Utte Yosili Kanagawa Denshigijutsu Kenkyuusho 2003

This is a wacky Doujin title where the ship can only fire forward, but the cat has the ability to dismount from the ship - when outside, he can freely aim in all directions, with the fire-button doubling as a lock-on - a bit like Under Defeat, but with a 360* range of motion. It's a rather unique horizontal shooter, and not just because you're character is a cat who pilots a cardboard box. You begin the game piloting a cardboard box with a minigun turret. The gun weights the box down, so you slowly sink as you fly, requiring you to reposition yourself. The weight of the heavy gun also gives the ship a great amount of inertia, so stopping while moving will result in some 'sliding'. The ships fire is strong, but can only fire forward. Breaking all conventions, The Cat can dismount from his vehicle, and fly around. When not using his box, the cat has a smaller hitbox, and sacrifices bullet-strength for the unique ability to fire in any given direction. The cat is also faster, and easier to control, with the ability to stop more precisely than the box. You're only given a single life, and no continues, but the ability to mount and dismount your box at will lends itself to a unique metagame; both The Cat and the box have their own lifebars, which are mutually exclusive. You'll die if one of them is drained, but you can easily ditch the box if it's about to blow, and likewise you can seek refuge in the box if The Cat is injured. Wisely managing both of your meters is the key to surviving the onslaught of murderous space marshmallows. Both bars get maxed out at the beginning of each stage, so don't shy away from brute force. The games enemies are a... colorful bunch. They range from the aforementioned space marshmallows, terrorist cats who fire heat-seeking rockets with reckless abandon, a giant dog, Yeti, and a very resilient space marshmallow. It's what's known to the shooter community as a 'Euro-Shmup', a sub-genre that is usually regarded as sloppy, and imperfect. Utte is no exception, because there are times in-which it simply isn't possibly to avoid taking a hit. You have two rather extensive lifebars, but this leniency is offset by the fact that enemy fire knocks you back; it's totally possible, especially later on, to simply get pinned in a corner, and shot to shit. The hit stun on the bullets is pretty severe, but you can overlook this gaping flaw, as it requires you to keep on your toes, and adds to the games difficulty, as well as forcing you to play smart.
Screenshots/Video
Full Demo 46MB (uploaded by scaryfun)


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