[FixEight] USA Cull-Horn Normal Stage 2-3 (Score: 1,378,840) [CC Commentary]

FixEight is OutZone's (spiritual) often undiscussed sequel. Bigger, badder, better! The thing is, overall I still prefer Out Zone. Out Zone has a more solid identity as an overall product. It's a butt-kicking top down run n gun that gives well adjusted challenge regardless of the version. You have noticed why I put USA as the region instead of JP on this video's title, right?
The JP's subtitle is "Legend of the Heroes of Hell". THEY WERE NOT JOKING!
Then it comes with the dilemma. USA scaled the statistical difficulty down too much, makes it easier than Out Zone of any region. In the not-JP versions, the enemy arrangements very slightly get toned down. But more notably, in the USA version enemy HP is halved, bullet speed is halved, so the undiscussed Rank system also barely tangible. FixEight JP and USA are two different beasts of opposite spectrums! JP version horribly limits the viable characters for 1cc due to the DPS vs time limit considerations. The USA version is meanwhile the enemy HP are so little it makes it hard to appreciate how much effort the game differentiates each of the characters' shot type.
FixEight is basically Out Zone with 8 (-1) selectable characters, which even compared to console offerings and Sonic Wings, that is a ridiculous amount of characters available! You can shoot and bomb, as usual. There is the aimable shot that can be aimed at 16 directions, the spread, which makes you aim strictly forward and on a spread pattern. On occassion, you can use the Special weapon unique to each character, which is may or may not be a boon. I'll explain why later.
The bomb got nerfed by having its damage zone restricted to aim directly upwards compared to a full screen strike. But it gained a buff to let you safely jump between platforms. Neat! By the way, it's not checkpoint game. Any hoarding still matters, but at least your progress don't get pushed back!
The cool part is instead of the C item, you can change the shot type using a panel!
The other thing is the shot type difference between different characters are quite bold! Except between Henry and Lucy. Notable ones include the purple hair lady. Her normal shot throws very strong grenades! Bound by the bullet limit, but that makes when to press the shot button much more strategic! Her spread shot Is a pretty slow homing missile but very powerful when the big initial missiles hit the target at pointblank! There is also this lizard guy where the normal shot is a flamethrower but with bubbles. The spread shot with normal taps are serviceable straight shots, but it's a shot meant to be charged. At full charge, it's a very wide and ridiculously strong Bazooka! So the niches each character fulfill is very distinct! You don't see that often!
But of course the game is flawed! Before I elaborate the flaws, I need to tell you about the game's Rank system. Simply put, the bullet speed becomes ridiculously fast in the JP version if you no-miss up to Stage 3! It makes the JP version an unfair HELL!
The rank system by itself is not something I'd complaint. There are 4 major complaints I have with FixEight:
1. There is no time limit indicator. The only hint you get is the Go Ahead arrow and it becomes an anxiety inducing horror that tells you you're taking too much time. How can I gauge properly how much time I have left when the game doesn't tell me!? Fatal in the JP version!
2. Poor DPS calibration between characters. It's for different reasons, but in general some DPS differences make no sense. Ridiculous DPS with short range or long shot intervals? Fair enough. But then there is Cull Horn where he has basically 2-way normal Out Zone vulcan but has better damage without any drawbacks!
3. RANDOM ITEM MARKER. Literally! The Special weapon is the worst. For example, Lucy's Special is a terrain-piercing laser! Sounds great! Except the DPS is mediocre, it's hard to aim, it's thin, and has lower fire rate compared to the normal Vulcan. These are basically debuffs! The worst thing is you don't know if you get these instead of the more desirable Speed Up and Shield! These share the same item icon! It's a gamble and it's super, duper annoying!
4. Gradius Syndrome. It's one of the worst iteration of this in a Toaplan game. The risk of chain death is high!
If you can accept those thorns, you get to enjoy the high quality stage designs. It cranks up the variety to a notch! The corridors, bullet traps, stealth guirella, they get to try out more stage design tricks in this game! Especially the bosses. They can get really quirky! Amazingly, they managed to keep the brisk pace of Out Zone. Even at the seemingly slowest of parts.
If you love Out Zone, or just like top down run n guns in general, you'll have a great time!
This is the Bitwave port on Steam.
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