TwiddleGeek

MinishooterRS Delta is a fairly new (2007) freeware shoot-em-up from Japanese developer PEPOSOFT. What amuses me about this one is that it’s presented in what I’m sure Yahtzee would call “teeny-weeny eyestrain-o-vision” at 160×120 pixels. While there are zoom options, I’m sure deep in some internal .ini file the game registers that you wussed out.

Seriously though, aside from the tiny, tiny resolution hook, the game is just fun and surprisingly lengthy. Several hidden stages are offered, tons of bosses and a boss mode, and even lots of hidden ships to unlock. There’s no real gameplay gimmicks here, this is a pretty straight-up Japanese shoot-em-up. Dodge the massive onslaught of bullets and shoot, shoot, shoot ’til whatever you’re up against is dead.

Though it’s in Japanese, you really don’t need any knowledge of the language to play. The menu system is in English, and the game is straight forward. Z fires, X boosts, arrow keys control. I’m a pretty big shoot-em-up fan, and MinishooterRS makes for a great distraction. Give it a try, if you like the genre.

Being awesome, SpaceKitty picked up the niche PSP title Patapon for my birthday. Part Rhythm game, part RTS, part side-scrolling platformer… thing. All I know is it’s adorable and addictive, but I seem to suck at it. I’m doing well enough to get by and all, and I’m certainly having fun, but it’s already driven me to cheat twice now in order to pass a seemingly impossible mission. It’s been quite some time since a game forced me to cheat — the last being Mega Man Powered Up, also for the PSP.

To get Fever Mode, 10 combos have to be chained or a perfect 4 beat rhythm has to be entered at a combo of 3+. Unfortunately, after achieving this the game becomes quite unforgiving, and even slightly missing the beat puts you right back to square one. Wouldn’t be a big deal if Fever Mode was just extra attack / defense as it is in many missions, but in other missions it’s the only real way to win. Results in a lot of frustration, but thankfully the game doesn’t seem to rely on it all too much.

I certainly am enjoying the title though, equipping the Patapon army with better weapons, rarer units, and generally crushing our enemies. Plus it’s really hard not to want to know what “IT” is at Earthend that we’re so bent on seeing. I mean, I really don’t need much of a reason to whip an army of eyeballs into a war-like frenzy, but “IT” could be something useful… *scheme*

Sub: Metroid Prime
Title: Samus Art

Format: 100×100
Size: 6.66 KB
Downloads: 123

Sub: Metroid Prime 3
Title: Metroid

Format: 100×100
Size: 8.57 KB
Downloads: 70