Thanks to HAMSTER’s Arcade Archives and ACA Neo Geo series there are a number of retro titles available on Switch, but they’re not the only company providing games from yesteryear. Zerodiv have slowly been adding high quality titles from Psikyo’s back catalogue such as Gunbird and Zero Gunner 2. One of their first releases was vertical shmup Strikers 1945 and now the sequel arrives on the eShop: Strikers 1945 II.
Once again you pick from one of six aircraft and then battle your way through eight levels, shooting down the enemy forces and collecting gold bars for extra points. Each of the ships (two returning from the first game) provide multiple ways to tackle the game thanks to differences in their primary cannons and sub-weapons, including missiles and lasers. Power-ups can be collected to increase the effectiveness of your attacks and each craft has different charged and bomb attacks. Although they are listed as bomb attacks, these limited use moves tend to call in other aircraft to help you out, providing a bit of cover as they tear through the swarm that was causing you trouble.
As before there are two buttons you can tap away at to fire your primary weapon, with the difference being what happens when you hold each one down. One is used for the always useful rapid fire, enabling for a constant stream of bullets while you focus on weaving between those fired by the enemy and the other is used to charge up an attack. Charged shots include the likes of missiles and energy blasts and work a bit different than in the first game as there is an energy meter that builds as you shoot down the enemy forces; its level determining the power of attack once unleashed. Letting the meter build as much as possible is advised, but it resets when you lose a life so be sure to use a lower charged attack if it will save you from an explosive end.
Gameplay is fast, frantic and fun with lots of weaving about in order to shoot down your attackers or just slide past their bullets. Attacks come from multiple directions and angles as you consider whether to use one of your precious bomb attacks or maybe start a charged one. As well as various shapes and sizes of aircraft, you’ll find yourself being shot at by boats, tanks, trains and a number of turrets that are scattered about. Boss battles are fun too, often starting with you against something like a large plane or battleship, before a mech breaks away from the smoking tangle of metal to begin phase two of the encounter.
Visually the game has you flying over locations such as a forest, a town, an icy sea and through a factory. Locations can change during the levels such as the one that begins with you flying high over the countryside, through some clouds before emerging over the ocean. The visuals are in the same style as the first game, but a little less fantastical; although there are plenty of mechanical sights that wouldn’t have been seen in 1945, there’s no trip off-world this time around.
There’s quite a bit of detail in the surroundings, but the many bullets that are raining down stand out on the screen and sprites avoid merging with the background even though the action is confined to the middle third of the screen. This is of course due to the portrait orientation of the original arcade display. Dive into the settings menu and you can rotate the screen to recreate this; scanlines can be added for extra authenticity. You can play this way on the big screen, but naturally it’s a lot easier to play this TATE mode undocked.
The game soon gets tough and you can find the screen dense with bullets, no bomb attacks left and little opportunity for a charge attack. Practice makes things easier and you can also bump the difficulty down from 'Normal' (5) all the way to 'Monkey' (1). Two higher difficulty settings are also available should you wish to try a harder challenge. You have three lives and two continues, but this can be tweaked to nine lives and unlimited continues should you be struggling with the game. This will not completely remove the challenge however, as from the fifth level onwards continuing will send you back to the beginning of the stage. Apart from on the first few difficulty settings, clearing the game will result in a second loop that is much tougher and adds extra challenge as there are no continues.
The game is a lot of fun throughout as you sweep about the screen, getting into a rhythm, missing bullets by pixels and blasting away at the various attackers en route to a battle with the boss. The levels for the first part of the game are not in a set order, so there is some variety on subsequent playthroughs. On those playthroughs you could try a different aircraft; perhaps the spread of the Flying Pancake’s main cannon would be useful or maybe the Lightning’s charged missile attack? There’s fun from experimenting with the different aircraft, or combinations of if playing in the co-operative two player mode.
The addition of a two-player feature also adds to the enjoyment with you combining your talents to clear away the stream of attackers. Though helping each other out you’ll also be looking to shoot down more aircraft and collect a larger amount of gold to finish with a higher score at the end of it all. Trying for a high score adds to the replayability of solo play too, with each difficulty setting having its own high score board. Like all of Zerodiv’s releases there’s no online option, but there is still fun in improving your own scoring. Crucially (unlike with the first game) there is a score reset upon continuing, so these boards are not pointless additions.
Conclusion
Strikers 1945 II is a lot like the first (already great) game, but improves on it thanks to its frantic gameplay and new approach to charged attacks. Two-player is a lot of fun whether played on the big screen or undocked in TATE mode with detached Joy-Con and trying to improve on your high score adds plenty of replayability. The game could benefit from an online high score board, but Strikers 1945 II is a joy to play through each time and is one of the best shmups available from the growing range on Switch.
Comments 44
Oh wow, looks good. Never enough coop games. That and I love a good shmup.
I do not play a lot of these type of games but I think this might be the one I pick up. Sounds like a lot of fun and multiplayer is always good.
My gaming world went from two generations of nearly no arcade shooters to going warp 9 with offerings on the Switch. It's a good time to be an arcade lover.
I purchased immediately! Great classic!!
THANK YOU for not taking points away because a shmup is "too short." I've read way too many shmup reviews recently that clearly do not understand the genre. Please review more shmups for NintendoLife. I'll definitely be picking this one up this week.
On the wish list and will be bought soon. Really enjoyed STRIKERS 1945 and have bought all of the other ZeroDiv releases to date. Amazing to have so many arcade shooters on Switch within the first twelve months. I hope for plenty more as well as games representing other popular arcade genres in the months and years to come.
Snapped up on launch day, loved the original one.
Plus the Aircraft Nerd loves identifying all the WWII era aircraft.
Does it come with any promotional materials, music player or any other extras that make it worth my money? Or is it just as bare bones as the rest of these hiked up old games I used to stuff 20p into decades ago? Dare I say - is it even any better than any other, free, old, emulation you can pick up? Or is fleecing people in the names of nostalgia still the name of the game?
I do hope we get 3 down the line, having this whole trilogy on the Switch is a true luxury for shmups fanatics. And hey, what do you know, I am one of them!
More Schmup love on the Switch. Who would’ve thought?!
Thanks for a Shmup review Dave! Its either going to be this or Sky Force Reloaded for me next week.
@trikxy I know Degica Games has the rights to publish some CAVE games on Steam. I'm not sure if that agreement extends to other platforms or not. If HAMSTER would do it, then there would have to be quite a few emulators they would have to write to cover all the CAVE boards.
PEW PEW!
Just heard from a fellow member here that ZeroDiv's other recent release ZERO GUNNER 2 - has a welcome patch incoming. Great news.
Can you play with BLACK borders?
Absolutely brilliant game and a terrific port as well.
I love it even more than the original game.
Never played Striker 1945 III though, so I'm hoping we'll see that one soon as well.
@Lroy Yep and Strikers 1945 will get a patch to include controller config as well.
Contacted them a couple of weeks ago about putting the option in all of their games and they responded that they would forward it to the development team.
I'm so glad it's being implemented so soon as it makes not only playing with a regular controller even easier, it also makes a big different when playing with a stick.
Oh and 2 new games were teased as well, Sengoku Ace which is a very good shoot em up in the same style as Gunbird and Strikers, and Taisen Hot Gimmick, which is a mahjong game by Psikyo, which wouldn't surprise me if that one stayed Japan only. No idea if there exists an English version of or not.
https://twitter.com/shmups/status/957904618104569856
@HauntedNostril Are you questioning why one might enjoy buying a game authentically verses emulating it?
@bluedogrulez Same here. I'd prefer to get a more modern looking shmup, like Sky Force reloaded, which looks great, just waiting on a review...
I find myself playing and enjoying the first one often. This is on the list for a payday purchase for me!
Sounds fantastic and I just happen to be looking for a new shmup. Looks like this is it!
@meppi Really good to hear they responded well to your contact. SENGOKU ACES has piqued my interest as whilst I am unfamiliar with the game it is apparently created by the man behind the fab AERO FIGHTERS/SONIC WINGS shooters and actually the first game Psikyo made as a company?
Zerodiv has quickly become one of my favorite developers when it comes to Switch games.
@Lroy Ah, I did not know that.
Now looking back at it, the Sonic Wings influence is actually pretty clear, even in Strikers. Interesting!
While I certainly prefer Strikers over Sengoku Aces, Sengoku certainly isn't a bad game. Far from it. It's just a little basic, but again, that makes sense.
Got it on PS2, both the Japanese Psikyo packs (all 3 in fact ) and the PAL release.
Speaking of those Psikyo Shooting Collections, I hope we get to see Dragon Blaze on Switch as well one day as it's probably my favourite Psikyo game and one of my favourite shoot em up.
Absolutely brilliant game with an incredible atmosphere and gorgeous graphic design as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBmEHOARqag
@HauntedNostril Fans of the genre and the developer will like this, regardless if it's basic. It's higher res than the original, at least. And at $8 it won't break the bank. It's better than paying $20-$30 for a used PS1 disc. (Which means I can finally sell mine, guilt-free!)
@meppi That game looks pretty damn fine to me! Let's hope it comes down the pipe.
After I got my rear handed to me in the first (tough even with the difficulty down), I'm intrigued to give 2 a go since it redid the bomb mechanic. Already on my wishlist at present.
@meppi That looks brilliant. Like an amped up sequel to Dragon Spirit. Would definitely buy that one. Now who's going to port Armed Police Batrider...?
Strikers III is the best one so bring it on!
I might just have to pick this up at some point. Though from a shmup perspective, I’d be overjoyed if we were to get some CAVE shooters on Switch. Deathsmiles, Dodonpachi Resurrection and Mushihimesama Bug Panic would be a fantastic start!
This was a 7/10 or low 8/10 at the time it was released. 20 years later it gets a 9/10? This is getting ridiculous. How would you rate Ikaruga? 15/10?
@BigKing Ikaruga is a 20/10. Heretic!!!
@BigKing I read the words to find out how good a game is. The score in my eyes is just a scale of a recommendation to buy. That said...15/10 for Ikaruga would be a fair score lol
Can you play with black borders on the side?
I actually really liked the first one, so maybe I will pick this one up too.
it looks that switch lacks of big AAA games right now since NL have to review such old games in the present
What's this "shmup" nonsense? It's a shooter. Off to go "verse" someone now.
@BlackenedHalo Absolutely! Because they're 'new' releases on the Switch, they're popular with the retro crowd, and they sell relatively well with that market. Check out all the retro-inspired and actual retro games are on the top selling Switch eShop games list for 2017 (games that are mainly on the eShop, not including after-the-fact physical sales):
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/01/nintendo_reveals_the_top_30_best_selling_digital_games_on_switch_in_2017
And note that the first Strikers 1945 is #10 on Japan's list.
And let's not forget the success story of HAMSTER selling over a million downloads of 20-year-old NEOGEO, and other older platforms like Nintendo's Vs. arcade games:
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/01/retro_rules_as_nintendo_switchs_aca_neo_geo_library_hits_1_million_sales
I produced the PAL EU PSone port of this WAAAAAY back. It's a great game.
@Nincompoop Now you're just trolling.
@FinalFrog Because if it doesn't, you can simply keep playing a level, rack up points, die, continue, rack up more points infinitely. One can max out the score without any skill, just by patience, thus entirely ruining the whole system. High scores lose all meaning then.
@BigKing I wholeheartedly agree. In the vast cosmos of shmups this had never been anything special
@gcunit
If you want something more modern, get RXN or Zero Gunner 2.
Thanks for your suggestions, but ZG2 doesn't really fulfil my definition of modern, and I don't like the price tag on RXN.
@gcunit
Well, there is no way to deny it, RXN is expensive, especially for a download-only game.
But you really shouldn't dismiss Zero Gunner 2 just because it's "old" on paper.
If your definition of "modern" somehow involves good looking 3d graphics, ZG2 definitely offers this.
You have to keep in mind that the technical progress that was made since the Dreamcast does not have that much of an impact for games with 2d gameplay and a zoomed out camera, while the much higher production values that were dedicated to a 2001 full priced retail/big arcade machine shmup have a big impact.
I played ZG2 and Sky Force Reloaded back-to-back today, and ZG2's great set pieces still impress me more then SFR's higher polygon count on objects that are very small on the screen anyway.
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