Gekioh: Shooting King
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| Gekioh Shooting King | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Warashi |
| Publisher(s) | Natsume |
| Platform(s) | Playstation |
| Release date | December 17, 2002 |
| Genre(s) | Scrolling Shooter |
| Mode(s) | Up to 2 players simultaneously |
Gekioh (literally Bullet King) Shooting King is a vertical scrolling shooter published by Natsume originally created by Warashi. The game is in fact a commemorative release of Warashi's Shienryu retitled and coupled with additional game modes. It is the only edition of Shienryu that has seen a western release.
Contents |
[edit] Weapon System
Similar to Shienryu, players start with a standard vulcan shot which starts as a straight firing weapon but spreads-eagle with additional upgrades and the weapon is indicated with red orbs. Other weapons include an electric attack which spreads out toward any enemies available until shocked enemies are destroyed (indicated by a blue orb) and a missile barrage that increases power and amount of missiles with the proper upgrades (indicated by yellow orbs).
Upgrades in the game can be picked up after destroying certain enemies and are indicated as red P's in silver squares. Often a glowing version of the weapon upgrades can be found which increase firepower completely and, under the right circumstances, can explode in an array of pick-ups.
Players also start with an amount of bombs which change depending on their weapon type. The vulcan's bomb fires a large laser beam that sweeps from the ship's sides and gradually ends facing forward. The lightening bomb fires up to five straight-firing laser beams within the ship's radius and the missile bomb fires a short range, but very powerful ground bomb that circulates the ship.
Every bomb works not only as a stronger attack, but as temporary defense against enemy fire as the majority of standard, pulsar shots are evaporated within the bomb's blast. Oddly enough, the vulcan bomb is the only bomb that can travel with the player, with the other bombs both being stationary. Like the firing weapon, the bombs also have their own pick-up indicated by a floating B and bomb shape. Picking this up replinshes the player's amount of bombs.
[edit] Gameplay
Once again the same as its predecessor, players control either of two double-piloted ships through Earth and space.
Survival is a great emphasis in gameplay as enemies will fire blankets of pulse shots across the screen, some larger than others and some taking on wide intricate patterns. Another indication of the game's difficulty is based on the use of a checkpoint system that organizes every level and gives a place for players to continue from if they die at a certain checkpoint. However, Gekioh allows the player more access to continues unlike the Saturn original.
Like most shooters, the player's ship speed could be increased by picking up Speed boost pick-ups (indicated by blue S's).
Once a player has picked up a glowing power up, the player's speed and firepower will reach their highest points and the ship will obtain a white armor attachment across its nose: this gives the player a chance to take one hit before being weakened into their one-hit kill state.
Scoring is based mostly on the amount of enemies destroyed as well as the remaining amount of unused bombs the player has and the accumulation points acquired by collecting red or blue labeled points-indicators: red points score up to 500 points while blue points score up to 5000 points. The upgrades are all the same as they were in the original such as 1Ups, though both 1Ups and even 2Ups are available after defeating minibosses in a certain amount of time.
[edit] Conversion differences
Gekioh Shooting King features the original arcade mode entitled Gekioh Mode which was similar to the original Saturn version, save for the following:
- Gekioh Shooting King has a lower grade version of the original soundtrack resulting in weaker tunes and musical effects.
- Gekioh Shooting King lacks the transparencey and depth effects the Saturn original had, particularly on the massive second level boss fight.
- Gekioh Shooting King disables save-game abilities particularly high scores and option changes, seeing how there is no option menu in GSK.
- The manual to Gekioh Shooting King disavows the original plot and pilot identification.
[edit] Extra game modes
All ready available to the player, these extra game modes feature the same game with different effects and difficulties.
Pocket Mode: Presented in PocketStation graphics and effects, enemies appear as blocky heart-shaped craft and bullets are tiny gray blocks, all lacking graphical detail.
Comical Mode: The same game, only there is no music and the sound effects are replaced by various laugh tracks and an audience applauses the player the higher their score gets.
Stingy Mode: The same game, only the player has only one life, no continues and there are only two levels. Oddly enough, the original soundtrack is used in this mode only.
No Mercy Mode: The same game, only extremely difficult.
Slow Mode: The same game, only darker shading, an atmospheric/techno beat soundtrack and all sound effects are replaced by haunted-house type sounds. It's interesting to note that all enemies and the player's ship scream once destroyed.
Ancient Mode: The same game, only presented in a yellowed-with-age monochrome screen with cracks and lines in the screen as well as weakened sound effects and music to create an antiquated feel.
