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DANGER ZONE (PART VI)
GONNA TAKE YOU RIGHT INTO THE DANGER ZONE
Welcome to Planet Vector.
The new home for the 80's enthusiasts.
The "Danger Zone" marathon continues, and to keep talking about some of the Elite, the Best of the Best of shmups, ¿Why not to take a look at Star Hunter DX?
The "Invincible Three" are waiting for you.
LUNA STARR / HAWK DX-7: The "Balanced" Type. She's the main protagonist of this game, CAT-99's boss and a Bounty Hunter who's after her former crew members (the game's bosses) who betrayed them. As the basic all-rounder, her ship features the same power levels in both weapons used. Her Rapid weapon is the Spread Shot which covers a very wide area combined with a fast speed for a rapid attack, and her Laser weapon is the Laser which is a straight beam that decrase her speed for a more controlled manuevering.
CAT-99 / CV1000-D: The "Power-Homing" Type. He is Luna's partner and its Main weapon is the Homing bullets which are extremely powerful despite dropping the ship's speed to a minimum while the Laser increases its speed but its the weakest of the full frontal weapons of the game. Still, CAT-99 is a good choice for the beginners who want to get "up to date" with the game's pace.
EDGAR / JAMMA: The "Power Beam" Type. He is a hunter with his own agenda. His Rapid weapon is a spread shot similar to Luna, but its extremely weak although it grants high speeds while using it. For his Laser weapon he has a devastating full frontal fire that demolishes everything in sight, but costs him its speed making him the slowest of the three while using it.
The Disco Wars are still raging on the far away reaches of space.
Star Hunter DX's gameplay structure is bullet hell, which can rivalize with Cave and even some of the first Touhou Project games, although it has more of Cave than Shanghai Alice as we're send off with a DonPachi-like weapon configuration: The basic shot and the Laser shot. Like in DonPachi, the speed varies on which weapon is used; While Luna and Edgar's lasers make their ships slow, is the opposite on CAT-99's ship as his beam makes his ship go fast while the regular shot is the slow speed. You have also a bomb to destroy enemies and clear a short ranged area from enemy fire. But that's not the only function of the bomb; it can be used to recollect energy from the bullets just like the regular shots pick the energy cubes from destroyed enemies. You'll be doing this very often in the game as the game's main feature is exploited: The Bullet Time, which slows time and allows you to rack the largest amount of bullets as they turn into bonus items that will give you a considerable amount of points based on how high the bonus multiplier was before activating it. While the regular fire racks the multiplier fast, the top priority is to keep it high by destroying enemies on screen until you're ready to use the Bullet Time. Once it's activated, the only way to replenish it on the go is by picking marooned astronauts, a power up item or if you're very lucky, a 1up. Getting a 1up will require to fill the gauge below your score with high multipliers. On a final hint of gameplay, you can boost the multipliers by scratching enemy bullets like in Raiden Fighters Jet. Doing this will also refill the bomb gauge and once it's full it will give you a bomb. Keep in mind that this is the only way to regain your bombs.
Hyperspeed Packed Boss Fights!
The boss battles are also unique. While at first they look like the part-destruction thing like R-Type and Ginga Force, there's a hidden mechanic on them: You've gotta destroy all the parts during the Bullet Time effect in order to unlock the "Boss Escape Pod" mode after destroying the boss' ship. While this will result in more bullet hell, this can be exploited by the Bullet Time and a high enough multiplier as well.
All the profits are belong to the winner.
Once the boss is done for, it's time for the rewards.
All the depicted bonuses aren't there just for a few points, ¿Remember the gauge below your score? They also fill a portion of it, increasing your chances of getting a 1up even more.
This is a real JOURNEY into the 80's pop culture.
Quartz City has a somewhat strange and unorthodox challenge: Marooned astronauts trapped INSIDE the blocks. While newcomers will either avoid them or commit suicide by picking them through the respawn's temporary invincibilty, there's actually a way to pick them unharmed: Burning one of your bombs and pick them was the bomb effect is still present. It might require some practice, but its definitely possible.
CAT-99 knows you had what it takes to do it.
While you are granted limited continues, the real way to clear the game is by finishing the levels without using them. This doesn't just unlock the 1CC condecoration, it also unlocks the "Space Ace" and "Master of the Universe" achievements/trophies when the game is cleared on Bounty Hunter (Normal) and Bullet Hell (Hard) difficulties. Getting the achievements will be a challenge indeed, especially for those who are aiming for the 30,000,000 points and finishing the game on Bullet Hell. If You had fun with R-Type Final 2, then you'll be at home with Bullet Hell mode.
High-Energized Stargfighters heading to the Danger Zone.
Graphically, the game makes its best approach to the 80's as the game not just utilizes the classic retro-grid stuff, the font coloring style, the traditional "Chrome Effect" on the logos or the scenery coloring used back then. The ship, scenes and enemy designs are right-on in that style as we have those fancy colored space saucers with running lights that evoke the cover art of Electric Light Orchestra's "Out of the Blue" by Shusei Nagaoka and robot heads that reminds of Journey's "Frontiers" album. For any normal artist, emulate the 80's style requires modern graphic tools. 1CC Games however, it made possible what it looked impossible: doing that style on pixel art. In fact, the concept was very well executed at the point of being an astonishing accomplishment, something that could be hardly equaled by any competition.
The character design is also another love letter to the 80's, Sunbow/Marvel Productions and Ruby-Spears to be exact. This is more than clear in Luna who is very reminiscent of the Baroness from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and Amber, Doc Terror's daughter from Centurions: Power Xtreme. You can't say 80's without american cartoon nods, right?
The music of this game is pure 80's Synth score that evokes the movies and shows of that era, along with instrumental-new age bands like Tangerine Dream and Gamma (the trasck "Condition Yellow" is a good example), this is most notorious on Planet Vector. Cartoon score influences are also present, and that's Galactic Graveyard which feels like a tune from the Centurions: Power Xtreme cartoon as if it was composed by the show's composer Udi Harpaz. I almost expected to see Groundborgs and Strafers being blown apart by an Assault Weapon System while I was destroying those "Disco-saucers" in Stage 2.
STAR HUNTED CURIOSITIES
A Taito Reference is approaching fast.
- Luna is spanish and latin for "Moon".
- The name JAMMA comes from a widely used wiring standard for arcade games. Its initials stood for "Japan Amusement Machine and Marketing Association" until 2012 where they were renamed as "Japan Amusement Machinery Manufacturers Association" prior to its merge with the Nihon Shopping Center Amusement Park Operator's Association (NSA) and the Japan Amusement Park Equipment Association (JAPEA).
- Dol'Arr is a pun to the word "Dollar", mostly known as the currency of the United States although other countries use the term too like the Australian Dollar and the Belize Dollar.
- The CV1000-D ship resembles the retro depictions of the Vic Viper/Warp Rattler.
- Max Fortuna shares a similarity with Cobra from Space Adventure Cobra.
- Big Score's binary coded answer to CAT-99 is "NEGATIVE".
- Big Score's ship is a Transformer-like robot head which might be a reference to the Headmasters from the Transformers line.
- Big Score's "Hypothesis-Analysis" answer to Edgar is a nod to Pod 042's "Analysis-Proposal" from NieR: Automata.
- Death's Continue screen random quote "Where did you learn to fly?" is a reference to Skylar from the Not-so-80's 1993 Atari Jaguar game Cybermorph.
- Another "Out of the 80's" context of Death's Continue screen quotes is "Hey Poor Player" which refers the 1998 Neo-Geo shmup Blazing Star.
- "Nothing Purrsonal" is a wordplay on "Purr" and "Nothing Personal".
- "I always wanted a thing called Tuna Sashimi!" is a reference to Zone A (The Sun) from Darius II.
- "The Cat's out of the Box" is a coloquialism towars revealing hidden details (movie spoilers for instance).
- "Force Majeure" is commonly used as a term on common clause in contracts that frees parties from legal obligation when an extraordinary event or circumstance occurs, but it is also the name of a 1991 novel by Bruce Wagner, the name of a Tangerine Dream album from 1979 and a Doro album from 1983.
- "Wax on, Wax off" is a reference to Mr. Miyagi from the 1984 film The Karate Kid.
- "Master of the Universe" nods Mattel's toyline Masters of the Universe, abbreviated as MOTU and commonly known as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, the name of the 1982 Filmation cartoon.
- "Brave Starr" refers Bravestarr, a 1987 Sci-Fi Western which was Filmation's last cartoon.
- "I'm in It for the Money" is a reference to "Look, I ain't in this for your revolution. I'm not in it for you Princess. I expect to be well paid. I'm in it for the money." said by Han Solo in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
- "It's a Trap!" is a phrase of Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, said during the Battle of Endor as the Rebel fleet fell on the imperial Death Star II trap. Decades later, the phrase became a famous internet meme.
- "Thermal Detonator!" is also another Return of the Jedi reference, as C-3PO warns Jabba the Hutt that the Boush-disguised Leia has a Thermal Detonator.
- "Starr Gazer" is a nod to the word "Stargazer" which is used to refer to amateur observational astronomers, along with other uses like the Lockheed L-1011 modified "TriStar", a series of Star Trek novels, and the name of Commander Stargazer from the 1986 cartoon SilverHawks.
- "True Grit" refer to the 1968 novel of the same name by Charles Portis and the film adaptations of 1969 and 2010.
- "Peckinpah" is a reference to David Samuel Peckinpah, better known as Sam Peckinpah, a film director and screenwriter known for his visually innovative and explicit depiction of action and violence as well as his revisionist approach to the Western genre, earning the nickname of "Bloody Sam".
This means one thing: Party Time!
Star Hunter DX is an incredible and challenging bullet hell that brings great features to increase its replayablility, and it is also an absolute homage to the 80's, reaching heights that most retro shmups can only dream 'bout. If you haven't played it, then give it a try, you'll definitely be surprised.
Those are a few ways to call this game "A Recommendation".