Orbital's a really weird game. Not only is its concept more esoteric than the other Bit Generation games, but it has such a strange personality that I can't help but wonder how much love it was given during its development process. In the game you control a small star as it drifts through little galaxies in space. You can either attract yourself to other stars using the A button or repel yourself using the B button. The goal of each stage is to grow your star by absorbing same-size stars (colored blue) so you can catch the yellow goal star in your orbit. Super simple premise, but of course, it's hard to master. Red stars are any stars larger than you and they're placed around the map of each stage. Drifting directly into them will lose you a life, but if you enter their orbit at the right angle, you can temporarily become a satellite and move around within orbit as you please. Stars smaller than you (colored gray) can likewise be caught in your orbit, and these along with the goal star will become extra lives on the next stage.
A lot of the levels will force you to use these mechanics cleverly and create a bit of a game plan. This is especially true with the later ones, but some of the earlier stages also have moments where poorly executed maneuvers will get you ping-ponging your lives away. The invincibility window after getting hit is especially small, so it's best to be smart with your timing. The game also does not do the best job of indicating which star you're being influenced the most by, so at times it can be a bit of a struggle to know whether to push or pull away from your nearest star. Best rule of thumb is to note which stars are the largest and/or the closest to you, as these will have the greatest effect on your motion. I find this version of the game to be more frustrating than the Wii one for these aforementioned reasons, as that version got all of the QoL touches it needed to really shine. Though, I still find the game to be a treat since the premise of the game is very arcade-y and even has a rather in-depth scoring system for that on-the-go, replayable goodness.
Barring the rare bug in the gameplay, this game feels quite polished and has some really lovely visual touches. A few of these only appearing as infrequent easter eggs but most of them taking the form of the pretty backgrounds (complete with parallax scrolling). The game however wouldn't be what it is without Hiromichi Fujiwara's strange yet endearing soundtrack. I mentioned in my Dialhex review that the music in much of the series is almost too good for the GBA, and this game is one such example of that. All of the music and sound effects in the game are streamed directly off of the cartridge, much like what Sin & Punishment did on the N64. The result is an extremely compressed sound, even after being ripped from the data. Oddly enough though, this doesn't detract from any of the music at all. It's peaceful for the most part, but equally jarring at times for contrast (like the theme for the Final Galaxy or the second Ending). Thankfully, Fujiwara did upload a few of the original masters of these songs to his Soundcloud, so give them a listen there after you finish the game. He's also got uploads of his songs from Orbient, Dotstream, Boxlife, and Zengage on there as well if you scroll way down.
The original Orbital is a strange game, but that's indeed one of its strengths. Add to it that it's got some unique and quality gameplay, because you're gonna have some fun. All 40 stages can be beaten in a couple hours; might be faster if you've got the proper skills, as it's a tough challenge otherwise. And finally, don't forget you can only get to the final stages if you collect the crescent star in each stage (that's the moon-shaped one, if you bump into it you'll have to restart the stage to try again).
Bit Generations series reviews:
Dotstream⠀⠀⠀(Start)
Boundish⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Dialhex⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Coloris⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Orbital⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Digidrive⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Soundvoyager⠀⠀⠀ᐁ (End)
A lot of the levels will force you to use these mechanics cleverly and create a bit of a game plan. This is especially true with the later ones, but some of the earlier stages also have moments where poorly executed maneuvers will get you ping-ponging your lives away. The invincibility window after getting hit is especially small, so it's best to be smart with your timing. The game also does not do the best job of indicating which star you're being influenced the most by, so at times it can be a bit of a struggle to know whether to push or pull away from your nearest star. Best rule of thumb is to note which stars are the largest and/or the closest to you, as these will have the greatest effect on your motion. I find this version of the game to be more frustrating than the Wii one for these aforementioned reasons, as that version got all of the QoL touches it needed to really shine. Though, I still find the game to be a treat since the premise of the game is very arcade-y and even has a rather in-depth scoring system for that on-the-go, replayable goodness.
Barring the rare bug in the gameplay, this game feels quite polished and has some really lovely visual touches. A few of these only appearing as infrequent easter eggs but most of them taking the form of the pretty backgrounds (complete with parallax scrolling). The game however wouldn't be what it is without Hiromichi Fujiwara's strange yet endearing soundtrack. I mentioned in my Dialhex review that the music in much of the series is almost too good for the GBA, and this game is one such example of that. All of the music and sound effects in the game are streamed directly off of the cartridge, much like what Sin & Punishment did on the N64. The result is an extremely compressed sound, even after being ripped from the data. Oddly enough though, this doesn't detract from any of the music at all. It's peaceful for the most part, but equally jarring at times for contrast (like the theme for the Final Galaxy or the second Ending). Thankfully, Fujiwara did upload a few of the original masters of these songs to his Soundcloud, so give them a listen there after you finish the game. He's also got uploads of his songs from Orbient, Dotstream, Boxlife, and Zengage on there as well if you scroll way down.
The original Orbital is a strange game, but that's indeed one of its strengths. Add to it that it's got some unique and quality gameplay, because you're gonna have some fun. All 40 stages can be beaten in a couple hours; might be faster if you've got the proper skills, as it's a tough challenge otherwise. And finally, don't forget you can only get to the final stages if you collect the crescent star in each stage (that's the moon-shaped one, if you bump into it you'll have to restart the stage to try again).
Bit Generations series reviews:
Dotstream⠀⠀⠀(Start)
Boundish⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Dialhex⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Coloris⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Orbital⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Digidrive⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Soundvoyager⠀⠀⠀ᐁ (End)