Uh-oh, I feel a little bit left out with this one. 

From a technical standpoint, it's awesome; there are tons of visual tricks that display the power of the Super Nintendo hardware. Gameplay is not all that bad either; there's some really neat boss battles, like that one where the whole screen rotates.

What kills it for me is a combination of my four biggest pet peeves when it comes to shoot 'em ups.

First, the scroll is way too slow. There are times when absolutely nothing's happening.

Second, there's no instant respawn; if you die, you are forced to get it at the beginning of the stage.

Third, enemy ships are just bullet sponges and your projectiles are useless. You are basically forced to charge your beam at all times since it's the only attack that actually does something.

Fourth, the game has unreadable enemy patterns. Projectiles will kill you in the blink of an eye at the speed of light with not enough time to react, so the challenge feels more like a trial-and-error kind of deal than a skilled-based one (I'm especially looking at you, laser tubes). I feel like I'm playing the shoot 'em up equivalent of Syobon Cat or one of those "I Wanna Be the Guy" kinds of games. 

It's also really short, and... I don't know, man. I truly wish I had enjoyed it.

Reviewed on Feb 16, 2024


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