[ガンデュエル/Gun Duel] Normal ALL CLEAR (Score: 1,413,200) [CC Commentary]

Of all shmup sub genres Game Center CX can clone, instead of branching off to for example, Gradius or Toaplan clone, they stuck to caravan shmups! I know they're iconic for the era, but at this point I think this is because these are Arino and the dev team's favorite, lol!
Gun Duel, included within Game Center CX 2, is the 3rd (or 4th if you count Cosmic Gate MASA-X as a new title) shmup of the series. Now it's heavily inspired by Compile shmups with its impressive visuals, scrolling, less blocks but more enemies, weapons, and bullet-cancelling weapons! This game is less deep in terms of scoring but at times, having better spectacle feels better to play. I love this game!
In this game you can shoot, with rapid fire already built-in, of course, and switch weapons. The game's main gimmick is you get to carry 2 weapons at the time. 1 as the main weapon, the other as the sub weapon. The weapons behave differently when placed at different slots! For example the Vulcan will fire straight ahead as the main, while it will shoot diagonally as the sub.
The stage design is brisk and fast but not too strict with the solution. I like the freedom of arsenal the game lets you do! The ideal setup is to have a piercing shot ready and the other with good range and firepower. For example, Fire Wave.
Unique to this game, there is RANK SYSTEM! This is the only game in the 1+2 Replay collection where there is dynamic difficulty! How to control it other than cheats? It takes the Xevious approach, kind of. On occasions including in the middle of boss fights, you'll see gray enemies. These are spy cameras! If you manage to beat them, your Rank will go down by 1 level. If you let them go away, the Rank will go up by 2! The higher the Rank, the more bullets and enemies get spawned! I don't know if there is any benefit of letting the Rank as high as possible, so for safety, you sure don't want more danger!
This game captures what made the Compile shmups great and condense it even further! Which shmup in the collection is legitimately the best is up to debate, but of the trilogy, I love this game the most!
This game is only a single-loop game. My major complaint is, it's too good to be this short. One criticism one can employ to these old console shmups is oftentimes they overstay their welcome, like their 1-loop can be around 50 minutes+! Compile is guilty for this. But 15 minutes only when the game feels this good? I want more! I wouldn't mind to have a 2nd loop, honestly.
In regards of survivability, this is quite the kind game. You don't have bombs, though you can pick up an instant-use bomb item from spy enemies. But when you have power ups intact, it acts as a shield. You won't die upon getting hit in exchange of losing all the weapons. If you're not careful, though, you will enter the recovery hell. Good thing this game is not a checkpoint game!
#stg #shmup #nintendoswitch

[@PolarBauer]

Really appreciate your videos on these collections!

[@julianseph842gamez5]

Basically GanaBlade x SophStar x Zanac