Spolous 2

2026-07-24

I've been having a great time with the doujin shmup Spolous 2 by suppon. It's a Gradiuslike with great music and graphics, and some pretty gnarly Lifeforce/Salamander-esque level design later on. The pics are Ship B I think but I really enjoyed Ship C's backwards shot.

The game is not yet finished, but it's been making the rounds the rounds on the indie game blog/site circuit, and for good reason. This is a very well designed shmup that is fun and approachable, but unafraid to kick your ass around Stage 3 or so. The slowdown segments are perfectly balanced. This is a great shmup, made with love. I highly recommend it.

2026-07-26

More Spolous yaay. I unlocked a few ships, and kinda dig the D and E versions, which have a vertical and 45 angled front double shot. Stage 3 is proving a consistent grave, and this was the first time I made it to the boss.

This is a fun stage that requires planning ahead due to Lifeforce-esque barriers that must be destroyed to pass through. I've found it useful to stick to the right side of the screen as much as possible, and try to push through areas that don't have lots of barriers (the trade-off being these areas have enemy clusters that get triggered when you pass through). There is an ESPECIALLY tight squeeze toward the end on the upper route that I'm not sure you can get out of if you don't have some sort of angled or upper beam shot. Since the levels are multi-screen height, and The Squeeze is up top, I'll explore the bottom and see if it's easier to get through.

2026-07-28

Years ago, when I first got seriously into shmups, I got a sweet deal on an arcade stick. I did the research and modded it for shmups specifically. Got a Seimitsu stick and everything. And honestly, I NEVER took to it. Not for lack of trying, either. I ended up repurposing it for my poor man's arcade, and enjoy using it for classic arcade games a lot more.

I tried to use it once again with this game, and I give up. I'm just a D-pad guy. Nothing else gives me the precision I want. A controller doesn't feel arcadey and that's okay. I also broke out my 8BitDo M30, which I bought specifically for shmups and never got around to really using. I don't know that it's necessarily an improvement over my tried 'n trusty X-Box 360 controller, which has been My Controller for over a decade, but I'm gonna give it a real chance.

Another thing I tried was expanding Spolous 2 to full screen on my wide monitor. I "flow" and play shmups peripherally, which means I rarely actually look at my ship. I focus on the center of the screen and navigate most obstacles through peripheral vision. This is harder to do with a larger screen, and I definitely noticed the difference, so it's back to tiny window for me.