There was undoubtedly a period, not too long ago, when the mention of yet another shoot 'em up for the Dreamcast would have brought a deafening sigh from the community. It seemed that for a time, every single post-mortem indie release was another vertical or horizontal shooter (I hasten to add that I'm not a fan of the term 'shmup,' just as I cringe at the term 'Metroidvania'), and even though the majority of them are pleasant, highly competent examples of the genre, overkill set in. This probably came to head in 2015 with the release of
Ghost Blade - a game I personally quite enjoyed, but one which also drew derision and ultimately signalled a hiatus for shooters on the system.
Indeed, the reliance on the shoot 'em up has largely vanished from the indie Dreamcast scene, what with JoshProd stepping up to the plate and releasing a bunch of new titles for the Dreamcast with nary a spaceship in sight. That's about to change though, as the latest wave of releases from the French publisher includes a port of
Picorinne Soft's well received retro-styled vertical shooter Battle Crust. The game initially launched on
Steam back in 2016 and I must admit that prior to learning of the Dreamcast port, I was totally unaware of its existence.
Of all the games to bring to the Dreamcast, it's a curious choice then. Especially when you look at the other titles that are making up this
third wave of new releases from JoshProd: Another World, Fade to Black, Bang Bang Busters and The Escapee. However, variety is the spice of life, and if anything JoshProd is proving that Dreamcast gamers are thirsty for a range of experiences from a range of genres; and now that the tsunami of shooters seems to have slowed to a mere trickle, it's actually refreshing to see a new title of this ilk on the Dreamcast.
Hyperbole aside though, games like Battle Crust live and die on the quality of the experience they provide, so enough with the procrastination - let's see if Battle Crust deserves a place in the Dreamcast's ever-growing indie library, and more importantly, in your collection...