Shoot 1UP DX

Genre: Shmup

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Shoot 1UP is a Shmup originally released on Xbox 360 as a part of that platform’s Indie Arcade service, and it was generally seen as one of the crown jewels of that service. It was ported to PC in 2015, and then ported to Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in 2020 in this DX version that includes new content. This version of the game was later brought to PlayStation 4 in 2021.

Players will see within seconds of starting Shoot 1UP why it garnered so much attention. This game brings multiple creative game mechanics to the genre, crafting a truly unique experience that has multiple great risk/reward elements that make for some truly satisfying gameplay.

The primary mechanic here is that players control multiple ships at once, and in addition to the standard fire button and a brake button to make more subtle maneuvers, players can also expand and contract their ships’ formation using ZL and ZR. In Shoot 1UP, there is no “main” ship you control – each of these ships is your main ship – all of them can be destroyed by enemy fire, but as long as any of them survives, you can continue your fight.

To make things more interesting, players will frequently get “1UP” power-ups that give them an extra life… in a manner of speaking. See, the game does this by adding an extra ship to your formation, with players having literally dozens of ships at any one time. What’s more, your formation’s weaponry becomes more powerful the more ships you have under your command, and shoots in more directions. Likewise, losing a ship drops this power level.

Given this situation, players may be inclined to keep their ships contracted to a small grouping to better avoid enemy projectiles, but this would be a mistake – spreading out their formation creates a powerful combined beam that can more quickly down bigger enemies, with larger formations creating an even bigger, more powerful beam. So players will find themselves shifting their formation back and forth, contracting them one minute to dodge, bringing them back out again the next minute to unleash an onslaught.

If one of your ships is destroyed, it will create a bullet-clearing explosion, so there is some reason not to completely avoid taking damage – if you can find a strategic opportunity to let one of your ships take the fall to spare multiple others, it may be to your advantage. Alternately, players who let up on the gunfire for a brief moment can charge a brief shield that can clear nearby bullets and damage close enemies, though players will have to get used to the timing of this move to use it properly.

Suffice it to say, all of these mechanics join to make for an incredibly enjoyable game, which does a great job making players feel both powerful and vulnerable at the same time, and will ensure that they’re not only aiming at enemies and avoiding incoming fire, but also expanding, contracting, and using defensive abilities based on what the situation calls for. And what’s more, this game’s difficulty modes really do cater to pretty much every level of expertise, with the easiest level being a cakewalk, and the most difficult catering more to the diehard fans of the genre.

In terms of presentation, Shoot 1UP has an excellent synthesized soundtrack that you sadly probably won’t be able to listen to very well as the action onscreen will likely dominate the sounds. As for the visuals, this game uses decent 2D pixel art visuals that don’t do anything special beyond the massive number of ships on display without significant slowdown.

Having said that, some of the enemy design and background design here is really creative, such as one level where the apparently alien species has seemingly built robotic simulations of nearly-nude women into the landscape, and the massive boss requires you to fire at her breasts… for some reason. Look, what can I say, it’s a Shmup. That’s far from the strangest thing the genre has ever seen.

To sum it all up… in my opinion, Shoot 1UP is in contention for the title of greatest Shmup ever made. It’s hard to say for sure whether it takes the title from Ikaruga, which I would say is far less sloppy and more elegantly designed… and I’ve still got a soft spot for Gradius III, Gradius V, and Einhander. However, regardless of where it ranks compared to those games, one thing is for certain, – if you enjoy Shmups, you should consider Shoot 1UP DX an absolute must-own game on Nintendo Switch. And with a $6 price tag, there’s very little reason to hesitate on pulling the trigger on this purchase.

tl;dr – Shoot 1UP DX is a Shmup where players control an entire squadron of ships at once, adding potentially dozens of ships to their force. There are multiple creative fun mechanics at work here, difficulty options to cater to every skill level, and just overall this is one of the most enjoyable Shmups I’ve ever played. It’s not as precise and well-crafted as Ikaruga, but it is arguably just as much of a blast to play, and Shmup fans should absolutely add this game to their collection, especially at the fantastic price of $6. Do not miss this one!

Grade: A-

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