Senko no Ronde DUO

Dancing takes on a new beauty in Senko no Ronde DUO

To steal a quote from a friend who has also played Senko no Ronde DUO, DUO is essentially stepping from Street Fighter II to Street Fighter III: Third Strike. The complexity of movement, the beauty of fighting, even characters with stances have been introduced in the sequel to a rather watershed game. DUO is the sequel to Senko no Ronde, a game most have never heard of. The reason for that has been a variety of snafus on the part of Ubisoft, the company who previously published the game in the west, but it has quickly become a cult classic amongst shmup (shoot-em-up) fans. But what makes the sequel stand out is not just that it improves upon the mechanics of its predecessor in every way, but that combat has a fluidity and beauty about it that was lacking in the previous game. Strategy, the focus on the player setting up attacks, has become central. Comparing the two is somewhat inevitable, as they, on the surface, appear somewhat similar. But the way in which the Rounders combat is in a completely different style than has been previously imagined.

Rounders are essentially your character, mechs that move around a circular field while using techniques specific to their play style. Rounders have a variety of fighting styles, from balanced to speed-based, heavy offense to heavy defense. There are also some Rounders who have stances, which changes the techniques of that given fighter while in a particular stance. Stances are unique to DUO, but even with that unique feature, there are many other changes that are not so easily described. Fighting consists of spraying bullets inside the circular bounds of a field at your opponent. All characters have a specific style, some fill the screen with bullets, each of which, individually, does not tend to do much damage. While it is easy to say that all characters can do this, only a few can actually use this as an effective play style. There are other characters who are most effective when using focused attacks, locking the player down in a specific area so that heavy, slow laser beams quickly eat away at your health. Others defend from a certain space and send waves of attacks combined with medium-strength rockets, using beam based attacks to lock movement. Baek Chang Po is a speed-based rounder, and constant movement is part of the key to success. Chang Po is excellent at filling space with bullets, but they are light in terms of strength, so you need to fire more often to compete with heavier Rounders who hit harder but fire less often. These are but a few of the options available. There are other Rounders who use electric shuriken to fill the space, others who defensively place purple blobs on the field which will reflect shots in every direction, and heavy lasers which move based on relative positioning.

The relative number of options for fighting is somewhat staggering and would likely be overwhelming, at first, to someone who is not already familiar with the system Senko no Ronde DUO is embedded with. The game is clearly a fighter at heart, and unlike games like Change Air Blade or Twinkle Star Sprites, the fighting is focal and pivotal to play style. Another primary difference is also that because the player is on a circular field, movement in all cardinal directions is possible, meaning that throwing the player off can oftentimes be a matter of fighting them from a different perspective. Some players prefer to fight from the south or the north, while many will probably attempt to fight in an east or west perspective. Movement is also something that can be used without exaggeration, as slight movements towards or away, above or below, can oftentimes mean the difference between being staggered into a combo or dodging a lot of pain.

These techniques, however, are a thing of beauty. Like the name of the game itself, the combat is intended to be much like a dance. Perhaps it is different in that both players are trying to take the lead, but the speed is essentially a waltz, with temporary pauses and increases in tempo, sometimes even falling in line with the music or surroundings themselves. There's always a sort of timeliness to firing that spray at just the right moment, potentially interrupting your opponent, allowing you to take the lead, guiding them head on into a flare of your design. Move slightly left, slightly right, dash, a step forward, then press them with a blinding azure light. They respond, stunned only temporarily by the light from the darkness, with purple globules of rain spraying all about, and evenly disperse your waves, stepping just off the path. These sort of exchanges of light and color are brilliantly executed and in the hands of the well-trained player, grasp to fill the space with light, a place splayed with grace and poise.

The environs are spaces that vary greatly, from their music to their general feeling. Some are light space ports with music that seems techno-infused and spaces that include brightly-lit cities. All of these float in a 3D space under the circular field, giving the distinct feeling of floating or flying along a sort of pre-determined space path while competing. Each of these spaces has a distinct musical track that, thanks to composer Yasuhisa Watanabe, is brilliantly eclectic. There are usages of guitar that are strangely reminiscent of the wild west, a verdant sea, all dashed with a hint of club techno. These different guitar themes are supplemented by expertly synthesized background tracks, which provide a subtle brightness to the action, even on some of the darker stages. The fusion of technology with past reminiscence gives a nod to the roots of the game, which are clearly based in the greatly varied choices of shmups in the past. The landscapes, while consistent, do seem to be a bit basic in their construction, but a guess at the reason why is to not detract from the action at front. The backgrounds are in constant motion, so making them too distinct would simply distract from the action at hand. The artistry up front, however, has a clear amount of lovingly crafted work put into it, from the sleek metallic sheen of the Rounders to the Final B.O.S.S. warning, a mode available after you enter the devastating Vanish mode, which occurs after your life bar is depleted, and the next hit kills you instantly, presuming you stay in Vanish mode.

The Final B.O.S.S. mode is one of many specials given to each player, a customized mechanical boss in the classical shmup style, it can fill almost the entire screen and has has a bevy of powerful attacks it may use simultaneously. Aside from this special mode, which was also included in the original, is a type of "cartridge" add-on, a partner who aids you with a special attack when you use a certain special. The partner is powerful and an essential defensive, offensive, or specialized attack that can turn the game in your favor quickly. Some partners can actually act as countermeasures against others, some are particularly suited for doing that little extra bit of damage or fending off an incoming beam barrage. The B.O.S.S. is a bomb-type weapon, meaning that it is a limited usage ability that can both heal some damage to your Rounder and do plenty of damage to your opponent. While in this mode your Rounder is invulnerable from normal damage, though if your giant mech is destroyed, it will be out of comission for the entire round, and if it is destroyed while in Final B.O.S.S. mode, you lose the round. These are still more decisions that compound upon all of the other experiences that this game will pour upon you dynamically. The game is a torrent of decisions that constantly washes over you.

As these decisions come to bear, the feeling is actually quite cleansing. Every fight feels as a culmination of good and bad decisions, a series of conceptions of play and thought that takes place in a superimposed reality. The character has a voice and a personality all their own, but you feel, as you guide their actions, somewhat like the partner who pairs with them. There is a feeling that you are the one leading the waltz, calmly attempting to direct the steps of a dancer who is a prodigy, but only for their blindness. What each step becomes then is a lesson of movement and of beauty, of learning to understand the bounds of the floor, the differences in dancing with and against, the colors necessary to dodge even something as illusory as the rain. The light for the player is the chance to find their own tune, whom they dance not upon, but with, in a complicated series of steps that move at a pace that begins to feel like one has shoes laced with lightning. Senko no Ronde DUO evokes the beauty of movement and color like no other game in existence, because it is distinctly aware that these evoke one another in the subtlest of ways.