At last I've dusted off my Xbox 360 and managed to play lots of Otomedius Excellent! I love it, it's a lot of fun! Sure, even in Expert mode it's easy, like, PC Engine shooter-easy, but I don't think that's a detriment. Easy or not, the key of a good shmup is good stage design pacing and this game nails it nicely.

In a glance Parodius comes in mind, but while it has girls with questionable attires except for certain bosses, the mech designs are very normal! Gradius-normal. So it's more accurate to describe it as Gradius with girls on flying bikes. The mech design looks awesome in 3D.

It's also an interesting game in various contexts like despite the bullet hell trend in 2011 Koji Igarashi's team stuck with the traditional recipe while adding modern mechanics like Burst (bomb), Platonic Break (Charge Attack) and dun dun duun, small hitbox!

...did I just type Koji "IGA" Igarashi?

Yes, that Koji Igarashi! He's the producer! Which kinda explains Kokoro Belmont and Shiori Fujisaki. Also I heard this is the last game he worked on as a Konami employee. And also the last Gradius game as of late. I guess Konami had been in such a turmoil that early, huh...? At least this last Gradius game is good.

So, how one plays Otomedius Excellent? You can shoot, the rapid fire seems to be useless so just hold down the default shot, don't forget there is such a thing as bullet limit just like the good ol' games, you have the upgrade gauge, which works exactly like in the Gradius games, then the new additions are the Platonic Break, hold down the Burst button then you'll charge it, when it's full you'll unleash it, and the Burst, which is the normal bomb that doesn't seem to do damage but gives you very, very long i-frame time, which is neat! It's also important to mention that this game has no checkpoints, for better or for worse. Gotta keep the shield fresh!

In general some Platonic Breaks... ahem, breaks the game like Esmeralda's and Tita's, which pierces through bosses, and quite fun to use despite the risk of melee range, others, not good because it barely hits their target or doesn't pierce through the boss cores, though to be fair their default weaponry is good and the charge time is fast. So when using Aoba, don't rely on the Platonic Break? It's practically useless.

This game also has one of the stupidest decisions Koji Igarashi have approved in any project where he's involved! The cool thing when using Aoba is on Stage 1-8, only accessible in Expert, Aoba gets transformed to her Hyper form! The awful thing? The power is COMPLETELY RESET INCLUDING YOUR SHIELD! You will be stripped naked! What were you thinking, IGAaaaaa!? This is why this is the first published video of me playing this game despite I've already recorded other runs previously. This cruelty only applies on the normal Aoba!

Certainly Otomedius Excellent is... well, I wouldn't say it's a must play, but if you want more Gradius and just like fun, or seeking an easy Gradius game that is as fun as it has been because Gradius III is too mean for comfort, this game is much recommended.

#stg #shmup #otomedius

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