My knowledge of the whole danmaku shmup genre is about as limited as my interest in them. The only two I really got into was during when I was exploring Treasure's catalog of games with Radiant Silvergun and Ikargua, two games I very much enjoy but only on a baseline level. Never had the thought of wanting to 1CC them personally. In fact, the thought of sitting down to attempt 1ccing something like Radiant Silvergun would admittedly be a nightmare even if I do like that game very much casually lol.
Everything else though? I either never played or don't have much of an interest to. I don't know much about your Touhous or your DoDonPachis, I don't know what the hell a Ketsui or a Battle Garegga or even a Gradius is. You show me something that resembles a spaceship, an anime girl, or an anime girl in a spaceship maneuvering and shooting around a plethora of pixelated color vomit representing as "bullets" in a claustrophobic 240x320 vertical space I would probably respond to it as "Neat", but that's as far as I would go.
I think my disinterest in the genre stems from not wanting to invest time into learning an arcade game I don't necessarily care about, like most of these games kinda look the same to me. There needs to be more substance to a game for me than just learning about how to dodge this and that bullet pattern at this and that time at X Y and Z coordinates to really invest my interest in wanting to spend time to master a game that's all about skill mastery, y'know?
But even despite my lack of knowledge, interest, or even care of the whole shoot-em-up genre, after finally sitting down with all of ZeroRangers 8 stages and its batshit insane finale sequence, I can say that I do know this: ZeroRanger is a damn good game.
This may be one of the most overlooked indie darlings of the late 2010s and it's a damn shame. This game had a long arduous development spanning 10 years by two dudes, with some help from other outside sources, and you can feel just how much passion illuminates from this game right at the very first stage of gameplay. This game was practically built on a bromance.
And I think that passion is shown by just how much ZeroRanger just wants you to keep playing it. When you start a new save file, you are thrusted into a grim unwinnable situation: playing the game that you know nothing about. It expects you to lose on your first go, but then shows to the player (after their mind has been blown out of their skull) the continue system, showing that the points they've accumulated on each run will go into getting more continues, encouraging the player right then and there that despite the challenge ahead, the game will throw bones to you as long as you keep trying. It tells you on the game over screen "Never give up!" and then a real opening cutscene plays with these gorgeous visuals following with a triumphant tune, turning what was a dark moment into an adventurous one. This is ZeroRanger's true intent: this is a game about overcoming what seems impossible.
What makes ZeroRanger's challenge so approachable is its accessibility. The game's bullet patterns aren't as immediately wild as what you would find in a Touhou or a HellSinker until the later half, and the game gives stages frequent checkpoints and will let you return to a stage you haven't completed upon a failed run, as well as giving you those aforementioned continues the more points you gathered. But what's interesting is despite this, ZeroRanger still doesn't hold back any punches. The game is still relentlessly challenging but it understands the player won't learn its ins and outs by slamming their faces into a wall. These little guidances don't take away any of the tension and challenge found in these stages and will still punish the player accordingly if they fail to keep up. It's still a game that wants you to one day do it all on one run, but it's also a game that teaches the player on each and every stage with each and every boss, or for a player that just wants to enjoy it casually. It's one of the few exceptions of a game that is accessible without compromising its challenge, which I have to commend because developers still to this day haven't found a way to really balance the two without one feeling too handholdy or the other feeling too punishing.
It also helps that ZeroRangers presentation here is just on point. It's got gorgeous detailed sprite work and the whole game sticks to this bold dark green and bright orange color palette that not also looks striking but also makes it impossible for bullets to blend in with the background. You know you gotta shoot the green thing and it spits out contrasting bright orange bullets that are easy to track your eyes with even if you aren't looking at the whole screen. Now granted, late at night the orange can strain my eyes a bit, but it also helps that the game has a plethora of visual settings that you can adjust. Using scanlines helped, I personally like the Hori ones!
Every stage also just impresses me not only visually but auditory. The game has this crunchy sound design when either pelting something with bullets or blowing shit up. It may not be as visceral sounding as every shot from Ikaruga, but it still does its job by making it satisfying to just blow the spaceships up. The soundtrack though? Nothing short of fantastic here. Apparently, the devs were inspired by Undertale's soundtrack to create bangers of their own, and despite it being comprised of MIDI's, the layering and melodies are just incredible here. Every stage I kept saying to myself "Ah this is the best track... actually this is the best track... actually this is the best track... actually this is the-" and so on. (My personal favorite is The Sea Has Returned. Those fucking saxophones give me goosebumps every time man.)
The game's passion doesn't just stop with its challenging gameplay or its gorgeous visuals and head-banging music though, one thing that gripped me was just how effortlessly cool it becomes. It starts out innocently enough on its first two stages, but then you hit stage 3 and the game goes total apeshit mode. If the references to other shmups or games flew over your head, then maybe the 1,000 on-the-nose references to every influential mecha anime ever won't. You'd think it'd be obnoxious to be asked by the devs over and over again "Hey do you like Gurren Lagann!?" or "Hey do you like Neon Genesis Evangelion!?" but they're presented with such a bold earnestness to them that I can't help but feel their inclusions are just warm smiles from the devs every time I see them. It also doesn't take away from the game's own story. By the halfway mark of this 4-hour game, I was completely engrossed by what it was going to throw at me next and was rewarded with a brand new insane set-piece and set of challenges to overcome, climaxing with a finale that was harrowing but beautiful and personal. People weren't kidding when they said this is a game that you don't want to spoil yourself on, so if you haven't gotten around to it, now's your chance to experience this if I've enticed you enough. (If the game feels a bit basic in its first two stages, don't worry, the game introduces a new mechanic that helps you tackle enemies and bullets that rivals Ikaruga's acclaimed polarity system.)
So, despite me beating ZeroRanger, I'm going to be playing it again very soon. Probably numerous times until I can actually 1CC it. I haven't really imposed this challenge on me since wanting to 1CC Super Monkey Ball Expert-Extra, but I feel the need to because like Super Monkey Ball I just found ZeroRanger to be just so damn charming man. This is clearly a passion project through and through and it's so rare to see a game come out with this much love and care put into every minute of gameplay that I can't help but fall in love with it. System Erasure did the impossible by making a game to attract people who aren't normally into shmups while still being a celebration of the genre, so now it's time for me to see the invisible and keep playing this game until I can checkmark that "Mastered" tab because this game just welcomes me with open arms every time I boot it up.
Row row fight the power.
Everything else though? I either never played or don't have much of an interest to. I don't know much about your Touhous or your DoDonPachis, I don't know what the hell a Ketsui or a Battle Garegga or even a Gradius is. You show me something that resembles a spaceship, an anime girl, or an anime girl in a spaceship maneuvering and shooting around a plethora of pixelated color vomit representing as "bullets" in a claustrophobic 240x320 vertical space I would probably respond to it as "Neat", but that's as far as I would go.
I think my disinterest in the genre stems from not wanting to invest time into learning an arcade game I don't necessarily care about, like most of these games kinda look the same to me. There needs to be more substance to a game for me than just learning about how to dodge this and that bullet pattern at this and that time at X Y and Z coordinates to really invest my interest in wanting to spend time to master a game that's all about skill mastery, y'know?
But even despite my lack of knowledge, interest, or even care of the whole shoot-em-up genre, after finally sitting down with all of ZeroRangers 8 stages and its batshit insane finale sequence, I can say that I do know this: ZeroRanger is a damn good game.
This may be one of the most overlooked indie darlings of the late 2010s and it's a damn shame. This game had a long arduous development spanning 10 years by two dudes, with some help from other outside sources, and you can feel just how much passion illuminates from this game right at the very first stage of gameplay. This game was practically built on a bromance.
And I think that passion is shown by just how much ZeroRanger just wants you to keep playing it. When you start a new save file, you are thrusted into a grim unwinnable situation: playing the game that you know nothing about. It expects you to lose on your first go, but then shows to the player (after their mind has been blown out of their skull) the continue system, showing that the points they've accumulated on each run will go into getting more continues, encouraging the player right then and there that despite the challenge ahead, the game will throw bones to you as long as you keep trying. It tells you on the game over screen "Never give up!" and then a real opening cutscene plays with these gorgeous visuals following with a triumphant tune, turning what was a dark moment into an adventurous one. This is ZeroRanger's true intent: this is a game about overcoming what seems impossible.
What makes ZeroRanger's challenge so approachable is its accessibility. The game's bullet patterns aren't as immediately wild as what you would find in a Touhou or a HellSinker until the later half, and the game gives stages frequent checkpoints and will let you return to a stage you haven't completed upon a failed run, as well as giving you those aforementioned continues the more points you gathered. But what's interesting is despite this, ZeroRanger still doesn't hold back any punches. The game is still relentlessly challenging but it understands the player won't learn its ins and outs by slamming their faces into a wall. These little guidances don't take away any of the tension and challenge found in these stages and will still punish the player accordingly if they fail to keep up. It's still a game that wants you to one day do it all on one run, but it's also a game that teaches the player on each and every stage with each and every boss, or for a player that just wants to enjoy it casually. It's one of the few exceptions of a game that is accessible without compromising its challenge, which I have to commend because developers still to this day haven't found a way to really balance the two without one feeling too handholdy or the other feeling too punishing.
It also helps that ZeroRangers presentation here is just on point. It's got gorgeous detailed sprite work and the whole game sticks to this bold dark green and bright orange color palette that not also looks striking but also makes it impossible for bullets to blend in with the background. You know you gotta shoot the green thing and it spits out contrasting bright orange bullets that are easy to track your eyes with even if you aren't looking at the whole screen. Now granted, late at night the orange can strain my eyes a bit, but it also helps that the game has a plethora of visual settings that you can adjust. Using scanlines helped, I personally like the Hori ones!
Every stage also just impresses me not only visually but auditory. The game has this crunchy sound design when either pelting something with bullets or blowing shit up. It may not be as visceral sounding as every shot from Ikaruga, but it still does its job by making it satisfying to just blow the spaceships up. The soundtrack though? Nothing short of fantastic here. Apparently, the devs were inspired by Undertale's soundtrack to create bangers of their own, and despite it being comprised of MIDI's, the layering and melodies are just incredible here. Every stage I kept saying to myself "Ah this is the best track... actually this is the best track... actually this is the best track... actually this is the-" and so on. (My personal favorite is The Sea Has Returned. Those fucking saxophones give me goosebumps every time man.)
The game's passion doesn't just stop with its challenging gameplay or its gorgeous visuals and head-banging music though, one thing that gripped me was just how effortlessly cool it becomes. It starts out innocently enough on its first two stages, but then you hit stage 3 and the game goes total apeshit mode. If the references to other shmups or games flew over your head, then maybe the 1,000 on-the-nose references to every influential mecha anime ever won't. You'd think it'd be obnoxious to be asked by the devs over and over again "Hey do you like Gurren Lagann!?" or "Hey do you like Neon Genesis Evangelion!?" but they're presented with such a bold earnestness to them that I can't help but feel their inclusions are just warm smiles from the devs every time I see them. It also doesn't take away from the game's own story. By the halfway mark of this 4-hour game, I was completely engrossed by what it was going to throw at me next and was rewarded with a brand new insane set-piece and set of challenges to overcome, climaxing with a finale that was harrowing but beautiful and personal. People weren't kidding when they said this is a game that you don't want to spoil yourself on, so if you haven't gotten around to it, now's your chance to experience this if I've enticed you enough. (If the game feels a bit basic in its first two stages, don't worry, the game introduces a new mechanic that helps you tackle enemies and bullets that rivals Ikaruga's acclaimed polarity system.)
So, despite me beating ZeroRanger, I'm going to be playing it again very soon. Probably numerous times until I can actually 1CC it. I haven't really imposed this challenge on me since wanting to 1CC Super Monkey Ball Expert-Extra, but I feel the need to because like Super Monkey Ball I just found ZeroRanger to be just so damn charming man. This is clearly a passion project through and through and it's so rare to see a game come out with this much love and care put into every minute of gameplay that I can't help but fall in love with it. System Erasure did the impossible by making a game to attract people who aren't normally into shmups while still being a celebration of the genre, so now it's time for me to see the invisible and keep playing this game until I can checkmark that "Mastered" tab because this game just welcomes me with open arms every time I boot it up.
Row row fight the power.