Hamster's new Arcade Archives port of this game advertises itself as being a "great, easy game to get into, even for players who don't often play shooting games!"
This is a lie. A complete lie. This game is completely evil. Beneath the lovely, incredibly cute aesthetic where an otter dangles his legs out of a biplane, lies a system where you will die at the drop of a hat, you move slow enough for some bullets to barely be reactable, and the scoring mechanics are absolutely stupid.
The most efficient way to score in this game is to literally rub up against the right side of the screen, which gives you about a thousand points a second. Yes, that's where most enemies spawn - yes, there's no warning that enemies are spawning. Yes, they kill you on impact. NMK are you ok?
Alternatively, you can pick up point items or merely walk on the floor to get points. But you also get points for avoiding point items, and only 3 of the 8 stages have floors! So ?????????????
It's very stupid. And very, very hard, rivalling the likes of Toaplan's evil STGs of the period, with later levels filled with loads of enemies that will fire lighting fast bullets at your massive hitbox, and it ultimately turns into a game of bomb resource management - well not bombs, "big" items that make your otter comically huge and fire sunfish at enemies which do increased damage. Because why not.
Aside from the shitposty nature of the game as a whole, it's pretty good. It suffers from a lack of variety as the same enemy types pop up again and again and again, and it's a bit too long, but the encounters themselves are pretty fun, and it is extremely, extremely cute throughout, and when it is throwing new bosses at you the encounters are surprisingly puzzle-y and interesting. The caravan modes included in the new port are also probably the best way to enjoy it, with two bite sized portions of madness instead of half an hour, with less frustration as a result.
But yeah, this is a hilarious shitshow that I kinda respect the gall of. In an arcade setting from 30 years ago, it's probably something I'd completely avoid and would get a horrid reputation, but as a modern curiosity, it's a nice little look back into one of the first cute em ups, and one of the more silly, evil examples of the genre.
This is a lie. A complete lie. This game is completely evil. Beneath the lovely, incredibly cute aesthetic where an otter dangles his legs out of a biplane, lies a system where you will die at the drop of a hat, you move slow enough for some bullets to barely be reactable, and the scoring mechanics are absolutely stupid.
The most efficient way to score in this game is to literally rub up against the right side of the screen, which gives you about a thousand points a second. Yes, that's where most enemies spawn - yes, there's no warning that enemies are spawning. Yes, they kill you on impact. NMK are you ok?
Alternatively, you can pick up point items or merely walk on the floor to get points. But you also get points for avoiding point items, and only 3 of the 8 stages have floors! So ?????????????
It's very stupid. And very, very hard, rivalling the likes of Toaplan's evil STGs of the period, with later levels filled with loads of enemies that will fire lighting fast bullets at your massive hitbox, and it ultimately turns into a game of bomb resource management - well not bombs, "big" items that make your otter comically huge and fire sunfish at enemies which do increased damage. Because why not.
Aside from the shitposty nature of the game as a whole, it's pretty good. It suffers from a lack of variety as the same enemy types pop up again and again and again, and it's a bit too long, but the encounters themselves are pretty fun, and it is extremely, extremely cute throughout, and when it is throwing new bosses at you the encounters are surprisingly puzzle-y and interesting. The caravan modes included in the new port are also probably the best way to enjoy it, with two bite sized portions of madness instead of half an hour, with less frustration as a result.
But yeah, this is a hilarious shitshow that I kinda respect the gall of. In an arcade setting from 30 years ago, it's probably something I'd completely avoid and would get a horrid reputation, but as a modern curiosity, it's a nice little look back into one of the first cute em ups, and one of the more silly, evil examples of the genre.