Bangai-O Spirits

Bangai-O Spirits
Studio	Treasure
Publisher	ESP Software D3 Publisher AFA Interactive
Senior Developer	Yoshiyuki Matsumoto
Erstveröffent- lichung	March 19, 2008 August 12, 2008 August 29, 2008
platform	Nintendo DS
genre	Shoot 'em up
Game mode	Single player , multiplayer
control	Control pad
medium	Game module
Age rating	USK PEGI

Bangai-O Spirits ( Jap .: バンガイオー魂 , Bangaiō Supirittsu ) is a puzzle shoot-'em-up - Computer game development studio Treasure for Nintendo DS that appeared of 2008. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast title Bakuretsu Muteki Bangai-O . Bangai-O Spirits offers over 100 levels. The aim of each level is to eliminate a number of marked opponents, for which the player can choose from a number of shooting, melee and special attacks. In Bangai-O Spirits, unlike in other games, there is nothing that can be unlocked, all levels and weapons are available to the player from the start. Apart from a tutorial, there is no specific storyline in the game.

Game mechanics

The player takes on the role of a mech that is able to run on the ground, fly and fire in 8 directions. At the beginning of each level the player can equip two weapon slots and two EX weapon slots with one type of weapon each. The EX weapons usually represent a full-screen special attack, but also include skills such as stopping time. The weapon slots can be combined to change the behavior of the projectiles fired. For example, you can combine napalm with targeting in order to be able to fire targeting napalm missiles. A special feature of the EX weapons is that their strength is proportional to the enemy projectiles on the screen. So you can use them specifically for counter attacks.

The level structure in Bangai-O Spirits varies greatly. There are both extremely short levels that can be solved within a few seconds, as well as more complex levels that are reminiscent of a normal shoot 'em up . When solving the level, the game not only requires reflexes, but above all experimenting with different combinations of weapons, because certain combinations are usually clearly superior for a level. The game also features a range of Sokoban- like puzzle levels.

A special feature of Bangai-O Spirits is that the game not only has a level editor, but also allows you to switch it on at any point in the game by pressing Select and thus allows you to change all levels of the game.

Reviews

Reviews of Bangai-O Spirits were positive. The original gameplay, the successful combination of shoot'em up and puzzle game and the addiction factor were praised. The powerful level editor was also praised. It was criticized that the game hardly offers any structure to introduce newcomers to the game concept.

Critify.de rating (average of all German magazines): 82

Footnotes

1. ↑ Official website ( Memento of the original from December 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Japanese)  
2. ↑ Bangai-O Spirits test overview at Metacritic