Hishouzame / Flying Shark (Arcade) - 2-ALL Clear (2 Loops) 1,297,310 Pts
19Clear of Toaplan's Hi Sho Zame (飛翔鮫), also called Hishouzame or Flying Shark / Sky Shark in western countries. I cleared the first 2 loops then got annihilated on the second stage of loop 3.
Stage Listing:
00:00 - Stage 1
02:50 - Stage 2
05:43 - Stage 3
08:56 - Stage 4
12:06 - Stage 5
15:42 - "Final Boss"
16:46 - Loop 2
30:28 - Loop 3
Hishouzame is Toaplan's 3rd shmup and an early look at the style which would further define them in the years to come. Unlike Slap Fight (the previous game), this time things are even more basic, there are only 3 items to collect (shot powerups, bombs, and extra lives), and that's it!
While the gameplay is very basic, it is still quite challenging as the rank (adaptive difficulty) climbs very fast in the game, especially if you do not die. Soon you will find enemies tossing lightning quick shots at you from all directions. And with your very slow moving ship, you will have to plan out how to handle them since there is not much room for improvised dodging with such a slow ship.
Dying takes you back to a checkpoint, and also powers you down to nothing. Checkpoint recoveries are all very possible on all the checkpoints, so dying isn't a game over like in some other games (I'm looking at you Raiden and Gradius III). Remember to use your bomb, as they help tremendously with killing the red enemy waves that drop the powerups to get you back on track
The game is very generous with many bombs littered throughout the stages, so don't be afraid to use them. That said, this will effect your score since you get end of stage bonuses based on the number of bombs you have left. That is pretty much all there is to the scoring in the game as far as i can tell, just don't die and try to hold onto your bombs.
The second loop brings even faster bullets and higher rates of fire from most of the enemies, so you really need to have a good route planned to handle them.
I had a pretty good time with this game and would like to come back and clear that 3rd loop at some point, but for now I'm happy with this result.