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It Doesn't Bite Holes in Your Pocket...Or in General Really

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: March 31, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If Thomas Edison had invented video games, what would they have looked like? For answers to questions like these and more, we turn to...Gekioh: Shooting King. Do not be alarmed by the measley pauper price tag; for once this is a game that is genuinely worth MORE than its asking price. Published by Natsume, the people who brought you the Harvest Moon series, Gekioh is a top-scrolling arcade shooter. In the tradition of Gradius, Silpheed, Thunder Force, Star Soldier, Gunbird, Mars Matrix, and 1942 (to name a few) this game pits you against a seemingly endless and nigh invincible army of robots and spaceships armed with only your single fighter and a few really cool weapons.
What separates this from the others of its ilk is its complete and utter inability to take itself seriously...a trait I personally praise. Here is what I mean: There are several modes of play...
Geki Mode: Replicates the true arcade experience
Easy Mode: Just what it sounds like.
Hard Mode: also just what it sounds like.
In addition to these, there are bonus modes...
Pocket Mode: Bad, super-pixely graphics made to look like a PocketStation or really old PDA
Comical Mode: Explosion sound effects replaced with laughtrack (that's right, a laughtrack!)
Stingy Mode: No Power-ups or bonuses, one life and you score 1 point per enemy
No Mercy Mode: Just like Hard Mode, only doubled in every way!
Slow Mode: Slow but more plentiful bullets, explosions replaced with screams
Ancient Mode: Sepia-toned graphics, sketchy vertical hold, screen lint, and bad phonograph music
These bonus modes make the game what it is. The best modes are pocket and ancient. Ancient mode is probably the most unusual and unexpected, also the most imaginative.
The point is for that price they could have done so much worse, but rather than penalize your frugality, they reward it! With imagination and humor no less!
All in all, if you have played at least two of the games mentioned above, you could probably die happy never shelling out the couple of Lincolns and a few Washingtons for this title, but you may still find something you like. On the other hand, if you have never played a game like this, it will be kinder to your ego than Silpheed or Thunder Force V and won't feel like as big a rip-off as GunBird 2 (I mean, let us face facts: It simply tried to hard to be funny.).
And for all you mathematicians, let me put it this way: Take the last under-twenty dollar game you purchased (or rented) and rank it on a scale of 1 to 10 (1-lowest, 10-highest). Now, multiply that score by the price of this game and place it back on the 1 to 10 scale. That is how good this game is compared to others in its price class.
Final Word: AT THIS PRICE, WHO CAN AFFORD TO BE CHOOSY?

Not Happy Nevertheless Great Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: October 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game first came out in Japan known as Shienryu (Purplish Flaming Dragon) on Sega Saturn. Then later they made PlayStation version called Geki-Oh Shienryu, which was inferior to the Sega Saturn counterpart. One thing I couldn't understand regarding this game was that the kind of attention this game was receiving compare to other shooting games out there. Of course, there's no hesitation for picking up game like Radiant Silvergun as the arguably best shooters ever, however, I would definitely put games like Layer Section/Galatic Attack (prequel of Ray Storm) and this game 'Gekio Shooting King' along with great shooters.
Gekio is different kind of game. You could say this is a typical, tradition vertical shooter, where you don't really think about what kind of weapons to use so much as in other kind of games, but rather it seriously tests your reflective skill. You have to control your space ship through countless bullets, not like Giga Wings series, where you have 'unavoidable' countless bullets (ok, you can your reflective shield, but still it was unthoughtfully done) but I'm talking about countless bullets you can dodge with such a thrill with sweaty palm. Trust me, I wouldn't hesitate to say that I had more fun from this game than other great games like Radiant Silvergun because I had to play again and again to beat the game, especially the last boss, Shienryu itself.

The problem, with this particular PlayStation version, is that it did not completely make smooth transfer from arcade counterpart. Even if you compare with Sega Saturn version, graphic is actually better in Sega Saturn and with much less slow down. For example,in boss fight in level 6, there's this serious graphic flaw where it looks like the system can't handle the too-many-things-moving-graphic with electric weapon. The most critical flaw is allowing players to have unlimited continues. Seriously, I don't understand shooter games with unlimited continues- what's the point of it if you are going to finish the game in one sitting??? One thing they did to somehow balance this unlimited continue is not allowing players to play continuously at the very end, however, that can be overriden with two player mode-

Gekioh does have lot of options of playing mode such as easy, hard, PocketPlayStation version and etc. These are great addition to the game. However, I felt it does take away more than it does add overall; I would wish that they would just give an option to change difficulty of your game from easy to hard, then limited continues, period. I got the impression that they could've done a better job transferring this game if they could've concentrated more on recreating the actual game on PlayStation than adding so much 'useless' options in my opinion.
You know, what the other reviewer said is absolutely right. This is such a great game, not just a great game but a GREAT game, not just considering the price tag but when considering its game play.

After finishing this version again (well, I have both import Saturn and PSX version already, but bought the game anyway to see if they made any change in PSX version, afraid it's same game) I am left with this resentfulness because I am left with no option but to compare with Sega Saturn version. Despite of all the negative things I said about this game, get this game by all mean if you can because it is a great game at the end. The reason I'm giving 5 Stars is because you just can't get game like this in these days when 3D games are dominating and shooter is a dying genre.

Enjoy.

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