Earthion

A straight up new sega genesis shmup on steam. Let's start with the core gameplay aspect of it all. The game has options of easy, normal, hard and hotshot. As most retro styled shmups can be, it definitely provides a challenge. You have a normal shot and a special shot that can be switched upon item pickups. You will also have a shield meter that can be upgraded via collecting an item orb and finishing the stage with it. Keeping your special shot at max level and knowing which shot type to use in a particular situation can be essential to pretty much breeze through a bosses phase. The artstyle of the game is obviously beautiful, the graphics and limitations they had to work with is honestly impressive. The music goes without saying knowing that Yuzo Koshiro, a huge influencer in the chiptune/video game music genre was cooking with this game. Truly a nostalgia trip for those who played his earlier composed tracks in Ys and Streets of Rage. The only critic I had on the game on releas...

Great game. Fun playthrough. A bit disappointed i am forced to use the emulator made by Limited Run.. i'd rather use Retroarch. The fact that it's locked down so hard preventing me from using what ever emulator i want is the only negative i have. Other games like Demons of Asteborg and Xenocrises have ROM options available.. so this company coming along and going against the grain is a bit ridiculous and annoying. Again, that's my only complaint.

I was blinded by the hype. Everyone, everywhere was praising this game. However, upon playing it myself, I realized that the only real appeal is "Ohhh, a Sega Genesis game made in 2025." The level and boss design is just not good. The push-and-pull shield and firing system is also not my cup of tea. The only thing this game really has going for it is the visuals and sound design, but at the end of the day, it's just a game made to appeal to nostalgia, which is yucky.

I was going to buy this game anyway because it looked effing amazing and sound design was done by the main man, himself, Yuzu Koshiro. I bought it sooner than I would have because I was incredibly disappointed that the Gradius Origins collection didn't have [b][i]ANY[/i][/b] of the console versions of those games when the Contra collection had [b][i]EVERY[/i][/b] console port of THOSE games. No excuse. But this game is amazing. It really calls to my childhood with everything: gameplay, presentation, sound design, music. Just an absolute work of art. Furthermore, it takes the side-scrolling shmup formula and does something different with it. Something fun and interesting. It's a unique take that they made work. I don't wanna say any more except I highly recommend. BTW, I know most people are probably going to know this already, because Koshiro posted on social media to support the team. Apparently some people have already ripped the rom from this game and have started distributing it ...

[h1]16BIT GAMES, JUST LIKE DAD USED TO MAKE 'EM (BECAUSE HE JUST DID, AGAIN)[/h1] For once, I'll stop being Old On Main and address this review to "dem kids," so... Yes, indies have been doing retro games for decades now. Thing is, only a handful actually capture what the thing was actually like. Look no further, since Yuzo Koshiro has been part of the industry for about 40 years now, and this time he brings you the genuine experience, straight from one of the greats of the 16bit era. Everything from the music down to the scan lines is -exactly- the right cadence of back when (in fact, the game was made using Sega Genesis' actual hardware, even if this one would probably weight around 10megabits considering the extra oomph)... and if you play it on Hard+ difficulty, you'll also have the right cadence for 16bit schmup difficulty. It may not be as cheap as other retro games out there, but I promise you'll get your money's worth playing and replaying time and time again (and sure as h...

Game is fun. Music is awesome. One warning though: Game text will default to Japanese. To fix this, from the main menu, go to the seventh option down (third from the bottom) and press right/left until your desired language is shown.

Game gives you multiple options and routes to victory. Each difficulty has it's own curve-balls and strategies, and overall it's just an amazing game. Music is God-tier as well.

I'll give this a passing recommendation out of respect to a legend and because I want more attempts at new MD games. But I did expect much better from the legendary Yuzo Koshiro. I was a Sega kid and the Mega Drive remains my favourite console ever, but the gameplay was messy, uninspired and unoriginal. There were some cool sprite rotation and faux sprite scaling effects that would've blown me away back on the MD though. But it's been a long time since I played Thunderforce 2 and R-Type (yet to be topped), there really should've been decades of learned experience put into this game, it felt like they learned nothing over the years, except to put in the regenerating shield from Halo I guess. This isn't just nostalgia talking, but Streets of Rage 2 (I know it's a different genre) holds up to this day as a gorgeous game, with great gameplay and excellent music. I guess I expected even better than that but in this genre, but that was perhaps too much to ask. Mainly Yuzo Koshiro was invol...

I've seen people referring to Earthion as a "great game", but this term isn't nearly superlative enough. "Masterpiece" gets a little closer, even though it feels overused nowadays. "Miracle" or "ambrosia" feel like they get much closer. Yes, I think I'll go with ambrosia. I'll drink Koshiro and Wada's ambrosia any day. In fact, I do it every time I play Earthion... Ahem--excuse my crude language. Moving on! What makes Earthion what it is isn't a single specific thing you can point to while ignoring all the others. It's not that the graphics are fantastic, the music and sound effects some of the finest ever on the Mega Drive / Genesis, or that the gameplay is an amalgamation of everything that makes traditional shmups great-- it's that the level of polish and care involved in its making are nearly superhuman. This is a game you play and don't believe it can actually exist, especially when it's running natively on 4th Generation hardware. Sega Saturn shmups aren't this good. This soun...

A shmup more for retro game fans than shmup fans. The marketing says it all. Constant bullet points of 16-bit and the creator's legacy more than actual gameplay features. If you're the type of person who spends half your time in retroarch playing Genesis and SNES games, this will be a fun novelty. If you're looking for something new to play in between 1cc attempts of Crimzon Clover, Gunvein, Blue Revolver, and Sophstar, you'll probably bounce right of this. It's not for shmup fans. It's for retro gamers. Even all the other steam reviews that give it a positive focus on its retro aspect and novelty, not its shmup qualities. It's novelty and a product first, a shmup second.