#0043 Xevious

Alright we’re finally back to SMUPS after quite some time of not trying to copy Space Invaders. Today we’re looking at Xevious, a scrolling shooter developed by Masanobu Endo of Namco in 1982 running on the Galaga hardware.

In this game you play as an aircraft called the Solvalou, armed with forward firing blasters for air targets and air to surface bombs for ground targets. In this game you fly over surprisingly detailed and varied terrain such as forests, airstrips, enemy bases, ocean, etc. Your goal is to reach the end of each area without dying, destroying enemy ships and structures along the way to score points. At the end of several stages (they flow seamlessly so it’s hard to tell when one ends and another begins) is a boss called the Andor Genesis, marking the first Boss on this list since Phoenix.

While having no in game story, squeals, spinoffs and apparently even a short story by Endo himself apparently tell a very complex story of a battle between mankind and a supercomputer named “GAMP” But I have no official sources to back this up as Wikipedia quotes Hardcore Gaming 101, and while I can’t dis on HG101 (they’re awesome guys seriously, check them out) they didn’t site any sources either, so I can’t, in good conscious, quote anything. All other Google results for “Xevious Story” or “Xevious short story” to find that short story I mentioned earlier all quote the Wikipedia page verbatim. And Wikipedia cites the International Arcade Museum as a source for said short story which isn’t mentioned anywhere on the site. This is why you don’t use Wikipedia in serious research assignments kids!

But! This is an arcade game, not a CRPG, stories in SHMUPS are like the articles in a playboy magazine, they really don’t matter; and let me tell you, this game rocks! This is probably the biggest step forward in terms of both graphics and game play since Galaxian back in the 70’s. This is one of the first SHMUPS to have a scrolling vertical background, and one of the first to not be set in space. The graphics in the game are nothing short of gorgeous. Apparently set in Peru, game goes beyond simple 8bit graphics to deliver believable, highly detailed backgrounds that are unlike anything we’ve seen so far. Seriously, this is the first time on the list that it’s NES counterpart can’t compete with the arcade in terms of graphics. Here’s two screen shots from both versions, the NES version is on the right. Notice the difference.

The detailed graphics truly give the sense that you’re flying above sprawling forests, oceans and enemy bases. Just earlier this year some developers were still having difficulty with pixel art, so I would expect a game this ambitious to feel cluttered, confusing or sloppy but the devs over at Namco were very careful to make sure that you know exactly which enemies are stationary ground enemies, and which are airborne.

Not only are the graphics incredible, the game play is very fluid with rapid fire double blasters that are easy to aim with and cross hairs for your bombs that make bombing targets a thousand times less rage inducing than games like Scramble. I found the difficulty to be fair, finding that perfect balance so that you don’t die too often and get frustrated, but don’t get too far and not spend more quarters. Plus, this marks the first time on the list that I’ve felt intimidated by a boss. Yeah, that Andor Genesis I mentioned earlier is quite a tough boss and I was honestly a little intimidated by it, which is always a good sign.

But, for how awesome this game is, it does have some flaws. For example, the music is very grating, it’s the same notes looping every several seconds, and not fun music like Dig Dug or Frogger either, it’s short blips that just loop continuously. I would have loved some more exciting music to go with killing enemy aliens. Not only that, but I would have loved to see more variety in the enemies. The designs of both the ship and the enemy ships are fairly uninspired. Most of them are circles or other geometric shapes. Also, lots of games are including a continue function now and of all the games I’ve played this is the one that I was really wanted a continue feature and had none.

Overall though, this game is amazing. The graphics are gorgeous, the setting is innovative, it puts just the right spin on an old formula to make it fresh again. I highly recommend this game, if you can pick up the 3ds classics version in the 3DS eshop, it's one of those games where the 3d effect really adds to the experience. You won't be disappointed.

Also,the main theme of this game (start at around 0:10) makes a cameo in a certain SNES game. First person to name which game and where gets bonus points.

Next up: Sokoban