"Strangley cute, but extremely hard"

Rabbit Punch is a side moving shooter made the same people that did Aero Fighters. In this two player game you can choose to be either a red or green flying bunny. Now you will shoot your way through 12 insanely hard levels.

Graphics 7/10

They are good for their time, but seem to lack animation. Your normal enemies are made up of a few colors. Your bosses are not much better detailed either. However the backgrounds and foregrounds are very decent.

Music 10/10

The music in this game is one of the best that I have heard for a shooter. Each stage's music is different, in fact the bosses seem to all have different music too. The music gets incredibly good during the last few stages of the game.

Control 8/10

The standard 8 way joystick and two buttons, one to fire bullets and the other to fire missiles. Now the control is mostly ok, except when you are near walls, then it attends to slip. Another thing is the fact that you can also punch your enemies. However when you do the movement slows down to a crawl.

Challenge 11/10

The challenge in this game is overkill. There are two difficulties to choose from ''Normal'' and ''Hard''. However they should read ''Pain in Ass'' and ''Next to Impossible''. The shear amount of enemies and bullets are overwhelming, and this is from the start of the game too. You do get a life bar for each of your lives, but a lot of things will kill you straight a way. Add the fact that you can only shoot straight ahead, and that the enemies shoot in all directions. Once you get to stage 9 the game plays one last joke on you. That will forever remain your continue point. So the last 4 stages must be done on a credit. Consider yourself good if can even beat this game on ''Normal''.

Fun factor 7/10

The game is fun for the most part. Except when you get to the higher levels. It is fun to play with other players, because you must work together in order to win.

Originality 7/10

The side scrolling shooters have been done before. However here add the save the princess theme, and the cute looking characters. You get a game with some originality, especially the ability to punch.

Replay Value 7/10

Well unless you are the God of shooters you will be spending a lot to beat this game. So yes it does have replay value. BTW once you beat ''Normal'' try ''Hard'' for entirely different course.

Final Thoughts

The game was geared toward the wrong audience, with the cute looking characters. It should have been geared toward the shooter pros. Most of your shooter pros, probably turned this game away do to the cute graphics.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/07/01, Updated 06/07/01