Dragon Blaze
Dragon Blaze (ドラゴンブレイズ) is a vertical shooting game developed and published in 2000 by Psikyo. The game incorporates a fantasy setting, and focuses on four dragonriders and their efforts the slay the Demon King Nebiros. Gameplay is built around the unique Dragon Shot mechanic, which is a powerful short range attack that not only deals tremendous damage, but is also integral to the game's scoring system.
Gameplay Overview
Dragon Blaze is a 3 Button game
- A (Press): Shot
- A (Hold): Magic Attack (depletes Magic Gauge)
- B: Bomb (depletes bomb stock)
- C: Dragon Shot
Dragon Shot
Activating the Dragon Shot causes your dragon to dash forward a short distance, dealing heavy damage to nearby enemies. Following activation, the dragon will remain in place, and will attack separately to the player character. Tapping the C button again will retract the dragon, and reunite it with the rider. Enemies destroyed by the Dragon Shot will drop valuable gold coins, which are integral to achieving high scores.
Magic
The magic gauge is located at the bottom left of the screen, and is filled by killing enemies. Holding the A button releases a powerful magic attack which depletes the magic gauge. Magic attacks are character-specific, and will change depending on whether the player is mounted or dismounted.
Stages & Loops
The game takes place over 7 stages. As with previous Psikyo titles, the order of the first 4 stages is randomised. The difficulty of these stages varies depending on how late they appear in the stage order. After clearing all 7 stages, the player enters a second loop, which features significantly denser bullet patterns. In addition, enemies will now release small diamond-shaped revenge bullets on death.
