To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Balan Kino. The symbolism is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the story will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Balan's creepy outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation- his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of this game, to realise that its not just simple- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Balan truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Balan's existential catchphrase "Emoclew!" which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Yuji Naka's genius wit unfolds itself on their monitors What fools.. how I pity them.

with all this taken into consideration i can safely say that this is the worst video game i have ever played and you should stay as far away from it as humanly possible

When it comes to my experience with the shoot-em-up genre, a lot of it consists of me playing one of these kinds of games when I came across them in an arcade or as a minigame in something much larger rather than going out of my way to play anything specific. Most of my familiarity with the genre involves classics from the late 1970s and 1980s like Space Invaders, Galaga, or Gradius, as well as a few 90s gems like Pop'n TwinBee or Space Harrier, and while I had my fun with them, they never had me playing for very long. The first one of these games that I actually wanted to play from the beginning to the end, though, would be Ikaruga, as its basic gimmick and supposed high difficulty were enough to pique my interest, and thanks to my familiarity with its developer Treasure through Gunstar Heroes and Sin and Punishment, I became even more excited to check it out. My time with the game was quite short, but it was able to leave a huge impression on me, and while I still consider Sin and Punishment to be Treasure's best game, Ikaruga is a very close second.

Ikaruga is easy to understand, difficult to do well in, and even harder to master, but because the game took full advantage of its core mechanics, it ends up being an entirely rewarding experience rather than something rage-inducing. In this game, your ship can switch its polarity to not only do more damage to enemies of the opposite color, but also to absorb the attacks of those with the same polarity as you in order to fill up your energy meter and fire homing shots, as well as to simply not get killed instantly. While the game does still feature the knee-jerk reactions and fast pace that the genre is known for, this one mechanic adds a puzzle-like layer to its gameplay, as having the screen get coated head-to-toe in bullets and enemies of different polarities makes it so that you're less concerned with killing everything on the screen and more about knowing when to shift colors, where to go in order to fill up your energy meter as quickly as possible, and when to shoot out your homing attacks. The deceptive simplicity of Ikaruga meshes perfectly with the tough-as-nails level design, because the chapters and setpieces not only get harder as you go, but they also get more demanding of you and your skills, and having everything click as you figure out what moves to make in order to survive through a combination of memorizing enemy firing patterns and muscle memory is one of the most satisfying feelings I've ever felt in a video game. Despite how hard it can be, Ikaruga never resorted to cheap deaths or unfair tactics and instead made every single death feel like it was my own fault rather than that of the game, and that sense of refinement in both the game's mechanics and its level design made actually getting past that one hurdle and moving on to see what other crazy obstacle the game had in store for me made me immediately want to try again as soon as I ran out of continues rather than getting angry with the game and quitting for the day.

In all three of the games from Treasure that I've played so far, there's been at least one moment where the game fully leans in on the spectacle of its action and allows you to do something really impressive, and what's great about Ikaruga is that practically every moment of its five chapters has the potential for you to achieve that, and pulling one of these moments off rewards you with both a higher score and an unmatched sense of accomplishment. Since the game's central gimmick puts a strong emphasis on its visuals, it would only make sense for Ikaruga to be as stunning to look at as it is fun to play, as the gorgeous artstyle and effective compositions made the bullet hell moments and enemy formations into visual marvels. This especially applies to the game's hectic and immensely creative boss fights, with the battle against Tageri being my favorite moment in the whole game thanks to both how cool it looked and how satisfying it was. Ikaruga also features some amazing music from the game's director, Hiroshi Iuchi, and I especially loved how it was directly tied into the pace of each level. Ikaruga was an absolutely masterful game that not only became one of my favorite efforts from Treasure, but also my favorite shoot-em-up by far, and I really hope that I can check out the game that this served as the spiritual successor to, Radiant Silvergun, at some point.

Although I have seen people talk about the Sega Genesis in terms of its intense competition against the Super Nintendo during the 90s, I rarely saw anyone bring up its actual games. Sure, the original Sonic the Hedgehog games were (and still are) some of the most wildly popular games of that era, and the console also found some popularity with the beat-'em-up crowd with the Streets of Rage series, but whenever I would try to think of must-have exclusives for the Sega Genesis, no other games would come to mind. When I found out about Gunstar Heroes, though, it looked interesting enough for me to want to give it a shot, and I'm glad that I did, because this game honestly surprised me with how good it was.

On the surface, the run-&-gun gameplay of Gunstar Heroes seems simple, but it did quite a lot to make the core gameplay loop feel more deep and rewarding to get a grasp of. For starters, I really liked how the game incorporated its four shot types, as they not only each had their own strengths and weaknesses, but the ability to combine them meant that I was constantly experimenting to see what strategies worked and felt the best. The action in Gunstar Heroes is fast-paced and chaotic, as every moment of each level is spent shooting or dodging enemies that continuously appear on screen, and using the movement abilities and melee attacks made the combat feel even more frantic and engaging. Despite how this game is only made up of seven levels, each one feels distinct and brimming with new ideas, as Gunstar Heroes constantly changes up level structure, control schemes, and boss encounters in ways that feel well thought out and exciting rather than gimmicky. I'd also say that Gunstar Heroes is one of the most visually impressive games of the fourth console generation, as it not only had some excellent sprite work and a vibrant color palette, but the more visually complex boss battles such as Seven Force and the Core Guard System were very impressive to look at while also having a unique sense of depth.

Generally, I had a great time with Gunstar Heroes, but I did have some gripes with it, and most of these had to do with the game's difficulty. For the most part, Gunstar Heroes is a challenging, but reasonable run-&-gun game, but its random difficulty spikes soured my mood at times, as dealing with seven phase boss fights or occasional bullet hell moments felt more like pure frustration rather than a fair challenge. This issue worsens the game's already inconsistent checkpoint system, with some of the harder levels not having them at all. Although I did praise the game's commitment to constantly switching up its level design, the weapon controls for the spaceship in the level "Empire's Space Craft" were very finicky, and it was especially annoying to try and dodge enemy fire and meteorites when I couldn't even aim my vehicle's weapon in the direction that I wanted it to. These issues felt minor in comparison to what Gunstar Heroes did well, though, and I not only really enjoyed this game, but it also made me excited to check out what is arguably Treasure's most famous game, Ikaruga.

This game is an utter work of art in my eyes. I knew that i'd fall head over heels for it from the "Anti-RPG" tagline toted around alone but I didnt think id be so into it that id 100% the damn thing (which may not matter to whoever's reading but Ive never done this before especially with an RPG)

But to the actual points of the game,
This game has aged incredibly fucking well and still holds up all these years later because its way of "meta" and messages about love, morality, and video games as a whole are still so potent to this day. Every character in Moon feels less like youre trying to "Save" them and more like youre crafting your own story about making connections with other people and understanding the different passions felt by the characters, though youre also reminded semi-often that these Are still video game characters.
I think everything about this game is satisfying from its art direction of putting together clay figures,sprites, pre-rendered environments its all so fucking good and mouthwatering its genuinely three favorites of mine all rolled into one. This is was simultaneously such a tender as fuck game but also one that still has that separated degree of wanting you to Not stay super attached

Even if getting everything with no ingame checklist(i used notes app to keep tabs on shit) would probably be next to impossible (for me anyways), I had so much fun seeing each and every little thing the game had to offer and seeing each event play out. I think if i were to pick out any negatives with the game itd be how the action meter Does kinda just stop mattering after a bit but that in it of itself kind of removes the tension from The Hero wandering around and you shift into this state of thinking where you realize this and thats Okay because you arent stressing over grinding before everything ends because youre on the inverse of his progression path.

Also i think the fishing in Moon is actually really cool, except for when im being timed, when im being timed it makes me wish the guy that designed the fishing had their nutsack hair cheesegrated off their body.. but that aside most of the minigames are cute and funny

Final thoughts: kind of all over the place on this because I dont want to talk spoilers and want people to just maybe see this and take a chance on one of the best games ive ever played and will ever play in my life, thank you love-de-lic for giving me a similar feeling that rekindled my love for series such as the MOTHER franchise yet also giving me a completely different kind of warmth that permeates the 4th wall so hard that it hits you like a bullet. Even when I needed help from a guide the payoff felt so good, hell most of the game I discovered by simply bumbling around and doing random shit & it was still a great time

so yeah

that unused ending gets a similar message across from the regular one but wow is it dark as hell

the clis song is kind of cute after you hear it 9 times

i spent like 53 hours playing this game and i checked on avg how long it takes ppl to beat it after and tht shit said "23-25" hours for 100% completion
so that means i spent atleast 10 extra hours on that stupid ass fishing tournament which is... hillarious

the best interactive dont be a shut-in + go touch grass PSA ever

poppas is a cunt

thts all i got, cya

i went into this scared shitless and came out of it with one of the most cerebral thrashing experiences ive ever had in a video game.

It's NOT an understatement when I say this game would be in my top 5 favorite games of all time if it personally hit the same merits to me as my actual top 5, but that is saying something because this game embodies everything that I love about the medium in its own way.

You know the usual with Killer7 if youre reading this, yeah each smith is really fun to play and they have their own unique weapon and weird little superpower going on but what really nails it all
what really brings this all together
is the SOUNDS
the sounds of heaven smiles laughing as they march towards you and you immediately start mashing your button trying to locate where they are
the sounds of the music being gradually sifted out when they approach closer and closer
some with panting breaths and others with weird little indicator noises

That feeling you get when you miss a shot, anxiety hitting you as it marches closer and closer flinching only as if the heaven smiles were stung by bees and not even taking a bullet to the head
their weakpoints sometimes not even being fully apparent and the sound of your reload and empty rounds dropping like marbles on the floor praying you can hit the weakpoint and recenter yourself to deliver that sweet blow
and THAT is what EVERY encounter feels like in this game, its a consistent mix of weird intrigue and unsettling adrenaline swirled together like peanut butter and chocolate bro
It's the palpable atmosphere you can taste thats followed by political critique galore, yet it never even fuckin dwells any particular take or statement for Too Long
Like the game itself was made full in the intention that some dialogue you just mull over, you get crumbs of information and if youre like me and you only played No More Heroes 1 or NONE of Suda51's games, i think youre in the perfect position to be knocked flat on your ass

Some say the story purely doesnt make sense & honestly i could totally see how someone could play start to finish and just be confused the whole time, but i was actively trying to piece things together through the remnant psyches, every cutscene in this damn game felt like a drop of fiji water in my mouth after dragging my tits through a mile of hot asphallt
I genuinely dont think ill ever be playing something this good or this interesting ever again in my entire life

(ErrRMM SO WHY NOT 5/5 STARS? IF U LIKE IT SO MUCH?? ERMMM?)
WELL
the nitty gritty of the gameplay Does have its flaws, like certain smith personalities' upgrades are totally left in the dark to you, and while thats just a given
sometimes that IS annoying,
because every boss in Killer7!! is actually pretty piss easy (in the default modes)
Like yeah youll die maybe once or twice on a couple later ones MAYBE??????? but.. I personally found some smile encounters harder since i prioritized weakpoint above all

And that segways into my other gripe
the map in this game kinda sucks mammoth cock im ngl, I think it Gets The Job Done but i doubt im asking for a lot when i say i wish there was atleast a little dot indicator or something to better display
I was especially wishing for this in the Alter Ego target more than any of the other missions really bc of the backtracking in that one LMAO

And my final gripe is just how turning your fucking head around to look around can't be adjusted, there's no sensitivity toggle for smthin like that and while most of the time its not a Major concern, theres times in the game where theres a smile that drops down..
im mashin scan
i look everywhere mashin scan
I still cant find the smile
and then i get blown tf up
this happened like atleast twice but again, it didnt happen all the time just kind of a pain in the dick. hell i got a game over like maybe three times at most while playing the game too, pants shitting aside i think its actually pretty easy on normal which is a good thing because that means the higher modes offer better skilled players which i am uh.... not sure i am but COOL

Overall uhhh ahah if u havent played this game and ur reading this u should absolutely try this game, ATLEAST do yourself the solid of playing the first mission in full because there is nothing like Killer7 in style, game vibe or anything in the way that it conveys
i am So glad my lil bro pointed me at this shit