RSS
Home
What happened to....Einhander?
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
The second in the series of classic games and/or franchises that have disappeared. Today, I'll write about Einhander.
To anyone who has read my articles knows that I love shmups. And to the uninitiated, that means shoot-em-ups. Never has a genre seem so shallow and generate so much intensity and excitement. A simple concept, move your character, which is usually a small aircraft, and take out enemy forces with your weapons. This usually allows the developers to run wild with how detailed the weapons and enemies are. It also allows for some really brutal boss battles.
This genre flourished in the '90s because the arcade scene was highly viable. Shmups started to get tucked back in arcades due to the rise of fighting games. Which meant it was time for a new place of popularity in home consoles, as they were able to finally have hardware on par with arcade machines.
One of my favorite shmups was the excellent Einhander, developed by...Square?!? At the risk of generalizing the works of a giant company, they're mostly known for their RPGS, as Final Fantasy VII had just came out on the Playstation just they year before. Back in the 90s, Square was also associated with flashy graphics, so how would a RPG powerhouse handle a game that's not an RPG? (their track record outside of the RPG genere wasn't particularly stellar).
Turns out that this was one of the best shmups on the Playstation and can rival any of Treasure's outputs. I've always believed that you have to try real hard to make a mess out of one of the simplest genres in video games and this game was simple with a little bit of depth. There three ships to choose from and different weapons to use. The depth part comes in when some ships allow weapons and ammo to increase in numbers. It was also layered with German terms and names-call it the Evangelion effect.
The gameplay itself took place on a 2D-plane in a 3D world, so this game is more 2.5D. However, this allowed for branching paths within levels as defeating some enemies in a certain way allowed players to earn a 'secret' and getting three of them allowed to find a hidden area, usually full of powerups. So, combined with the secrets to unlock hidden ships, this game had a higher replay value than most shooters. And with an excellent soundtrack and some of the best graphical razzle-dazzle, Square had created one of the best shooters in existence. Definitely worth recreating.
So what happened? Final Fantasy did. It became so popular and massively successful that a movie wasn't a bad idea. But Spirits Within tanked so hard that Square had no choice but to combine with Enix in order to stay afloat. But seeing as how they're sequelizing and exploiting a lot of their franchises these days (Final Fantasy XIII has three games in existence already), why can't a sequel happen? Shooters have a lot of hardcore appeal but due to the simple mechanics and light nature of its design (shoot from point A to point B), casual gamers can pick it up to.
Will it ever happen? The game was re-released on the Playstation Network in Japan last year. So, it's up to Sony to release it America. Don't bother writing Sony, they rarely listen to fans. Instead, ask Square for a sequel.
Related Articles:
Comments
