Mushihime-sama Futari was the antithesis of mud brown 3D shooters that tracked sweaty muscles through Gothic ruins. Viewed top down and two dimensional, the game world was a pastel coloured fantasy zone, full of augmented dinosaurs and purple haired princesses that rode laser spewing stag beetles. Feedback was total - enemies disappeared in fiery turquoise clouds, their seizing bodies expelling amber gems to amp your score. Far less intimidating than its bullet hell peers, Mushihime-sama Futari was an arcade shooter that wasn't afraid to let players progress. Smart bombs could be stored as a kind of hit collateral, allowing players to take a few extra strikes before they lost a life. Bullet streams were rapid and taxing, but manageable. Mushihime-sama didn't force you to memorise a series of impenetrable attack patterns, instead it provided an immediate danger to the player, then armed them with enough speed to respond. Mushihime-sama was Capcom's 1942 filtered through magical princess anime OAVs, played at two hundred miles an hour to shrieking synth beats. Pure 16-bit gameplay.
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