Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury is coming to XBLA as an all-new game in the beloved Treasure series. It’s being published by D3Publisher and will be released this Fall for $10 or 800 MSP (Microsoft Points).
The developers promise that Missile Fury, which is an all-new game in the multi-directional schmup (shoot ’em up) series, will feature “a sensory overloard of thousands of missiles” to satisfy fans of the bullet-hell shooter series, where the size of your enemies dwarf that of your little puny mech (which can shoot in all directions). Thankfully, for the first time, the series will now be in glorious high-definition with little to no slowdown, thanks to the processing power of the Xbox 360. Huzzuh!
Even better than that, the game will include over 100 levels and will even include a level editor! Not only can you create your own levels, but you will be able to share them with friends over Xbox Live!
One of the major updates to this game is in the form of the EX Attack, which you pull off in all Bangai-o games by allowing yourself to get as close to the swarms of bullets as possible. The closer you are to being annihilated before activating the EX Attack, the stronger your attack (which reflects the bullets coming towards you back at their enemies!) will be. It’s no exception in Missile Fury, except now you can direct the aim of the attack.
The game will appear in playable form at the upcoming PAX Prime 10 expo which takes place tomorrow (September 3rd) and runs until September 5th. It will be held at the Washington State Convention Center.
The original Bangai-O was released on the Nintendo 64 in Japan with a limited run of only 10,000 units. However it was a cult hit and was eventually re-released in updated form for the Dreamcast, where it was also released internationally. In more recent times, a DS version of the series (an all-new game) called Bangai-O Spirits was released in August of 2008.
Here is an interview with the producer of Bangai-O: Spirits, talking about the series and the DS entry. Very interesting btw if you didn’t know, Bangai-O: Spirits also featured a level design mode with which you could share files. But instead of sharing them over wi-fi, you could transfer them by sound! That’s right. How so you ask? You’d record the “sound” that your created level outputted with a microphone. Someone else could then receive that level by playing back the sound file for your created level! Very interesting. While cool, that way of file transfer is a bit clunky. So luckily Bangai-O: Missile Fury lets you trade files the simple way. By simply exchanging them online via Xbox Live!