Pink Sweets: Ibara Sorekara (2006)

Developer: CAVE Interactive
Platforms: Arcade, Xbox 360
Genres: Shooter
Where to get it: Website

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A demanding manic bullet-hell shooter with a floral steampunk aesthetic and punishing precision gameplay.

bullet hellsteampunkintensefast-pacedmanic shooterarcade

About

Pink Sweets is a manic shooter. Its story presents an alternate universe version of Ibara; in this universe, none of that game's villains died, and the player controls one of the four boss characters from the previous game. It presents a similar rose-draped steampunk aesthetic which provides an excuse for the player's ships to fly through a very floral 19th century. Designer Shinobu Yagawa drew on his experience working on Raizing games such as Battle Garegga to present a game that plays a bit differently from the traditional Cave mold. The player's ship has a traditional shmup-style shot, but is also able to charge a special attack by not firing. A fully-charged, unfired special attack acts as a form of shield that can cancel certain enemy bullets; when fired, the fully-charged special attack acts as a kind of miniature bomb.

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More by CAVE Interactive

This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.