The fine folks at Treasure, who gave the world the classic Gunstar Heroes for Sega Genesis, have a new dual-screen shooter for the Nintendo DS (even if the top screen is just a map). With somewhat crappy graphics and a distinctly Japanese ass-kicking difficulty, Bangai-O gives new definition to hardcore shoot-em-ups.

We are told, “there is no story”. You are a robot with a big honking sword, and a missile launcher that charges all the way up to a hundred. Bangai-O also has more than a hundred levels, with the final number has yet to be determined, and a level editor.

Probably the coolest feature promised to us was Bangai-O’s unique manner of importing custom levels. Using a “modem-like” sound recognition, you simply hold the DS microphone to your computer’s speakers, and the game will build the level based on a generated sound file. So this should make downloading new environments as easy as turning up the volume.

We didn’t really get the hang of Bangai-O’s strange controls in the brief session, but the demo did seem to indicate you could pull off some neat combinations of attacks, where timing was everything. When you’re about to get slaughtered, for example, charging your missile attack will make the missiles gigantic and devastating. One boss we saw swatted these oversized missiles back at us with his sword, so we just kept charging up and making those missiles grow even larger.

It’s completely bizarre, and hopelessly difficult, so this isn’t a game to buy for great-grandma along with a copy of Brain Age: Greatest Generation Edition and a Matlock-embossed DS. But if you’re a real Otaku, keep your eyes peeled for Bangai-O.

Tags: Bangai-O, D3-Publisher, gunstar_heroes, missiles, nintendo_ds

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1 Comment » stosh on February 28, 2008 12:39 am This game was released on the dreamcast a few years ago. The gameplay was pretty amazing…hopefully that hasn’t changed much. RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.