Batsugun Saturn Tribute Boosted review – a mixed return for the original bullet hell icon

These days the term ‘bullet hell’ gets thrown around a little too enthusiastically, and not only in the 2D shooter space.

Thanks to the genre’s now entrenched renaissance, the label has transcended its former status as part of the lexicon of a niche online community, evolving into part of the everyday language of gaming more broadly. And so it is that marketers today eagerly pack press releases with claims that a new FPS or roguelike action-RPG brings ‘bullet hell’ delights.

Batsugun Saturn Tribute Boosted reviewDeveloper: Toaplan / City ConnectionPublisher: City ConnectionPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out now on PC (Steam), PS4, Switch, Xbox One TBC.

In truth, ‘bullet hell’ describes a very specific type of shooter, where overwhelmingly dense curtains of enemy firepower, diminutive hitboxes, aggressive difficulty, cavernous scoring complexity and frenetic pacing are all present. Others might tell you that a certain visual style defined by ornate pixel-based sprite work and gaudy firepower are equally defining.

Many more will assert that Toaplan’s 1993 arcade shooter Batsgun was the first true example of the form. And now it’s back, quietly modernised under the moniker Batsugun: Saturn Tribute Boosted. In fact, the package is essentially a port of a port, in that it brings contemporary genre devotees an updated version of the 1996 Japanese Sega Saturn compilation, itself simply titled Batsugun. As such, as with that Saturn release, you get a subtly reworked arrangement of the arcade original, and the arguably superior Batsugun Special Version; a fairly significant reworking that was initially shown as a coming arcade release at 1994’s AOU expo, before fading from view with Toaplan itself.

Before tucking into what all that means for a modern shmup player, it’s absolutely worth briefly asserting Toaplan’s role in evolving the 2D shooter concept towards bullet hell, and Batsugun’s status as a very specific moment in the genre’s forward journey. Because, in no small part, a core part of Batsugun Saturn Tribute Boosted’s appeal is that it offers a chance to own a critical moment in the genre’s history.