Blazing Lazers, while fun and cool in general, is too long and too bipolar in its difficulty to be truly great. It never feels good to coast through the first six-ish levels of a game so easily you can check your phone during play, only to hurtle against a brick wall in the final stages. Recovering from an accidental death early in the game can be tricky but rewarding; however, late in the game it’s extremely close to impossible (huge hitbox + pea shooter + no shield power up + fuckloads of enemies is a recipe for a great time!), and you can just rip through 20 stashed lives in a few minutes if you’re unable to thread the needle.

The bubble stage is deservedly iconic, and I kind of love it. I only wish many of the other environments matched its weirdness. And, the music in stage 9 absolutely bangs.