Guwange



Guwange is a Bullet Hell Shoot'Em Up by CAVE with artwork by "Joker" Junya Inoue. It is the Muromachi Period in Japan, a time of great strife, chaos, and violence. Plagues are befalling the land, people are getting possessed by shikigami and dying after a year, and a malevolent power named Guwange-sama rules from Mount Gokumon. Three protagonists decide to attack Guwange, each having their own motives for doing so:
 * Shishin: An infamous murderer who wears an oni mask and is aided by the shikigami Rikiou, so that ordinary people think he really is a oni. His daughter, Mikoto, had incredible powers and was sought after by all sorts of powerful beings, finally ending up with Guwange-sama. Shishin seeks to get her back.
 * Hiiragi Kosame: She is a priestess and a guardian of nature who is bonded to Yasuhisha, a descendant of the Nine-Tailed Fox. Yasuhisha is aware that she will die within a year due to their bond, so together they set off to defeat Guwange-sama.
 * Kamono Gensukie: He was studying medicine when Kirinmaru came and possessed him. Now, he assassinates others for money and to appease Kirinmaru, but has heard that anyone who defeats Guwange-sama will be freed from possession by shikigami. Thus, Kamono Gensuke ventures forth.

Unlike most shmups, the player characters are humans walking on foot, and the stages scroll in many different directions as opposed to just straight-up or straight-right.

It is available in English on the X-Box Live Marketplace. This version has an XBOX Arrange Mode which allows independent movement of the character and shikigami, and some gameplay changes to make high-scoring more interesting.

Guwange contains examples of:

 * The Archer -- Hiiragi Kosame, a.k.a. Light Rain
 * Big Badass Wolf -- Kosame's shikigami, Yasuhisha / "Eight Rooks."
 * Bittersweet Ending --
 * Cool Mask -- Shishin wears an oni mask.
 * Creepy Child -- Mikoto, especially her eerie smile in Shishin's ending. She is also fully aware of her powers.
 * Curse -- Kirinmaru considers itself to be this for Gensuke's family.
 * Deadly Doctor -- Kamono Gensuke, now an assassin.
 * Deal With the Devil -- Shishin is able to live for longer than a year, despite being bonded with a shikigami, due to a special deal.
 * Deliberately Monochrome -- The cutscenes are black-and-white, except for red blood and the blue eyes of some characters.
 * Demonic Possession -- All three playable characters. Only Hiiragi Kosame has any sort of friendly connection with her shikigami.
 * Enfant Terrible -- The second-to-last boss is a gigantic demon baby.
 * Evil Counterpart -- Most of the player characters and their shikigami are not very good to begin with, but
 * Evil Laugh -- Heard in the background of stage 3, probably the ghosts themselves laughing.
 * Four Is Death -- Shishin's name.
 * Gender Bender -- The first boss is a male demon wearing the guise of a female dancer with six attendant ladies.
 * Gotta Catch Em All -- Several elemental artifacts must be collected before Guwange-sama himself can be reached.
 * The Hunter -- Kosame comes from a lineage of demon hunters.
 * MacGuffin Girl -- Mikoto, who was extremely powerful even before getting possessed by Amagizu / Guwange-sama.
 * Magitek -- Shoulder-fired cannons, flying wooden gunships, mobile demonic temples, etc.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast -- Shishin's shikigami, Rikiou, is also known as "The One Who Comes And Takes."
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot -- The boss of Stage 3, Nekogumi (literally "Cat Spider").
 * Papa Wolf -- Shishin puts himself through a CAVE game in order to rescue his daughter.
 * Razor Wind -- Enemy mooks do this.
 * Stringy Haired Ghost Girl -- Lots of them, stuck in pots or coming out of tombstones, in stages 3 and 6.
 * Up to Eleven -- The XBOX Arrange Mode causes all enemy bullets on the screen to be considered painted (bullets are slower and turn into coins when any enemy dies) for as long as your shikigami is bombing something, and gives a constant stream of coins from whatever that your shikigami is bombing. The result is... let us say... considerably more coins than the arcade versions.
 * Youkai -- Part of the setting.