My favorite games of 2018: Black Bird (Switch) and Sushi Striker (3DS)

I know what at least a few of you are thinking right now: you put more than 100 hours into Octopath Traveler and published numerous posts about it, but didn't pick it as your favorite game of 2018?

Nope, I didn't.

Which isn't to suggest I disliked Octopath Traveler. On the contrary, I loved it. Sure, a few aspects annoyed me here and there, but those flaws did little to keep me from thoroughly enjoying its sprawling adventure. (Read my write-up, "10 things I adore about Octopath Traveler," for more on that particular subject.)

As much as that SaGa-esque RPG delighted me, though, it wasn't one of my two favorite games of this year. That honor belongs to Black Bird for Switch and Sushi Striker for the 3DS.

What's so special about this pair of titles? Here are a few thoughts:

Fabulous Black Bird fan art by @croppar

Black Bird

This Onion Games release doesn't provide the most appealing of first impressions. Before you've actually played it, it looks like little more than a "dark" Fantasy Zone rip-off that costs $20. Thankfully, Black Bird is far more than a simple clone of Sega's classic looped-level shoot 'em up.

First, there are the bullet-hell elements. These are most obvious during the game's four boss fights, but they're woven into the stages that precede them, too.

Illustration counting down to Black Bird's release,
by @momenko774

Also, there's its score-attack focus. In other words, the point while playing Black Bird isn't to finish its small handful of levels. Rather, the point is to improve your high score and climb the worldwide leaderboard.

To accomplish that, you have to wrap your head around and come to grips the game's many systems--bombs, combos, collectible gems, and more.

Finally, there's Black Bird's soundtrack. It deserves all the praise that can be heaped upon it simply for being so sonically impressive and interesting. (One minute it's marvelously vaudevillian, the other it's otherworldly operatic à la "that scene" in The Fifth Element.) That's not all it brings to the table, though. In addition, it times the introduction of most enemies to the backing tunes in a way that's reminiscent of--if not as interactive as--ASCII's Otocky for the Famicom.

Curious to learn more about why I love Black Bird so much? Check out this post of mine. Also, if you need some help conquering this curious shmup, scroll through my "10 Black Bird tips, tricks, and tactics" write-up. And maybe this one, too: "How to beat Black Bird's final boss in 'True' mode"

Sushi Striker's protagonists, by @meshi3

Sushi Striker

I guess you could say it took me a while to warm up to this indieszero-developed title.

Actually, I was gaga over it after Nintendo unveiled it during E3 2017. After playing the demo the company made available via the Switch eShop early this year, though, my interest in Sushi Striker nearly fell off a cliff. It felt far too frantic for my liking. And it seemed to lack the kind of surprising depth and strategy I usually look for in puzzlers.

Still, I wanted to support its release, so I kept my pre-order for the physical 3DS version of the game.

After putting a couple of hours into the cartridge that made its way to my doorstep in mid-June, I was glad I did. For starters, the final product quickly proved to be a lot less superficial and straightforward than the demo suggested would be the case.

Celia, possibly my favorite Sushi Striker character,
by @carmeladansen

Also, a few of the components I wasn't sure about while playing the demo's three measly stages--the characters, the cutscenes, and the soundtrack being prime examples--displayed their true, eye-popping colors in Sushi Striker's full form.

To learn more about this game's many positive attributes, read my post, "Five reasons I've fallen head over heels in love with Nintendo's Sushi Striker."

Not in a reading mood? Maybe this'll sway you to at least consider picking up a copy of Sushi Striker sometime soon: I devoted more than 51 hours to the 3DS iteration before tearing myself away from it. (And after finishing its lengthy story mode.)

Oh, and I enjoyed the experience so much I bought it for my Switch, too.

So there you have it: my absolute favorite games of 2018. That's not to say I hated every other title I played this year. In fact, I liked a handful of them nearly as much as this pair. Which ones am I talking about here? I'll spill the beans in my next write-up.

In the meantime, what were your favorite games of 2018? Tell me all about them in the comments section below.

How to beat Black Bird's final boss in 'True' mode

If you're anything like me, your first few meetings with the final boss of Black Bird's "True" mode won't end in success.

Oh, hell, who am I kidding? If you're anything like me, your first, I don't know, 30 meetings with it won't end in success.

In fact, I put around 25 hours into this Onion Games release before I saw the credit roll in this mode. What changed? To be honest, I found and watched video footage of someone else fighting this shape-changing baddie that clued me into a few mistakes I was making.

If you're having a similarly difficult time toppling this Black Bird adversary and you're not sure why, the following tips should help.



1. Try your best to reach the boss while in the bird-ship's fully powered-up form. (It should look like mine does in the screenshot above. Also, it should shoot large, circular bullets straight ahead and launch homing missiles that look like little crows from the side.) Believe me when I say this will make the task ahead a lot easier than it'll be if you arrive on the scene without enough ammo.

2. If possible, don't use any bombs during the first two portions of the fight. Should that not be an option for you at this point, at least save a couple of them for the battle's third phase. (Need some specific advice here? Let me know in the comments section below and I'll do my best to help.)

3. Speaking of which, I pretty much always drop a couple of bombs during this brawl's third segment. You'll know you've reached it when feathers--or whatever they're supposed to be--begin to rain down from the top of the screen. It's possible to avoid even the ones this multi-faceted foe launches at you, of course, but doing so takes more skill than I currently possess. At any rate, unleashing a bomb just as this iteration of Black Bird's final boss attempts to pelt you with projectiles not only keeps you from being hit, but it also keeps you from losing your precious homing missiles. (Assuming you're still fully powered-up.)



4. Those of you who are used to Black Bird's "Normal" mode, or those of you who've yet to get past this portion of the "True" mode's last fight, are in for a bit of a surprise now. Not only isn't the scuffle over (as it would be if you were playing the game's easier setting), but it's got two more phases. Thankfully, the first is a breeze. All you need to do during it is avoid the green prisms that surround and then try to squeeze you. The only advice I can give you here is to stay still until the objects lock into position, then move in whatever direction is needed to avoid being pinched. Rinse and repeat until just one of those little buggers remains.

5. Enjoy that rather calm segment of Black Bird's final fight while it lasts, by the way. The fifth and final portion of this clash is the toughest and most chaotic one yet. Or it is until you realize it's not nearly as nightmarish as the game wants you to believe it is. Basically, you've got to deal with two different attack patterns this time around. During the first, the boss inhales a bunch of asteroids from the edges of the screen. Your focus here needs to be on avoiding those rotating, damage-dealing boulders. The only time you should change that tactic is when you lose your homing missiles. If you ever find yourself in that situation, go ahead and drop a bomb--assuming you have any in your arsenal. That should return you to fully powered-up status. And if you don't have any of those explosives? Shoot the green planetoids. They'll drop gems that will produce the same result.



6. The second attack pattern of this phase is the polar opposite of the first. Instead of inhaling objects from the edge of the screen, the boss spews them outward from the center of it. This is where most people freak a bit. I know I did early on. Don't follow in my footsteps. Instead, stick to one side of this many-staged adversary. When she unleashes her fury (you'll know it when you see it), stay close to the line of red "bullets" while shooting the other projectiles she sends your way. Oh, and only use bombs here if you absolutely need to do so. They won't help you power up, so save them for the first segment of the fight.

7. You'll cycle through these patterns until you've died or you've defeated the boss, so get comfortable. And make sure you aim at least some of your bullets at Black Bird's biggest baddie during this Groundhog Day-esque segment of the final battle. This is why it's so important to start the fight fully powered-up. The homing missile-bird thingies that come along with that allow you to pick away at the game's antagonist even when you're not facing her.



8. Fill "Amoris Nova" (apparently that's the name of this iteration of the last boss) with enough ammo and she'll finally explode--and in a fairly satisfying way, if I do say so myself. What's next? Why, the game's score-tally screen and credit roll-cum-ending sequence, of course. Congratulations!

9. One last thing: should you wind up with fewer than 25 million points, you won't see the game's true ending.

If you're struggling with that task, check out my post full of Black Bird tips, tricks, and tactics.

See also: 'Onion Games' Black Bird is the dark Fantasy Zone clone I didn't know I wanted or needed'

Ten Black Bird tips, tricks, and tactics

As my last post here hopefully makes clear, I like Onion Games' homage to Fantasy Zone, Black Bird, a whole heck of a lot.

I like this Switch shoot 'em up (though it's also available via Steam) so much, in fact, that I've put more than 16 hours into it since I bought it a few weeks ago.

That means I'm a bona fide Black Bird pro, right? I wouldn't go that far. My high score at the moment is a smidgen above 15 million, which puts me around 265th on the worldwide leaderboard. (This is just among Switch players, by the way. The Switch and PC leaderboards are separate.)

Still, I'd say I know my way around the game pretty well at this point.

Black Bird fan art by @karinto_angrm

That's what prompted me to publish the write-up you're reading now. Well, that and the fact that I've yet to come across a single English article or blog post or FAQ that shares tips, tricks, or tactics with players who are struggling to wrap their brains (and thumbs) around Black Bird's many gameplay elements.

So, that's what you're getting here: every hint, tip, trick, and tactic I could think of after obsessively playing Black Bird for the last 15 or so days.

1. First and foremost, never forget that only the black bird's eye is vulnerable to attack--This is part bullet-hell shmup, after all. And that kind of thing (making just a small portion of your "ship" assailable) is par for the course for the sub-genre. Keeping that in mind should make Black Bird's boss battles, in particular, a lot easier--or at least a little less stressful.

2. Don't bother hammering the shoot button--Save your thumb a lot of discomfort and even some cramping and just hold it down. Believe me, doing so won't make playing Black Bird a bore. You and your other thumb will have plenty to do--and plenty to worry about--even if your right one remains static. (Well, except for when it shifts positions to hit the "X" button and unleash an enemy-obliterating bomb.)

3. The key to combos is to keep shooting enemies (and to not get shot yourself while doing so)--You've heard this game has combos, right? Well, they're one of the keys to getting the highest of high scores. Actually, they may be the key to getting the highest of high scores. At any rate, starting a combo is easy: just shoot and kill one of Black Bird's many enemies. (Yes, even though they're cute.) To keep a combo going, though, you have to continue shooting and killing them.

Black Bird fan art by @Taite283

But don't dawdle. You see that yellow gauge sitting just below the score in the upper-right corner of the screen? If that empties, your combo comes to an abrupt end. The same happens if even one of your foes' bullets hits your precious plumage mid-combo, by the way. So do your best to keep those projectiles at, uh, wing's length as you go about your murderous business.

4. And the key to upgrading your weapon is to keep grabbing gems--Sadly, I can't tell you how many of these gems, dropped by felled baddies, you need to grab to successfully upgrade your weapon. So grab as many as you can as you zigzag your way through Black Bird's wrap-around stages.

5. Try to balance the number of enemies you kill with the amount of time you spend on a level--Down enough baddies during a stage and you'll be awarded a ton of bonus points. How many is "enough"? It depends on the stage. You'll know you've succeeded in that regard, though, when the game offers up a "superb!" while tallying your results. You also want to shoot for "superb!" when it comes to your level-completion time. Achieve that and the bonus points you netted for your enemy kills are tripled. (They're doubled if you get a "great!")

6. Use your bombs wisely--During my first handful of Black Bird playthroughs, I saved these eye-popping and often ear-splitting explosives for the final boss, mostly to make its last form a little easier. I still hold on to a few for that purpose, but now I use some within the levels that precede the climactic battle, too. Anyway, to get the most bang for your buck, don't drop one of these weapons of mass destruction until you've maxed out your combo meter. (You'll know this has happened when its text turns purple.) Also, I'd recommend against wasting any bombs on the first three bosses--even while tackling the game's "True" mode. With a bit of practice and patience, you should be able to beat them using regular bullets--or whatever shoots out of the eponymous fowl's beak.

7. Speaking of bombs, you can't have more than six in your inventory--And you can't have more than eight life bars at any one time. Keep that in mind as you collect the power-ups that pop out of Black Bird's grinning "curse pots." (They're the little brown bowl-shaped objects that tend to be hidden beneath the dirt, behind doors, and among tree branches.) You only get a handful of points for collecting another after hitting those limits, so aim for a different power-up instead.

8. Patience really is a virtue, especially during Black Bird's boss fights--All of this game's bosses do their best to tease you into being more aggressive than maybe you should be. The third one, Paladon, is a good example. If you go into that tussle with all guns blazing, your life meter is sure to suffer for it. A much better tactic is to stay calm and to time your moves and shots with the openings it eventually offers up. In other words, don't rush these battles.

Black Bird fan art by @r_stk

9. Don't ignore practice mode--It's a good place to come to grips with the game's many components and to practice strategies without committing to a full playthrough. Sure, you can do the same in Black Bird's "normal" and "true" modes if you want, but why waste your time with that when there's a far more efficient option?

10. If you see something sticking out of the ground, shoot it!--Why? For starters, it may be a curse pot that's just waiting to provide you with a power-up. On the other hand, it could be "Aspara-san," the wonderfully strange character that's part asparagus stalk and part rocket. Simply unearthing this guy will net you 10,000 points, but that's not the reason I'm suggesting you go out of your way to free him from the dirt. So what is? If you can manage to expose the tips of one or more Aspara-sans and then use a bomb to pull them the rest of the way out--and into a swarm of enemies, preferably--you'll be rewarded with a ton of points. (Thank you to @topherocious for bringing this tip to my attention!)

Have any of you played Black Bird? If so, share any of the hints, tips, tricks, or tactics you've amassed thus far in the comments section of this post.

Onion Games' Black Bird is the dark Fantasy Zone clone I didn't know I wanted or needed

When Onion Games announced earlier this year that its next release--after the pair of mobile curiosities known as Dandy Dungeon and Million Onion Hotel--would be a PC and Switch shoot 'em up called Black Bird, I was nearly beside myself with excitement.

Not only did I thoroughly enjoy the time I spent with the aforementioned Dandy Dungeon in 2017, but I had similarly thrilling experiences with many of company founder Yoshiro Kimura's previous offerings--Chulip for PS2 and Little King's Story for Wii chief among them.



My enthusiasm for Black Bird waned a bit after seeing the game's first real trailer a few weeks ago. Not only did it look a little too close to Sega's Fantasy Zone for my liking, but it also looked a little too much like a bullet-hell shmup. (The only bullet-hell shmup that's tripped my trigger to date is the gay, smutty Sugar Shooter.)

So, I didn't buy the Switch version of Black Bird upon release as planned. And at that point, I wasn't sure I'd ever pick it up. A few days later, though, I apprehensively plopped down $20 on it anyway. Why? For starters, I'd been looking forward to it for so long that ignoring it seemed wrong. Plus, I felt like both Onion Games and Kimura deserved the benefit of the doubt. Neither has done me wrong yet, so why start second-guessing them now?

Boy, am I glad I went ahead with the purchase. In the 10 days since I bought Black Bird, I've put more than nine hours into it. That's quite an accomplishment when you consider the game has just four stages and its normal mode can be finished in about 20 minutes.



So why do I keep returning to it over and over again? Here are five reasons I'd say are as relevant as any:

Black Bird may be short, but it has a lot of depth--This game may not have a lot of raw content, but it makes up for that by having a lot of components. There are weapon upgrades. Combos. Collectible gems. Bombs. End-of-level bonuses. And they're all intertwined in a way that takes some time to understand. (Hell, I still haven't wrapped my head around a few of them--and I've played Black Bird for nearly 10 hours.) Given that, I actually think this game's brevity is a plus. It allows you to come to grips with its many elements without asking for too much of a commitment.

When everything "clicks," it feels like you've entered another plane of existence--OK, so maybe that's overstating things a bit. I don't think saying it's easy to "get into a zone" while playing Black Bird is hyperbolic, though. I often feel like I'm on autopilot--and I mean that in a good way--whenever I make another run at a high score. (And let there be no doubt: moving up the online leaderboard, and not reaching the end credits, is the focus here.) Is that due to its entrancing soundtrack? Maybe, but I think there's more to it than that, too--like all of the mesmerizing details that are crammed into each level and the sheer number of enemies and projectiles that careen around the screen at any given moment.



Black Bird's amazing soundtrack is like an extension of its gameplay--Don't take that the wrong way; the music here isn't interactive like it is in, say, ASCII's Otocky for the Famicom. Still, Black Bird's gameplay and soundtrack feel intertwined in a way that's unique and unusual for the medium. Even if that weren't the case, though, the tunes here would be well worth trumpeting. Besides the poppy, Beatles-esque theme song, they're so otherworldly vaudevillian they'd surely make Danny Elfman proud.

Some of the enemy designs in this game are so cute I almost feel bad shooting them to smithereens--The key word here is "almost." After all, they'll gleefully gun you down if given the chance. Still, there's no denying most of them are downright adorable. I especially like the ones that bob around the screen with colorful balloons tied around their waists. (I'm also pretty fond of "Aspara-san," who is part asparagus, part rocket, and mumbles "let's kill something" as he launches himself into the air.)



I appreciate that Black Bird's story is bleak--Or at least it seems to be bleak. You see, Black Bird's story is told through painfully short between-stage vignettes that feature no words or voices. (Aside from the occasional exclamation or guffaw, that is.) Still, those bits and pieces make it clear this is no childish fairy tale. A case in point: the game begins with a little girl falling over dead on the street as people pass by without missing a step. After an old man pokes her corpse with a cane, she transforms into the eponymous fowl.

Clearly I'm in love with this peculiar, pint-sized shoot 'em up. That doesn't mean I think everybody will feel the same way about it. If you're not a big fan of the genre, you may not get your money's worth from Black Bird--especially given its $20 price tag. Those of you who fall head over heels for shmups, though, should download it to your system of choice (PC or Switch) as soon as you have the funds.

A few thoughts on Space Dave! now that I've put nearly 10 hours into it

I've got to be honest: my initial impressions of Space Dave weren't great.

You see, one of the things I liked most about this game's predecessor, Woah Dave, was its simplicity--and I mean that in terms of its graphics as well as its gameplay.

That's not how I would've described Space Dave's graphics and gameplay after booting it up for the first time a few weeks back. Actually, I'm not sure I'd describe them that way now.

After all, this Switch eShop game's visuals are a strange, and often kind of off-putting, mix of really blocky and somewhat less blocky backdrops and sprites. (Think Atari 2600 on the one end, and NES on the other.) Also, there's a lot more going on with Space Dave's gameplay than what was offered up in the relatively straightforward Woah Dave. (This is despite the fact you can boil Space Dave's premise down to "use whatever means necessary to clear each screen of enemies.")



Although it took me a while to develop an appreciation for Space Dave's looks, I came around to its deeper-and-more-strategic-than-it-first-appears alien-shooting action pretty darn quickly. In fact, just a handful of 15- or 20-minute stints was all I needed to realize it's not only a worthy successor to Woah Dave, but to the games--like Space Invaders and Galaga--that inspired it as well.

Here are a few reasons why I've since become so smitten with Space Dave that I've dumped just under 10 hours into it:

It's the perfect Switch game for when you've only got five or 10 minutes of free time--Sure, there have been times when I've spent 30 minutes or even an hour with Space Dave. Usually, though, I play it for 10 minutes here, 15 minutes there. If that doesn't sound like much, consider that you can make a good number--five? maybe 10?--of high-score runs in those scant few minutes. Or you can if you're like me and you abort a run if you die or stupidly allow a descending alien (à la Galaga) to crash into the ground and create a lava pit before you reach a certain point.



Space Dave also is a great game if you want to forget about time completely--That's because it's one of those "just one more level" kind of games. Or maybe I should say "just one more run" kind of games--as in, just one more run at a high score. I don't know how other people are playing Space Dave, but for me, every time I hit "start" I do so either to move up one of its online leaderboards or to top my previous best effort. It's possible to "beat" or finish the game--at least I think it is; I've yet to conquer it myself--but seeing its credit roll isn't my main goal. And yet I continue to plug away at it, day after day. In other words, prepare to become blissfully addicted if you decide to plunk down some of your hard-earned cash on Space Dave.

Its soundtrack is sublime--And not only that, but it perfectly complements the game's frenetic on-screen action. Admittedly, Space Dave's soundtrack is so similar to Woah Dave's that I had to ask creator Jason Cirillo if the two were one and the same when I interviewed him a couple of weeks ago (related aside: they're different), but don't take that to be a criticism. For me, Space Dave's music is one of its many highlights. It (and its accompanying audio) makes me feel like I'm playing the game in a packed arcade during the 1980s--and that's only ever a good thing.



I've had a blast trying to discover all of its secrets--At first, Space Dave's gameplay can seem pretty basic. (Not as basic as Woah Dave, mind you, but still basic enough.) You can move Dave left and right, you can make him jump and even hover, and you can shoot at the aliens that flit and twirl overhead. Give it a bit of time, though, or "cheat" and do a little Internet sleuthing, and you're sure to discover some of the secrets that make playing Space Dave even more thrilling--and strategic--than it was initially. One example: if you leap into the wave that erupts from one of the game's POW-like "SPACE" blocks, it'll temporarily make you invincible as well as boost the power of your weapon.

If you'd like to know about more of Space Dave's secrets, tricks, tips, and advice, by the way, stay tuned. I'm prepping a blog post that'll cover all four.

In the meantime, I'd highly recommend buying Space Dave if you've got the dough ($9.99) and if you've got room on your Switch. It's a wonderful evolution of single-screen arcade shoot 'em ups like Galaga and Space Invaders. Plus, if you're like me, you'll probably still be playing it this time next year. How many games can that be said about these days?

Note: both Woah Dave's and Space Dave's names actually end in an exclamation point, like this--Space Dave! That can make writing about either game a bit of a nightmare, though, so in an attempt to make my life (and yours) a little easier, I axed the exclamation point throughout this post.

My 10 Most Influential Games: Panzer Dragoon (Sega Saturn)

Truth be told, I've never been a fan of rail shooters. You know, the type of shmup--or shoot 'em up--where the ship or flying character moves and shoots into the screen while the game pushes them along a set path.

A few examples, if the description above isn't enough: 1985's arcade classic, Space Harrier, 1987's Thunder Blade and 1988's Galaxy Force, among many, many others.

Don't get me wrong, I love the looks and even the general idea of each of those titles. Their gameplay has never appealed to me, though--or maybe I should say their gameplay has always confounded me. Moving around a screen while simultaneously shooting into it just feels weird to me.

Still, when I bought a Japanese Sega Saturn system in early 1995 (embarrassing aside: I paid about $600 for the console, one controller and a copy of Virtua Fighter), I also bought Panzer Dragoon.

Admittedly, I didn't realize Panzer Dragoon was a rail shooter at the time. I had a feeling that was the case, thanks to all the articles I'd read in magazines like DieHard GameFan and Electronic Gaming Monthly, but I wasn't absolutely sure.

I wasn't disappointed when I finally spent some time with this particular into-the-screen shooter, thankfully. Its softly colored visuals, dynamic camera positions and majestic soundtrack helped acclimate me to it, I'm sure, but they only would've taken me so far had Panzer Dragoon's gameplay been a total bore.

I guess some folks may describe this Sega product using that term, but not me. In fact, I've found its gameplay exhilarating since day one. Chiefly responsible for that, I think, is the fluid movement (for the time, at least) of the blue-and-pink dragon that serves as the protagonist's airborne "steed."

That movement gives Panzer Dragoon's gameplay an element of depth I thought was lacking in older rail shooters--I have a hard time judging where I am in relation to oncoming enemies in the vast majority of those games--and that was key to me finally enjoying one of this shmup sub-genre's offerings.

Did this surprising love affair prompt me to seek out, play and even lust after other into-the-screen shoot 'em ups?

To an extent, yes. I certainly found 1997's Star Fox 64 for the Nintendo 64 far more appealing than I would have if Panzer Dragoon hadn't pushed my buttons, so to speak. And the same could be said for 2000's Sin and Punishment and 2001's Rez.

Now, I wouldn't go so far as to say rail shooters have become one of my favorite game genres thanks to this early Sega Saturn title, but I definitely enjoy them a lot more than I did before I took it for a spin. For that reason alone, I think declaring Panzer Dragoon one of my most influential games makes perfect sense.

See also: previous '10 Most Influential Game' posts about The 7th Guest, Balloon Kid, Bubble Bobble, Final Fantasy V and Kid Icarus

Nice Package! (Parodius Da!, PC Engine)

Before I became aware of games like Konami's Parodius Da!, I wasn't all that interested in the shoot 'em up (or shmup) genre.

Sure, early examples like Galaga and Gradius and even R-Type were well crafted and provided a certain thrill, but their deep-space, sci-fi settings left me kind of cold.



The second I laid eyes on titles like Parodius Da! and Detana!! TwinBee, though, I knew those chills--the bad sort, at least--were a thing of the past.

Although TwinBee and other, similar, games like Cotton, Hana Taaka Daka!?, PC Denjin and Twinkle Star Sprites, give me the warm fuzzies, none of them do so as strongly as the game that basically defines the entire cute 'em up genre.

Naturally I'm talking about Parodius Da!

What's so great about it? For starters, there are the visuals. Calling them "candy coated" or "kaleidoscopic" or anything of the sort doesn't quite do them justice, in my opinion.



So what does do them justice? How about "so crazy and colorful they'd make the Ringling Bros. proud."

OK, that's maybe a bit over the top, but if it conjures up thoughts of flying penguins, bathing octopuses, sunglasses-wearing moai statues and other circus-esque entities, well, it's done its job.

There's a lot more to Parodius Da! than its graphics, though. Nearly as important to its stature as a top-shelf cute 'em up is its wacky soundtrack, the bulk of which consists of remixes of classical music.

The cherry on top: this entry, like pretty much all of the Parodius series' entries, hits the gameplay sweet spot in that it's equal parts fun and challenging.



And then, of course, there's this title's packaging. I wouldn't say the cover art produced for the PC Engine port is as stellar as the imagery created for the Super Famicom one, but it's still far better than OK.

Its HuCard label and manual innards are similarly sensational--as evidenced by the snapshots above--while the back of its case is just so-so. Oh, well, you can't always have it all, right?

See also: 'Nice Package!' posts about Pac-Land, KiKi KaiKai and Hana Taaka Daka!?

Manual Stimulation (Hana Taaka Daka!?, PC Engine)

There's just something about a Taito-made PC Engine instruction manual.

And I'm not just talking about the colorful illustrations that nearly always serve as their covers, like they do in the case of Parasol Stars or the shmup that serves as the focus of this post.



In fact, I'd go so far as to say I usually prefer the interior pages of your typical Taito-produced PC Engine manual to its cover--and that's saying something considering the interiors of most of these booklets are in black and white. (Check out the one that accompanies copies of the company's KiKi KaiKai for more evidence.)

How can a handful of black-and-white spreads be so appealing? The opening salvo in the Hana Taaka Daka!? manual (see below) should go a long way toward answering that burning question.



Still not convinced? Keep reading--and scrolling. Like almost all of Taito's PC Engine instruction manuals (the above-mentioned Parasol Stars and the company's Rainbow Islands CD-ROM2 port are noteworthy exceptions), the one made for Hana Taaka Daka!? is crammed full of glorious, color-free art.



Actually, simply calling what appears throughout this particular pamphlet "art" is kind of selling it short, if you ask me. Just look at the sample pages above and below.

The imagery on offer here is a lot more fun and interesting than the boring, approved-by-committee concoctions that fill most other game manuals--especially modern ones.





Of course, there's more to this mini Hana Taaka Daka!? how-to guide than fabulous, manga-inspired visuals. There's also a bunch of information about the game's story, characters, modes, items and enemies.



Thankfully, cartoonish illustrations accompany all of those explanations.



That's great for comic lovers, of course, but it's also great for folks who don't know a lick of Japanese. How so? The drawings in question do a surprisingly good job of cluing in all readers--even ones who only understand English, for example--as to how Hana Taaka Daka!? operates.



As suggested earlier, this far from the only Taito-designed manual to showcase such art. Want to see a few others? Check out my "Manual Stimulation" posts devoted to the PC Engine ports of Don Doko Don, Mizubaku Daibouken and The New Zealand Story.

Also, you can peruse all of the "Manual Stimulation" posts I've published over the years--and, believe me, I've published a ton of them--by clicking here. And if that thrills you? Why not scroll through all of my "Nice Package!" write-ups which, as you probably can guess from that series' title, feature information about and photos of a particular game's packaging (including its outer box or case, its cartridge or disc and its instruction manual).

Nice Package! (Hana Taaka Daka!?, PC Engine)

It may surprise some of you to hear I only recently bought a copy of Hana Taaka Daka!?

After all, this oddly titled game--which I believe translates to Long-Nosed Goblin in English--is a PC Engine game. Also, it’s a cute ‘em up (aka a cute shmup, à la Konami’s Parodius or TwinBee series). And then there’s the fact that it was made by the wizards at Taito.



So why did I fail to pick it up until a month or two ago? Because despite all of the above, Hana Taaka Daka!? has long rubbed me the wrong way.

For starters, the game’s protagonist is a bit of an eyesore. Plus, he’s annoyingly large when fully powered-up. Toss into this mix a difficulty level that’s often locked at “frustrating,” and you have a HuCard that can be hard to embrace—despite its pastel backdrops and impressive pedigree.

What’s changed? I don’t know, to tell you the truth. I mean, there’s no question my dislike of the long-nosed goblin sprite has softened quite a bit in the last year or so, but that alone wasn’t responsible for my Hana Taaka Daka!? turnaround.

Also helping matters is that I gave in and accepted the fact that this shooter is tough as nails. Although I usually like it when games put up a fight—as opposed to rolling over and letting you pummel them—I’m less of a fan of it in shmup form, for some reason.



And then there’s this game’s cover art and instruction manual—which, as many of you surely already know, are one in the same (or at least connected) when it comes to PC Engine releases.

The former has caused me to salivate since I first came across it thanks to its sumi-e style and splash of color. In true Taito fashion, though, the many pages of paper that sit beneath that beautiful cover image are lookers, too.



Don't believe me? Check out past "Manual Stimulation" posts devoted to booklets made for the company's GameBoy port of Bubble Bobble, PC Engine port of KiKi KaiKai and Famicom port of Rainbow Islands.

Or, you know, look at the illustrations showcased in the snapshots above and below.



Don't worry, I'll prep and publish a "Manual Stimulation" post about the Hana Taaka Daka!? instructional pamphlet shortly as well.

In the meantime, have any of you played this quirky PC Engine title? If so, share your thoughts--good or bad--in the comments section that follows.

See also: previous 'Nice Package!' posts about Rainbow Islands (Famicom) and KiKi KaiKai (PC Engine)

One more reason to buy Sega 3D Fukkoku Archives 2 if you own a Japanese 3DS (hint: it involves Fantasy Zone)

OK, so you'll need more than a Japanese 3DS system and a copy of Sega 3D Fukkoku Archives 2 to take advantage of the "reason" mentioned in the header above.

Specifically, you'll need to own a copy of the first Sega 3D Fukkoku Archives, too.

Why? Because people who own--and have played, for at least a second or two--both Sega 3D Fukkoku Archives 3DS games will gain access to the Sega Mark III (aka Master System) version of Fantasy Zone that's been updated with FM sound.



If that last bit means nothing to you, read this post on segaretro.org. Also, watch the video above to see (and hear) this iteration of the original Fantasy Zone in action.

So, with that, now features 10 old Sega games, including Altered Beast, Fantasy Zone (Sega Mark III port), Fantasy Zone 2 (Sega Mark III), Fantasy Zone 2 DX, Galaxy Force II, Maze Walker (Sega Mark III), Power Drift, Puyo Puyo Tsu, Sonic the Hedgehog and Thunder Blade.

You've got a few options if you want to play this version of Sega's pastel-tinged shmup, by the way. If you already own the first Sega 3D Fukkoku Archives, you can simply buy the second compilation, which is due out on Dec. 23. And if you don't own either title, you can pick up the "double pack" that will be released on the same day.

(Via famitsu.com and neogaf.com)

Second Chances: Magical Chase (PC Engine)

To be completely honest, this cute--and absurdly costly--PC Engine shoot 'em up wasn't even on my radar when I first considered which games to play as part of this month's #Shmuptember festivities.

After fellow blogger Retro King Simon (of Red Parsley fame) mentioned it in the comments section of this recent post, though, I decided I should give it a second chance.

You may be wondering why I needed to give it a second chance. After all, it's a fairly well-liked shmup among PC Engine fans--again, despite the astronomical price tags that tend to be attached to copies of it.

While that may be true, I've never really been a part of that camp--the one full of folks who fall over themselves to talk about what a top-shelf cute 'em up it is, I mean. (Admittedly, I have a feeling it's a small camp.)

Don't get me wrong, I've long thought of Magical Chase as being a "competent enough" smhup, but I've also long preferred playing similar games--like Parodius Da! and Coryoon and Air Zonk--to it.

Have I had a change of heart as a result of my most recent experience with the game? Actually, I have. I wouldn't say I now consider it to be worth its asking price (although even that could change in the coming months and years, especially given my history with such things), but I definitely find it a lot more appealing than I used to.

One of the main reasons for that is HuCard's art style seems a lot more cohesive than I remember it to be. In the past, I thought the design of the adorable, broom-riding protagonist (she is a witch, after all) didn't quite "fit" with those of the game's enemies or backdrops, if that makes sense.

Another is that I'm now pretty enamored with the "zippiness" of this colorful shoot 'em up's controls. In fact, I'd say Magical Chase compares favorably to both Coryoon and PC Denjin (Air Zonk) in that regard, and possibly even feels a bit smoother than those aforementioned contemporaries.

Now that I've come around to Magical Chase's considerable charms, though, I'm feeling kind of miffed. I mean, for the same amount of money it would cost me to acquire the Japanese version of this game, I could pick up copies of both R-Type titles, Parodius Da! and Hana Taka Daka!? instead--and still have a good chunk of change left over for a couple of cheaper chip-based titles.

The latter option seems far more desirable to me than the former at the moment, but who knows what will happen once I've filled out my PC Engine shmup collection a bit more?

See also: previous 'Second Chances' posts about Bubble Bobble Junior (GameBoy), Don Doko Don (Famicom) and Hana Taka Daka!? (PC Engine)

Six shoot 'em ups I'd recommend to anyone participating in #Shmuptember

On Friday, I published a post in which I shared my thoughts on six shoot 'em ups I've been playing as part of blogger Anne Lee's #Shmuptember game-along extravaganza.

Today's post, on the other hand, will focus on blurbs about six titles I'd recommend to others who are participating--or who are considering participating--in this smhup-centric event. (I guess you could say I recommend the shoot 'em ups showcased in Friday's post, too, but I think the ones included here may be more palatable to your average gamer.)

Each of the following titles are of the "retro" variety but, really, what else would you expect from me given what I typically write about on this blog?

Also, all but one of these shoot 'em ups were only released in Japan. Sorry about that. Thankfully, every one of them is easily emulatable, assuming you're OK with going that route. (If not, I'd suggest looking for loose copies of Pop'n TwinBee or Super Fantasy Zone, as they're sure to be the cheapest of this bunch.)

With that out of the way, let's get to some shmup recommendations.

Galaga '91 (GameGear)--Could you play the PC Engine version of this awesome Galaga reboot? Sure, why not. I didn't want to include two PC Engine games here, though, so I decided to recommend this surprisingly adept port. Thankfully, the GG iteration appears to include everything of note that can be found in its "big brother," so if you've got one of Sega's brick-sized handhelds (or if you enjoy emulating its games on other systems), you could do worse than give this cart a go sometime during #Shmuptember.

PC Denjin (PC Engine)--Better known as Air Zonk to North Americans, this wacky horizontal shoot 'em up provided me with all kinds of enjoyment and excitement as a teen. I return to it fairly regularly even as an adult, of course, and for a bunch of reasons, including its cartoonish cast of companions and enemies, its eye-popping use of parallax scrolling and its rockin' soundtrack.

Pop'n TwinBee (Super Famicom)--This pastel-coated, top-down shmup was one of the first Japanese games I ever imported, and it was worth every penny. (I paid over $70 for it, if memory serves. Remember, though, this was back when it was first released and eBay was but a twinkle in Pierre Omidyar's eye.) After all, it offers everything a person could want from a 16-bit cute 'em up: colorful environments, challenging-enough gameplay and cheery tunes.

Sexy Parodius (PlayStation)--Full disclosure: I love every single Parodius game Konami ever published, and that includes the tough-as-nails MSX version that introduced this now sadly moribund series to the world. That said, this entry--which has been ported to the Saturn, PlayStation and PSP--is my favorite of the entire bunch. Should you not have one of the aforementioned systems, though, don't shy away from trying another Parodius title, such as Parodius Da! for the PC Engine or Gokujō Parodius for the Super Famicom.

Super Fantasy Zone (Mega Drive)--Don't get me wrong, I love the original arcade version (and its perfectly acceptable PC Engine port, too) of this Sega-made smhup and its odd, wrap-around stages, but this 16-bit sequel improves on nearly every aspect of it. One the fence as to whether you should pick up an actual copy of Super Fantasy Zone or play an emulated version (which includes the Wii Virtual Console release) of it? Something that may sway you in favor of the former option is its wonderful box art.

Twinkle Star Sprites (NeoGeo/Saturn/Dreamcast)--Is this an overhead shoot 'em up or a puzzle game? Actually, it's a bit of both, which may help explain why it's one of my all-time favorite games. (OK, so the candy-coated visuals and vivacious soundtrack are partially responsible for this, too.) Sadly, although it was released for the Wii Virtual Console in Japan a number of years ago, it never made its way to any other region. As such, emulation's probably going to be the best bet for most interested parties, as both the (Japan-only) Dreamcast and Saturn iterations can be pricey.

See also: 'Six shoot 'em ups I'm playing as part of #Shmuptember'