Cute em ups seem to be a rarity these days. A subgenre of shmups where the characters and environments are all light-hearted and comical. Instead of being a generic space jet or a WWII plane, there have been plenty of shmups especially those only released in Japan during the 16 and 32-bit eras where you play as flying winged eggs like in Sega’s cult classic Fantasy Zone or a cute anime witch girl like in Cotton. “Osyaberi Horijyo! Gekihori (Good luck pronouncing that without butchering the Japanese language!) is a throwback to the Japanese cute em up games of the 90s. It was first only on the Japanese Nintendo Switch eShop back in 2019 by a little-known developer called CLOUDS. First Press Games recently localized it for Western audiences 4 years later. Is it worth your time? Let’s find out!
You play as a space miner named Anna Holinski. Alien invaders have taken her family’s hard-earned treasure at her home! Anna’s dad convinces her to go chase after those alien invaders with his state-of-the-art mining equipment. Alas, the comical tale of intergalactic treasure hunting/revenge begins!
The gameplay in Gekihori is very simple. You simply blast hordes of cartoony popcorn enemies just by holding the A button as well as the ZR trigger to lock the aiming with your feline companion who also aids you in blasting all those baddies. They all drop minerals you must collect in order to make any profit at the shops you enter throughout the entire game. You can also collect minerals by blasting the destructible walls. Be careful though! Your cargo has a limit of how many minerals you can hold. Reach the max amount and you’ll move VERY slowly making you a sitting duck with all those fast-paced popcorn enemies and the insane amounts of enemy fire you have to dodge. On the bottom left corner, you have an oxygen gauge. It depletes as you try to stay alive. In order to keep the oxygen gauge at max you must collect the occasional floating diamond power up once it turns green. Red will make you invincible for a short period and blue gives you a powerful laser that cuts walls like butter.
Once you are inside a shop you can trade your minerals for gold which you’ll definitely need to buy all sorts of upgrades including larger storage for your cargo. At the end of each planet you fight enormous bosses that will surely put your bullet hell shooter skills to the test! Trust me. Don’t be fooled by the game’s sugar-coated look. Gekihori is no cakewalk! You will definitely lose a lot if you’re not experienced in the shmup genre. Luckily you can start right at the boss after you lose and keep all your hard-earned currency in the process.
The 2D graphics are as expected very cutesy and charming. Typical of any Japanese-produced cute em up. Nothing but cute super deformed characters. Even the villains themselves look cute. Graphically it looks as if Japan created Adventure Time and turned that into a shmup. The first boss is a giant one-eyed watermelon that spits out juice that pushes back your heroine. Nuff said!
The music and sound is nothing to write home about. Very generic J-pop themes I’ve heard in modern games like 10000000x times. Just a warning to everyone. THIS GAME IS EXTREMELY CHATTY! If you think Raiden V and Ginga have non-stop blabber, Gekihori gives those two a run for their money in that category! There is not one moment where Anna isn’t squealing in a stereotypical anime high-pitched voice! Not just the cutscenes but also DURING THE GAME WHERE YOU ARE TRYING TO DODGE SWARMS OF PROJECTILES!! It is INCREDIBLY distracting! So if you are like me and can’t stand the blabber during the modern shmups I HIGHLY suggest turning down the voice volume to 0% on the options screen. Thank me later!
Overall if you love shmups and don’t mind the sugar-coated kawaii anime girl aesthetic this game is definitely for you. It is the closest thing to a modern Magical Chase or Air Zonk game. Both are what I consider classic shmups on Turbo Grafx-16 / PC Engine. Just lower the voice volume to 0% and you’ll definitely have a ball! “Osyaberi Horijyo! Gekihori: Anna Saves The Universe, Alright!” is now available on the North American Nintendo Switch eShop for $16.99. No physical release is planned at the moment.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
