[ストライカーズ1945/Strikers 1945] Normal Messer Bf-109 Stage 2-1 (Score: 739,400) [CC Commentary]

When people review Strikers 1945 series, people would think of Capcom's 1940 series. By name and choice of ships alone, it makes sense. But that's all the similarities they have; their game design philosophies are quite different. Strikers 1945 is a Psikyo game condensed even further although still rough. And for those anyone privy with Psikyo's history and their beef with Video System, the IP owner of Sonic Wings series at the time, this is Psikyo's actual Sonic Wings spiritual successor and also to rub it to the Video System team's face, which they would say "THIS IS HOW SONIC WINGS 2 SHOULD BE!". I love the game enough, though overall I'm kinda apathetic with the game. Probably because I 1-ALL-ed the better sequel first.
Strikers 1945 is basically Sengoku Aces episode 3. People accuse Psikyo for being lazy, and to be fair, this is a damning evidence...! Like, look. You can move, shoot, and charge shot with the old charge time. That's it. This is the 2nd time in a row they copy pasted Sengoku Aces' systems! To the game's defense, the notable difference is the resulting charge shots. Instead of a specific charge shot not tied to the power level, the charge shots order your options into doing a formation attack. It's like switching the option mode into a more powerful one but sacrificing the old function. This is very notable for example with Messer Bf-109. By launching the charge attack, the lock-on options are too busy with the straight stream of bullets. It's a commitment! This thing will get revisited in the 3rd game. But I don't like how long the charge times are. Those down times of not shooting feels dull and there is not audio feedback of me charging. This is a pretty fast game. I want my dopamine intake fed constantly! Not to mention you're defenseless. I think in this 3rd game it's was when Psikyo said let's make the charge shot require MP-like resource instead as a trade off for the almost instant charging time!
The crux of Strikers 1945 stage design is memo. But they still stuck with what made Gunbird 1 successful, so they played it kinda safe in comparison. But they really made sure the pacing is brisk. 1 loop is around 12 minutes or so! Shorter than Gunbird 1's! Plus, like that one contrarian kid in the classroom, instead of slowing the bullets down like in Gunbird 1, which makes Gunbird 1 more bullet hell-ish among Psikyo IPs, Strikers 1945 bullets are much faster! Gunbird 1's patterns are fairer since they give more room to have the bullets get read, so I still prefer Gunbird 1. This is the era where Batsugun had become the trendsetter for slower but denser bullets, by the way! Though I'm aware that Batsugun bullets can be pretty fast.
It's a well-made title, but honestly not that remarkable overall. It is a start for the monster that is Psikyo bullets, though. The Rank is there, but isn't that notable. It is part of Psikyo's and shmup history, so give it a strike when you can. If there is one thing that Psikyo succeeded in this title, they've made a shmup better than Sonic Wings 2.
This is the ZeroDiv port on Nintendo Switch.
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[@julianseph842gamez5]

Psikyo does not joke around with their difficulty style.
BTW, there was an official 3rd episode of Sengoku Ace called Sengoku Cannon, initially released in 2005 for the PSP.