Earthion’s Arcade Ascension: Old School Firepower, New Age Fury
Strap in and power up, Earthion is a turbo-charged blast from the 16-bit past, reimagined for today’s pixel-hungry purists. From the moment you launch into Azusa Takanashi’s cockpit, the game throws you into a kaleidoscope of chaos: alien armadas, screen-shaking boss fights, and a soundtrack that could melt a Mega Drive. This isn’t just nostalgia, it’s a full-throttle homage to arcade shooters, handcrafted by Ancient Corporation and scored by the legendary Yuzo Koshiro. Let’s dive deep into the scanline-soaked cosmos of Earthion and see how it stacks up in today’s galaxy of games.
Earthion Review Pros
- Awesome graphics.
- 46.97MB download size.
- Steam achievements.
- Visual/screen settings – fullscreen, subtitles, preset (square pixels/scaled pixels/bad CRT/curved CRT/flat CRT and four user saves), display (pixel/smooth/step/scanlines).
- Picture settings – brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, gamma, ghosting, blur, and glow sliders.
- Scanline settings – barrel, vignette, luminosity, spacing, shadowing, vertical mask, and colour separation sliders.
- Scaling options – inter scale, aspect (fit 4:3/square pixels), screen scale slider, amd scale includes frame option.
- Frame options – border art, frame style, frame inner, frame outer, frame middle barrel, frame separation, frame reflection, and frame steepness.
- Audio settings – volume, low pass filter, low pass cutoff frequency, low pass filter order, it has high pass options as well.
- Three versions of the game – English, Japanese, and Portuguese.
- Controller settings – set it to raw or Steam input, change controller order, and again remap the controls outside of the game options.
- Online leaderboards.
- The extras menu lets you play the Summer, Fall and Winter 2024 demos along with the early prototype version of the game.
- They go full hog into the retro aesthetic with the menus, load-up screens and music.
- Four game difficulties – Easy, normal, hard and hotshot.
- You can remap the controls.
- A music player where you can scroll through the amazing Chiptune soundtrack whilst watching the in-game cutscenes.
- Classic music and sound effects test.
- Ship (lives) can be changed from anywhere from 1 to 6.
- Does has the optional password save system. For those young people out there, this is where you get a password after finishing a level, and you write it down with a pen and paper and then manually type that password in to continue your save.
- Challenge mode – a set of preset modes, and you can choose a weapon to use and set scores.
- Shmup gameplay.
- How to play image with text.
- You can pause the game normally or bring up the overarching menu with the select button.
- A real treat for just fans, but also newcomers who get the whole experience.
- 2D game world with animated backgrounds.
- Big end-of-stage boss fights.
- At the end of a level, you get to pick a bonus, which could be a new gun, upgrades to your current guns or extra lives.
- The game keeps the scratchy voice audio, and it’s brilliant!
- Classic arcade Shmup, you collect little green dots to power up weapons, power and cards that display new guns. You have a shield to absorb damage, and it comes back over time.
- You get cool intros and outros to levels and occasional in-game cutscenes and sequences.
- It’s a real treat of a gameplay session.
- You can swap between weapons and sub-weapons when you collect or earn them.
- Picking up a gun in a filled slot will drop the current one, and you just leave it or equip that one.
- You can hold down the shoot button or tap it.
- Many cool and varied guns and sub-weapons.
- The HUD is easy to read with lives, score, and current levels shown along with shield and power bars.
- You know you have an old school game when the music stops to play the sound effect!
- Fantastic visuals.
Earthion Review Cons
- It’s very easy to accidentally take a quit game as your current game, not realising it will take you back TO Steam.
- The text on the how to play menu is laughably small and hard to read.
- You can freely move around the screen.
- I couldn’t get the overarching menu to let me see or change the controller buttons.
- Did noticed a slowdown in places, could just be the intentional slowdown effect of games back in the day, but il just mention it. It’s quite a basic Shmup with no huge standout ideas or anything.
- At times, I found it hard to make out enemy projectiles and projectiles coming off the screen.
- The game doesn’t offer a dedicated Colourblind mode.
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Earthion
Developer: Ancient Corporation, Bitwave Games
Publisher: Limited Run Games Inc.
Store Link:
Earthion Review
Summary
Earthion – The Thrills and Highlights of Gameplay
Earthion is a turbo-charged throwback to the golden age of arcade shooters, delivering a pixel-perfect barrage of alien armadas, screen-filling boss fights, and weapon-swapping chaos. You pilot Azusa Takanashi’s ship through a 2D battlefield packed with animated backgrounds, green dot power-ups, shield mechanics, and a satisfying arsenal of guns and sub-weapons. The game lets you tap or hold the shoot button, pick bonuses after each level, and dive into Challenge Mode with preset weapon loadouts. With four difficulty settings, a password save system, and a music player that lets you relive cutscenes while scrolling through Koshiro’s chiptune soundtrack, Earthion nails the retro vibe while staying accessible to newcomers.
Earthion – Where It Falls Short: Key Negatives
While Earthion hits plenty of nostalgic highs, it stumbles in a few areas. The “How to Play” menu text is laughably small, and the controller remapping options feel buried or inconsistent. Accidental quits can boot you straight to Steam, and the lack of a dedicated colourblind mode is a missed accessibility opportunity. Visual clarity takes a hit when projectiles blend into the chaos, and occasional slowdown, intentional or not, can disrupt the flow. Despite its charm, Earthion doesn’t reinvent the Shmup formula, sticking to familiar ground without standout innovations.
Earthion – Immersive Story and Narrative Elements
Earthion doesn’t lean heavily on deep lore, but it sprinkles in just enough narrative flair to keep things engaging. Level intros and outros, in-game cutscenes, and scratchy voice audio add texture to the arcade experience. It’s more about the vibe than the plot, and that works in its favour, especially for players who want to jump straight into the action without wading through exposition.
Earthion – Visual and Performance Aspects
Earthion goes all-in on its retro aesthetic, offering a buffet of visual settings that cater to pixel purists and CRT nostalgists alike. From scanline spacing and colour separation sliders to frame reflections and ghosting effects, the customisation depth is impressive. The HUD is clean and readable, and the game’s animated backgrounds and vibrant explosions pop off the screen. Audio settings are equally robust, with low-pass and high-pass filters, a classic sound test, and a music player that lets you soak in Koshiro’s legendary soundtrack. Performance is mostly solid, though some slowdown and visual clutter can creep in.
Earthion – Overall Verdict: Is It Worth Playing
Earthion is a love letter to classic arcade Shmups, crafted with care and loaded with options that let you tailor the experience to your taste. It’s not trying to be groundbreaking; it’s here to celebrate the genre’s roots with flair and fidelity. Whether you’re chasing leaderboard glory or just vibing with the soundtrack, Earthion delivers a satisfying blast of old-school firepower. Minor gripes aside, it’s a must-play for retro fans and a solid entry point for curious newcomers.
Back of the Box Quotes
“Earthion fires on all cylinders, pure pixel fury with a chiptune soul.”
