shmups.system11.org

Looks like Chaos Field 2

Looks like a student game at best - The cost of the voice actors alone probably halved the dev budget - - is this where professionally made STG`s are at now?

Sacrificial guinea pig here. Bought it last night and only played for a few minutes in handheld mode exclusively. Not sure how the gane performs in docked mode.

Mixed feelings on this one.
First off, the game runs between 30 - 60 fps in handheld mode depending on the action on screen. The fps transition is pretty smooth so it doesn't feel too juddery but damn.

Got up to the first boss which was pretty intense and i really like the graphics, artstyle and music.
Weapon feels kinda like Mars Matrix.

I'm having fun with it but I can see how some might be turned off especially for the current $40 pricetag.
If you can live with the price and the 30 - 60 fps then I think it's a solid game for the Switch with great aesthetics, good core gameplay, good controls and a cool soundtrack.

Would be nice if they could patch the game for better performance in handheld mode but still I want to play more because the core gameplay is fun. YMMV.

I've seen better shmups on and off Steam for far less than the asking price. And yeah, the Canadian price is even higher at $49 before tax. I own a Switch, but I'm not going to bother, seems pretty weaksauce. The gameplay trailer just makes it look really same-y, the huge bonus items seem completely superfluous and get in the way of the action, and the widescreen vertizontal format just doesn't work for single player shmups. And why is every background so dark looking? Bleh.

Gulti's "RXN -RAIXIN-" shmup is available on the USA region Nintendo Switch eShop site as a 2GB d/l in it's entirety and is, currently, at version 1.01. Whatever patches Gulti decides to release in the nearby future will automatically be d/l and applied making for the latest version of Project RXN to try your hand/mettle at.

After spending some quality "one-on-one" time with RXN Raixin, your chosen RXN fightercraft can & does level up after completing a given stage (I like to use the RXN 202 variant fightercraft with it's cool drones for extra firepower capability).
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The Mecha Selection Screen brings up three to choose from:

1.) RXN-202
Weapons: Laser Spread, Purple Beam Burst & Missiles
Pilot: Luna Naruto
Characteristics: Equipped with a long rifle and dedicated drones, RXN202 capitalizes on mobility in combat.

2.) RXN-101
Weapons: Laser Spread, 3 Laser Sword & Lightning Burst
Pilot: Light Tachibana
Characteristics: 1st successfully completed mecha in RXN series and basis of future versions. Balanced model.

3.) RXN-303
Weapon: Straight Laser fire, Straight Laser Beam & Homing Shot
Pilot: Gin Tachibana
Characteristics: Technically advanced with homing shots and drones that fire in any direction. Hard-to-master.
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It's the various different colored crystals that power up the various weapons (if you highlight the various stages that are selectable with a white colored circle, it'll give you a diagram of the {usually} two crystals that are prominent in that given stage) - use that supplied intel to upgrade your various weaponry attributes to your advantage.

The six crystals are listed as follows:
Orange: Normal -- 0% to 100% level range (or MAX level)
Blue: Ether -- 0% to 100% level range (or MAX level)
Green: Physical -- 0% to 100% level range (or MAX level)
Red: Fire -- 0% to 100% level range (or MAX level)
Yellow: Light -- 0% to 100% level range (or MAX level)
Purple: Dark -- 0% to 100% level range (or MAX level)

I get the impression that your RXN fightercraft can be powered up to Level 10 and with all the various colored attributes at a possible MAX or up to 100% rating which'll carry on to the next stage (it's possible/dobale to level up a single digit by the end of a chosen/selected stage). Some enemies can only be destroyed with a certain weapon and nothing else (which'll spawn various colored crystals after biting the dust, of course). By collecting the various colored crystals (which there are a grand total of six different colored crystals in all), your three primary weapons can be increased to MAX or 100% rating by the end of a given stage.

Some of the later chapters have some colorful background scenery to marvel at (so it's not all dark and drab as initially made out to be) -- just play the later stages and find out for yourself. There are a grand total of 32 chapters (with two different endings comprising of Chapter 32A & 32B respectively -- you get to pick which one you want to play) to try your hand at (gving the classic Capcom Varth arcade shmup with it's groundbreaking & unheard of whopping 30 stages a run for the money).

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Here's the Chapter list breakdown in it's entirety (with accompanying title):
Note: if a chapter has a letter next to it, it denotes that it's a branching path to choose to play or not

001 -- RXN, take off!
002 -- A twist of fate
003 -- Armilary Sphere (end stage boss present)
004 -- Origin of the myths
005 -- And their observations of the world continue
006A -- Ulka
006B -- Chidori Araki reminisces of her grandfather upon seeing Super Guzzilla
007 -- Clear your mind of all thought (end-stage boss present)
008 -- A little boat in a vast ocean, or rubbish facing an oncoming gale
009 -- The gates open
010A -- The name of their god
010B -- And the boat moves forward, to where - no one knows
010C -- Here we go again? (end stage boss boss present)
011 -- The gates open
012A -- Labyrinth of spirals
012B -- ex//perience 1
013A -- ex//perience 2
013B -- ex//perience 3
014 -- The gates open
015A -- The gates open
015B -- The gates open
016A -- You too, Ayuka?
016B -- Once upon a time, the youth called heroes, "Gods"
016C -- ex//perience 4
017A -- His and her thoughts
017B -- Super Guzzilla returns (end stage boss present)
018 -- What exactly are RXN?
019 -- The gates open
020A -- ex//perience 5
020B -- ex//perience 6
020C -- The gates open
021A -- Two goddesses
021B -- YATAGARASU
021C -- The last lesson
021D -- ex//perience 7
022A -- Converging eternities and the growth of an individual (end stage boss present)
022B -- As still the water's surface (end stage boss present)
023 -- Determination and/or emotional bonds
024 -- Flow, my tears
025 -- The gates open
026A -- ex//perience 8
026B -- ex//perience 9
027A -- Knockin' on Heaven's Door (end stage boss present)
027B -- The world stopped (end stage boss present)
028 -- Deus ex machina (end stage boss present)
029 -- The gates open
030 -- I'm still human
031 -- The End of Eternity
032A -- solitude (end stage boss present)
032B -- Thunder and rain (end stage boss present)

If you count all the chapters and their sub-chapters, there are a grand total 50 in all to try your hand at (hence the asking full price of 3,900 yen, $39.99 USD, $48 CAN, etc.)
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Some enemies spawn nothing but plenty of crystals -- so yes, try grabbing as many as you can in the given stage at hand.

The player does have a shield gauge and if it's depleted to 0%, then it's truly game over -- giving the player a chance to continue or not afterwards. If you do decide to exit the continue screen without continuing, you can return to the current "unbeaten" stage that you just previously played and you'll still have your hard-earned attributes (current power level and all weapon attributes at whatever percentage from the previously completed stage) earned up until that particular point in time.

It seems that you can use the hyper mode (known as "Kakusei") up to a grand total of two times per stage if so desired -- so use it to your advantage/gain the upper hand on an end-stage boss if fighting it on a selectable/given chapter. Some chapters don't have an end-stage boss to contend with.

You do have the luxury of going back to a previously completed stage (as indicated by a red circle) on the stage selection screen and try to get a better score and/or earn more crystals to fill up your three primary weaponry gauges which adds to the replayability factor -- which is a plus in my book. The locked stages are indicated by a light blue colored circle -- you can move your cursor over them to find out out a tad bit more with the title of the stage and whether or not if it has an end-stage boss (you'll see a black silhouette on the right-hand corner of the screen if there is a boss to fight against -- if you beat a chapter with an end-stage boss & if you decide to replay that particular chapter again, the boss will appear in full color on the Chapter Selection screen).

After the conclusion of each stage, you'll return to the stage completion screen and are given the end results of your crystal collecting + score. By using the left analog joystick on the Joy-con controller, you can rotate the 3D polygonal RXN fightercraft on two axis and choose whether or not to transform into humanoid mode with the "X" button (simply press button X again and it'll revert back to fightercraft mode). You can also use the bigger Joy-con shoulder buttons to rotate the 3D RXN fightercraft/mecha on a single axis as well. How cool is that? A little bit of" bonus" end-user interaction ain't a bad thing these days, is it?

You have up to eleven game save slots at your disposal to save your various stages (with the #1 slot being reserved as an automatically saving slot for the current completed stage at best -- no end-user interaction is necessary on your part with this auto-saving functionality perk).

(Edited with more info on Pilots, Weaponry, various Crystals & Chapter listings.)

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Any comment on frame rate stability, control setup, and enemy variety?

What’s the difference between 32A and 32B? Oh, and the map reminds me of Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviours.

The control scheme is just the four buttons of A, B, X & Y for weapons A, B, C & the hyper weapon (they are all user configurable if you don't like the given default settings at hand). In handheld mode, if you play chapter 19, framerate does go below the 30fps threshold at times due to so much action happening on-screen -- it's truly a danmaku at heart within this particular chapter! The more lightning bolts shown on the Chapter selection screen, the more difficult it is (of course, chapter 19 has five bolts to indicate it's difficulty factor).

I've hit a roadblock in playing Chapter 19 as there's absolutely no safe spot within that chapter whatsoever despite the RXN-202 being powered up to Level 11 while on it (plus the dreaded framerate drop experienced within it as well).

Enemy variety seems to be of the 3D polygonal variety for both small fry enemies and the end-stage bosses as well. It's a given that some enemies can be taken down much quicker if said mecha used is leveled up. It's by trial 'n' error to see what weapon is best for downing such various Ulka enemies. If you have access to a 3rd-party controller with adjustable auto-fire, it'll come in handy within any given chapter the end-user tries his or her hand at.

The user has the choice to play either chapter 32A or 32B and discover the two different endings presented from Gulti.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

plot twist: pc engine fan x is a paid gulti shill

I already know 32A and B have the same final boss. All I gotta do is play both stages and see what happens in both of them. Gameplay wise, the game feels like a cross between Radiant Silvergun and Strania.

What’s the name of the song that plays in the final boss battle and end credits?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc0OBdob_9w

I'm a bit disappointed you guys actually didn't like this one... But honestly, I kinda liked this game. I'm much more forgiving with this game compared to others despite a few flaws I had with the game. The frame rate, for instance.

so which waifu should I jack it to since that seems to be the only redeeming quality

Someone must have brought their Switch to Mikado:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATmy9ryJ9s4

I can't understand Japanese but I'm sure they're laughing at it, it really does look crap.

I doubt more than two or three people here have even played the game, but what footage I've seen isn't very enticing.

Ew. Quite the ugly duckling.

I just think it's average at best. Not great or anything, just okay.

Nintendolife reviewed it. Half the comments are "the price is too high" and the other half are "slowdown is usually intentional in shmups". I was not impressed by the videos I have seen of the game. The framerate doesn't look impressive and there seems to be slowdown when there is barely anything on screen.

Even if the slowdown is intentional, there's no reason nowadays why that has to be achieved by slowing down the framerate, rather than slowing down the gameplay timer while maintaining a smooth framerate like pretty much every slow-motion effect in every other genre of games.

My point is that there isn't a single post that says something like this on the Nintendolife page. I wasn't saying that I agree with Nintendolife, I saying that most of the comments ethier defend the game by saying shmups are supposed to have slowdown or complain about the price. Not a single post there points out that the slowdown RXN is NOT like those other shmups. I noticed the game seems to have other design flaws too. Stages seem to end abruptly and one stage seemed to consist of mostly large, almost indistructable enemies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGxbO-DGRdQ

Well, at least Classic Game Room was less harsh on the game unlike the others.

I just posted a review of the game for my site, I'm fairly impressed with it, but it's certainly not groundbreaking or anything.

http://selective-hearing.com/game-review-rxn-raijin/

Seems discussion around this has mostly died, though that's not terribly surprising, given the nature of the shmups forum and how most games that break the mold a little bit are treated.

Nah, everybody loves Raijin, it's a good shmups with nice mechs.


Oh wait, you were talking about that thing on Switch... JK, nice review there.

The dust has settled and I am reading this cool review that actually goes into detail about what the game has; thank you, MachineAres 1CC. I have also really started playing Shienryu Explosion recently. Yeah, RXN is a lot like that game, plus some of that Terra Feminarum "enemies from all sides all the time" feeling. I kinda like that instead of difficulty levels, you just have a really long game that slowly rises in difficulty.

So-called "criticism" means jack when every word out of your mouth is based on a very narrow-minded view of what the genre is "supposed" to be. It really doesn't help that people are avoiding this based on half-baked reviews and videos. I thought we were better than relying on things that aren't Actually Playing The Game, but I guess not. Does anyone here actually play games anymore? "significantly better than Sine Mora" oughta be a selling point in 2018.

I'll buy it when I get my Switch. I'm upset it doesn't have a physical release, but oh well. Actually, I think a lot of people would be okay with the price if it was physical, I've heard that a few times now.

if it looks like a piece of shit and costs $40, of course no one is going to buy it and then expect it to be magically different
it's the developer's job to attract customers, not our duty to gobble up shit

not to mention the switch is a trash console for shmups

All your credibility went out the window with that comment. Just because you dislike one game that you have never played previously does not make the entire console trash. The Psikyo shmups , Danmaku Unlimited 3 and soon Ikaruga all show that there are decent shmups on the Switch. One overpriced shmup can't ruin it for everyone.

it doesn't even have a goddamn dpad, the pro controller is stupidly overpriced and the screen is too small for shmups
got to try zelda on it a few times and it's way too damn small overall unless you have tiny baby hands (which is understandable considering the console is meant for children)
sure, you can use an arcade stick with it (assuming you mod your current one or buy another overpriced accessory) and hook it up to a tv but why did you buy a portable that has nothing but shit that runs perfectly fine on pc if you're just going to use it like a pc?

let's be honest though, it's a shit console by default because it's nintendo with nintendo pricing and the damn thing costs $450 here for no good reason
let's add another $170 for the stick and $40 for this flaming turd and we're at $660 to play a bunch of psikyo ports that play just fine in mame, another ikaruga port no one asked for and this shit we're supposed to eat up out of some obligation

get real

This sounds just butthurt. The screen is to small compared to what other portable? Hori is making a D-pad joy con.Pro Controller is priced almost the same as Xbox / Playstation offerings Arcade stick is priced exactly the same. It is a portable / console hybrid.What other console offers that function outside of the failed PSP GO? (which had no UMD drive) Sorry about pricing in your country but $299.99 is pretty reasonable in mine. $7.99 Psikyo and Neo Geo Ports is pretty fair to me. $38 for RXN is not. Not to mention this system is a little over a year old and already has a double digit Shmup library.

Might as well start ignoring Bananamatic, all of his recent posts express a stunning lack of sense. It's a shame, but when I said people were leaving this genre, I meant that in more ways than one. For example, some get too old for it and go insane, and seeing that scares off anyone thinking they can they get into this genre as a little side thing...

The Switch isn't that great for shmups right now, it's mostly just ports with no enhancements. But buying RXN (and soon Psyvariar Delta) in addition to the long list of things on the Switch that aren't just shmups? Uh, yeah, it's pretty nonsensical to ignore that.

People are so quick to write off RXN as bad without even thinking about touching it, and legitimately cannot understand that it's probably actually good. The Switch could be the next great shmup console and RXN would probably still be worth $40. Really needs a physical release though.

Kind of hard to justify dropping $40 on the possibility that it might be good, when there are plenty of cheaper games out there that give off a better first impression (and many of which have free trials so you know what you're getting yourself into).