Welcome to BC Engine, a game playing diary. I primarily play shooting games (STG), and I'm exploring the catalog of the PC Engine. But from time-to-time I pl...
Last night I beat Resident Evil 4 , the original action survival game from 2005. I beat the game on the Easy difficulty and played on Steam Deck (about an even amount docked and undocked). Overall, I really enjoyed the game! Here are my clear stats from my playthrough: Resident Evil 4 is one of those stone cold classic games, an all-timer, that I've never played. I always though the RE series were…
To coincide with the release of the PC Engine Mini (a.k.a. TurboGrafx-16 Mini), controller and peripheral manufacturer 8BitDo released the 8BitDo 2.4g Controller . It's modeled after the PC Engine controller. But slightly smaller and with rounded corners. 8BitDo released it in three different colorways to match the different variants of the PC Engine hardware: PCE Edition, TG 16 Edition, PCE Core…
It's so beautiful. Music super good. I like how it's a pure bullet hell w/o gimmicks/extra mechanics. I didn't love the slowdown, felt excessive and not needed in novice mode at least but maybe there's nothing they could do about that? idk, maybe it was Xenia running Poorly? Where as with akai katana novice, the slowdown felt appropriate for what was happening on the screen. I will definitely play…
The time finally came to take on a beast of the genre: Battle Garegga , made by Raizing. There are few games as revered and as scary to jump into. But there are modes on the Shmup Beginners List , so clearly there are more approachable modes. I started by playing Premium , which is a new arrange that is seemingly easier than the Arcade version, but I don't know much of the differences. After four…
I 1CCed Terarin's Blaze of Storm on Normal tonight on my first playthrough. I did the caravan mode first and then took on the arcade challenge. His bosses have improved greatly since Raging Blasters , as have his art skills. Blaze of Storm is stylish and relentless. There's often no downtime and it almost feels like a boss rush in a lot of ways. Each boss manages to be unique even while there are…
I got my Normal mode 1CC in Terarin's Raging Blasters tonight. Really excellent game! Quickly became one of my favorite shmups I've played so far. It took me about four days of practice, and I loved that I could tell I was getting better and learning the stages. I had a pretty bad run where I was regularly hovering at 1 extra life but made it to the final boss. Who then proceeded to crush me. But…
Freeware boss rush shmup made by Outside. It's really stylish and creative. The final boss's various stages were really fun. I enjoyed the dodging and it felt fair/approachable. I'm not crazy about the boss rush format for that long though, it was stressful. I like when there's a little downtime in stages where it's just popcorn; the rhythm of the stage is important to me. I would like to play…
Freeware shmup, possibly a remaster/remake? Inventive laser use near end. Cleared on first try. The game uses a life bar, which was a first for me. Kind of surprising/strange mechanic. Not usual. Not sure if I'll go back and play it on harder difficulties. Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2088520/Shooting_Game_KARI/
Fun! Felt like dev's first serious attempt at a shmup; enemies a bit unbalanced but enjoyable overall. 2nd stage boss is much tankier than the rest. Took me a few tries to get the clear. Solid execution of the horizontal and backward shooting. Excited to play more of Terarin's games. Even if it was rough around the edges, I really loved it. Good interview with the developer:…
Cleared on first try. Really intense and epic. Incredible visuals, like maybe the most visually impressive shmup I've played so far. Fun, want to replay. I like the coins and unlocks that don't impact gameplay, fun way to get me to want to replay the game. The visual signals of incoming enemies and lasers was extremely well executed. The voice over worked quite well and made me think more games…