CAVE looks for magic right off the bat and doesn’t quite find it.

DonPachi serves up a meat and potatoes bullet hell experience in the early days of the subgenre. Being the first game from CAVE and in multiple ways a torchbearer for Toaplan’s legacy, DonPachi has a lot to prove. As a promise of great things to come it gets high marks, but as CAVE’s grand arrival in itself? It leaves me craving something more.

Don't get me wrong, I like DonPachi a lot and there's plenty to appreciate here. This game introduced three iconic ship types of varying strengths and weaknesses, nailed down the series-staple rapid shot/focused laser weapon that existed in embryonic form in V-Five, and brought with it an innovative scoring system based on killing chains of enemies in rapid succession to stack up massive point multipliers. DonPachi tries so much and gets so much right, and it's easy to see the ways that CAVE's later classics stand on its shoulders.

The chain-based scoring system and iconic ship types lend the game a nice flavor, but even with a good flavor DonPachi can be a dry, tough steak sometimes. The stage layouts are fun but a little muted, rarely blasting off into the full-blown controlled chaos and mayhem that the very best STGs trade in. The sound is muddy as hell and the soundtrack isn't hitting. The final two stages of the game are each fully five minutes long (double the length of stage 3), and the encounters within them can't save it all from becoming a bit of a slog. The chain system is a solid blueprint but the timer is so short and strict that it's limiting; the sequel would loosen that timer up a bit, allowing for more intricate routing and the ability to chain entire stages.

CAVE's debut is a very good time, but it has neither the flash and fire of its older cousin Batsugun, nor the refinement of its younger brother DoDonPachi.

That announcer does own though.