Playing through the terrible gummi ship sections in Kingdom hearts 1.5 remix, I was reminded that square can and actually has made a good shooting game. If you've heard of The Bouncer, then you probably heard of Einhander as well, the two having in common being those types of games were out of the ordinary for SquareSoft.
The only shmup experience I had before this game was Darius 2 on the genesis, which meant I never got really far when I first played this. More than a decade later and several shmups played, I thought I should give this game another try.
The graphics were amazing for its time, all while managing to run at 60 fps which is pretty impressive.
The manipulator arm system was a great system as it differentiated from your usual power up/bomb/shot type system that you see in other shmups, for the fact that you are able to take weapons from enemies and use it against them. Different ships having the ability to carry one, two(simultaneously) and three gunpods at the same time meant a large amount of playing styles to explore. I never even knew you could damage enemies with your thrusters/manipulator arm, and they do good damage as well allowing for no shot runs.
Bosses having destructible parts ala radiant silvergun is pretty neat. Destroying all of their parts first meant extra points, but I usually went for killing them as fast as possible for the time bonus.
The secret bonuses in this game really do mean secret. Obtaining some of them seem really obtuse and you probably need a guide to find them. Most of the ones I found happened to be on chance.
(Im sure anyone whos played this at the very least found the secret in this area)
Lets not forget about the music. The soundtrack is one of the bigger highlights of this game, and it definitely deserves a listen even if you're not into this type of game. I recall the music in this game being good, but I never remembered just how good it really was. Not only did they nail the atmosphere of the game perfectly, but they were just sweet tracks to listen to.
Stage 1 Part 2 - Chase
Boss Theme 1 - Shudder
Stage 4 Part 2- Factory
Stage 5 Part 2 - Conflict
Stage 6 Boss - Thermosphere
Plots in these types of games are usually throwaway. Its world war 3 between the earth and the moon, and youre a moon pilot sent on kamikaze mission. Youre sent on these missions not only to destroy the earths forces, but unbeknown to you, gather battle data from your skirmishes for the moons AI-piloted army. After eventually completing every order given to you, wiping out the earths army and completing the battle data for your allies, they decide youre no longer needed and use you as target practice for their new toys. Timeskip to one month later, youre fighting against the moon and finally square off against your previous leader
I honestly had no interest in the plot until the whole betrayalathon happened near the end of the game. The message you receive after thinking its all over is actually kinda chilling. Looking deeper behind the game itself, it was interesting to notice all the small details such as the german influenced earth forces/boss names and greek naming conventions used for the moon.
The final cutscene after the credits hurts knowing that theyll never be a sequel to this game
In the end, I managed to complete it, using 2 credits. With a little more practice, I think I can easily 1cc this game. It was refreshing go back in time and play something that was slower and more methodical in the current era of danmaku STGs. Less bullets, simpler scoring system, and your hitbox being the entire ship instead of a shiny pixel.
Einhander is a shmup I recommend any fan of the genre should try out at least one. Its surprising to see square go outside of the comfort zone and hit all the right notes on their first attempt. I wish they could try something like this again in this day and age(does theatrhythm count?), but I doubt thats ever gonna happen again. Its been on the JP PSN store since 2008, so dont hold your breath for a north american digital release.
Glory with the moon. Mercy on the earth.
