Mushihimesama 2004

Is it still worth playing?

Princess Reco rides the golden beetle Kiniro through forests full of giant insects to meet their god and save her village from a poisonous miasma, in a 2004 arcade shooter. It is a bullet hell game: the screen fills with dense patterns of pink bullets, but only one that passes through the centre of the beetle hits, and a limited stock of bombs wipes every attack off the screen. Before the five stages you pick one of three shot types and one of two option formations that add firepower. How hard it gets is up to the mode. Novice lets newcomers reach the end without constantly feeding credits, Maniac brings more intense bullets and a combo system and Ultra is intense enough that the game warns you before you select it. A range of modes that runs from newcomers to experts still lets anyone find how much bullet hell they can take.