Gleylancer (Switch eShop) Review | Nintendo Life

Retro re-releases that fall outside the familiar safety of the M2, Hamster, or Code Mystics stables are usually one thing and one thing only: a simple ROM with some harmless but unspectacular emulation options. It will work, it will be official and … that’s it. If those soft targets had been all this new port of Gleylancer had been looking for, it would still have been more than welcome, as in its retro-tastic physical form, the game is pricey even by Mega Drive shmup import standards. In many ways, even a cheap and convenient alternative would have been a definite improvement.

What we actually got is much more ambitious than that. The emulation in this unpretentious package includes not only the usual raw pixel, 4: 3 and extended screen modes, with toggle scan lines, but also multiple shadow masks, CRT gamma settings, and optional corner dimming. You can even choose between two different types of screen edge curvature, as well as adjusting the intensity of the effect. The pixels get a slight (and again, adjustable) smoothness, coming admirably close to mimicking the kind of depth you’d find on an old tube TV. Best of all, you can see these effects applied in real time to whatever screen the game was on when you accessed the menu, allowing you to easily adjust everything to your liking without having to go back and forth between game and settings. .

As you play, you can easily access six quick save slots and, if you’re playing in modern mode (which features a full English translation), a brand-new Move instant-swap system and free directional fire linked to the right analog stick. . You can even rewind the action with the touch of a button. Did you make a stupid mistake or do you just want to test how close you can graze a bullet without risking being sent back to the last checkpoint? A separate “Cheat mode” is also available for those who want to use it, which grants them access to the classic cheat menu to level-jump and toggle invincibility that was already present in the original game without having to perform any twist entry code. fingers. And if that all sounds too easy or too different for comfort, the original Japanese version of the game is never more than a few button presses away, unsullied by tweaks, translations, and other modern conveniences.

Whatever the mode, there’s no question that the Gleylancer is a brilliant 16-bit shmup. The game’s fantastic use of parallax scrolling adds not only speed but emotion to its varied eleven stages; taking you through icy depths, winding between tiny gaps in narrow tunnels, slowly circling around a gigantic battleship or launching you through an asteroid field. The ways your Movers, the floating gun turrets that follow your ship, can behave are so different from each other that they have a direct impact on how you deal with everything from “popcorn” enemies to final bosses. level, and the new flexibility of the modern way. it feels like the perfect twist on an already brilliant idea. Gleylancer is as fresh and exciting as ever, only now it’s as authentic, or approachable, as you want it to be too.