ZAKESTA-Z

Lovely shooting game that is both inventive and pays homage to the classics simultaneously. Lo-fi aesthetic belies what is an otherwise 2D tour de force with scaling and rotation a plenty, not to mention tons and tons of beautiful parallax scrolling

Every element of Zakesta feels like I want it to. The pixel art looks good without being hard to tell what is going on. The music is fast and fitting for the theme, very fun to listen to. The shmup gameplay is very good, with fun bullet patterns to dodge, the ability to shoot some projectiles down to clear room instead of just dodging, and even indicators when enemies will be coming from behind/below so it's not a cheap surprise. The soundtrack is a highlight of this experience, like an entire indie electronic album perfect for this game.

This is an extremely good caravan-like scoring shmup. A hidden gem. Very addictive gameplay, short and intense, various modes, great graphics and music. Not only that but the simple UI offers numerous useful easily accessible features such as stage select, quick reset, leaderboard and replay. Had it for a very low price too. Thank you ZAKICHI, you're great !

A retro Aleste-influenced shmup and a vocaloid soundtrack might seem incongruous, but the pairing produces so many soaring moments throughout this one as the bass drops, the enemies come swarming, and you hit your Z-Zone for millions of points. A lot of care went into the presentation here; not only is it quite beautiful to experience, but there’s also a sense of mystery behind the whole thing that’s hard to describe. What is happening at the end of stage 5? Who is this final boss? Perhaps Zakichi is telling an elaborate visual story here; maybe he just thought it looked cool. It’s not the most challenging shmup to 1cc, even at the highest difficulty, but it’s such a rich experience that you’ll probably find yourself craving another run—and the very fun scoring system is the perfect excuse. More than worth its low price tag, and a steal on sale.

Good shump that's on the easy side but is an overstimulating "audiovisual feast" as well as a love letter to Star Force, Zanac, MUSHA, etc.

A well-made short retro shmup with 3 difficulties. Fast paced, dodging and aiming both are necessary. soundtrack is the excellent free soundtrack work of d-elf of course.