Pyroclastica

I think a lot of people now know what this game is, due to its rarity/price/etc, but for all the billion times you hear YouTubers reference that, none of them ever seem to think it’s important to mention that this is also a Psikyo game.
And, major milestone here, the first ever Psikyo game I have completed legit on Normal mode (I am still trying to get my Gunbird clear)
Small summary if you don’t know what Cannon Spike is: Today we would call it a “twin-stick shooter” but it was on Dreamcast, meaning there were not twin sticks. It has never been ported to another system. This causes the need for some interesting game mechanics. For one, unlike today’s twin-stick shooters, it is absolutely not yet another example of Circle-Strafe: The Game. Instead you have to play smart and react and use your brain.
But, all that said, at its heart, it is a shmup. Meaning if you play perfectly, it is very short. But obviously you won’t play perfectly, it will take some time to learn, and for me that time was around 4-5 hours over the course of a few days. I did this strictly by grinding Normal mode; I didn’t start at the lower levels and work my way up.
Anyway, enough background, bottom line is I love this game. I love all the Capcom characters you have to choose from, I love the music, and I love most of the boss fights
Weirdly though some boss fights are either buggy or purposely balanced in a strange way. I won’t spoil the whole game but there’s a certain gigantic boss near the end where if you kill the 2 minions he brings with him, then just walk up behind him and start doing physical instead of shooting attacks, you can stunlock him and you won’t even take damage for the whole fight
To me though, the good more than makes up for the bad in this area.
I got this clear with Cammy, because I figured why not choose the namesake of the game. And yes, she can actually do the Cannon Spike move. All characters have physical attacks even though this is a shooter. They all work the same way; they’re high-risk, high-reward maneuvers which can do a TON of damage but also leave you wide open. It feels immensely rewarding to Cannon Spike a helicopter out of the sky.
The only small caveat I would put on this review, for those thinking of trying the game, is that I would not recommend this be the first Psikyo game you play. Maybe I am overblowing this and nobody will care. But. If you are not used to what Psikyo games are, there are many ways that this game will annoy you, and because of your lack of Psikyo vocabulary, you will blame it on something other than “that’s just how Psikyo is.” For example, the hit boxes: No one will ever understand how hit boxes work in a Psikyo game. That’s just part of it. Or the level order: It’s randomized every time. It gets harder as you go along no matter what. So, each individual level has several possible difficulty levels.

Cannon Spike