Welcome to our review of Gunbarich, a former arcade game getting a second chance on Switch!
This game bends 2 classic genres into a single game, a perfect mix between Arkanoid/Alleyway style and classic shooter gameplay.
This game appeared out of nowhere on the Nintendo Switch eShop and I was very intrigued and happy to have an Aarkanoid style game on my switch, it was missing this type of game and well, it is always great as a distraction when you do not have the proper time for a longer gaming session.
Enter Gunbarich!
This game is a typical Japanese style game, with cutesy manga graphics and a fun gameplay, it mixes in pinball elements to really stand out in the Aarkanoid style games as the base can be used as pinball flippers, adding speed and direction to the main ball.
Add in the usual suspects like power ups and you get basically the base of this game called Gunbarich. It does not end there however, sure the usual power ups like added speed, reduced speed, dashing through multiple blocks, …. are all there, you also get multiball in the hardest sense of the word, at one time I think I had 10 balls wreaking havoc on the “battle field” and I ended up just keeping track of the pink ball, which is the one you play with.
Enter enemies throughout the game on top of the previously mentioned specials. They shoot at you, but you can just bounce back their attacks. The annoying attack they have, ends up freezing the paddle in its track, which really adds to the difficulty level this game sometimes has.
On top of that, you got boss fights, where big evil beings need to be hit a certain amount during a battle. Oh, I almost forgot! Every level is time restricted, you need to clear out within the time limit or you lose a life!
While all this is great fun, you will notice yourself playing a little more than just a few minutes each time, which is obviously a very good thing!
Now let’s talk about the bad things! There is only one thing that annoyed me, the fact that you end up with a very little screen to play the game when you play it in handheld mode. Sure, the game allows you to play with a 90 degrees angle, but I am still not comfortable turning my switch 90 degrees and finding a way to really comfortably keep my switch from falling down.
While this is not something that is insurmountable, it is a little annoyance I am facing personally. I guess we need a stand to hold the Switch up right….?
In conclusion, this game is quite fun! I used to really adore the original Alleyway on Game Boy, I do enjoy this one too. The variety in game play has me playing more than I originally expected. I do enjoy the lack of infinite continues, something I found annoying in some other games, this game makes you work for your progress!
While this game is not AAA, it is worth the few euros it costs and will bring great value for little money. It is however an old game that seemed to get a straight port without visible extras (do correct me if I am wrong here)
I am rating it 70%.
