Revolgear Zero

• Genre: Shmup
• Spoiler Free Review: Yes.
• Time Played: 2 Hours?
• Too Short/Long: It's normal.
• Did I cry: No
• Soundtrack: Excellent.
• Why I played: No particular reason, was just trying a few Shmups I had.
• Jank: It's pretty polished, no real jank I can recall.
• Difficulty: It's actually kind of easy, I was able to beat it on my second or third try.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I'm pleased, it's a good enough shmup with cute art.
• Recommend to others: To shmup fans, sure.
  

Unfortunately as of writing this I think I beat this nearly a week ago? I think I forgot to get any screenshots and then I just didn't feel like writing anything until now and because it's a rather short game I have gaps in my memory of the experience already. It is a little on the easier end for a shmup. It's not like, too easy, but it's not too hard either. Of course - I could always try harder difficulties if I was just looking for more of a challenge. I'm just speaking on - as I usually do, the default difficulty.

It doesn't do anything entirely unique on it's own, but it does borrow several elements from other series, specifically R-Type and Gradius. It does a pretty solid job at combining them, has missions, training, a bonus mini games and pretty much all the standard extras you could ask for and overall I'd say it's a rather good shmup and since it has so many unlockable and modes I'll probably give it some additional runs down the line.

Earthion

• Genre: Shmup
• Spoiler Free Review: Yes.
• Time Played: 2-3 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It's fine. Standard shmup length, especially considering it was made to play on Genesis.
• Did I cry: No.
• Soundtrack: Great high-octane classic 16-bit ost.
• Why I played: After playing Geppy-X, which I loved don't get me wrong, I wanted to play a shmup that actually felt good to play.
• Jank: None encountered, it's pretty polished.
• Difficulty: Pretty much just right, took me a few tries to get through a run. I only realized after that it has a "continue with all your upgrades" feature. Whoops.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I'm very pleased. Some games made to run on old hardware show obvious signs of restrictions in design. You can't even tell with Earthion.
• Recommend to others: I definitely would recommend it to a shmup fan.
  

Earthion is a fantastic example of how to make a game that can run on old hardware without it feeling like they limited themselves. I've played plenty of games like this, but it always felt like it could have been a better game if they didn't self-impose that restriction. Earthion really shows how good you could make a Sega Genesis game with modern design knowledge/skill.

It feels fast paced, the music is great, the controls are tight, the gimmick is interesting. I don't know what else you could want out of a shmup, really.

70s-style Robot Anime Geppy-X

• Genre: Shmup
• Spoiler Free Review: Yes.
• Time Played: ~13 hours
• Too Short/Long: No complaints either way.
• Did I cry: No.
• Soundtrack: Amazing, absolutely amazing.
• Why I played: A shmup with 90's mecha anime art(even if it attempts to be 70's style), how could I not?
• Jank: It's definitely a bit janky in how it handles. I play a lot of shmups, and sure, maybe one from the 90's may not be as refined as modern shmups... is something you could almost say if some of the best shmups to this day weren't also released in the 90s. Granted, if it were one of the best, it would be much more well know.
• Difficulty: It's damn hard. I attribute a good portion to the jank. Unclear hitboxes for any of the mechs you pilot, and for the shots hitting you. I played the repeated pause game to be sure of it, but things absolutely contact when they shouldn't. It even says in the manual how Geppy's chest is the only part you will take damage from getting hit. Absolutely not true... or maybe it is and all the shots just have wider margins than their visuals. Not only that, but a lot of the patterns provide inconsistent openings. After playing through the entire campaign several times, I did learn some placement for cheesing certain attacks, but I'm not sure if that's by design and if so, I still don't like it.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I'm very pleased at the overall package. Even if it's unfairly difficult and a mediocre shmup, the whole experience is very enjoyable.
• Recommend to others: I would probably only recommend it to those with a strong interest in the Super Robot genre, specifically that of the 70s-style Robot Anime. Who also at least kind of like shmups.
  

Geppy-X plays almost like a bonus shmup mini-game that is added to another game of a different genre. You know the kind(maybe you don't, I don't know your life), it's thrown as a bonus mode, mini-game, boss fight, etc. and feels a little loose, a little unfair, a little chaotic and unbalanced. Well, at least those ones are better than the alternative - which are the too-boring ultra basic, ultra easy shmup mini-games.

Thankfully, it still manages to standout due to it's overall package. Filled with a story line presented like a 70s super robot anime, openings, endings, commercials and all. It's fantastic and super fun. It made it worth me fully replaying and enduring it multiple times just to get little differences in the cutscenes with different characters.

It helps that despite the 70's inspiration, it was very very clearly made in the 90s. The character designs, even many of the mecha designs, are clearly 90s designs with very 90s artwork. I'd say they better nail the 70s-style design with the side-mecha, but to be fair, the titular Geppy-X while drawing obvious inspiration, is a little more original than it's almost carbon-copy secondary mecha.

There is a really solid amount of content in the game, especially for a 90s shmup. Not only does it have multiple, kinda-animated to more-fully animated between each mission, it has a good amount of stage bonuses and little easter-eggs and different cutscenes for finishing off each boss in a specific way, and a bunch of unlockable modes. That's what really sells the game. The gameplay itself could be a lot more polished, but otherwise you can't really ask for more in a shmup.

Snezhinka

• Genre: Shmup(?)
• Spoiler Free Review: No.
• Time Played: 3-4 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Just like it's predecessor, it's fine for what it is. It gives you enough to play around with and doesn't wear out it's welcome. It's a few dollars for a few hours of entertainment. There are additional challenges and such should I want to pursue them and was really looking for more reasons to play but I'm satisfied with what I got.
• Soundtrack: About the same more or less, not really much different.
• Why I played: It's the same as Marfusha really, and since I finished that one and liked it enough, I wanted to play this one.
• Did I cry: Once again, no. It's relatively short, story light, and despite the hopeless war and darker themes, with everything dressed in satire, it makes it hard to be invested, even though it expands upon a preestablished story.
• Jank: A bit less janky than Marfusha, most things are refined. There is still the occasionally very stock looking graphic that feels out of place.
• Difficulty: Similarly, I feel like it's easier than it intends to be. They did a bit better balancing things, and the requirements for the true ending might be a bit more strict, but it's not that tough once you know what you're doing.
• Recommend to others: Another category that is just like Marfusha. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. Especially this one first, I'd sooner recommend Marfusha first and say if you want more of that, then play this.

Snezhinka is a direct sequel to Marfusha and doesn't too much different. It's a little bit more refined, offers a little bit more variety various aspects, but it's mostly the same. You play as Marfusha's sister, there are a handful of endings, some that different depending on your recruited partner, some based off decisions made between missions and some dependent on your performance in mission.  

Changeable Guardian Estique

• Genre: Shmup
• Spoiler Free Review: Included ending screenshots because it's hard to get to play.
• Time Played: 3-4 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It's a shmup, so it's not that long, it could have more, but it's also designed to actually work and first on NES hardware, so it's fine.
• Soundtrack: Some good little tunes in here, but very NES style of course.
• Why I played: Somewhere shared it in a gaming group and after seeing some of the visuals I had to get it. Even if they made it as inconvenient as possible.
• Did I cry: No
• Jank: It's pretty basic so it's pretty jank free. That said, I played the famicom version. There is some jank in the choice of production and I think the NES version has some purposeful jank.
• Difficulty: It's a lot more forgiving than most NES shmups. Maybe just because you can alwayts opt to continue where you left off, instead of always restarting from the beginning. They also utilize a health bar, which not too many NES shmups did. Generally I appreciate these leniencies because while I find shmups very fun, I'm not like amazing at them. 
• Recommend to others: I would if I could, but I can't, so I won't. Mainly because you can't buy it for anything modern. It doesn't have a digital version. It can only be played on NES/Famicom hardware. So I guess... the only people I would recommend it to are people really into still using that hardware in particular. Even then, it's a bit pricey for what it is, but I supposed I'd recommend it to anyone willing to get "boutique" games like this. I'm including more screenshots than I usually do for a game this size since it's not as accessible.

To elaborate on the above, Changeable Guardian Estique is a "boutique" Famicom homebrew game. It only exists in a physical format reproduction cartridge. It's a 2023 NES/Famicom game.

Which is kind of annoying, as this makes it pretty inaccessible for a lot of people, and also pretty expensive, for what it is. I'm not complaining, I got it, and I enjoy my little box, and my little instruction booklet, and my little physical game. But that isn't the only thing they did that's kind of annoying. They also "localized" the NES version in the same way the would have in the 80s or early 90s. They made it more difficult. They mess with some of the sprites so they look different, or are like blown up. They cut out stages, and they removed some story(the yuri) and rewrote it with popculture references. The rewriting aside due to subjectivity, it's generally an inferior product - which is something that wasn't too uncommon for NES or even SNES release of games.

So I opted to get the Famicom version even though I don't know japanese. It's a shmup, not story heavy so I only need it so much, and I was easily able to google lens the entire story which is maybe a total of 20 lines of dialog. I also did this to read the instruction booklet. 

Otherwise, the game is pretty basic. It's good, but basic. You can change speed with select, you can fire, you can shift from ship to mech form. Tapping the shoot button rapidly uses one of your specials. It's well designed, but limited by it's format. So it might not be up to what most shmups are doing in 2023, but it was still a joy to play.

Marfusha

• Genre: Shmup(?)
• Spoiler Free Review: Thematic spoilers.
• Time Played: 3-4 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It's fine for what it is. It doesn't have much and can quickly get to the point where you figure out the best ways to win, but a few hours of entertainment for a few dollars is worth it.
• Soundtrack: I think there were a few pretty good tracks, but there are only a handful total.
• Why I played: The aesthetic caught my eye. It has classic pixelated still drawings for it's scenes which will almost always get me.
• Did I cry: No. It's depressing, sure, but mostly in a parody way.
• Jank: This one is pretty janky. Not really in performance or controls, just in presentation. It's just what it is.
• Difficulty: I feel like it's a little easy for what it's going for. It only took me a couple attempts before I could run through and "Perfect" every level.
• Recommend to others: Not really, not that it's bad. I just don't know who I would recommend this to.

Marfusha, also called Marfusha: Sentinel Girls, depending where you get it, is a game inspired by the not-entirely well know prequel(that is a sequel in story, and a reimagining of another game, a visual novel with no visuals, that has since had a full remake) to Girls Frontline, the mobile game.

Some of the theming of that is obvious, and by that I mean the fact that you play as anime girl with guns in a highly militaristic setting. Marfusha's story is about a girl recruited to defend the city walls in a USSR inspired dystopia where you have the privilege of paying 98% of your income in taxes. Just when you think you might have more money to get certain upgrades you find out your going to be taxed for the very fact you don't have enough money.

Gameplay wise it's a pretty basic aim+shoot game. You're mostly defending a wall and you can walk back and forth to position yourself for enemies better or get them before they come close to it. You defend against a wave of enemies, get a chance to buy upgrade or usable items, and proceed to the next wave. It's fun for a bit, and there a bunch of a different endings and challenge modes making it worth replaying as long as it keeps your interest.

Rogue Flight

• Genre: On-Rails Shooter, Shoot 'em up
• Spoiler Free Review: Not much to spoil.
• Time Played: ~4-5 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It's about right, but could feel like if you find the gameplay repetitive.
• Soundtrack: Great soundtrack, I immediately purchased it after finishing the game.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pretty pleased.
• Why I played: It just really had a kickass trailer.
• Did I cry: No.
• Recommend to others: I would recommend it specific to fans of the genre, maybe Starfox fans.

Despite being behind the ship, and most games of it's ilk being specifically on-rails shooters, I feel like Rogue Flight takes a lot of inspiration from shmups. With it's constant action, dodging waves of enemy fire, shooting everything, it just feels more like a shmup than an on-rails shooter. When I think of an on-rails shooter, I think of a more cinematic experience, something that has you navigate through an environment, albeit on rails. There isn't really any navigation in any of Rogue Flight's stages, it's straight forward and a breakneck speed. There are barely any obstacles, and though while I prefer shmups that have "level design" as opposed to just taking place in a large rectangle, Rogue Flight more or less mimics that more commons shmup design, except from behind.

I'm not complaining, I just want to make it clear the type of experience it is. I don't know my exact time, but estimating at 4-5 hours of playtime, with some messing around with extra modes, it's not very long, but these types of games never really are. In fact, a more or less "full run" barely takes an hour. There are some options for shorter paths, and eventually you unlock a harder version of the "full run", but it's more or less the same stuff, so you kind of have to want to play the game just for the sake of playing it, but I really enjoyed it.

Minishoot' Adventures

• Genre: Action Adventure Shmup
• Time Played: 8 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Pretty solid time, didn't wear out it's welcome, but I would have liked to have maybe seen some more unique abilities and a bit more game as a whole.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I liked it a lot.
• Why I played: Seems like a pretty perfect combination of things I liked.
• Recommend to others: I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes say, 2d Zelda games, and shoot 'em ups, or at least, bullet-hell sequences in non-shoot 'em up games.

This is going to be a quick one because I actually finished the game a week ago, and just keep forgetting to say something about it - probably the longest I've gone without mentioning the game I finished.

Anyway, it was really good. I wish there was a bit more to it. Even though I play plenty of shorter games, this one just hit the right spot and I was hoping for some more unique powers, but you pretty much get the powers you would expect a shmup to have. Bullet, more bullets, bigger bullets, and move faster. That's fine. It did what it came to do and I liked it.

Sol Cresta

• Genre: Shoot 'em up
• Time Played: ~4 Hours
• Too Short/Long: The levels are pretty long compared to your standard shmup and there are 8, and the "Dramatic" mode, which is essentially the actual story mode, makes things play out a little longer. It's a solid length for a shmup, but you can probably knock a full playthrough out in less than a couple hours.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pretty pleased. Wasn't sure at first, but once I dug into it I appreciated it more.
• Why I played: Like fighting games and metroidvanias I get most shmups I come across worth any salt. Sol Cresta specifically though, was developed by Platinum and co-directed by Hideki Kamiya, awarding it quite a few bonus points.
• Recommend to others: Definitely would recommend it if you like shoot 'em ups at all. If you don't like shmups, it's not going to change your mind and it's not the most accessible for newcomers.

When I first tried Sol Cresta, I had no idea what was going on. It just seemed like a chaotic mess that did little to stand apart from any other shoot 'em up. When I recently tried picking it up again, I still had no idea what I was doing.

It took a bit getting used to, and I had to re-read it's in-game manual like three times, but it eventually clicked. There are only two buttons, shoot and split/dock. But those two buttons go a long way. Shoot can be pressed rapidly or held for a charge shot. Split/Dock allows you to rearrange your three ship squad into various configurations in two different ways. The first is simply the order of the ships, which will form from top to bottom(wish I had this information before playing), and your primary fire will be from your front ship, and your secondary fire from your last ship. Your middle ship determines which "charge shot" you use by holding the shoot button. A drill, laser, or homing missles. Pretty standard stuff for shmups, after grasping out it works, I appreciate the execution. Each type of shot affects different types of obstacles. For example, red shields only come down with lasers. Drills break up rocks.

The other way to use the split/dock is to do "formations" which your ships temporarily do not reform into a big ship, but hold a specific formation which your two extra ships will be able to block shots with AND you'll fire some kind of super shot which has the effect of all three kinds of shots you can do. The pattern/style of the super shot is determined by your formation. There is also an "ultimate formation" you can only form after collecting each formation chip in a level.

One more thing split/dock does. With a timer in which to use it, it also technically slows down time. The game gets VERY tough in it's later stages and I imagine a more flawless execution than I preformed is extremely dependent on strategically slowing time and at the same time reforming into ideal forms with a grace I am not capable with my limited time in the game.

I did finish the game, but it's not easy, and as is the case with many shmups simply "finishing" isn't the end goal, it's do better, do perfect, etc. Sol Cresta seems to offer a lot to unlock/replayability, and in my playthrough I was a bit distracted by trying to pay attention to the story which I have to actually read as action is happening on screen because it only has Japanese voice overs. I would probably fare better in arcade mode, but those last areas are still a huge spike in difficulty compared to the earlier areas. There is just so much constantly going on. It's bullet/enemy hell, with level obstacles/objects, with triggers dependent on your formation. It's a lot to manage at once and can be overwhelming.

I do appreciate the call-backs and the fact that it expanded upon what were some pretty simple old games, and that it tried to mimic various styles of shmups over the years, using standard sprite work, pre-rendered graphics, low res textures, and a whole lot of aliasing. You can tell the people making it had a passion for shmups as a whole.

Witch Explorer

• Genre: Tower Defense Shmup
• Time Played: 10-15 Hours? Will update when Switch tells me. 
• Too Short/Long: About right, it could be longer if levels were shorter, but some really test your endurance.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pleasantly surprised, a kinda random acquisition just because it looked cute I thought might end up sucking.
• Why I played: Cute art and Tower Defense + Shmup seemed interesting.
• Recommend to others: Maaaybe if you specifically like the genres and don't mind some blatant fan service.

I got this one on a whim because it was cute and 40% off on release. Usually 40% off on release date is what Switch shovelware does, but it seemed like a few people had good things to say about the Steam version and it looked cute.

The main gameplay is tower defense and you get a small handful of units with different abilities. I think it could have benefited from more variety in its units, but I can also see how that might make many levels too easy. However, it could have used something to make it a little more easy. Maybe just shorter levels at the same difficulty? I didn't feel like it was ever really too challenging, but the levels that were the most, were partially so difficult because they were so long, and if you had to retry and new strategy... you had to play another 10-15 minutes to catch up to see if your new strategy works.

It mixes up the gameplay a bit with some pure side scrolling shmup levels and some challenge levels to gain an alternate currency for some extra costumes for your assist character in the hub menu, and some extra scenes. There are also some unlocks for the hub and upgrades for your units. Pretty standard stuff mostly. I don't really have much else to say. I liked it though, and the devs are working on some other spin-off style sequels or something, so I'll look forward to that.