Bullet Hell hath no fury like a loli scorned.

There’s an old saying “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Well, in this case that actually may help (who doesn’t love a Loli?), but in all honesty the likes of the 2D shooter has mostly gone the way of the dodo. When browsing covers on shelves nowadays, it’s quite apparent that American gamers are only looking for one big 3D-action orgy after the next. A genre that helped turn Americans into gamers has evolved into a conglomeration of headshots and cover fire. Just like how Capcom revitalized the 2D fighting genre last year with Street Fighter 4, Aksys Games -- with the help of the maniac shooter masterminds at CAVE -- have potentially unleashed the quintessential 2D shooter equivalent to Capcom’s fighting achievement with Deathsmiles.

The lovechild of Castlevania and Ikaruga, Deathsmiles infuses the gothic goodness of Konami’s 2D classics with the finger-twitching, eye-melting insanity of a bullet hell. Five adorable angels to choose from, imbued with the gift of magic and an enchanted familiar, are sent to drive back the forces of Hell to whence they came, liberating the kingdom of Gilverado. These cute, sexy, underage Lolis are the true essence behind the beauty in Deathsmiles. Large and sultry, their animated sprites fill the screen as bullets pour down upon from all direction. Though the world of Deathsmiles doesn’t bleed HD, its lush colors and entrancing assortment of demonic minions and screen filling bosses create a gothic utopia that’s just as much immersing as it is unsettling.  

Once settled in, Deathsmiles quickly punishes the uninitiated. It’s a bullet hell first and foremost, so don’t let the girls in the short little skirts fool you. The unique twist is that enemies can spawn from either side of the screen. To compensate the side-scrolling madness, each angel possesses the ability to obliterate enemies from either direction. One button fires left while another blasts to the right, each augmented by laser and lock-on shots. Time is well spent learning the ins and outs of each stage, but the addicting action makes the normal drudgery of bullet-pattern memorization all the more bearable. It won’t take long to have your Loli of choice engulfed with skulls and crowns from destroyed cannon fodder, building up an item counter that when maxed at 1,000 opens up power-up mode. Like any great shooter, the magic in Deathsmiles doesn’t lie in just reaching the final stage; maximizing the bloodshed is your real goal here. This is best achieved by learning when to enter power-up mode, capitalizing on both enemy and bullet patterns to reach the upper echelons of the high-scoring elite.

It may take some practice breaking into the rankings, but CAVE is aware of the brutality they have created and has opened up Deathsmiles for players of all skill sets. The game employs variable difficulties (levels 1-3) that can be altered before every stage (excluding the EX and final stage), practice mode, and downloadable replays. Due to this, it’s not hard to feel like a side-scrolling virtuoso, even if you’re a newcomer. When the basics are mastered and players find themselves able to handle level three difficulty, Deathsmiles cleverly finds even more devilishness to release amongst its prey. After five selections of this already maniacal difficulty “Death Mode” is activated whereupon fallen enemies release suicide bullets in a last ditch effort to cover every inch of the screen in a bullet hell haze. Navigating these screen filling cataclysms borders on the realm of the spectacular. They’re nerve racking, but deliver some of the most satisfying gaming moments of recent memory.

Further rounding out its shoot-em up extravaganza, CAVE saw fit to spice up Deathsmiles for coin-op conversion. The added inclusions of both the Mega Black Label and Version 1.1 only add to the challenge and replayability. Mega Black Label is more of an add-on pack, unlocking a fifth playable angel and an additional stage with a slightly augmented scoring system. Version 1.1 on the other hand is more of an rearrangement of the Deathsmiles formula, as both the standard and Mega Black Label versions of the game are playable in this form. Version 1.1 is unique due to the revamped control scheme -- familiars are fully controllable through the use of the right analog stick -- as well as  a completely overhauled scoring system. Power-mode can be triggered at an earlier count and those pesky little suicide bullets can be reshaped into point multiplying skulls and crowns. I was a little overwhelmed by the sheer amount of concoctions Deathsmiles served up, but in its robust menu of choices, there was always something to keep me hooked if repetition ever started to sink in.  

Hearkening back to the art and style last seen in the final glory days of the Sega Saturn, Deathsmiles takes us back to when a game was measured by the size of its sprites and not the length of its polygons. Forget about high resolution and 3D, a game’s ultimate value is solely based on the entertainment it offers and Deathsmiles delivers in spades. I commend Aksys for having the fortitude to bring this cult shooter to American shores. It’s been 15 years since CAVE first started wearing blisters into Japanese thumbs and only now is America getting a chance to finally build up some well-deserved calluses.