Another week in the books! Hope you've all been holding up okay.

As per usual, the weekend brings about another weekly open thread! All topics welcome!

I had a pretty busy week so I didn't get a lot of play time, but I did manage to squeeze in a couple of runs of Shikhondo: Youkai Rampage. So far, so fun, but I haven't really dug in.

How about y'all? Play anything interesting, lately?

I did end up buying something non-shmup and sinking 14 hours into it: Animal Well.

(It was on sale for -40%)

It met my expectations, especially for a story with no...story. I finished the main game quickly and have been cleaning up ever since. The "puzzles" aren't too difficult, plenty of things to collect, but I won't be 100%-ing this, speedrunning (there are special endings for that), or trying for no death (there is an in-game trophy for that). It is amazing what can be done with just 48 MB!

SALES!

Arcade Archives has an anniversary sale until 27 May!

NAMCO games, including shmups and shmup-adjacent titles:

• Galaga
• Dragon Spirit
• Phelios
• Galaxian
• Metal Hawk
• Baraduke
• (and more, including Rolling Thunder)

I'm tempted to get Phelios, Rolling Thunder, and maybe Metal Hawk.

source

Nice! I have a soft spot for Baraduke especially!