You wouldn’t have been wrong if your response to Uprising was, “Wait a minute, since when
was Kid Icarus a shooter?” The game is great and the return is glorious, but until you
play it, the genre can seem a bit...off. I mean, it’s not like there was ever a transition
game that bridged the gap between platformer and shooter.
There was no 16-bit shoot ‘em up for Kid Icarus.
But if there were, it might’ve looked like this.
Gynoug was released to the Mega Drive back in 1991. In the States, it would be released
as Wings of Wor for the Genesis. Now, I compare this thing to Kid Icarus for obvious reasons,
but also to illustrate how damn good it is. Gynoug may not have the legacy Kid Icarus
does, but while Pit was grounded, Wor was taking to the heavens, slaying monsters and
foreshadowing one of gaming’s biggest comebacks.
The resulting game is one of the Mega Drive’s coolest shooters.
You play as the angel Wor, not to be confused with the creepy wizard of the same name. Demons
are attacking the heavens, and Wor sets off to stop them. So you’re flying through six
levels and shooting seemingly endless hordes of enemies. It’s an average shooter on paper,
but in practice, it’s really something special.
The first thing that struck me about this game was its appearance. Gynoug is often a
stunning game to look at, taking the angels-and-demons theme away from the Greek inspired look of
Kid Icarus and into something much darker. The sprites are fantastic, and frankly, some
of the characters are pretty unsettling.
It’s like Kid Icarus would’ve looked had it been designed by H.R. Giger.
Fortunately, Gynoug also holds up when it comes to gameplay. Now, it doesn’t do a
whole lot you haven’t seen before, but what it does do, it does pretty well. The game
has plenty of nice power-ups, as well as some special magic attacks. You can throw lightning
and create a shield...in fact, part of the fun of Gynoug is using new magic attacks.
Just make sure you save them.
You’re going to need them.
You know, for a lot of people, a 16-bit Kid Icarus title was one of gaming’s most holy
grails. Obviously, it never came to be...but after playing Gynoug, you kind of realize
it didn’t need to. This dark alternative is the perfect substitute, and although it’s
never really had the recognition, it certainly deserves it.
