Mushihimesama Review for Switch – Gaming News

Arcade shoot-em-ups in the 1980s may have started out as largely science fiction, but there have long been efforts in the genre to differentiate games with unique themes. One of the most interesting of these is Cave’s Mushihimesama (“Bug Princess”), which takes place in a world filled with enormous insects. It was initially released in 2004 in the arcades, with a middling 2005 PlayStation 2 conversion, an iOS port in 2011, and then finally an HD release for Xbox 360, Windows, and now the Switch.

The highlight of Mushihimesama, though, is its familiar yet distinctive worldview: instead of tanks there are creepy-crawling bugs with turrets on their backs; instead of artillery there are poisonous plants; and instead of aeroplanes there are massive flying insects. Battleships are common enemies in shoot-em-ups, but here the entire third stage is devoted to taking out an enormous multi-segmented lobster-esque monstrosity – it’s all like something out of Hayao Miyazaki’s anime film ‘Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind’. The action is accompanied by an intensely upbeat soundtrack courtesy of Manabu Namiki and Masaharu Iwata, composers of other legendary shoot-em-ups like Ketsui and Battle Garegga.

The heroine is Princess Reco, who rides on top of an enormous beetle, which functions as the game’s player craft. At its core, the game is a bullet hell shooter in the same vein as nearly every other release from Cave, as you weave through dense patterns of pink bullets while collecting point items and racking up high scores. There are three different shot types you can pick at the outset, along with two option formations that provide extra firepower when you grab their associated power-ups.

Since Mushihimesama has been around the block for a while, there have been a handful of extra modes added over the years that change up bullet and enemy patterns and have different scoring methods. Most of these are included here in the Switch port, including the Ver 1.5 mode, which was only included in other releases as DLC. The Arrange mode gives you tremendous firepower right at the beginning and a generous combo system that lets you obtain stratospheric points, along with the ability to switch between weapon types at will.

Whatever issues that exist are minor nitpicks. The game only features the high-res sprites that have been used in all of the HD ports, rather than the 240p visuals of the original arcade version, but they have a computer-rendered look that makes them look better in higher resolutions anyway. (Probably due to this, there’s no option for scanlines, since they only make sense for low-resolution output.) The port isn’t quite as fully featured as other Cave games in the M2 ShotTriggers line like Ketsui or ESP Ra.De., but it’s still robust while also being significantly cheaper, and is also excellent from a technical perspective. Not everyone is going to dig the aesthetics, particularly those put off by either the otaku bait protagonist or the plethora of creepy insects, but you can’t say it isn’t original. And while the sequel — Mushihimesama Futari — is slightly better, this is still a fantastic title.

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• Mushihimesama Review for Switch
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