Review by: Michael Barnes

Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury is the third edition of a ridiculously manic and over-the-top twin-stick style shooter that was first released for the Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast with a sequel following in 2008 on the DS. Developed by gonzo shoot ‘em up masters Treasure, Bangai-O isn’t quite like any other shooter on the market with insane amounts of ordnance on the screen and short, almost puzzle-like levels where a player caught unprepared might literally last five seconds.

It’s also wonderfully weird and reverential to classic, arcade tropes—the tiny player-controlled Bangai-O robot has to collect fruits to power up and there really isn’t any kind of narrative to interfere with the white-hot, seat-of-your-pants action. It’s all about getting highest scores and best times, at least once you learn to survive. Oh, and then there’s the whole kicking hundreds of soccer balls into hundreds of robots thing, that’s definitely a talking point.

It plays mostly like a standard twin-stick shooter although it’s technically a side-scrolling game with gravity. There are also several special attacks keyed to the fruit-filled power gauge that lend an unexpected degree of strategy and timing.. Right trigger launches a freeze attack that locks down any enemies or projectiles immediately around the Bangai-O. But hold down the trigger and a special counterattack charges up with a numerical counter . Let go, and up to a thousand missiles stream out against your enemies. If you’ve ever seen “The Last Starfighter”, it’s sort of like the Death Blossom.

Also, the closer you are to enemies, the bigger your missiles are. So there might be a thousand giant missiles on the screen at once, causing the game to (intentionally) slow down to two or three frames per second. It’s spectacular and hilarious. Then there’s also a Max Ex attack that causes even more of that titular missile fury. Dialing it down a bit, there are also several different standard weapons ranging from a spread launcher to napalm cannons and all have different properties and strategic uses.

The Bangai-O also has a dash attack that proves to be one of its greatest assets. As in many Treasure games, it’s also sort of the “invulnerability” switch. Nothing can harm the Bangai-O while dashing, so it’s great for escaping the hundreds of bullets coming your way. It’s even better as a tool for bum-rushing bad guy robots and sending them spiraling out of control so that you can follow up with some missile fire or a soccer ball barrage while they’re helpless.

This is a hectic, frantic, and sometimes completely insane game. While playing, it isn’t uncommon to have absolutely no clue as to what is actually going on. It’s easy to lose sight of the Bangai-O in the mayhem even though it has a couple of visibility reticules to help you find it amidst all the vapor trails and laser beams. But it’s also one of those kinds of games where you’ll get into a zone, and when you come out of it it’s kind of amazing that you’re still standing.