Moon Dancer review

Moon Dancer imagines the simultaneous bullets and lock-on missiles of Taito’s Ray series and Raizing’s Terra Driver arriving on 16-bit hardware. Coupled with a Caravan mode, it’s an enjoyable STG that harks back to a time when the genre wasn’t so sadistic.

Many contemporary shoot ‘em ups are unambiguously hardcore. Enemy firepower moves in confounding, crisscross patterns in games like Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Burst Forth!! Choro-gon ☆ Breath. Other titles bombard you with a plethora of projectiles, like the recent Switch port of DoDonPachi Resurrection. As such, it’s relaxing to visit some of the more merciful shooters of yesteryear.

At least once a week, I have a go at either Blazing Lazers on the PC Engine, Blazing Star on the Neo Geo, or Raiden II on the PlayStation. A lot of late 20^th-century STGs let you blast away at a procession of enemies without stressing you out. I miss that.

Undoubtedly, Kanagawa-based Junichi Terayama (working as Terarin Games) understands that untroubled era. Following up on efforts like Raging Blasters, Image Striker, and Missile Dancer, this is another vertically scrolling STG that could have been a cartridge-based game released in the dawn of the 1990s.

Jump into any of Moon Dancer’s three difficulty settings and you’ll face eight stages of intense, but not overly frenzied action. Much like Taito’s Ray trilogy, your ship has two weapon systems. One shoots a rapid-fire procession of lasers directly in front of your ship as well as a secondary steam that outputs in an “X”-shaped pattern. The other system offers homing missiles. You automatically lock onto foes that enter the circular shape that surrounds your ship. Let go of Moon Dancer’s single fire button and a satisfying barrage of projectiles will strike every designated target.

Much like RayForce, RayStorm, and RayCrisis, success revolves around knowing how to position your ship. Sometimes, you’ll want to fly in aggressively and paint an enemy with targets, with each lock-on providing a gratifying audio signal. But when enemy ships are about to launch a succession of fast-moving projectiles, you’ll definitely want to keep your distance. Mastery entails learning the behaviors of each different foe and recognizing when they’ll attack.

Beyond enemies, there are several types of floating containers to take aim at. Some provide a score bonus, while others beef up the output of your lasers. Others provide access to different kinds of missiles. Napalm rockets provide lingering damage but are limited in number. Spear missiles are more numerous and give a greater reach, while your multi-laser can lock on in all directions and has ample lock-ons.

Obtaining high scores revolves around two techniques. The first is learning the location of hidden items. Occasionally, you’ll lock onto an invisible container, which appears in the same location across subsequent playthroughs. The other method is by collecting the crystals dropped by defeated enemies. Make it through a stage unscathed, and you’ll receive a tidy end-of-level bonus based on the number of emerald-colored gems you have collected.

The game’s sole peculiarity happens when you lose a ship. Instead of continuing a game with your next reserve vessel, you’ll be sent back to the last checkpoint. But since Moon Dancer isn’t overly challenging this isn’t too much of an issue.

Vertical STGs without a tate mode can often seem inelegant on Switch. But Moon Dancer makes the most of its peripheries. There’s data showing weapon level, missile types, the number of collected crystals and lives, playtime, and even a handy scoring log showing your last seven point values. While it’s difficult to monitor this info when you’re fighting screens filled with foes, score-chasers might learn to use the figures to glean an advantage.

Beyond the trio of difficulty modes, Moon Dancer also provides a three-minute Caravan mode. Drawing elements from the game’s various stages, this supplement works well intensifying the tension between quickly eliminating targets and adopting a slower, safer approach.

Moon Dancer was played on Switch with review code provided by the publisher.