TWINKLE STAR SPRITES

One of the most charming and ingeniously constructed games I've ever played, I love Twinkle Star Sprites like I love few other things. Playing it is a joyful, heart-warming experience. I wish only for a modern remake, or a successor in the same spirit, but it would be difficult to top this. Even most of its flaws, such as the "Engrish" translation and egregious slowdown, only add to its charm for me. I cannot fault the game design itself. The idea of combining the vertical-scrolling shmup and versus puzzle game genres was legitimately a stroke of genius, and it is executed amazingly well. TSS is far more than the sum of its parts. Its creation was clearly a labour of love; there is nothing cynical or by-the-numbers about it. IMO this is one of the greatest hidden, or at least underappreciated, gems on any platform. I'd recommend it to anyone with a will to live. Note: I cannot comment on the quality of this particular port compared to the original releases, but other reviewers have mentioned several flaws including additional frames of input lag.

This is one of SNK’s most creative and addictive mashups - a shooter that plays like a fighting game. At its core, it’s a classic vertical scrolling shooter with that tight 8/16-bit-era feel, but the twist is brilliant: you’re battling side-by-side against another player, sending attacks back and forth like a versus fighter. It shouldn’t work as well as it does, but it absolutely does. The mechanics are easy to pick up, surprisingly deep, and endlessly fun, especially as matches escalate into chaotic, screen-filling duels. Add in the cute, colorful characters and lively presentation, and you’ve got something that feels both nostalgic and totally unique. It’s an innovative gem that still stands out today.

◎ - Achievements - Leaderboards × - No gamepad support - A lot of lag - It crashes frequently - You can change language but there's no Japanese support Overall: It's a shame to take a masterpiece and release it in this state and after 10 years of being on Steam, it's still not fixed. I appreciate the leaderboards and achievements, but this port still suffers from serious flaws. Buy this game on GOG, which is exactly the same but it at least has controller support.

A very fun and unique game. But the emulation is not optimal. And the bootup menu feels very laggy for no good reason. It's functional enough to be recommended as a multiplayer game. But if you have the knowhow you should probably just stick with fightcade.

This game has always been one of the GOATs. The characters are absurd and cute. The voices are exactly what you would expect. The music resonates inside one's cranium for decades, but it also has its very rocking moments. The port on Steam, though, is very VERY barebones. I happen to have the Dreamcast version of this and it is very similar to this port - and back in the days of the Dreamcast, I would have said the same: How come the Saturn version has far much more than any other? Now, I know this game was re-released 10 years ago, but even in the year of our lord 2016, it was rather unwholesome for this to not have AT LEAST the amount of contents that the Saturn version had. Neutral recommendation.

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