Sometimes I think about the whole "are games art" nonsense, and how we usually attach that term to sad games for dads, but whenever games as art pops into my brain, my first thought is most of Cave's output. Firstly, I'm terribly terrible at these games, but I have this deep love for the trance-like nature these games put me into as a bazilliony-thousand bullets try to blow up my ship or bug or whatever you control in these shooters. It's an overload of flashy lights, colours, sounds, and energetic music. It's a lot, even in the video game space, where 99% of them are just killing stuff to audio/visual noise. I like some Cave games more than others, often preferring the vertical scrollers, and I can't quite put my finger on why this one stands out over a lot of the others, I just know that a lot of it pleases my brain.

Also, you have to blow up giant robots that look like anime girls as widdly guitar solos play... This shit is art.