Another run and gun people tend to vastly overstate the difficulty of (except on Expert but outside of trying to beat the final stage without dying it really isnt that bad), but that and music quality are as far as the similarities between this and Journey to Silius go. This is probably the only game I think about in terms of being a developer’s “debut title” because it is just that impressive how many things are done and done right in this game. The character moveset and level-to-level selection/progression are well ahead of their time, and while the weapon system isn’t groundbreaking it’s extremely well refined, with almost every weapon and combination having unique features and uses. Weapon balance is far from perfect, but it’s good enough on Normal that the average player should be able to clear the game in a couple hours once they commit to one they like, unless it’s Fire+Chaser as that requires a little more practice. What’s really impressive with the weapon balancing is the approach Treasure took to it wrt difficulty selection; kneecapping easymode combinations shows both understanding and consideration of the mechanics they created that were far from common in the early nineties.
Levels and bosses are almost all good, with the major exception of the shmup section, which, while it clearly resembles enough a real shmup to suggest the team’s background at Konami and the possibility (eventually realized) that Treasure could make a great shmup, is unfortunately really fucking boring and also has no checkpoints. The dice palace, despite being a high point in creativity, is also a lull for those having trouble or otherwise grinding out a challenge/new weapon run due to the waiting around you have to do to roll again, but the music is nice and fast forward exists these days so I won’t begrudge it too much.
Aesthetically Gunstar Heroes is pretty charming, but Treasure would quite outdo themselves pretty soon after this. I do really like how the font/look of onscreen text and life totals is something they kept around for so many of their later titles.
Overall, one of few single player games of this short length that I can say would reward any amount of time put into it, even if you don’t aspire to a damageless clear or WR score etc. Not that I plan on coming back to it super often, just that I can’t conceive of playing this game “too many times”, nor “too few” aside from 0. Classic.
Levels and bosses are almost all good, with the major exception of the shmup section, which, while it clearly resembles enough a real shmup to suggest the team’s background at Konami and the possibility (eventually realized) that Treasure could make a great shmup, is unfortunately really fucking boring and also has no checkpoints. The dice palace, despite being a high point in creativity, is also a lull for those having trouble or otherwise grinding out a challenge/new weapon run due to the waiting around you have to do to roll again, but the music is nice and fast forward exists these days so I won’t begrudge it too much.
Aesthetically Gunstar Heroes is pretty charming, but Treasure would quite outdo themselves pretty soon after this. I do really like how the font/look of onscreen text and life totals is something they kept around for so many of their later titles.
Overall, one of few single player games of this short length that I can say would reward any amount of time put into it, even if you don’t aspire to a damageless clear or WR score etc. Not that I plan on coming back to it super often, just that I can’t conceive of playing this game “too many times”, nor “too few” aside from 0. Classic.