Shooter Archives | Otaku No Culture

30XX, A Modern Take on a Classic Formula

One of 30XX’s standout features is its snappy and responsive controls. Dashing, jumping, and wall-climbing are intuitive, with a helpful tutorial zone for newcomers.

Batterystaple Games
Available now on Steam and Nintendo Switch

30XX, developed and published by Batterystaple Games, is an indie action platformer that pays homage to the iconic Mega Man X series from the 90s. Serving as a sequel to 20XX, this roguelite game offers a unique experience with procedurally generated levels, two distinct characters, and a mix of classic gameplay elements with modern twists.

Gameplay:

30XX invites players to choose between two characters: Nina and Ace. Nina wields a versatile blaster and can augment her arsenal with the powers of defeated enemies, while Ace relies on his laser sword, boasting wide swings and efficient energy regeneration. The story is simple yet effective: Nina and Ace must protect Earth from rampaging robots.

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The Wait For 9 Years of Shadows to Hit Nintendo Switch Won’t Be Long

The twisting corridors of Castle Talos are ready to be mapped and sequence-broken today for anyone up to the task to experience 9 Years of Shadows.

9 Years of Shadows, the resplendent pixel art Metroidvania from developer Halberd Studios and publisher Freedom Games, restores radiant rainbows today on PCs via Steam and Epic Games Store. The Nintendo Switch edition will get its time to shine in Q3 2023.

Darkness and despair cover the entire world, stripping all living creatures of hope. Europa, a young warrior clad in elemental armour, joins forces with a ghostly teddy bear named Apino to banish this cursed black-and-white cloud hanging over the realm. Only together can they locate the source of the scourge within Castle Talos and usher in the return of brilliant colours.

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Can Goonya Monster Succeed With What’s Good From Its Predecessor?

Part of Goonya Monster’s odd ppeal includes making the player avatars frequently fall. This party video game is loose continuation of the Goonya Fighter franchise.

On Steam, PlayStation 5
and Nintendo Switch

Goonya Monster is a party video game which is a loose continuation of the Goonya Fighter franchise. This series first debuted back in 2019 by Japanese developer Mutan, and I rather enjoyed that earlier release more. The mechanics are similar. And in what got me curious about this sequel is the paranormal theme. The idea of having to shoot possessed individuals to destroy in order to collect their spirit orbs to purify at what, I assume is the “Well of Souls,” seems like a good enough premise.

The co-op part means working with friends or the AI to continue gathering these balls, and beyond that, there are very little side scenarios to try out during my time with this product. Sadly, I got bored after a while. Also, players need to be subscribed to an online service on their respective console in order to participate. I suggest having the audio turned off, as portions of the dialogue get grating because of its repetitiveness. Goonyan is perhaps the most annoying because, well, he’s a cat who often finishes each line by saying, “Nyamo!”

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Yars Recharged. Atari’s Latest Update is Awesome!

Because there’s no save point in Yars Recharged, players will have to invest a lot of time into progressing deep into the hive.

Yar's Revenge Available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Playstation and Xbox

Adamvision Studios must love bugs. Their early Atari Recharged games was all about either squashing them or being one. The latest, Yars Recharged, offers a modern take of the classic Yars Revenge game for the Atari 2600 and it works very well with the modern controller.

Those devices were simpler back then. The joystick was all players had to control their avatars, and the little insect warrior only had one task–nibble away at the enemy defenses. The navigation is far more intuitive in this update, since one stick flies Yar around and the other positions where he spits. Unlike Asteroids, getting used to controls took no time at all to master.

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More than a Retro Ode to Centipede Recharged

Centipede Recharged is massively updated and locally produced. Vancouver, BC based Adamvision Studios is the brains behind this product

AdamaVision Studios
Sneakybox Studios

Officially, there aren’t a lot of Atari “Recharged” titles. To my knowledge, there’s Battlezone VR, Tempest 4K, Missile Command and now Centipede. There’s a few unofficial updates and they don’t hold a candle to the classics unless the company is involved. There is Asteroids, and I’m still searching for a modern remake of Frogger, Pong, Pole Position and Breakout.

Centipede Recharged is available for the Atari VCS, Nintendo Switch, Steam (PC), Xbox Series X/S, Epic and PS4/5. Aside from blasting apart bugs and ranking up the global leaderboard, this highly addictive game will keep players shooting, bug wranglers cackling and game players shaking a fist at those scorpions. The fleas rain down the screen like they are part of The Matrix far more often when players last longer than ten minutes.

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Shoot ’em Up Again with Espgaluda II!

Espgaluda II offers a tutorial and novice mode for those new to this franchise.

Back in 2003, Espgaluda was released to arcades and it quickly gained a fan following. This vertical scroller was considered one of the best shoot ‘em ups and was ported to the PlayStation 2 in the same year. Even tougher levels were introduced in the console versions.

This game even saw a port to iOS, which received mixed reviews. Key to these games success is to have real buttons to push than a touch screen. Coming soon is a version to the Nintendo Switch!

Anyone new to this game may think of it as angels versus demi-gods; with boss levels taking its influence from Greco-Roman lore like the Moirai, Siren, Heracles and the brothers who founded Rome (Romulus and Remus). They’re the names of spaceships, and just why they’re battling the world of Shinra is explained as players delve into those tougher levels where the narrative unfolds. From the Shmups Wiki:

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