It's Steam Sale time again, and there's plenty of folks out there making general recommendations
- so, I'm gonna go my own direction with it.
This is a list of $5 or under games that is tailor made to … me.
And people like me.
Which I'd assume are people into old-school games that aren't actually old.
Or maybe they actually are old, I don't know, lightning round time.
Aliens Go Home Run ( $2.39 / £1.67 / €2,39 ) - I sure wasn't expecting this game to
be as addictive as it is.
It feels like of like combining Arkanoid with a shmup.
It's surprisingly hard to put this one down.
It doesn't do anything revolutionary, but the game feel and presentation are good enough
that you won't even think about that as you go through level after level.
Audiosurf 1 + 2 ( $2.49 / £1.74 / €2,49 ) ( $4.94 / £3.62 / €4,94 )- The Audiosurf
games are basically the result of taking Klax, Wipeout and your mp3 library and putting them
all in a fusion chamber.
Might sound incomprehensible, but you'll have to take my word for it - this game is endlessly
addictive and endlessly replayable thanks to any mp3 file you have basically being the
basis for a new stage with it's own leaderboard.
The first entry is the more balanced of the two, but Audiosurf 2 includes custom mods
as well as SoundCloud support so you can listen to your favorite artists without even contaminating
your computer.
Now that's what I call music.
Cook, Serve, Delicious ( $1.99 / £1.39 / €1,99 )- Oh no, it's a casual game!
Yeah, it might look that way, especially since it's a mobile game port, but this game will
tax you pretty well on your typing skills.
Yes, despite looking like Cooking Mama, it's actually much closer to something like Typing
of the Dead.
The game is a time vampire, though I'd recommend not playing much if you have PTSD from working
rush hour traffic in retail or food service.
Crimzon Clover WORLD IGNITION ( $1.99 / £1.39 / €1.99 ) - A very classic kind of crazy
bullet hell shmup.
This game reminds me a lot of games like Mars Matrix, Gunbird and various other early days
of danmaku shooters.
If you really want to get into some of the more expensive Cave shooters but want a taste
to see if it's your cup of tea, this is a great place to start.
Dandy ( $2.49 / £1.74 / €2,49 ) - What if Binding of Isaac was a shmup?
A super simple shmup, but still.
The art style is very appealing, a sort of children's story book quality to it.
The music is also incredible, it's one I play in the car constantly.
However, the main draw of this game is seeing how power ups interact with each other.
You can make some truly overpowered or just straight up weird stuff happen.
Danmaku Unlimited 2 ( $0.99 / £0.79 / €0.99 ) - One dollar for one of the best shmups
on Steam and to date my favorite game to get saved from the purgatory of the mobile games
market.
It has a sort of leveling system where you can invest the points you earn from continued
play into enhancing aspects of the gameplay to better suit you.
Want a very strong focused fire that will quickly kill anything in front of you?
Done.
Want to instead have a spread shot that will slowly but surely hit and kill anything on
screen?
You got it.
Don't care about firepower at all and instead want a godlike shield?
It can be yours.
No matter how you play, you'll be sure to have fun with this.
Deep Space Waifu ( $1.19 ) - The newest game on this list.
It's a shmup mixed with cartoon chicks.
The concept reminded me a lot of Gals Panic, so I had to give it a shot.
It's actually not bad - it's not very difficult, aside from balancing unclothing
the girls while also killing enemies, but despite the lack of difficulty it's still
fun.
That said, if the gimmick doesn't appeal to you, you could easily give this a pass
- I just feel it's necessary to add it because I haven't seen anyone talking about it.
Downwell ( $1.49 / £0.99 / €1.49 ) - Hard to describe this game, which is strange because
it's so simple.
You fall down a well and kill stuff on the way down.
Well, that's done.
However, the challenge is to pretty much touch the ground as little as possible so that you
keep your combo count up.
As you keep going, you get powerups, you can enter shops to spend those points, and the
environment continues to change even while sticking to just a couple of colors.
None of that really matters, though - the game is fast and fun and effortlessly replayable.
Hotline Miami 1 + 2 ( $4.99 / £3.79 / €4,99 ) - If you haven't experienced Hotline Miami
yet, now is the time.
For less than $5, you can pick up both games in one fell swoop.
If you are a fan of fast paced arcade shooter action, especially of the top down variety,
killer synthwave music, and don't mind some extreme difficulty thrown into the mix, then
pick these games up right now.
Even if you don't like these things, this game could easily make a believer out of you.
HuniePop ( $2.49 / £1.74 / €2,49 ) - You've probably already disappointed everyone you
knew before, why not go all the way?
HuniePop is a great puzzle game dressed up with a stellar dating game that has the most
desireable carrot on a stick that Steam has to offer.
There's a lot of cheap and poorly made cartoon porn vehicles on Steam, but if you are looking
for quality gameplay with quality cheesecake, there's not many games that can even be
halfway as good as this while still delivering the goods.
Ikaruga ( $4.99 / £3.49 / €4,49 ) - The original "gimmick" shmup.
Well, maybe not the original, but at the very least this is the shmup that really got gimmick
based shmups on the map.
Swap between one color to another to more effectively kill enemies and absorb shots
rather than simply dodge them.
I really shouldn't have to tell people to give this game a shot, it was a well known
must-have title on the Dreamcast and Gamecube, but for all the new blood - don't pass this
one up.
King of Fighters XIII ( $4.99 / £3.74 / €4.99 ) - While the newest iteration of KOF is out
now and pretty popular, I'd personally rather be playing KOFXIII any day of the week.
I would recommend 98 and 02 as well, but for some reason SNK decided not to drop those
just a couple of cents to get in the under $5 range.
XIII has a ton of great and fun characters, extra modes and color customization, relatively
good balance, superb soundtrack and some of the best 2D graphics I've ever seen in a
fighting game.
Don't miss out of this one.
Lethal League ( $4.19 / £2.99 / €3,59 ) - If you crossed sudden death Street Fighter with
Pong, this would be the result.
It's basically Psycho Ball taken to the next level.
A crazy cast of characters, up to 4 players online and off, sick beats and just a fun
time all around.
I'd really only recommend this if you have some friends to play with, as finding randoms
online is a tall order, but if you can fulfill that requirement this is some good dumb fun.
Oniken ( $0.99 / £0.79 / €0,99 ) - It's basically an original Nintendo game that got
released a few decades late.
This game is a amalgamation of the most popular action platformers from Konami, Capcom, Tecmo
and Natsume from the 8-bit days, which is definitely the big sell.
The big negative, though, is that it's an amalgamation of all those games, warts and
all.
It's extremely accurate to that era of gaming, so if that sounds great to you, pick it up.
Revolver360 Re:Actor ( $2.99 / £2.09 / €2,99 ) - Revolver360 is a very fun shmup that has
an interesting mechanic - the ability to rotate your ship, which also rotates the screen.
This is really hard to wrap your brain around for a bit, but getting to understand it is
the best way to avoid many enemy attacks.
The aesthetic is nothing special to be honest, but the mechanics elevate it.
Shantae: Risky's Revenge ( $4.99 / £3.49 / €4,99 ) - It's easily not as good as Pirate's
Curse, and arguably not as good as Half-Genie Hero, but Shantae: Risky's Revenge is still
one of the best platformers on Steam.
Whether you are a casual platformer fan, a hardcore Metroidvania addict, an aspiring
speedrunner or just want to enjoy a lovable cast of quirky characters, it's hard not to
pick up the earliest Shantae entry that isn't being hoarded by collectors and resellers.
Shatter ( $1.99 / £1.39 / €1,59 ) - It's Breakout or Arkanoid or whatever you wanna
call it, taken to the umpteenth level.
It's that classic brick breaker gameplay with satisfying physics with great controls
and interesting boss battles.
All that's missing is a quarter slot.
The audio-visual presentation that can not easily be beat.
The soundtrack alone is worth the price of admission and I still consider it among the
best game soundtracks I know.
Skullgirls ( $2.99 / £2.09 / €2,99 ) - So, I think all you get for buying Skullgirls
this late in the game is the initial 9 characters that the game launched with.
However, considering that's how I spent most of my time with the game, I can confirm
that for less than $5, that's more than enough game.
The art style is divisive, I personally love it but there's a ton that don't - but
even if you don't like the art, the mechanics and feel of the game is solid and has a lot
of interesting ideas.
Super Star Path ( $2.49 / £1.99 / €2,49 ) - It's a mix between a puzzle game and
a shmup.
Going into a level blindly firing upon everything you see could lead to some terrible consequences
for you - this game really requires you to quickly and carefully think about where your
shots are going, and then also will require you to carefully navigate the path you've
created to get to the bosses which are, well, nothing special.
The boss battles are not terrible, they just aren't nearly as interesting as the journey
to them.
Even so, this is still recommended at it's current price point.
Witch-Bot Meglilo ( $2.99 / £2.39 / €2.99 ) - Another shmup not nearly the best in the
lot, but it is the most humorous.
A wild card pick I suppose, if you are a hardcore shmup fan you should focus on some of the
other shmup picks here, but if you are a fan of any kind of anime and don't take that
seriously, you should get into it.
It's not the tough as nails type of game shmups are thought to be, so you'll be able
to enjoy this without pulling your hair out.
Questionable Mention: DotEmu Neo Geo Games ( $3.99 / £2.79 / €3,99 ) - So, DotEmu
has brought a lot of great Neo Geo games to Steam.
The first four Metal Slug games, Shock Troopers, freaking Twinkle Star Sprites and a ton of
other great games.
The issue, however, is that the emulation is really bad.
The sound emulation, especially, is like nails on a chalkboard to everyone familiar with
these games.
If you've never played these games, then they are worth trying as they are some of
the best arcade games of all time, but for purists you should stay away unless you just
want a legal license to play the ROMs with superior emulators.
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