Super XYX

Rock Solid Shoot'em up here. Maybe a bit on the easy side for the hard core folks, but with that comes a lot more easing for people not so hardcore like myself to appreciate. Or at least, I found the skill to at least play though on Winnie Hut Jr. But I plan on doing a few more runs with a little more friction just because I love the sound design, presentation, and creative bullet patterns. Which is what I tend to look for in a indie shmup. So I'd say if you are looking for more of a quick arcade shoot'em up romp, you can get that here. And if you are looking for a solid ICC, you can probably also get that here. And, that is pretty important given we ain't got that Arcade stuff much anymore. The sound is a delight. I know its more so from Amiga and such but for me I read Sega Genesis which I'm a big fan of in terms of the sound chip (when it isn't a screeching nightmare box). The sprite work and color are all gorgeous and I seldom found myself unable to read the bullets because of the splash of Cave in there. And as suggested, the quality is there in terms of level and means of practicing and accessibility. I felt pretty good with my Weenie Hut General run, which I normally get when I do something like Radian Silvergun on easy. Its still pretty hard. Idk what I'm saying. I liked this one a lot, so I'm throwing a review to boost the numbers. But by no means in bad faith. You can get pro-oppinons on it and yeah, they also seem to like it. So, good times.

Horrible visibility. Bullets constantly blend into the background or my own shots. Some of them are really fast and would be hard to dodge even if they were visible. Since I can't even see what's killing me most of the time, the game is basically unplayable.

A few years after their first wave of games, Team Grybanser Fox came back with two titles, coming out mere weeks apart from each other. This one is not developed solely by them but mainly features Perry Sessions, aka G System, aka Gryzor, aka Rozyrg today (better not confuse him with Gryzor87), an artist and game designer who already made Fire Arrow Plus with them. This one is a much bigger project and also a follow-up to Neo XYX, a game he developed with NGDEV and, like most of their catalogue, sadly confined to retro consoles. There is no way to ignore the visual quality here. While oddly many backgrounds are not as detailed as Neo XYX's, and several enemies are directly lifted from there or very similar, the sprite work is superb, and small details like the backgrounds of "level clear" and scoring screens stand out. Even the way medals are presented and counted at the end of a stage looks stylish. Character designs are cool, even though I can't shake off the impression that a couple of them were made by heavily referencing Jojo. The stage with lava, dragons, and biological oddities is the absolute highlight, even if it feels a bit out of place; apparently, it's the recovery of fantasy elements Rozyrg liked but couldn't implement in the other game. The colors are sometimes garish but add to the appeal, and even help some elements to stand out more. If you can play on a vertically oriented monitor, it's a must to fully appreciate the graphics. It feels like a lost game from Toaplan or early Cave. Artistic merits aside, it's also quite solid to play, if clearly skewed towards more expert players, with none of the facilitations Grybanser Fox introduced in their other games over time: few credits, no quick ways to obtain additional ones, and a challenge that rises after the third stage. The conditions to unlock the special "Gauntlet" stage and reach the true final boss are quite odd (look for them in the guide) but still much more manageable than "play the whole game just perfectly", and damn if that boss doesn't look amazing. Some other unlockables are simply prizes for completing the game multiple times. The "Super Arcade" mode consists of three remixed levels, partly based on the Gauntlet. While not a major grievance, it could have used a better options menu, as the one present here is not great to navigate. Super XYX goes on sale regularly and at the time of this writing, it's discounted to less than €2. You can't go wrong at a price like that, much less if the genre is to your liking.