are on offer and what enemies/stages are easier to blast with.
The wacky presentation is super charming while still being consistently "Gun Nac" in an iconic and memorable way. The music does get repetitive, however while it lasts you'll be jamming to some quite fitting tunes. The game is very childishly Japanese in a very comforting, retro way. Like the inverse of the "americana" look you get in a game like Chip's Challenge. Check out that review for more on that: https://www.backloggd.com/u/altron60/review/630327/
The title is certainly basic when compared to today's standard and a level select would certainly be nice. For that and a better way to curve the mildly frustrating difficulty towards the latter half of the game, emulating the title is pretty helpful. Even without save states however the final difficulty bump is only a bit of an annoyance thanks to unlimited continues and the game's arcade nature. It appears that if you get quite good you could horde cash, lives and bombs quite viably for the late game if need be.
I mean it's good, but god almighty, best shooter on NES? Have you not played Gradius 2? Life Force? Crisis Force? Summer Carnival '92 Recca? Out of your minds.
This is extremely fun and it's a schmup that LETS ME WIN.