Never before in the history of the STG genre had such a elegant, beautiful shmup been devised. From legendary master of the genre, Shinoubu Yagawa - programmer of battle garegga and armed police batrider - we get his magnum opus.
MMP is a game of such a tight, focused design, building on the foundations of Battle Garegaa and Ibara, and retaining the core game flow of medal chaining, rank management, and the general control, but meshing with a far more CAVE-y, Bullet Hell design in general, which forms for a super unique mix of styles and works really well.
Team this with an amazing narrative and presentation - the tale of earth fighting back against a military dictatorship over the battle over which is better - Beef or Pork, and the subsequent battles over rural japan that take place in it's wake, as our three heroines - each having been disfigured by the enemy prior, make a final stand. Weaker games would lack the pathos to truly deal with the moral quandries of this situation, but Muchi Muchi Pork remains reserved, polite, and nuanced throughout it's short running length.
And there's such an astounding use of metaphor, as our lead characters are both transformed into vile, monstrous chimeras, and then forced to fight against those they have been transformed into - and why do other farm creatures show up in a game so focused on the consumption of pork? In many ways, the game could be considered a companion piece to Bong Joon-Ho's Okja - where a metaphor of consumerism and the cost of it echoes throughout the whole game. And all the imagery is so interesting - our heroines fire what is described as a LARD LASER - by picking up pigs from the ground or the air and... consuming them? Even though they have become half pig themselves? Truly, every frame of this game brings up so much intrigue. Im currently planning a 7 hour long video essay on the topic of symbolism within just this game alone, it has had that much of an effect on me.
And in the end it all comes together to form a truly spectacular package, something no other shmup - hell, no other game can truly compare to - wait hold on, i'm getting handed a note -
"It's just a thicc pig-girl bondage fetish shmup, dude."
Happy April Fools, everyone :D
MMP is a game of such a tight, focused design, building on the foundations of Battle Garegaa and Ibara, and retaining the core game flow of medal chaining, rank management, and the general control, but meshing with a far more CAVE-y, Bullet Hell design in general, which forms for a super unique mix of styles and works really well.
Team this with an amazing narrative and presentation - the tale of earth fighting back against a military dictatorship over the battle over which is better - Beef or Pork, and the subsequent battles over rural japan that take place in it's wake, as our three heroines - each having been disfigured by the enemy prior, make a final stand. Weaker games would lack the pathos to truly deal with the moral quandries of this situation, but Muchi Muchi Pork remains reserved, polite, and nuanced throughout it's short running length.
And there's such an astounding use of metaphor, as our lead characters are both transformed into vile, monstrous chimeras, and then forced to fight against those they have been transformed into - and why do other farm creatures show up in a game so focused on the consumption of pork? In many ways, the game could be considered a companion piece to Bong Joon-Ho's Okja - where a metaphor of consumerism and the cost of it echoes throughout the whole game. And all the imagery is so interesting - our heroines fire what is described as a LARD LASER - by picking up pigs from the ground or the air and... consuming them? Even though they have become half pig themselves? Truly, every frame of this game brings up so much intrigue. Im currently planning a 7 hour long video essay on the topic of symbolism within just this game alone, it has had that much of an effect on me.
And in the end it all comes together to form a truly spectacular package, something no other shmup - hell, no other game can truly compare to - wait hold on, i'm getting handed a note -
"It's just a thicc pig-girl bondage fetish shmup, dude."
Happy April Fools, everyone :D