Gana Blade (Steam) - out now

[FunktionJCB]

Gana Blade, a very cool looking (and affordable) shmup, is out now on Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2425920/GanaBlade/

There's a demo available, for those who wish to try the game.

Here's a trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdNnSWfTk9Y

[-Fish-]

I played this 4 hours straight last night. It's the real deal. Excellent STG w/ a Chinese dev oddly enough. He definitely did his homework.

Would of easily paid $15 USD for this but somehow it's only listed for $5 USD. It's a steal.

The game is so good in fact I started a high score thread on the Steam forum (considering the game does not include online leaderboards).

[FunktionJCB]

I saw your review on Steam.

I don't have the best "track record" with shmups by Chinese developers, but from what I played of this one, it's a really solid effort, with a catchy soundtrack.

Only "complaint" (absolutely minimal) is that, for some reason, in the menus the D-pad is inverted (press up to go down, and vice-versa; using the analogue stick works fine).

[-Fish-]

FunktionJBC,

Yes, I had the same issue with D-Pad on an Xbox One controller. Luckily you can remap all controls from the in-game options menu to fix it. I will create a Steam forum thread to let the dev know though.

EDIT: Dev released a patch to fix the issue.

[-Fish-]

Top 5 high score thread is here on Steam:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/2425920/ ... 534362770/

Not official of course. It was just made for fun until the dev implements online leaderboards.

[gradiusscrub69]

The screenshots look sweet and I like the 2 mascot characters on the steam page. If it has TATE and somehow plays on my garbage intel celeron set up then I think we have a winner. I need to look into this and try the demo .

[blazinglazers69]

I'm really, really digging this game. I'm just gonna paste my Steam review:

I'm absolutely loving this game! Played for 2 hours straight so far. Super addicting. I keep replaying and getting a slightly better score every time. As others have pointed out, there's a strong Compile influence here which is a massive positive if you enjoy console style shmups. In particular there's definitely a bit of love for the NES game Gun*Nac both in aesthetics and in weapon choices like with the scatter shot, homing shot, and short-range extension shot. Plus cats.

I'd honestly add that some of the mid and end stage bosses have a bit of Cave influence with some pretty dense patterns as well. Kind of like a Cave boss you might encounter in the first 2 levels or on a novice mode. Unlike Cave and more hardcore stuff however, this game is definitely more classic console style in that you can take a few hits. You have an autobomb that's constantly recharging--but the catch is that every time it's used, you lose money for the between level store. Very nice balance there.

Another cool feature is that there's a store between levels which adds another layer of strategy. Will you say the best defense is a good offense and max out your weapons? Or do you need to add a few more hit points for a tricky boss? Love that feature--again, it's a bit of callback to Gun*Nac and Lords of Thunder. The most contemporary shooter I'd actually compare it to is Sophstar since both games were made by creators that loved a variety of shmups and successfully blended a lot of their different features.

Music is great as well! Upbeat 8bit style tracks. Remind me a lot of Mega Man, the Sunsoft Batman, and other classic NES games.

My only nitpicks are that I don't care for bloom as a graphics effect with pixel art. I don't think it mixes well with a retro style look, but it seems to be a very popular choice so maybe that's just me. Also there needs to be an online leaderboard badly as others have pointed out.

All in all, this is a super fun shooter and for a VERY reasonable 5 bucks I'm already satisfied with the money I spent for my first two hours!

[EmperorIng]

Cute game. PC Engine inspired, and I can see plenty of Solider Blade references thrown in there (like the third ship), on top of obvious compile and a few cave references. Apparently there are sprites from other games like Soldier Blade in the game files themselves, but not used (must have been left over as reference).

The final boss is super annoying though. The final pattern is just a real pain in the ass and about 200% more difficult than the rest of the game. Combined with an annoying checkpoint (do the whole multi-phase boss over again), you can get pretty frustrated. I credit fed the other night, and 6 of my 7 credits were because of the boss.

[clippa]

The final boss is super annoying though. The final pattern is just a real pain in the ass and about 200% more difficult than the rest of the game.

Yeah, it's hard to get the timing right on that pattern. Make sure you level up your main weapon.
I had my weapon at level 7 here and you can see the pattern doesn't last very long at all. It's easy to tank your way through it with a couple of lives.
Make sure you don't use your special weapon during the final pattern either, as the boss throws up a shield and it's just giving you more time to be taking hits without damaging him.

https://youtu.be/dF6QauxcODc?feature=shared&t=2276

Agree with everyone else, the game is loads of fun.

[FunktionJCB]

I have been playing the game quite a bit more since my original post, and I'm having a blast!

It's rare that a game comes out of nowhere like this one came for me (I found it totally at random while browsing Steam), and positively surprises me as much as this one did.

Since I know nothing about the developer, does anyone know if he did any other games?
I'll definitely keep an eye out for his work from now on.

[-Fish-]

I have been playing the game quite a bit more since my original post, and I'm having a blast!

It's rare that a game comes out of nowhere like this one came for me (I found it totally at random while browsing Steam), and positively surprises me as much as this one did.

Since I know nothing about the developer, does anyone know if he did any other games?
I'll definitely keep an eye out for his work from now on.

All we know is that he is Chinese and not too fluent in English. He is active on the Steam forum though and tries to answer posts. I'd like to know more about his development as well or any future games he has planned.

[FunktionJCB]

I was checking the Steam guide section, and apparently there's a 3rd, hidden aircraft in the game (that has a separate leaderboard).

Spoiler

«Select the aircraft interface, press and hold L and J to select the purple hidden aircraft.»

[RUOK]

Wow I played an hour today and this is really enjoyable. Great work from this developer, you can see that this person loves STGs the influences are clear.

Stage 3 boss in particular is very fun to me, will play more of this

[RUOK]

FunktionJBC,

Yes, I had the same issue with D-Pad on an Xbox One controller. Luckily you can remap all controls from the in-game options menu to fix it. I will create a Steam forum thread to let the dev know though.

EDIT: Dev released a patch to fix the issue.

Do you know where to get this patch? I am not used to shmup on key board so much

[-Fish-]

FunktionJBC,

Yes, I had the same issue with D-Pad on an Xbox One controller. Luckily you can remap all controls from the in-game options menu to fix it. I will create a Steam forum thread to let the dev know though.

EDIT: Dev released a patch to fix the issue.

Do you know where to get this patch? I am not used to shmup on key board so much

The patch is automatically applied through Steam automated downloads.

[RUOK]

Oh thank you I will force my updates

[FRO]

I haven't played the full release yet (life is busy), but I did download and play through the demo and quite enjoyed it! I got some Compile vibes from the game, and heavy Sunsoft NES era vibes from the music. I've heard others online say they hear a lot of Konami in the tunes as well. Definitely looking forward to putting a bit of time into this one.

[FunktionJCB]

All we know is that he is Chinese and not too fluent in English. He is active on the Steam forum though and tries to answer posts. I'd like to know more about his development as well or any future games he has planned.

I've been searching around a bit for info, without much success, but twitter user @STGshmups managed to uncover some background and news about the developer in a series of informative posts:
https://twitter.com/STGshmups/status/16 ... 7281410107

In short, the developer has previously worked on a number of fangames (and on these twitter posts are screenshots, links to footage of various games, and even a link to download them), and apparently is working on another title, tentatively called Gun Wing (which at the moment is still using "borrowed assets" ).

Well, all I can say is he definitely caught my attention with this game.
Hopefully the next one will be equally worthwhile.

[Nahar]

I hope he releases more games like this. I need more pocket, affordable and fun shmups! I will look after his other games.

[XoPachi]

Ooo this looks lovely! I love this style of pixel art!

[Nahar]

1CC'd this on normal difficulty. Cute little game with an interesting difficulty spike towards the end. I will definitely give it some more play time and try the 1CC on hard.

[shmuppy-puppy]

I like it as well.
Nice game.

[BurlyHeart]

Playing this every few days and very much enjoying it! Looks great, sounds good, and plays like butter. Only played on 1 credit to the 3rd stage so far.

What ships are we all using? What do you usually buy in the shops? Find I'm liking ship 2 (green) and shot type 3 (homing). Been trying different items in the shop, but usually try to power up the main weapon first.

[XoPachi]

This is a really nice and addicting release. A traditional mode with no shop is a great option but playing with a shop really adds something to it. It's fun trying to get every little piece of gold you can so you can power up as soon as possible. The chiptune has this muffled sound to it that gives it a feel that it's being played back through authentic hardware of the time period it mimics. And they squeezed out a lot of variety with just two ships. Makes good use of a wider aspect ratio.

I did notice a few nitpicks though. The character and ship portraits are a little busy. The boss theme is not nearly as good as the rest of the music almost as if it were composed by someone else entirely. And the hi res bits of the UI clash with the rest of the classic aesthetic as do the really smooth panning and rotating motions on certain objects. I also think some background elements make it hard to see certain bullets particularly on Sand Planet with it's earth tones and fast moving dithered clouds. The smaller flashing bullets were getting a little hard to focus on in hard mode.

Having a lot of fun!

[To Far Away Times]

Yeah this game rules.

If you like Compile you'll like this.

Very high quality effort in everything. Could have been a retail game back in the early 90's.

[Nahar]

This is a really nice and addicting release. A traditional mode with no shop is a great option but playing with a shop really adds something to it. It's fun trying to get every little piece of gold you can so you can power up as soon as possible. The chiptune has this muffled sound to it that gives it a feel that it's being played back through authentic hardware of the time period it mimics. And they squeezed out a lot of variety with just two ships. Makes good use of a wider aspect ratio.

I did notice a few nitpicks though. The character and ship portraits are a little busy. The boss theme is not nearly as good as the rest of the music almost as if it were composed by someone else entirely. And the hi res bits of the UI clash with the rest of the classic aesthetic as do the really smooth panning and rotating motions on certain objects. I also think some background elements make it hard to see certain bullets particularly on Sand Planet with it's earth tones and fast moving dithered clouds. The smaller flashing bullets were getting a little hard to focus on in hard mode.

Having a lot of fun!

Three ships, in fact!

Spoiler

Press L + J on the Ship Selection screen

[Darkseed_5150]

Awesome game but runs like crap on all my (pretty old) PC's. Hopefully a console port is in the works that runs closer to 60 fps.

Edit: I only tried the Steam demo.

[pieslice]

I get really strong Bucky'o'Hare (NES) vibes from the music & the map screen.

[FunktionJCB]

There's now a Steam page and demo for the developer's next game, G WARRIOR (a title that is clearly very heavily inspired by Contra/Probotector):

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2710290/G_WARRIOR/

[XoPachi]

Holy SHIT that looks good.