#g-stream g2020

[hellman55]

G-Stream G2020 | ARCADE | Gameplay Walkthrough Longplay FULL GAME [4K60ᶠᵖˢ UHD🔴]

[ultrace]

Backgrounds from G-Stream G2020, a 2001 shoot-em-up release by Oriental Soft Japan. Although this game has no problem with occasionally knocking you about with the Bullet Hell-style firing patterns of enemies, it maintains some of the low-key shoot-em-up values of lesser developers like Dooyong and Kaneko. The environments run the gamut from somewhat unimpressive deserts and forests to an isometric city view which uses gradual palette shifting to transition from day to night, and ultimately ends up in one of the nicest (but very short-lived) overhead city backgrounds I’ve seen in a long time.

But the coolest part of G-Stream G2020 is easily the power-up system. Your fighter can store up to ten power-ups, and they come in three different colors: red for gunfire, green for homing missiles, and blue for lasers. The part that makes this so interesting is that you can pick up and store these power-ups in any combination of ten total; picking up a new power-up simply replaces the oldest one. Want to focus on mostly laser blasts, with a little bit of missile support? You can do that. Spread shot blasts with a lesser focused laser for somewhat tougher enemies? Yup. Or you can do a jack-of-all-trades build. Your weapons get more powerful the more of an individual color you have. Get up to 9 of a single color, and your weapons visually upgrade. If you manage to get all 10 slots filled with a single color--which means picking up ten in a row without grabbing the wrong color and foregoing the other weapon types--there’s another transformation as the shot type reaches its ultimate power level. The entire concept reminds me somewhat of the classic PC game, Tyrian 2000.

(The missiles in the second shot don’t look special, but when at full power, as seen here, they transform into larger fletchettes a second after leaving your ship.)

There’s also a sort of energy vortex you build up by defeating enemies and you can unleash when a certain amount of energy is built. This absorbs any bullets that come in contact with it while it lasts and transforms them into bonus point medals. It’s a nice touch and a lifesafer in some of the tougher boss fights, but can’t steal the power-up system’s thunder. Overall, this is the kind of game definitely worth a try. Don’t overlook it based on the almost unknown name and unimpressive title screen and attract mode.