KAMUI

KAMUI is basically Taito's Rayforce, but combined with ChoRenSha 68k and other similar early bullet hell titles - faster-paced, more manic and with more, game-altering resources to manage. The big gimmick that distuinguishes it from either of its predecessors is the huge frickin' laser beam that you can use both as an offensive and as a defensive tool. Don't go in thinking that you'll 1CC the game in your first try just because of this almighty bullet-wiping beast of a weapon, though: using it slows you down, it's on a cooldown timer that seems incredibly short at first but WILL bite you in the ass in later stages, and has an incredibly narrow area of effect that extends to the bottom of your ship but not its sides, so you better learn how to dodge and misdirect enemy shots if you want to survive the game's five stages. The boss battles are KAMUI's highlights and the major progression walls you will face when striving for a 1CC, requiring a fair amount of memorization and skillful dodging of thick, but not screen-filling bullet patterns through classic shmup maneuvers (streaming, micrododging, short misdirection) if one wants to emerge unscathed from them - which is essential for s…

Kamui. ALLTYNEX Second. RefleX. The history of both this game and its two counterparts, together forming a sublimely-crafted trilogy of JP shooters, is fascinating. I wonder what Siter Skain, the original JP indie team responsible for developing these in the late 90s, are up to now. Lots of comparisons to Rayforce and Layer Section, and that is understandable - just look at the ship, even. But the reason I like this game is that it took me right back to Soukyugurentai (or Terra Diver for some of you). That game became one of my favourite STG games and I think Kamui is actually closer to this in terms of cinematic presentation, music and satisfying explosion SFX. It is tight and a glimpse into an era of top-tier Japanese style shooters. They don't make them like this anymore. For anyone confused about the order in which to play the trilogy, for learning curve you can go Kamui > RefleX > ALLTYNEX Second (Kamui is the hardest to master and the others have a higher level of polish). This is the order in which they were chronologically developed, with Kamui being 1999. Reverse this order if you actually wish to experience the [b]story[/b] in chronological order. ALLTYNEX is first …

I first came across this game in 1997. Back then, only a free demo was available, and it let you play just the first two stages. Apparently, the full game was later released at Comic Market (Comiket). But I was living in rural Japan at the time, and I didn’t even know how to get to the event. It seems the game eventually made its way into shops, too, but none of the local computer stores carried it. Mail order was apparently an option as well, but supplies were limited, and I never managed to get a copy. I wanted to play the full game. But I couldn’t. Eventually, I forgot the game even existed. Before I knew it, nearly 30 years had passed. It was only recently that I discovered it had been available on Steam all along. Valve… THIS is the kind of game you should be recommending to me! And thank you, Steam, for existing. After a wait of nearly 30 years, I’m finally going to enjoy stage 3 and beyond.

Okay, wow. I'm really impressed by this game. It's really fast and aggressive, the art is beautiful, the music is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awesome. The soundtrack reminds me a lot of those Kazi of Doom MIDIs. Now I picked up this game because it was cheap, and I saw 1CC runs of it pop up in my Youtube recommended. It looked way more interesting to me than most other shmups I've played so why not. This game is very... inspired by Rayforce. Like, the plot, the protag's ship design, the level design, the enemy design, setpeices, special effects etc... even the infamous Taito Lasers. One of the bosses is literally just Giga. But I'll forgive the somewhat lacking originality in this regard because when you actually play the game it's really different. It's more akin to a retro CAVE shmup in terms of pacing and gamerules. What you get combining the two is a hell of a fun time. The only nitpicks I have are technical: no audio mixing settings, and the game insists you run it at 800x600... [strike]for a game from 2014[/strike] that's really stupid, but I have workarounds for that. If the game's visibility is a problem you can turn the background effects down thankfully. EDIT: I stand corrected, Kamui is m…

Best 2 Euros I've spent in my life. Whoever posted bad reviews is out of their ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ minds. Deserves full psyhchological evaluation. Killer soundtrack , insane mechanics ( swiching from top to botom shooting + the combined lightning ray that clears the screen of impossible bullets ) and mind bogling lore and visuals. Took me back to my Battle Garega and Dondonpachi days. What a game!

hard as balls, but I am getting better with each run. I doubt I will ever 1cc it, but I would settle for a 3cc as an achievement