Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha

Six no-frills, but technically solid ports of mostly high-class 2D-shoot-em-ups.

If you haven't already purchased most of the games separately, Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha can be a pretty sweet addition to any shmup fans' library as it contains a handful of solid titles that you're sure to enjoy for years to come.

As far as compilations go and the extra features that usually come with them, it’s hard to justify the vanilla presentation when others out there have made much more of an effort at a lower price point.

As great of a collection as Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha is, shmup fans would probably already own each of the titles on Switch. However, this does allow them to own them all in one physical collection. There isn’t anything added to the collection either, so you’re pretty much just getting the games. Still, I’d say this is an excellent collection of the games, and the Strikers series makes it worth it in the end if you don’t already own them.

Psikyo shooters range from above average to good. Therefore for any genre fan, those tend to be safe bets for a truly good time. The fact that those six can acquired in physical form in one package, even outside of the Japanese and Southeast-Asian markets is a big relief. One can only wish that the full package was a bit cheaper on the eShop, however, since buying them all separately comes to roughly the same price, making a digital release of this package simply redundant. This also means that should only some of the included games catch the attention of anyone, at least those can be still be bought individually today.

Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha is a compilation of six classic shoot'em-ups that brings to today's players an experience of older times. The six games included are overall fun and enjoyable, even if they don't all provide the same satisfaction but the options included make this effort an adaptation that fits well on the Nintendo Switch, especially if played with the console's screen in a vertical position. Nonetheless, more extras and additional content would be more than welcome.

Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha is a fun collection of notable artifacts from the golden age of arcade shmups. Most of the games included are a blast, one of which is a gem that’s never been available on console before, and the whole package is a better value than buying each game piecemeal from the Nintendo Switch eShop. I would have appreciated more effort in the presentation, but mostly I'm just glad these gems have been dug up and are taking advantage of the Switch’s unique capabilities.

If you’re a big fan of shooters and don’t already own the majority of the games included, Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha is a bit of a no-brainer, really. You could spend more money just trying to pick a battered old copy of one of the included games up, so of course you’ve got to buy it. If you just like to delve into the occasional bit of shooter action, however, then there are more modern shooters available that are simply better than anything on offer here and also cheaper. With Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha you get six blasts from the past, but the lack of fanfare alongside them is a little disappointing.

Shoot-’em-up enthusiasts will be fairly pleased, but this feels like a missed opportunity to really celebrate these six games and where they came from. Psikyo Alpha certainly doesn’t shoot for the stars, and you might already own some of these games, but its stellar gameplay is still out of this world.

Truth be told, this is an extensive package of quality shmups that are sure to keep genre enthusiasts in a frenzy for hours. That said, there are a million shooters, and this package doesn’t offer anything that hasn’t been done already. Still, Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha is a more affordable way to get all these games at a lower cost.

Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha compiles six good to dispensables shoot'em up on a single Switch cartridge, giving curious players enough content to chains scores and playthrough. But despite some interesting scrolling options, the game lacks the most obvious features it needed to really please every fan of the genre.