The true audience for this game are score hunters and bullet-hell veterans with a high tolerance for frustration and a taste for retro minimalism.

From the moment the game boots up, it’s clear this title was originally designed for a handheld console. The visuals feel stuck in a bygone era, with uninspired enemy designs and a barren, repetitive landscape scrolling beneath you. And there’s a good reason for that: the game was made for an old handheld console.

Gameplay-wise, everything is very simple. You have basic movement, a fire button that can (and should) be held down constantly for continuous shooting, and a laser that requires you to hold the button to charge it. No power-ups, no weapon upgrades. What you start with is what you finish with, assuming you can survive long enough to get there.

Don’t expect a tutorial to ease you in. Instead of reading in-game explanation of mechanics or scoring, you’ll have to go scrolling through the game’s Steam page for crucial information. The core loop revolves around chasing high scores by maintaining a fire combo and collecting medals that drop from enemies. Scoring is complex, but unless you’re a leaderboard chaser, finishing the four stages might be satisfying enough.

Each stage is cleverly part of a single, continuous level, segmented into four zones. There’s no flashy transition; the background shifts slightly, enemy types change, and the game just keeps going. It's a cool design choice that gives the campaign a sense of flow, though that won’t mean much if you can’t survive the brutal difficulty.

And brutal it is. True to its bullet-hell roots, this game is punishing. Your ship has a tiny hitbox and a shrinking health bar, depleted with every hit. To its credit, there is a thoughtful dodge mechanic: when bullets enter a grid around your ship, they slow down, giving you a chance to navigate the chaos. But run out of health, and it’s back to the start. You can heal by destroying specific ground targets, but these are not found in some zones. Also, this resets your combo score.

For those looking to sharpen their skills, the “Zako Rush” mode offers a practice option, but only after you’ve beaten a zone in the main game. So, while you might master some zones, you can’t practice the one you died in during your last try.