Gekioh: Shooting King

"Truxton nostalgia; cool shooter"

Geki-Oh Shienryu, or Shooting King Violent Flame Dragon, is a vertically scrolling shooter in line with games like Aero Fighters, Vapor Trail, Raiden, etc. I heard an importer say the game is a cross between 1943 and Truxton. I don't see where the 1943 reference came from, but I definitely see the Truxton reference.

In Geki-Oh, you (and optionally another player) control a fighter craft as you scroll up the screen, blasting the mechanical enemies that sit and shoot at you, or fly and shoot at you. Everything one would expect in a vertical shooter is present here.

The rundown:

Graphics: Excellent. Anyone familiar with Raiden will remember its excellent background detail. Geki-Oh is the same. Superb detail on the backgrounds. Lots of detail and colors. There is even the occasional flying scrap from exploding enemies (a prominent Raiden feature). Absolutely no disappointment here.

Control: Good. You have to get speed powerups to be able to move faster, but once you get enough, your plane becomes much more comfortable to work with. Even without the speed-ups, you will find your plane moves as you want.

Gameplay: Good ol' twitch factor game. A great indulgence in the great vertical shooters of old. Get your reflexes warmed up and prepare to dodge a quintillion bullets while blasting your way home. Fun.

Sound: Nice. Explosions seemed muffled a bit, and your weapons don't offer too much in the noise department, but with all the action, trust me, you won't go to sleep at all.

Music: Who has time to hear music in a shooter? :) Well, what you can take time to hear is nice. I really liked the music for the last boss. Almost sounds like something in an RPG.

Difficulty: Yeow! Remember Truxton's difficulty? It's back with a vengeance. The first few stages aren't much of a problem, but near the end. . .ouch. Oh, and I can tell you, once you reach the last boss, you will see why this is called ''Shooting King.''

Geki-Oh has some interesting features worth mentioning. One is the fact that you get a different smart bomb depending on your weapon. There are three types of weapons you can get (the lighting weapon brings back some Truxton memories, yes it does). Each weapon makes your smart bomb do a different thing. It's something to consider when choosing which weapon to get.

Geki-Oh's most unique and mysterious feature is the credit option. By pressing the SELECT button, you can increase the number of continues you get (up to 9). The weird thing is that you can do this as much and at anytime you want (except when fighting a boss). I thought that maybe there was a limit to the number of times you could do this, or that certain requirements had to be met before being able to do it, but it doesn't seem that way. It almost seems to make the game too easy by allowing you to always rack up your continues. However, you may be glad that for this feature, as you surely will be using continues--a lot. I know I appreciated it after running through that last boss a few times.

I don't strongly recommend Geki-Oh Shienryu, but I would say try it if you like shooters. It will surely prove a good time.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/16/00, Updated 05/16/00