Arcade Archives NebulasRay Review (Switch eShop)

Namco’s 1994 shmup NebulasRay is one of those games which arrived at an odd point in the history of arcade gaming. Launching many months before Rare stunned the world with the CGI sprites of Donkey Kong Country, it was one of the earliest examples of a 2D video game built around pre-rendered visuals, creating the impression of 3D depth. It was never ported to any home console, and that has only finally changed thanks to its inclusion in Hamster’s Arcade Archives range—something we’d previously hoped for out loud back in 2017 when we reviewed the Namco Museum collection in Switch’s debut year.

On the surface, NebulasRay is your typical futuristic vertically-scrolling shooter. You take control of the ‘Fighting Ray’ spaceship and face off against the sinister Master Force organisation. Your craft can equip two main weapons—a wide ‘W’ shot and ‘G’ a laser which fires forward—and picking up more of these icons powers up your selected weapon. You can also boost your craft’s speed by grabbing the ‘S’ icons.

Secondary weapons are where the game gets a little more interesting. ‘F’ is a powerful four-wide shot, while ‘H’ is a homing laser. ‘L’ unleashes a lightning-style attack, while ‘D’ gives you a shield to protect against enemy attacks.

The catch with these secondary items is that they’re time-limited; you only have them for a few seconds, and a rather irritating klaxon sounds to indicate when they’re about to run out. This lends NebulasRay a unique cadence, as you’ll often find that your secondary armament runs out just at the point you need it, which keeps the tension high.

Your ship also has a screen-clearing bomb attack, which is unusual in that it takes a short moment to create an impact. This means you can sometimes succumb to an enemy projectile or collision regardless—so don’t rely on it to save your bacon in an intense firefight. On the plus side, death in NebulasRay doesn’t mean you get pushed back to a checkpoint; you respawn instantly and have the chance to pick up a ‘Full’ icon to boost your firepower immediately, making things ever-so-slightly easier.

That’s a good thing, too, as NebulasRay is a challenging game, even for a title that isn’t technically in the ‘bullet hell’ sub-genre. While the difficulty is rarely on the unfair side, there are certain enemy attacks (usually executed by bosses) which require near-superhuman reflexes to avoid, so repeat play and memorisation are important.

Visually, NebulasRay’s CGI graphics—one of its key selling points at launch in 1994—are both a blessing and a curse. As a result, stage design is fairly unsurprising; you’ve got the usual mix of asteroid belts, space stations and Earth-like worlds. It’s fair to say that many pre-rendered 2D games from this period have aged very badly indeed, and while Namco’s shmup can hardly be described as ugly, there are moments when it compares rather unfavourably to the likes of Taito’s RayForce / Layer Section, which launched in the same year.

However, for all of its rough CGI edges, there are times when NebulasRay is visually stunning; in the outer space levels, moving your ship from left to right actually causes the star field in the background to tilt, giving the impression of 3D movement. On a later level, set in a Death Star-style trench, the sense of depth is actually quite striking as the sides of the canyon shift perspective convincingly. Likewise, some of the screen-filling bosses are animated very smoothly, making them impressive to behold.

The soundtrack, composed by Masahiro Fukuzawa and Takayuki Ishikawa, is a typical mid-’90s fusion of electro-pop and ambience that serves as a good (if not particularly memorable) backdrop to the on-screen action. However, the repetitive voice samples are low-quality and somewhat annoying, especially the squeaky female voice.

Conclusion

Ultimately, NebulasRay feels like a title that has gained cult classic status simply because so few people have actually had the opportunity to play it. It’s a decent blast that’s jolly good fun with an additional player, and if you limit yourself when it comes to continues, it offers a stern test for shmup fans. However, the CGI visuals date the game, and the weapon system arguably lacks the inventiveness of other titles from the same time period, such as RayForce’s lock-on laser mechanic.

It’s also worth noting that NebulasRay carries a premium price tag within the Arcade Archives range, retailing for (at the time of writing) $14.99 / £13.49, while the traditional price is $7.99 / £6.29. Still, if you’re interested in owning a piece of coin-op history and have a soft spot for the genre, then you should definitely check this one out.