For shmup fans, the pinnacle of gaming is generally thought to be Cave games. From their beginnings with Donpachi to their more recent exploits in mobile gaming, they are one of the most beloved shmup developers in gaming and for good reason. The games are masterpieces of precision and graphic design and the mechanics are well-thought out and complex, making their releases some of the most enduring shmups today.
Much to the joy of shmup fans around the world, Cave Interactive Co., Ltd. has worked with publisher Live Wire Inc. to begin releasing their library onto the Switch. I recently had the pleasure of reviewing their first domestic release, Mushihimesama (review here) this summer and now Live Wire is back with another spectacular digital release on the domestic Switch eShop, ESPGaluda II! Now, for those of you who aren’t Cave aficionados, you might wonder why “2”. ESPGaluda II is actually the third game in a trilogy of related titles, starting with ESP.Ra.De and continuing to ESPGaluda. ESP.Ra.De is actually available on the Switch as ESP.Ra.De Psi, but it is unfortunately a Japanese exclusive release and you have to import a physical copy. The only title still unavailable on the Switch currently is ESPGaluda. Fortunately, it doesn’t matter what order you play the games in as they’re all simply outstanding! But what makes ESPGaluda II so good?
Now, I might be a little biased here, as I bought an arcade PCB of ESPGaluda II back in the day before Cave boards became irritatingly expensive, but this is an impressive title. Live Wire has faithfully ported the Arcade version of the game and included it on the collection, and just that alone would be worth the price of admission. You play one of three playable characters in a vertical scrolling play field. Each character has their own unique attack style and abilities and it’s a matter of preference who to play, though of the three, Ageha is probably the easiest to learn for beginners. Enemies come rushing at you from above as with any good vertical shmup, but in Cave style, there are tons of enemies and even more bullets. ESPGaluda II is designed for scoring potential and if you’re simply trying to survive, that’s only half the game. Your main weapon has a sub-laser that slows down your movement as well, and you can use this slowdown to dodge dense patterns of bullets. Note that while your sub-laser is active, there’s a glowing spot in the center of your character which visually shows your hitbox. Thankfully, autofire is included so you’re not going to be slamming the buttons on your Joycons! There’s also a guard barrier that allows you to destroy enemies and save yourself, but you have to get it charged up and you have limited uses.
The main mechanics are a bit more complex however. In addition to your main guns and sub-laser, the game actually consists of four modes that you can switch between. In normal mode, enemies come at you dropping swaths of bullets which you dodge while eliminating them. As you kill them, enemies drop gems which you collect and are tracked in a meter in the top left of the screen. When you activate Kakusei mode with a button press, all the bullets turn a light purple instead of blue and they all slow down. It’s important to note here that the button mapping for Kakusei mode is weird on Switch and I highly recommend you remap it to somewhere like the ZL button because reaching from Y and B to A to activate it on the fly is very difficult. In Kakusei Shikai mode, destroyed enemies drop gold instead of gems and that gold creates a score multiplier the more of it you collect! However, you burn gems to keep Kakisei mode active. This is one of the main mechanics of ESPGaluda II, balancing play between collecting gems and gold, all while dodging wildly complex bullet patterns. And that’s not all! Run out of gems and things shift to Kakusei Shikai Over mode where bullets turn red and double in speed, as well as reducing the amount of gold you gain, punishing you for draining your gem reserve. You can survive here but it’s tough and your score will definitely suffer. Finally, there’s an even tougher mode, Kakusei Zesshikai, where you hold the Kakusei button down instead of tapping it, shifting you to more complex and dense bullet patterns, quintupling the score multiplier, and instead of gaining gold from kills, bullets spawn more bullets. This is by far the hardest way to play the game, but it creates an opportunity for incredibly high scoring if used effectively. Only the most skilled players will be using this mode though. Whew.
With only five stages, you’ll definitely be playing them over again, though most players will not get to the end of five stages without credit feeding. That’s the magic of Cave games though. They challenge you to get as far as you can without continuing, even though you’re absolutely allowed to. The score becomes something tangible that’s a challenge to strive for and making even your local leaderboards is an actual accomplishment. Now, all this is well and good and chances are you’re at least intrigued by this point, but Live Wire has a ton of surprises left in the Switch release of ESPGaluda II.
In addition to Arcade Mode, there are five more modes included in ESPGaluda II! There’s a normal mode which optimizes the arcade mode for consoles, Black mode which is a console port of ESPGaluda II Black Label, an Arrange mode which wildly changes the mechanics of the game, and Novice modes for both Normal and Black Label versions of the game so that beginners can get the feel for Cave style before they cut their teeth on the full versions! Six versions of the game and each has fundamental differences, offering a wide array of replay value! With the mechanics of the main game explained in a general sense, it would be too long to go over the details of each version of the game, but here’s a rundown of the main modes.
ESPGaluda II Black Label is a special remix version of the game. When Cave released arcade PCBs, after they were out for a while, they offered operators the chance to mail their games back in and have the ROMs physically replaced on the boards with “Black Label” ROMs. These were remixed versions of the game and came with revised artwork, mechanics and music. These days, official Black Label releases of Cave PCBs are incredibly rare, the white whale of arcade collecting and fetching thousands of dollars. The Black version here allows you to play one of the main enemies, Seseri, as a playable character. A bullet cancellation feature has been added and changes are made to how fast your kill chain works. Kakusei mode no longer cancels bullets on an enemy kill and instead causes bullets to spam out of enemies. Basically assume that all the mechanics you are used to have changed for Black Mode and it plays like an entirely new game with a whole different balance and feel even though it looks the same.
Arrange Mode for ESPGaluda II is even wilder. Instead of a change in mechanics, even the visuals have been reworked, exchanging pale blue bullets for deeper red and blue ones. Playing in normal allows you to cancel the blue bullets and holding down your sub-laser allows you to cancel the red ones, shifting to a modified Ikaruga-style bullet cancellation game. In this version, you shift your shots from color to color to cancel bullet patterns as you destroy enemies and cancelling bullets turns them to gems! Switching to Kakusei mode turns bullets purple but there are two shades now and the darker ones can’t be cancelled. It’s a complete rework overlaid on the foundation of the original ESPGaluda II design and you’ll have to relearn everything you thought you knew about the game for a third time!
Suffice it to say that with all these modes and complexities, mastering ESPGaluda II is not something that can be done overnight. Scoring as high as some of the Japanese masters of this game might only be possible for a handful of gamers but the challenge is compelling and the strategy involved in ESPGaluda II is fascinating. What might be a throwaway genre to some has been refined into an art form here. Speaking of art, the visuals in the game are outstanding, with the Switch version allowing smoothing for HDTVs. You can turn it off for a more retro look as the original game was designed for arcade CRTs, but it definitely looks better smoothed. There are a variety of backgrounds available too, as this is a vertical game and is oriented vertically. It won’t be taking up your whole screen unless you have a rotatable TV and can turn your screen 90 degrees. However, if you can, there’s even a mode for that, allowing you to rotate and zoom the screen to play in full vertical mode. For those lucky few that can do this with a large TV, the game will look absolutely STUNNING!
For the rest of us, we’ll just have to make do with vertical modes on a regular TV. ESPGaluda II is absolutely Flip Grip compatible though, so if you happen to have one, you can play in full vertical mode while your Switch is undocked! It’s almost impossible to play ESPGaluda II portable without a Flip Grip as the viewable screen area is so small that there’s no way to see the bullet patterns clearly enough unless you have the eyes of a hawk. The soundtrack for ESPGaluda II is also quite good with a modified electronic rock synth feel to it. Most Cave soundtracks are available online and on CD and they are worth checking out! ESPGaluda II is no exception here and you may find yourself wanting to listen to it even when you’re not playing!
Let’s be honest, if you like shmups or bullet hell, like tactical gameplay, or simply want a challenge, you simply can’t go wrong with ESPGaluda II. At only $20 on the eShop, you’re getting six full versions of the game, three of which are fundamentally so different that they may as well be entirely different titles. That’s a lot of gameplay for twenty bucks! On top of that, the game is absolutely a blast to play, you can play solo or with a friend via local co-op, and you’re looking at a ton of replay value! There really aren’t any negatives here unless you have big hands like me and the Joycons cramp your hands up in handheld mode on the Flip Grip. Aside from that, this is one of the best collections shmup collections available on the Switch and Live Wire has absolutely and unequivocally knocked it out of the park again! Do not hesitate…just go buy ESPGaluda II!
This review is based on a digital copy of ESPGaluda II provided by the publisher. It was played in both docked and undocked modes and is spectacular in both. ESPGaluda II is a Switch eShop exclusive. Photos are from actual gameplay!