Originally released across four discs on PSOne in 1999, 70s-style Robot Anime Geppy-X is a hybrid anime movie mixed with a horizontal shooter. For the first time, this deep cut of a cult favorite is available in English with many QoL features to better accommodate the modern gaming environment.
Outfitted with more than 8,000 hand drawn animation frames and full voice acting, Geppy-X’s production values easily made it stand out from the crowd. There are sung theme songs, fake commercials which add goofy humor, and the presentation is broken down into episodes making you feel like you are playing a full-length anime. Even today, there isn’t anything else quite like it and has a different approach in comparison to FMV titles. It was definitely ahead of its time.
Evil space aliens have plans of ruining the Earth and humans have no means to stop them. Luckily, one crazy engineer in Japan has been secretly working on an oversized mech for such an occasion, a giant Gundam-thing called Geppy-X. Like Voltron or Power Rangers, this zoid comes together when multiple smaller ship parts are connected. Then like most shooters, you blast your way through a level then take down bosses and mini bosses until the Earth is saved. Depending on how many of the cutscenes you watch and the number of restarts, it will take a good 2-3 hours to clear, essentially the length of a feature film.
It is important to note that there is much more anime than game here. For every one part of gameplay, there is about three parts anime cutscenes to watch. In fact, the shooter segments, the parts where you actually fly through the stage, takes up the least amount of game time. The stage ending boss battles are just as long as the stages, if not longer depending on performance. Not saying this more-movie-than-game approach is bad or good, but there is no questioning the emphasis on the narrative.
Cutscenes, still frames, voice acting, branching paths with multiple endings… there is a lot of story here. Also, the plot is super Japanese ridiculousness but fully leans into itself by being stupidly humorous despite trying to be serious. Like, needing to take down a sea monster so Japan can once again use toilet paper, or displaying a commercial about a weird tomato character not getting shampoo into its eyes is basically one big display of WTF-is-happening chuckle inducer. Even though the game has been available for more than 25 years, I don’t wish to spoil the plot here despite being in English for the first time. However, know that death, amnesia, betrayals, and all the other game/movie tropes are in full swing here.
As for the shooter segments, it can be weird, slow, and especially clunky but it still works. The restrictions of the shmup portions are still manageable as they were built around the shortcomings. For example, the player can swap between the three different ships but the basic machine gun vehicle is pretty much always the way to go. Pressing a button also causes the ship to face the other direction but waiting until the weapon cools down before doing this is very awkward. Plus, the side weapons are almost always useless but thankfully this 2026 remaster includes an auto-fire button so button mashing is no longer required. Also, for those dedicated fans going for 100%, the game keeps track of every destroyed enemy just like the Beastiary in a Final Fantasy game. Taking down one of each enemy will require multiple playthroughs but there is an Achievement attached to it.
The other QoL features are also much welcomed. Save states, HD up res’ing of the all the video footage, being able to rebind controls, and there is also a scan of the instruction manual. Probably my biggest complaint comes from the rewind system though. The player must first pause, then access a menu, then rewind, which isn’t the most intuitive. On top of that, it rewinds in big chunks so you cannot just instantly rewind a couple frames when you took damage. However, this is sort of a silly first world problem.
Geppy-X was originally released in 1999, which was the year of the Dreamcast launch and big AAA games like Final Fantasy VIII. Even as the industry was going through a shift, Geppy-X was probably something very special upon original release. The good news is, it still holds up today as long as you approach it without too much seriousness. Sure, the shooter gameplay is slightly clumsy, a little unbalanced thanks to the different ships, and there isn’t much of it in comparison to the all the anime footage, but this is an important relic of yesteryear given new life, an official translation, and QoL features to what otherwise would have been a forgotten-to-time Japan exclusive. If you have any interest in shooters, special games that were never localized, or just a fan of old timey anime, this is perhaps the perfect title to put on your wishlist.
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
X/Twitter: @ZackGaz
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RATING
OUR SCORE - 8
8
SCORE
Geppy-X is an obscure and neglected anime shooter from the late 1990s that holds up in a goofy sort of way in the modern day thanks to the inclusion of a wealth of QoL features and upgrades.