Indeed, you're clearing quite a lot of games lately, Vludi, keep up the fine work!
Managed to beat the obscure
Rezon myself, an Irem epigone from Allumer (of Zing Zing Zip fame!), on one life. Even though I'm disappointed by the game itself I'm very pleased with the run. I managed to clear the game before, yet wanted to conquer it without deaths as you get 50,000 points per life in stock at the end of the game which is massive. Since this game is short and I had to play it for quite a few times I got a neat route for the entire game, including some deliberately risky manoeuvres for a few more points. I miss a handful of enemies here and there (even one right at the beginning of the game!), but I'm overall glad with how this turned out. The chase after the parasitic worms in stage 2 was actually enjoyable unlike a lot of the rest of the game.
It's such a shame, really. It definitely had the potential to be a decent game. The concept sounds promising enough: take the time-proven Irem formula, tweak the gameplay mechanics a little bit and address one of the very few problems (checkpoint milking). No second loop, either, but a pretty high difficulty from the second half onward (I dare say Rezon is harder than a 2-ALL of the first R-Type, unfortunately not for good reasons). Too bad they messed various aspects up (I mention a few in the video description). And Jesus Christ, that "soundtrack". Goddamn.
I concede in all fairness that some of my issues might stem from the MAME emulation, it looks like the actual arcade game has a lot more slowdown which may or may not have been intentional in order to reduce the difficulty. The fourth boss is one of the worst enemies I've ever had the displeasure to fight in a shmup, and it doesn't help that you have to react so fast to all the nonsense he throws at you. I also acknowledge that the checkpoint recovery outside from the beginning of the final stage is feasible, even the default pea shooter is surprisingly strong. It turns a hard game into a very hard game, but it's definitely doable. Additionally, the short length (6 stages, 20 minutes) helps a lot to reduce the frustration.
Would've loved to recommend this one, but I think most people will end up hating it. I adore well-made memorizers and feel fairly lukewarm about Rezon, although it was fun figuring out consistent paths for the final two stages, getting screwed for the wrong reasons was not, though.