I’m passionate about retro gaming – old arcade and console games in particular and I’m a keen collector of the games, systems and the Mini consoles and retro compilations. The latter are a great way to get games I missed out on when I was younger or to discover systems I missed first time around. The Vasara Collection is one such compilation. Released by QUByte, who provided us with the review copy, it features conversions of two classic bullet hell arcade shoot-em-ups originally released exclusively in Japan by Visco, Vasara and Vasara 2 released in 2000 and 2001 respectively.
Vasara Collection – Are You Tough Enough?
The first thing I have to say about Vasara and Vasara 2 is that they are tough… VERY tough. Bullet hell shooters aren’t for the feint-hearted at the best of times but these really are difficult and are amongst the toughest games I’ve played in the genre. Even getting through the regular sections of the games are difficult with everything thrown at you but the bosses are doubly so.
If you’re not familiar with bullet hell shooters, it’s a sub-genre of vertically or horizontally scrolling shoot-em-ups that are traditionally split into stages, with huge bosses at the end of each stage. The name is derived as you can see from the sheer amount of enemy firepower that you come under. For the uninitiated it can be overwhelming at first and mastery of them is very much a case of remembering attack patterns and in the case of arcade machines, having plenty of cash at your disposal to keep the continues flowing.
Coin Frenzy
Fortunately, both conversions have kept to their arcade roots in the way they function. Rather than giving players a fixed number of credits to allow them to continue once all their lives are lost, or allowing them to choose how many credits to start the game with, it uses a coin system. By using the left shoulder button, you simply add coins at the start and more can be added throughout play as you need them – just as you would have in the arcades back in the day – giving you as many continues as you need to get through the game… and boy will you need them!
What’s The Story?
The setting for both games is rather unusual, taking place in alternate timelime of feudal Japan in the 17th century, after the death of your emperor a rival is attempting to seize power using an army of robotic fighting machines Armed with little more than a katana and a hover bike you have to battle through these hordes to stop him at all costs… With a choice of four characters, each with the own craft with differing weapons and abilities, it’s just you in a battle against the odds.
As well as your traditional bullet based attacks, you can power this up by holding down the fire button, in a similar manner to R-Type, and when the fire button is released this unleashes a powerful melee attack that not only deals extra damage to everything on screen but deflects incoming bullets as well. In addition, as you would expect from a bullet hell shooter, you have a limited supply of bombs at your disposal for each life for an even more devastating attack.
The final attack on offer, and this is where the games get their name, is the Vasara attack. A more powerful version of the melee attack and activated in the same way, these are charged up by collecting crystals that are dropped by your adversaries as they are destroyed. Once the meter is complete you can unleash a deadly attack. All-important powerups can be picked up that improve your weapon. Unusually compared with similar games, these are dropped quite frequently so you can upgrade your weapons a maximum of four times. You soon realise why the powerups are available so readily though, as you’ll lose lives faster than you know it thanks to the endless assault you come under, so grab them all while you can!
Graphics And Sound
Less than half of the screen is used up with the game itself. The rest is used with artwork depicting characters from the respective game that you are playing. Unlike some arcade ports available, there’s no option to stretch the screen display to fill the PS Vita’s screen, although it does offer what it refers to as a Tate mode, which rotates the screen through 90 degrees and fills the screen. While it’s of no use to console owners or those playing the Vita version on the PSTV, it works well on the Vita itself with the controls being remapped slightly to use the right analogue stick for movement and minor changes to the button layout to fire the various weapons.
In terms of the games themselves, obviously the visuals can’t be compared to what we see from today’s games but to be honest for games of that era in the arcades they weren’t really pushing the boundaries of what was possible either. Both games were based on the 32 RISC SSV hardware but compared to games released by Sega and Namco of the same time they looked somewhat dated. As 2D shooters both games looked great, although Vasara 2 has the edge. There are signs of hardware scaling giving the backgrounds a slight impression of depth to them although it’s quite subtle.
Sound is great with both with loud, punchy sound effects and both have great soundtracks running throughout although the speech seems somewhat subdued with the rest of the sound overpowering it. Whether this is down to the PS Vita port or the arcade originals I don’t know but it didn’t spoil the experience at all.
Multiplayer Madness
One thing that is common to both games is the multiplayer mode. Both titles had two-player coop modes in the arcades making the game slightly easier and for those of you fortunate enough to own a PlayStation TV, not only is the Vasara Collection compatible with the microconsole, but it also allows for two players simultaneously. Each player can use either a DualShock 3 or DualShock 4 controller and both players share the same set of credits, although these can be added to continually as needed. As long as one player is alive, the game can continue ad-infinitum until it’s completed so just make sure you are loaded with credits if you want to see it through to the end!
The only downside I found in this mode is really a follow-on from the single player. In the standard game, collisions with enemy ships don’t destroy you as you would expect in a typical shoot-em-up. Instead, pressing fire while in immediate proximity will cause physical damage to the enemy craft and will either push them or your own craft back. Vasara is the only game in the genre where I’ve seen this used but it also causes a problem.
Instead of causing damage when colliding when you cross paths, both players can nudge each other on screen. This can cause quite serious problems when there is a lot of action on screen as players can quite literally push each other into enemy bullets. It adds an unnecessary complication to what is an already difficult game forcing players to concentrate on avoiding each other as well as the intense firepower they come under.
Unfortunately, it’s not something that can be corrected in a patch without changing the very nature of the game being a feature of the arcade originals and is one of the only things that disappointed. Hopefully it won’t cause too many arguments when you play because the two player mode is where the Vasara Collection really shines and it’s immense fun and takes what it already a good game and makes it great, regardless of your gaming ability.
Missing Modes?
Finally, unlike the console versions, there are just the two games on offer in the package and not the procedurally generated Timeless mode. This full screen 3D HD update of the game would have been a welcome addition to what is already a great package and I’m not too sure why it was omitted here. The only reason I can think is perhaps QUByte felt that the multiplayer aspect of this mode was an integral part to the experience and with that only being possible on the PSTV, the extra development cost for something that was only going to be available to a handful of Vita owners was too great.
Overall
All that aside, both games play like a dream. They’re addictive, action-packed and ideal for those eager for an arcade-fuelled adrenaline rush. Of the two I’d probably say I prefer the first with it’s more traditional weapon/bomb system but there’s no faulting the package overall. It’s superb value for money for arcade junkies like myself and anyone who loves a good shoot-em-up. It shines as a two player game, but it’s still immense fun as a single player game, even if it is one of the hardest games you’ll play on the Vita! Just be prepared for lots of sleepless nights as you try to master this one!
The Vasara Collection has been released digitally and a limited edition physical release was also made available through Strictly Limited Games although these have now sold out.
At A Glance
- Title: The Vasara Collection
- Publisher: QUByte / Strictly Limited Games (Physical)
- System: PS Vita
- Format: Download
- Cross Buy: No
- Cross Save: No
- Cross Play: N/A
- Online Multiplayer: No
- Memory Card Space Needed: TBC
- PlayStation TV Compatible: Yes
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