Mere months ago, on short notice, Japanese developer Cave released the iOS version of Espgaluda II, one of many of their high-intensity “bullet hell” shoot-em-ups. The port was an accomplishment in and of itself, both in regards to its arcade-perfect speed, and the slaps in the face it delivered to the ludicrous number of below-average shooters already out on Apple’s App Store. DoDonPachi Resurrection (previously known better by its romanized Japanese title, DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu) is another almost-surprise release that’s also just as expertly produced.
It’s not always the easiest thing to explain a present-day shoot-em-up, given that their appeal to fans lies more in their scoring systems than anything to do with a story or even graphics. You can look at one screenshot of DoDonPachi and know what to expect: half a screen or more of bullets rushing toward you, and mere pixels of space to dodge them all. And on top of that, lots of glistening gold score tokens to collect before they disappear; it’s an insane challenge, but with butter-smooth touch control and your own incredible waves of bullets or super lasers to fire, a game like DoDonPachi becomes weirdly fun, almost casual at times.
