Review: Gekirindan

[Daniel W. Rouse Jr.]

Gekirindan. It's a Taito game, but it has enough familiarity that it might
as well be a Toaplan game.

Ship types are A, B, and C--simple enough. One has spread fire and lock-on
laser fire similar to Truxton. Another has helicopter fire similar to a
combination of Tiger-Heli and Twin Cobra. Yet another one has firepower
similar to Fire Shark.

See, these are definitely Toaplan inspired. Now, add the homing missiles and
the straight missiles--these are fairly standard. But get the Napalm--small
little red skulls, just like Truxton, except for the skull bomb in Truxton
is white. So even more Toaplan inspired graphics.

There is also one M.U.S.H.A inspired section in the game--at one point, the
game will pause, and tiles will drop out, just like in M.U.S.H.A.

Gameplay is standard vertical shmup--nothing overly manic--but the main
challenge is the number of hits required for enemies plus the close
proximity of those enemies. For me, this required a lot of continues to
finish the game, and I could only get to stage 3 on a single credit. A much
better player could probably 1cc (one credit clear) the entire game.

The version of Gekirindan I have played is on Taito Legends 2 for the PS2.