Welcome to another blog!

This time I will review a few games from a developers called Orange Juice. The game in review is a side scrolling shoot'em up (does that even make sense) called Suguri

I always liked Shoot'em ups ever since I was little, and loved playing them. I enjoyed arcade classics such as Galaga or Bosconian (which I think is fantastic, and if you never played, I highly recommend). I even played those free bloatware shooter games that came installed on our old home PC.

Later on I discovered the Touhou Series. This was definitely new to me and I found the bullet hell/curtain fire shooters to be very challenging at first. However, with enough perseverance (and bombs) I managed to 1CC few of the games on Normal difficulty. I really enjoyed playing through the games, but fell interest after around 12 came out. The genre felt old to me. I tried a few other shooters too, but they felt pretty similar and stale.
Then I discovered this gem on Steam.

I'm not going to lie, the only reason I found about Suguri was through a game called 100% Orange Juice. This is a multiplayer board game thing, similar to Mario Party (I will definitely be reviewing that game next). I loved 100% Orange Juice and as I set out to learn more about the characters and franchise, I came across this game.

When I loaded the game up, nothing was special. If anything the menu looked outdated and simple. However, the game was nothing but that. The controls are so tight, mechanics solid, and options limitless. The characters are great and the battles felt right. The music was amazing.

But by far the greatest part of Suguri is the gameplay mechanics. While side scrolling shooters aren't anything new, I never played a game so high paced before. You have 2 different weapons you can use at a time, an automatic lock-on system, a Hyper Attack that changes depending on what weapon you put in as main weapon, and most importantly, the Hyper Dash. Hyper dash let's you dash through enemy bullets without taking damage. It also charges your Hyper Attack meter. This is essential to play as there are just no way you can dodge the bullets without dashing through them.Then why not just dash all the time? 2 reasons:
You can't dash through all enemy fire. Explosive bullets are unable to be dashed through. Only energy types are allowed. (There are some exceptions especially relating to boss bullets however).
Dashing builds up a 2nd meter called Heat. This is given in percentage values and goes up longer you dash at a time, up to 300%. The percentage starts to goes down when you stop dashing. At 100% you take double damage, 200% triple, and 300% quadruple. So there is a very real danger of keeping your heat up too high. Managing this meter is essential to survival as well.

There are also over 15 different weapons you can use, up to 2 at a time in any combination. They are all unique and different and adds a variety of strategies you can use to help beat a given level. Since it's possible to switch out weapon types after each stage, this is a crucial strategy to choose weapons to counter level mechanics. Although, it is possible to win with all the weapons, tailoring the weapon to the stage definitely makes the game easier. Which brings me to 2nd point.

This game is really difficult.

It took me 8 hours to beat the game on easy mode. Granted I was running into it blind and was figuring out game mechanics as I struggled (and I am bad). But that didn't make the last couple levels from being absolutely brutal. Perhaps the most important mechanic that is not obvious, but absolutely necessary is Dash Attack. When I was playing, I realized sometimes I was able to fire more bullets then normal and do more damage. I had no idea what was causing this and after experimenting, I realized you can do a dash attack. This let's you fire repeatedly in rapid succession. However, the downside to this is your heat value skyrockets using this technique. Except when used with one of your starting weapon type; Beam Rifle. This is super important as you need to be constantly dashing around dodging bullets, with limited time to shoot yourself.

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An Example

Going into a level blind will usually result in death, especially on Boss fight and learning and reacting to patterns is key to this game, as it is with a lot of shooters.

Some other great things about this game includes the characters.

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They are all wonderfully designed and have unique characteristics, although the art in game may be a bit iffy.


Suguri pls

The story isn't really amazing or anything but having a goal throughout the game makes it so much more rewarding.
And nothing compares to Stage 7

Hime is such a wonderful character~

The way the music focus on the collision with Hime is unbelievable.
Then the music escalates as the battle progresses.
It has been such a long time since I played something where the music complement a stage so perfectly. The music in Suguri generally complements the high speed action very well, but Stage 7 is probably one of the best example of video game music in ANY game

I highly recommend you buy the game and try it yourself!
The game only costs $5.99 on Steam, but you could always wait for a Steam sale if you like
There is also a spin off and a sequel that I need to play next since I finally completed this game

That's it for Part1 of Orange Juice!
Tune in next time for some... Poppo?!??!