As a gamer I often reminisce about the good old days, the golden days of gaming if you will. I was fortunate to grow up in the hay day of the arcades, when gaming was all about tight gameplay, enticing you to put another coin in the slot, for another life on action packed game.

You may have guessed from the statement above I was a child of the eighties, which also over ran a little into the nineties. It’s during that time that I fell in love with Sega and will happily refer to myself as being a bit of a Sega fan boy.

Throughout my childhood, I was lucky enough to play many of the great games that were available. My brother was a Nintendo fan, and we had the best of both worlds, although my allegiance was firmly in the corner of Sega and their blue mascot Sonic.

I often get very excited when games from my childhood appear on modern consoles, as it offers me and many others a chance to replay them on the big screen tv, in full HD and now 4K glory. Ratalaika Games S.L. are fast becoming one of my favourite publishers porting games from yesteryear to present day consoles, with a firm focus on entertaining the public.

The Winged Warrior Blaster known as Gynoug was one such a game from my childhood, that I remember and happened to love. Gynoung a 1991 scrolling shooter, shoot’em up known as Wings of Wor in North America developed by Masays and published by NCS Corporation for the Sega Megadrive (Genesis). The game sprites were designed by the sprite designer of legendary shooting title Cho Aniki, a game best known for its wacky humor and vivid, surreal imagery.

The 2021 version of Gynoug features

  • 4k single player all action shoot’em up
  • 60 frames per second
  • A Configurable CRT shader
  • Special mode with accessibility features
  • Rewind mode, with save and load state
  • Dynamic early 90’s Video Game Music
  • Changing levels of play and difficulty
  • Epic Mid Stage battles
  • Classic Boss Battles

Gynoug in a nutshell – You play as a winged soldier, facing evil creatures in a side-scrolling shooter battle. Set in an era between the Middle Ages and the early modern period, the demons have grown in power by feeding on the evil ambitions of the people. Led by a being known as The Destroyer, they plan their attack. The angel Wor stands up for the survival of the entire tribe, and heads to Iccus to prevent the spread of the evil spirit It’s up to you take control of Wor and shoot down every grotesque enemy in your path, defeating every demon boss at the end of each area to advance onward in your quest. Will you protect the heavens and put an end to The Destroyers dark plans?

The 2021-released version of this classic is developed by Shinyuden and of course published by Ratalaika Games, has been brought back to life, and packs a punch. Offering explosive action in horizontal scrolling setting, which is extremely challenging in terms of its difficulty and the amount of enemies and bullets that appear on screen. It’s a little like hell let loose.

The good thing about remasters, or classic games that are given a new lease of life, is the options that are available to the player, in order to change the games stakes, by making it a little less challenging, the ability to rewind, or even offer a cheat mode, and I am pleased to say it’s all here. So even if you do find the game challenging, as was the case with the games original release back in 1991, staying true to its arcade feel and nature, you can rewrite the script so to speak, offering fantastic replay value.

Gynoug offers 16-bit action, renewed in a new form, with six levels of pulsating full-blown action. The game offers the ability to power up your weapons and regen your life by blasting crystals and collecting the coloured orbs that are often left behind. The more you collect the better your arsenal available to you, to wreak havoc.

The games world is full of wonderful creatures to destroy, and some familiar shaped ghouls and demonic enemy bosses in grotesque form ready for you to obliterate, but beware, you will need quick reactions to avoid their firepower.

Gynoug is a wonderful trip down memory lane, and if you are anything like me, you will absolutely adore it, and its new features.

Overall
  • 72%
    CX Score - 72%
72%

Summary

Pros

  • Classic Gameplay
  • New options enable you to change difficulty
  • Wonderfully priced
  • Tight Shoot’em Up

Cons

  • A lot going on
  • Overall level difficulty
  • Boss Battles are tough

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