In most arcade shooters, the bullets you're spraying out are your main offensive weapon. In Missile Dancer though, they're a defensive afterthought, there just to protect you from the rockets your foes are hurling at you.
The real power here comes from a blue circle that surrounds your plane. And that simple twist is enough to turn the game into something really rather special.
Dance for meBecause that blue circle is your range finder. Anything evil that passes through it for long enough is targeted, and then your ship automatically fires out a rocket in their direction.
This adds a quite wonderful mix of risk and reward to proceedings. You can't shy away from the action, because your guns aren't strong enough to deal with anything.
Instead you need to get in the mix, tagging planes, helicopters, tanks, and more, in order to blast them to pieces and earn some sweet points.
It's a great system, and leaves you focusing on different aspects of the game. There's a slight bullet hell edge here, but you're not weaving through clouds of neon death, you're trying to avoid smashing into enemies while your targeting system locks on to them.
There's an arcade campaign with three different difficulty settings, and a three minute blast that gives you a limited number of lives and tasks you with surviving for as long as possible.
It might not be the most replayable game ever, but there's something immensely satisfying about conquering the harder difficulty levels here. You might finish the Easy setting in a few minutes, but getting through the others is a much tougher ask.
Dancing in the darkWith one simple addition, Missile Dancer sets itself apart from the crowd. Sure it's a top-scrolling sci-fi shooter, but it still manages to feel fresh.
And that alone makes it worth checking out. Throw in some razor sharp difficulty and an art style that just won't quit, and you're definitely on to a winner.