Guwange (ぐわんげ) is a vertical scrolling shooter developed by Cave and published by Atlus in 1999.

Gameplay

Guwange's gameplay contains elements that are unique or uncommon in the vertically scrolling shooting game genre. The screen will often scroll horizontally or even diagonally, depending on the course the protagonist must take to reach the demon leader. Each character has a limited bomb attack in the form of an energy blast that can be sent in any direction, and will dispel any bullets it touches. Another special attack involves sending the shikigami into the midst of the enemies, with two particular advantages. First, the shikigami does not have to attack in the same direction as the player is firing, and can even get past obstacles that would otherwise thwart normal shots. If an enemy projectile touches the shikigami, it will change to a pink color and will drastically slow down. If the shot passes the shikigami, it will return to its original color and resume at full speed, but if the bullet is caught in an explosion, it will be cancelled and turned into coins. Score is almost entirely dependent on the continuous, uninterrupted collection of coins. The player must constantly damage or destroy enemies in order to replenish a countdown timer; when the timer (represented by a meter in the upper-left corner of the screen) depletes entirely, the player's coin count returns to zero. Guwange is unique in that the player may maintain a "chain" of coin collection throughout the entire game, instead of a more conventional stage-by-stage approach. This makes Guwange's scoring system extremely unforgiving.

Plot

The story of Guwange is set during the Muromachi period of Japan. During this time, increasing numbers of people suffer possession by shikigami. Although the shikigami grant great spiritual powers, the strain inflicted on the host causes them to die exactly one year after possession, but a legend has sprung up regarding Guwange, the malevolent god trapped in Mt. Gokumon (i.e. Hell Gate). If one possessed by a shikigami can gather talismans of the five Chinese elements—wood, fire, earth, metal, water—from five demons serving Guwange, then infiltrate Gokumon and slay Guwange, the shikigami will be destroyed and the one possessed will not suffer a premature death. Each player gets a unique introduction, and ending after completing the game.

Development

The 'blue label' version of the game was originally a promotional item given to the three highest scoring players at a Cave hosted event. In December 2007 Cave fest, Cave unveiled a special edition of the game, which included increased difficulty in later chapters. The arcade game eventually appeared in cabinet format.

Music

Cave released the original soundtrack for the game under the title ''Guwange/ESP Ra.De. original soundtrack album''. Cave released both the original and arranged soundtracks under the title GUWANGE Arrange Album + Original Sound Track in 2010. It features arranged music by a number of video game music composers, including Michiru Yamane, Michiko Naruke, Masafumi Takada, Akari Kaida, and Yoshitaka Hirota, among others.

Releases

Mobile release

The mobile version was split into two separate games: Guwange DX is a version for mobile platforms in which the two-part mobile game was merged into a single game, with enhanced graphics.

Xbox 360 release

Developed by 5pb. Inc, this version was released worldwide on Xbox Live Arcade in November 2010. It includes the original game and 2 new modes, Blue (from the Cave fest release) and Arrange 360. In Xbox 360 mode, player fires automatically, with R trigger controlling shikigami independently. DLC include:

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Guwange on their September 1, 1999 issue as being the seventeenth most-successful arcade game at the time.