Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke is another low-cost digital download published by EastAsiaSoft. A horizontal shooter with multiple playable characters, this shmup might sound appealing on paper but the end result feels horribly unfinished.

This cartoony shooter might be the most baffling game I’ve ever played. Nothing makes sense and nothing is explained to the player. There are so many things wrong, it is easier to list these glaring problems in bullet point format:

• there are no options (no difficulty settings, no way to adjust audio, no modifying the number of lives, no co-op, literally zero options which is awful for a shmup).

•there is no controller map and the game doesn’t explain what each button does.

•the playable anime characters are shown without their name which makes it tedious if trying to get all the Achievements as some are character specific (imagine playing Street Fighter, for example, if they were never given names – this is what is happening here).

•the obnoxious hard rock soundtrack is appalling and doesn’t align with the cutesy visuals, it is also much too loud with no option to lower.

•bosses fights are way too long and are significantly longer than flying through the stages. They are not fun either. They are bullet hekks but if you find the sweet spot, they can be cheesed with a little luck and skill.

•there are no power-ups, you just shoot one standard, boring gun the entire time.

•common enemies repeat much too often

•the A button slows movement while shooting whereas holding B maintains speed, but the game never explains this. In other words, A is good for boss fights while B is ideal for stages but would have been helpful if the game highlighted this.

•the game tallies a continuous score, but score doesn’t mean anything, there is no reward for getting a high score and there isn’t even a high score table. There are also extra digits in the score but there is no way to achieve a score that high.

•there are unlimited continues with no burden of performance. So if you want, just put a weight on the A button and walk away to win. Literally.

•nothing happens when you beat the final boss, the game just reverts back to the main menu with no ending or congrats screen or high score initial input or bonus or credits or anything.

•it takes about 20 minutes to complete one playthrough which is entirely too long especially since boss battles are about 15+ minutes of this.

•there are 8 playable characters but they all play exactly the same. One just rides on a banana. Another on a stick.

•Most Achievements are tied to beating the game with each character, but since all play the same, grinding this feels like a chore with literally zero payoff.

•sometimes there is a slot machine bonus game at the end of the stage but spinning these reels takes so long and winning (or losing) gives you nothing. There is no point to this awful slot machine mini game other than to waste time.

Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke is an incomplete game, and it was not play tested or balanced. Sure, it functions, but there are no rewards or penalties for playing well or for playing poorly so technically it doesn’t even qualify as a game. After grinding the campaign with every character, I am trying to find something positive to say about this abysmal experience and I can’t think of one.

By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com

X/Twitter: @ZackGaz

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