Nightmare Trip
| Developer: | Outside Sotonohito |
|---|---|
| Release date: | October 26 2018 |
Nightmare Trip (ナイトメアトリップ) is a shmup by Outside Sotonohito released in October 26 2018 as a freeware doujin game. It is highly inspired in Touhou games like Imperishable Night and Elegant Impermanence of Sakura. The game uses free royalty music from Dova Syndrome.
For replay videos, visit the Video Index.
Contents
Gameplay Overview
The player controls a team of 2 characters, the primary character fires the unfocused shots, while the secondary character fires the focused shots. When destroying enemies, stars and Dream Power (DP) bubbles will appear. When enough Dream Power bubbles are collected, a Dream Power circle will be added to the Dream Power bars. Dream Power consists of acting as a shield when bullets hit the player`s hitbox. Be aware, all Dream Power circles will be gone upon shield activation. Up to 5 Dream Power circles can be collected.
Scoring
Scoring consists getting stars, increasing the score and increasing the multiplier by obtaining Dream Power circles. Dream power circles also multiply the score rate. If the player manages to No-Miss No Bomb an entire boss` phase, a Perfect Fight Bonus is awarded. If player defeats a whole boss phase after getting hit while having a Dream Power circle or after bombing but never dies, it is considered a Beautiful Fight Bonus. After clearing the game, the player`s remaining lives will sum up to the total score.
Bomb mechanic
Bombs can be used to neutralize bullets and killing enemies. However, bombing on a boss phase will cause the Perfect Fight Bonus to be lost, just like auto-shielding with the DP circles.
If the player dies with 2 bombs, 1 bomb or no bombs, the stock will be reset to 3. However, if the player dies with 4 or more bombs, the bomb stock won`t be reset.
Difficulties
-Game Start: The standard game mode that has 4 difficulty modes
- Casual
- Maniac
- Expert
- Nightmare
-Extra Start: An insanely difficult Extra stage that features unique bosses.
Character teams
- Madoka and Makoto:
Madoka (as unfocused mode character) can fire shots that bounce off the left and right walls, and her bomb releases cake explosions all over the screen. Makoto (as focused mode character) can fire forward penetrating star shots, and her bomb is a forward stream of black and white waves.
- Yukino and Mizuki:
Yukino (as unfocused mode character) can fire wide butterflies that can also target enemies, and her bomb releases penetratring butterflies in all directions. Mizuki (as focused mode character) has bits that go after enemies, and her bomb is a bubble wave that slowly moves forward.
- Nobara and Matsuri:
Nobara (as unfocused mode character) can fire wide shots, and her bomb acts as a protection field that can also damage enemies and cancel bullets . Matsuri (as focused mode character) fires auto aimed shots, and her bomb launches a series of explosives that when they impact, they release an explosion in a flower shape.
Items
| Star: These star appear from destroyed enemies. They also appear from cancelled bullets after beating a whole boss phase. | |
| Dream Power bubble: They appear when attacking enemies, which fill up the DP gauge. Depending on how close the player attacks an enemy, the size of the DP bubbles will vary. They also increase the Score Rate count. | |
| Bomb: Grants the player an extra bomb. | |
| 1UP: Grants the player an extra life. Appears when destroying the big diamond from Yujiru (the Stage 3 Midboss). |
True Last Boss / TLB
In order to fight TLB Kikuzuki, the player must not get hit until obtaining all 5 DP circles. When all 5 DP circles are obtained, a gold star will appear on the right side of the DP circles, which means the access to TLB Kikuzuki is granted. After defeating the regular form of Kikuzuki, she will reappear in her TLB form, equipped with intesne patterns, along with a bomber-proof shield.
This rule of TLB form and requirement also applies to Mari:Re (the Extra Stage Boss).
Trivia
- The game is inspired in Touhou games like Imperishable Night and Elegant Impermanence of Sakura.
- Nobara`s bomb is a reference to the D.F.S. from Karous and the ABS Net from Radirgy.
- There`s a section in Stage 5 that has enemies rotating in circles which makes a reference to the Tiger Lillies wheels from DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu.
- The Extra Stage mid-bosses and the Extra Boss originate from Collapse Dream (one of the oldest Sotonohito shmups).
- The Extra Stage Boss Mari:Re originates from Collapse Dream, who originally served her role as Mandarin Rebirth (the True Last Boss of that game´s Ultimate difficulty).
