MinishoterRS Delta

Posted by Tim Fri, 28 Dec 2007 23:37:00 GMT

Review by Adigun A. Polack

This recent new freeware shmup fresh from Japan entitled MinishoterRS Delta (direct download link) — presented by Peposoft as the official sequel to his own original game Minishoter — is his ABSOLUTE best creation that he has ever done as such a splendidly-talented freeware game developer that he has now proven to be indeed!!! And here is why.

First of all, this sequel takes place as a 2d horizontally-scrolling shooting game this time instead of going all vertical like in the original, but one of the major parts of what makes it so rather damn great as one of his brilliantly best games yet is the sheer number of unlockables and secrets that are jam-packed into this game!!! On the very first time you power up MinishoterRS Delta and start your game, you begin with only three ships to choose from, each with different sets of firepower (normal and concentrated), as well as different types of speed dashes which can help you zoom past the opposition fast! Next, select your difficulty level, and you are set off into space to do some major white-knuckle combo-building!!

As for secrets and unlockables, I GOTTA mention them to you since they are such an important piece of essence of what this game is all about!!! You can unlock even more different ships, characters, their amazingly more powerful built-in weaponry, and even some extra stages by either performing a special hidden feat within a certain stage (i.e. letting the very first cute white-colored creature get away scot-free without even destroying it period in Stage 1, Route A) or by simply collecting specially-marked bubbles with a question mark inside of each one. And loads of other extras including fun little minigames can be unlocked as well while you are at it, too… now that is superbly great stuff without any of the bull here at all, I definitely must say!!! ;) !

One other note: I am so glad that the author of this game decided to include a special “Boss Mode” as just a built-in regular feature in which you can get some GOOD practice and skill at defeating any of the bosses that you have already met… I think this mode is such a most valuable feature seriously, and should well be included in forthcoming new original shmups, wouldn’t you agree now?

Okay. Depending on what difficulty level you choose on the way to starting/continuing your game, you begin only with a certain amount of life bars, except for the “Boss Mode” that I just mentioned which always starts you at just three of them. One of your main aims in this game is to build up as very very high a combo count as you can by continuously and rapidly shooting and destroying at the many enemies and obstacles that come, thereby netting you higher and higher scores — DoDonPachi fans, feel right at home here!!! You can even build up Combo Bonuses by destroying certain mid-sized enemies, and I recommend that you destroy them as fast as possible help you max out your combo meter indeed!! And more importantly, watch the timer on the upper-right corner of the game screen! When it runs out, a brief flash would come signifying that you have advanced to the next segment within the stage that you are on… with the main exception here being that when a certain boss enemy approaches, the only way to advance is to just simply defeat it (with which then you can snag yourself a shield which lets you take just a single hit safely, without suffering any damage during that time!), regardless of the timer at all. Also, there are even numerous boss-rushes to be found on certain stages of the game, so better be psyched and prepared for them as well!!

Oh… did I even mention that it has some excellent key references that remind you of the Gradius/Salamander/Life Force/Parodius series, hmmmm?

The pixel-based 8-bittish graphics, music, and sounds for MinishoterRS Delta are some seriously top-notch stuff (especially in the Lava stage where tides of lava slowly rise up to almost the whole entire screen before it comes back down — really impressive!!), and so especially is the play control, where you can actually move your characters with great and more efficient ease and careful timing to avoid getting hit, as with a manic shmup where you have a very small hitbox, which this game truly provides!!! And it all is so SPLENDIDLY executed well in such top-flight form for quite an intensified blastathon of a horizontal shmup, because it is just a living helluva lot of fun to play through over and over… especially for the huge amount of unlockable secrets alone, even after the game is over or after you reset just to see how much hidden stuff you have discovered, including in the “Omake” section, too!!! And, if you make it through the entire game on ONE single credit without continuing, just wait until you see the real and ultimate final boss which will definitely knock you out of the game really quick if you are not on your toes in dodging every single massive attack he throws at you… lots of good fortune in making it through him, just like I did in the first-ever 1cc of MinishoterRS Delta on YouTube that you do not want to miss in this very special 3-part series of videos from me:

...and I hope you enjoy my sheer mastery here!!!

Overall, I TOTALLY RECOMMEND this outstanding little wonder of a horizontal 2d shooting game called MinishoterRS Delta, and congratulations to Peposoft for so magnificently making it all happen big-time as we close out 2007 and ring in a grand new year of 2008!!!

For TIGSource, this is reviewer Adigun Azikiwe Polack, out!!! ^_-=b

Posted in , , ,  | 58 comments

Comments

  1. konjak said about 1 hour later:

    More reviews need triple exclamation marks!

  2. konjak said about 2 hours later:

    Just watched the last video, and as a very easily furstrated person, I cannot ever see the appeal of these games. 8l

  3. Lim-Dul said about 3 hours later:

    Indeed, there are shooters which are immensely frustrating and require you to virtually learn the path of every bullet by heart but this isn’t one of them.

    I confirm that it’s one of the best horizontal scrolling shooters I’ve ever played - freeware or not.

    You can always play on easy. =)

    The nice thing is that you even have an energy bar instead of the one-hit-one-life policy most Japanese shooters seem to follow.

  4. !CE-9 said about 3 hours later:

    …and the music! <3

  5. nullerator said about 4 hours later:

    Earth to Japan: There are too many bullets in your schmups.

  6. Tr00jg said about 5 hours later:

    Haha @ nullerator.

    It makes it more awesome imho.

  7. Jollifish said about 8 hours later:

    Insane game I cant believe stage 5 with the giant fireball things coming at me during the boss fight :s

  8. Pyrrhon said about 9 hours later:

    I can’t seem to run the game in fullscreen. And windowed mode is way too small! :/

  9. Nu said about 10 hours later:

    Great game…very creative and not frustrating like some shmups can be.

    If anyone knows how to access 8-B please let me know.

  10. Kairos said about 11 hours later:

    You can never have too many bullets in a Japanese shmup.

  11. keturn said about 11 hours later:

    I’m having some difficulty figuring out the key bindings.

  12. keturn said about 11 hours later:

    oh nevermind there’s an english readme on the homepage.

  13. BenH said about 12 hours later:

    This game always makes my PC reset/bluescreen. I had exactly the same problem with Cave Story and then I noticed this game was using the PXTone format and also the Cave Story music format. I tried renaming the DLL thats used for the cave story music format (because I know PXtone is fine on my PC) and the game ran okay.

    …then it bluescreened later on, so who knows what else is going on.

  14. Pixel Mort said about 12 hours later:

    @ Pyrrhon : This might be related to the game being MINIshooter, not sure : D

  15. Bob said about 12 hours later:

    Pixel Mort

    That’s “MINIshoter”.

  16. lecarl said about 12 hours later:

    The readme says that alt+Enter makes it fullscreen. It doesn’t work for me though. The game seems awesome. Really awesome actually but it’s still very, very small even at 3x size. Has anyone had any luck with making it fullscreen.

  17. Adigun A. Polack said about 13 hours later:

    You know, it is quite so amazing that I have actually beaten the TRUE ultimate final boss that I was talking about within a 1cc (or 1-credit clear) of MinishoterRS Delta, and the beauty of this whole thing is that it is all in “Normal” mode. Took me plenty of tries to do that, definitely, but I am so tremendously glad I have finally got it on YouTube to share with you all!!! (^-^)v

    And some of the attacks of that ultimate boss indeed are just plain MURDER indeed, especially on the 3rd and 4th forms and those damned ring lasers that can literally crowd and mess up the living hell out of you as well if you are not careful!! ~_~ I mean, try the “Normal” mode and especially the “Hard” mode as well and you will clearly see what I am talking about, you know!?

    Seriously though, MinishoterRS Delta is without the slightest doubt a REALLY GREAT horizontal shmup indeed, and with all of those secrets and simple yet totally amazing playability, I think it puts most commercially-released shmups of 2007 to such a miserable crying shame… including the recent Söldner-X as well as its very awkward play system there, too!!

    Game developers, take serious important note!!! ;) !

  18. Lim-Dul said about 14 hours later:

    who knows what else is going on

    You have a crappy computer? :-D

  19. Javet said about 15 hours later:

    This game won one award and was nominated for Best Game With Many Unockables on my “Best of ‘07” list.

    It won Best Game in a Small Window

  20. lecarl said about 18 hours later:

    How do you get the ship that you’re using in the video? Also, how do you get the rabbit ship? I have one ship that you didn’t have in the video and it’s quite good. I got it for beating the Poo Prince.

  21. BenH said about 19 hours later:

    @Lim-Dul: It’s definitely an issue with the music DLL. Its only ever happend with cave story and this game, both of which are using that DLL.

  22. Adigun A. Polack said about 20 hours later:

    As for the ship that I have used in the video, lecarl, here is how to get it:

    1. Go to Stage 4, Route A (Stage 4-A).
    2. When you see the giant grey ship there that fires lasers vertically within that stage, destroy it quickly!!

    If you do it right, you will have that new ship indeed.

    About that rabbit-like character you mentioned here, here is how you get him:

    1. Go to Stage 2, either Route A or B (Stage 2-A or 2-B).
    2. When you see that rabbit-like character within that stage, just CAPTURE IT without destroying it at all.

    Do it correctly, and that character will be added to your arsenal of ships in the very next game you play!!!

    Go for it all now!!! ^-^=b

  23. Gr.Viper said 1 day later:

    Has anyone unlocked all minigames? I got only jumping game with rabbit yet. No idea how…

  24. !CE-9 said 1 day later:

    push botton! you know you want it!=D

  25. lecarl said 1 day later:

    I’m still missing two minigames as well. I also can’t figure out how to get to stage 6-8B and I’m still missing 3 ships. I really love this game though.

  26. bv728 said 1 day later:

    So… how do you get Route 4a, then? I’ve tried killing various things, not killing various things, having very high or very low combos, and none of them seem to work for me.

    Did get the rabbit, though.

  27. bv728 said 1 day later:

    Nevermind, found it… need 5-a, 6-7-8b, but I’m sure I’ll work those out in time.

  28. lecarl said 1 day later:

    If you find out how to get to 6-7-8b let me know because I can’t figure it out.

  29. lecarl said 1 day later:

    I made it to level 6B by using the rabbit ship to beat the 5A miniboss really fast. At least I think that is what did it.

  30. lecarl said 1 day later:

    I’ve unlocked all stages, all minigames, and am only missing one ship. I am guessing that you probably get the final ship when you beat the entire game on 1 credit and I haven’t been able to do that yet.

  31. Chooby Choobs said 1 day later:

    Will someone make a guide on how to get all the ships and all the levels?

    Or if someone with good japanese skills could do a little search and translate, I’m sure the guide is already out there.

    It’d be a big help. Thank you!

  32. quack said 3 days later:

    I beat the game without losing a life(on easy), didn’t unlock anything, or I’m pretty sure it didn’t - no ship or minigame. Pretty disappointing

  33. quack said 3 days later:

    Also I only have the 2 white animal ships and the blue one how do I unlock the others?

  34. lecarl said 3 days later:

    Since I don’t remember exactly what unlocks what, here’s a basic guide on how to unlock most stages, minigames, and ships:

    1.beat minibosses very fast 2.gather the question-mark bubbles when they appear 3.gather the rabbits

    On some of the stages, I’m not sure what triggers the path change. I think it might be beating the final boss fast because that seems to be what does it for me. I’m still trying to beat normal mode on 1 credit to see if that gives me the final ship. If I can ever do that, then I might write a guide. I made it to the final boss on 1-credit but only had 2 health left so I’ve got a lot to work on.

  35. quack said 3 days later:

    What’s the difference between one credit and health? I beat the game without losing health

  36. lecarl said 3 days later:

    I just mean beating the game without continuing on normal mode, not easy mode.

  37. futoshi said 3 days later:

    I prepared a small incomplete guide that shows how to reach each level of the game. Here it is!!! (^v^)

    A small note: pay attention to the letter (a red A or a blue B) at the bottom of the screen: next to it there’s a red or blue dot: if it’s red and it turns blue, that means you’ll probably reach the next stage’s B level, but if it’s blue and it turns red… well, you’ll go to next level’s A stage…

    Stage 2B - On stage 1-4 don’t shoot the cute little white faces Stage 3B (from 2B) - On stage 2B-4 pick up the cat-spirit that appears just at the beginning! Stage 3B (from 2A) - On stage 2A-B pick up the cat-spirit that appears just at the beginning! Stage 4B (from 3B) - When you defeat the last boss, stay in the bottom part of the screen. Stage 4B (from 3A) - When you defeat the last boss, stay in the bottom part of the screen. Stage 5B (from 4B) - When you defeat the boss, stay in the top part of the screen. Stage 5B (from 4A) - When you defeat the boss, stay in the top part of the screen. Stage 6B (from 5B) - ????? (At the beginning of stage 6-2 the blue dot near the B turns red: it means that the condition to access level 7B is no longer satisfied… But what’s that condition???) Stage 6B (from 5A) - Destroy a certain percentage of fireballs (I think it’s calculated in real time!!!). Stage 7B (from 6A) - When you defeat the boss, stay in the bottom part of the screen Stage 7B (from 6B) - When you defeat the boss, stay in the bottom part of the screen Stage 8B (from 7A) - ????? Stage 8B (from 7B) - Kill all the enemies!!!

    Note: stage Delta has an “A” at the bottom of the screen, with a red square next to it: does this mean that to access stage Delta-Delta a condition must be satisfied??? That would mean that you don’t have to complete the game with no miss in order to reach the real last boss…

    Please try to update this guide!!! (^v^)

  38. futoshi said 3 days later:

    By the way, the “RS” in the title means right scroll! (^_^U)

  39. futoshi said 4 days later:

    I wrote this mini-guide to teach you how to unlock the secret ships and the Omake (special features = minigames).

    Ships:

    Devil cat (ITACCHI) = pick up the cat on 2-4B. Cat spirit (CHIKASHI) = Get to level 3B. Girl (kamome) = Defeat the last boss of 3B. Mini MK-Delta = Defeat the bosses of level 8B. Core (KOA) = Defeat the mini-boss at the end of level 4-4A. Shooting man (PEDO kamisama) = Defeat the mini-boss (the red dragon) at level 6-3B.

    Omake:

    Completely defeat the penultimate (I hope the word is right…) boss of level 3B = second minigame.

    Pick up the (?) at 5-2B = first minigame.

    Pick up the (?) at 7-4B = third minigame.

    Pick up the (?) at 6-4B = fourth minigame.

    When I find the last ship I’ll let you know… (^_^U)

  40. Zeno said 4 days later:

    Why’s Japan so obsessed with shmups?

  41. quack said 4 days later:

    I don’t think the Girl (kamome) is unlocked by defeating the last boss of 3B because I’ve done that many times and I still havn’t unlocked her yet.

  42. Zeno said 4 days later:

    You mean to say “Why is shmups as a genre alive in japan”, right? :\

  43. Jad said 4 days later:

    I must sleep now. I am the one posting as Zeno, because I somehow thought that the name box was a ‘desired recipent’ box.

    Timeforbed

  44. futoshi said 4 days later:

    To quack:

    Try defeating the boss as quickly as you can. Better if you defeat it before the timer reaches zero. This can be achieved for example using ITACCHI or the Mini Mk-Delta. It’s not necessary to play the game from the beginning. Just continue from 3B. Let us know!

  45. Taltos said 4 days later:

    Huh…weird. I’ve not gotten the girl yet, but I think I somehow unlocked all of the other ships/characters.

    I got a message somewhere on Stage 7A while playing on normal if that helps. It was also a continue and I did not reach it from any previous stage.

    I finished Stage 7A and moved onto 8B where I died.

    I was using the Cat head thing with wide spread purple lightning.

    I got a ship that looks something like a white pikachu/mouse in the middle of the Cat spirit and head.

  46. Taltos said 4 days later:

    Make that last sentence in between the cat spirit and cat head on the selection screen for more clarity.

  47. futoshi said 4 days later:

    Taltos, you got the missing ship!!! I’ll investigate later! Thanks! (^v^)

  48. lecarl said 4 days later:

    Wait, I’ve had the ship that taltos is talking about for a long time. It’s like a flying squirrel and it’s one of the first ships I got.

    What’s the girl?

    The final ship that I’m missing is between the Mini MK-A and the cat spirit.

  49. futoshi said 4 days later:

    lecarl, you’re missing the girl. Don’t you remember how you got the squirrel?

  50. lecarl said 4 days later:

    I’m almost positive that I got the squirrel on 3B. I know 3B is where you’re saying you get the girl, but I’m pretty sure 3B gave me the squirrel. If it wasn’t 3B, then it was somewhere in the first three levels because the squirrel was one of the first ships I unlocked.

  51. futoshi said 4 days later:

    OK, thanks lecarl, I’ll try to play 3B again! :)

  52. lecarl said 4 days later:

    Nevermind. I unlocked everything. I played 3B with the Cat Spirit and beat the entire stage in about 20 seconds and it gave me the girl.

    However, I still believe I got the squirrel from 3B as well.

  53. lecarl said 4 days later:

    Also, to get the squirrel, go to 2B and try letting the rabbit-spirit live. Don’t capture it or kill it. That might be how I got the squirrel. I remember I tried that once but I’m not sure if it gave me anything or not.

  54. futoshi said 5 days later:

    OK, I’ll try this too! :)

  55. futoshi said 5 days later:

    Nothing happened… :( I just got to level 3B (the little square remained blue)…

  56. lecarl said 5 days later:

    I started a new game and am trying to figure out how I got the squirrel but I can’t figure it out.

  57. bv728 said 5 days later:

    Okay; to get the girl, you need to beat ALL the 3b bosses within their timelimits; I reccomend the cat, just start from 3b, and eat every hit you need to to keep the beam on target. I’m short one ship, between the two cats, I believe, which I’m guessing is the squirrel.

  58. futoshi said 5 days later:

    to bv728: yes, the ship that you’re missing is the squirrel…

    to lecarl: that’s what I did to write my miniguides! :) Let us know!

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