Arcade Appreciation - Bullet

You know what time it is?

That's right!

It's time I drop everything and pull out a random game that I think kicks some serious booty. Bullet is a twin-stick shooter by Se- oh wait... really? We're talking about a twin-stick shooter? A... twin-stick... as if there wasn't already a hundred billion trillion quadrillion of these damnable things floating around? Unbelievable! I'm trying to put on airs like I'm some sophisticated critic with a deeper understanding of the gaming zeitgeist. Yet, without fail, I fall into some artless point & shoot nonsense- you're not buying any of this, not even as a bad joke. In all realness and backbreaking honesty, Bullet is a twin-stick shooter by Sega that kicks quite a lot of butts.

Grab a Logitech F310 or some other dual-stick controller, because you'll be needing it for however long it takes to conquer evil. Player 1 steps into the shoes of Emmy. She was on her way to aerobics class when the robot overlord's forces attacked from underground. With machine gun in hands, Emmy shoots through an entire army, defeats their lazy commander (all he does is sit!), and heads deeper into the abyss. Reaching what lies at the bottom is going to take a lot of effort, hardened reflexes, and plenty of quarters. Oh, wait. Let me take that last part back. Any extraneous coinage or credits doesn't matter. You get a few lives, a couple extends, and that's it. 1CC or say goodbye to Earth, baby!

Right, so let's dig into why I'd give a care about this twin-stick shooter. Bullet's brilliance is in the limitations it places upon players. Emmy's gun has very limited range. The enemy forces are infinite. She'll get overwhelmed if she doesn't start moving immediately. For a mover & shooter, the fundamentals are extremely tight. Agency is everything, as finding (or creating) gaps in the enemy hordes will make all the difference in surviving the onslaught. In spite of the low framerate, sensing and evading projectiles doesn't feel problematic. Enemies don't shoot from offscreen, so there's plenty of time to react to their presence while running towards the boss.

Each stage has a nice sense of progression, as foes with unique capabilities are introduced at specific points. In the sewers, the most common enemy will be the rat. In time, they'll be joined by soldiers, and eventually slime-throwing blobs. The hangar that follows is a robot heaven (or hell), where the most annoying of the bunch spew 8-way spread-shots. Prioritizing running over gunning is the surest way to survive these consistently escalating scenarios.

This is fine. No really, it is.

One other aspect of Bullet that's very neat is that it has a strategy for players willing to give up points for a better chance of survival. Although this shooter can place a large number of enemies onscreen, that large number isn't anywhere near infinite. The more baddies you have chasing you, the less a chance they'll have of getting in your way. The player-character runs just a little bit faster than the enemy, making this tactic fairly easy to utilize. Keep in mind though that there's no outrunning bullets. The best one can do is lead enemy fire away from their position and keep their movements unpredictable. Due to the limited weaponry, a lot of situations can't be tackled head-on. All these facets come together to create a shooter that's smart and compelling entertainment. Having a weapon that can't simply punch massive holes through armies really elevates the action. That said, try "fluttering" the aiming stick while firing. It seems to increase the rate of fire while giving the bullets a nice fanning effect. Maybe it's just a placebo. Whatever, I'll keep doing it anyway.

While this is a short arcade game, it was made in the 80s, and you know exactly what that means. Yes indeed, there are multiple loops, and they do not play around. The first stage of loop 2 is noticeably tougher than the last stage of loop 1. I believe there are at least a few 4-ALLs floating around the net, so expect a long hard road to mastery. 

I didn't know what to expect out of Bullet, but I was hooked within its first minute. Leave it to the amazing talent at Sega to create a twin-stick shooter that still feels inventive after 40ish years. Give it a shot sometime.