From the creators of Shenmue, Air Twister proves that genius and madness go hand in hand

Sorry, “again” Apple Arcade from me, but when a hero of the nineties – Yu Suzuki – is suddenly there with a game, you just look. And then when the game is Air Twister, you look away, shake, and then look again, because it’s been a long time since you’ve seen anything wild like this.

Well, at least not unless you’re criss-crossing your personal SEGA collection every few weeks. Because this is basically a fantasy space harrier with more colorful, pill-shaped enemy projectiles than you could ever eat! “Swipe Shooting” is what the creator of countless classics calls – seriously: look at his vita! – that on the iPad and is right about that. Because you don’t actually do much more than automatically fly into the depths of this crazy world, avoiding projectiles and enemies and marking them with finger wipers for your target-seeking projectiles.

That doesn’t sound particularly new or interesting at first, but the presentation makes all the difference. Air Twister is so Sega “anything goes” that it was either clicked together blindly from random asset stores or deliberately trimmed and curated to be weird with pinpoint fingers. There’s little in between, and I’m almost certain the latter is true.

Anyone who still remembers Space Harrier will immediately recognize the madness of the method: you fly through huge mushroom formations, along under floating islands, pass Easter Island stone heads and enjoy the color gradients of the laser shots that the opposition throws at you and rotating dodecahedrons . As said. Very “Space Harrier” all of that. Subjectively, the sprites of yesteryear had more character, but the overall look that Air Twister presents is surprisingly close to a polygonal version of the unofficial arcade template.

And one more thing that is absolutely remarkable: The soundtrack already threatened to make you headbang and rainbow vomit at the same time in the first trailer of this game. In fact, even in the finished game, it is still the Dutch solo artist Valensia, whose baroque-cheesy pompous skirt was probably licensed for the OST. Some of the tracks are a good 20 years old, but they still raise eyebrows. How does that sound? Like a chronically underbooked but over-talented cover band who, after a devastating accident at the opening ceremony of a nitrous oxide factory, became obsessed with the idea that Queen would sound better if every song was Bohemian Rhapsody.

Does that sound horrible to you? It is, but in the sadly awesome way that complements a game that comes from as far out as this one. If these tracks didn’t already exist, they would have to be written for this. Air Twister, then, a wonderful accident of a space rock adventure that is mesmerizing because it is second to none. Or have you ever shot at dragonflies with elephant skulls and bat ears or rode a winged armored trout towards a gigantic laser octopus? Even!

When it comes to control, you should also know that it is best to use a mixture of controller and touch control. At least what I liked best was controlling my damsel in a space swimsuit with the left stick of the controller and attacking the enemies with the right index finger on the display. Feels completely natural after a few moments and works well.

I am a bit fascinated by this gloriously enraptured game from a lost time, which has escaped all reason. At the same time, after twelve stages of this, I have to report slight concerns about the longevity. Although there is still a lot to unlock (you get a star for every formation you shoot down. You invest your star budget on the “Adventure Map” in new outfits, more life energy or new weapons) and more difficult enemies creep into earlier stages over time, I have After a game over, sometimes not the greatest desire to start all over again. Would have been nice to be able to choose a later starting point as an upgrade on the adventure map. But who knows, maybe something will come along in the same direction.

But otherwise: Yes, nice, big nonsense, this Air Twister. It will polarize, that much is already clear. Today’s mainstream tastes are often no longer attuned to a full pulp broadside like this. And the hardcore shooter fans might lack an idea of ​​finesse in the subtly simple-minded concept. But Air Twister’s wild antics show me once again that ideas that have gone out of fashion often blossom into the most interesting and beautiful flowers in the gray area between trash and art. Yu Suzuki is leaning far out the window with this. Strictly speaking, he might not have managed a good game, but it was an incredibly interesting one.