Z-GYUBAAN!

[後半に日本語レビューあり] [h1]Adorable Pixelart Panel-Breaking Twin-Stick STG Carrying the Spirit of QIX[/h1] A twin-stick shooter that reconstructs the classic arcade "panel reveal" culture of QIX and Gals Panic — shoot enemies closing in from all directions, destroy floor panels w/their blast radius, and reveal illustrations of captive girls hidden underneath. Destroy over 75% of the panels in each room to clear it; achieve a 100% perfect clear to unveil the full reward illustration. The distinguishing feature lies in its unique system of "indirect panel destruction via enemy explosions." Since the blast radius is fixed, a positional tug-of-war emerges: lure enemies over the panels you want to break, then take them down. The "Wipeout" ability — trapping surrounding enemies in a circular field and annihilating them all at once — functions both as crowd control and as a strategic tool for shattering large swaths of panels in one go. Variations in shot patterns through power-up items and barrier attachment add further depth to the action. On the visual side, the girl illustrations hidden beneath the panels are incredibly cute. The contrast between the adorable JP anime-style character design…

Game is way too easy and boring. Most of the mechanics feel superfluous, and going for 100% clear on each level feels like torture despite it being the optimal way to score. Was really disappointed honestly. Wait for a full rework or a sequel. I would say more but another negative review on here went into much more detail than i feel like going into right now. If you want a tile clearing arcade game go play Vividlope or something.

It's a pretty fun pixel arcade game. But... Stage 2 boss is quite brutal. There were also scenarios when an enemy spawn on the player and I die immediately? Last boss stage was painfully long, there were times I need to go to one of the room to refill the timer and dying means restarting the entire battle. Maybe more weapon types would been great, like one that shoot in several directions. Laser is somehow weaker than the main weapon. There should also be a buff item that can expand the hitbox when enemies die so more tiles can be clear easily.

10/10 Art, gameplay and level design

Very nice and colorful arcade-style twin-stick shooter where you have to reveal an image by removing the panels covering it, accomplished by blowing up flying vegetables attacking us. Why? Just go with it! Controls are good, the pixelated graphics clear and bright, the illustrations are lovely, the thumping techno soundtrack is also surprisingly appropriate, the endless and caravan modes are a nice addition if you like getting high scores (but there's not a scoreboard as of now), and to top it all it was made by a single person and it's less than 40 Mb of space!! The only problem is that the final boss stage is quite drawn out, and that after a while it starts to get repetitive, but it's better to play it in short bursts anyway, like an arcade game of old. (Also I have no idea what Z-GYUBAAN could mean, so I'm just going to call it ZI' GIUAN for now)

Awesomesauce