It's no secret how much I enjoyed Kill la Kill; but now that it's been off the air for a few months, I feel like there is a hole in my heart. Seeking to fill that void, I took to the net and have returned with two fan games.
Shippu la Senpu
The first game, which I was informed about over Twitter, is a top-down shooter called Shippu la Senpu. In it, you play as Ryuko transformed in her flying mode and shoot the various human-absorbing clothes that are the antagonist for the later part of the series—as well as Yui and Ragyo.
It's a pretty standard shooter—though it does have a few interesting game actions. While the enemies shoot normal bullets as you'd expect, others shoot ones that decrease your speed which turns out to be far worse than direct damage. Another interesting action is Ryuko's segmented health bar. When not shooting, it refills automatically—but only up to the segment border. Moreover, any power up you activate only works as long as your health stays in the current segment. If it drops too low, you'll lose your power ups. Also, acquiring power ups in the first place is pretty unique. Mako and the Naked Sun battleship fly below you occasionally dishing them out. As the ship follows you, however, it can take damage as well. And if it dies, it's a game over for you as well.
Unfortunately, while the game has some good ideas, I wouldn't call it an enjoyable experience by any means. Mainly, this is because the game is so repetitive. You fly along the same pink clouded background and fight the same four basic enemies endlessly between bosses. Even worse, the game contains no save points—meaning, if you fail, you start over at the very beginning. This is made all the more frustrating by the fact that the enemies you encounter are randomly generated. Thus, there are no patterns to learn to make it any easier. The power ups are also randomly generated, so in one game you may get the more powerful laser upgrade and spread shot only to never even see either on your next run. It is therefore a game based as much on luck as on skill.
Sadly, the game is also more than a little unstable and prone to crashes. In the hour I spent with the game, it crashed at least half-a-dozen times.
Really, the best thing about the game is the soundtrack—which is simply the best songs from the anime's awesome soundtrack.
Kill la Kill: Lady Rocket
Lady Rocket is a simple game: You move Ryuko with the mouse and click to swing her scissor blade, cutting down the evil, living clothes. It is also a hard game—so hard you'll be lucky to play a round that lasts more than ten seconds.
The game is insanely fast and dodging the incoming enemies is more than a little difficult. However, killing them is even harder as the sword's range isn't great and the swinging speed is painfully slow in comparison to enemies’ movement speed. Still, this would be somewhat manageable if it weren't for the fact that Ryuko can take only a measly three hits before she dies. However, all that said, with a bit of tweaking and expanding, this game has the potential to be quite fun.
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To contact the author of this post, write to BiggestinJapan@gmail.com or find him on Twitter @BiggestinJapan.