Shikigami no Shiroor Shikigami Castle in the localization is a series of shooting games by Alfa System, a studio that once upon a time became involved in Wonder Boy III and several that PC Engine CD-ROM ports.
The main Castle of Shikigami series spans three games and, despite the third entry’s intriguing Hi-Tension bomb mechanic, the second remains the best overall. Developer Cosmo Machia and publisher Degica, who are no strangers to shooter remakes, have taken every step to make this re-release the absolute best version available.
Part of the bullet hell subgenre, where the screen is flooded with enemy fire, Castle of Shikigami 2 stands out thanks to several original and well-implemented ideas. Unusually for the genre, it features a large cast of seven characters, each belonging to a truly well-developed set of game characteristics based on the type of frame and characteristics of accompanying familiars. It’s a carefully calculated list, and learning how to employ their different attack styles is a big part of the game’s appeal. Some have familiars that will focus on nearby enemies, others a temporary field that damages anything it collides with, and certain types even offer additional bullet cancellation capabilities. In addition, each of these familiars has two behavior modes, which can be turned on from the character menu.
It sounds complex, but if nothing else, it encourages experimentation by greatly expanding the scope of the game. You may feel comfortable with one character, only to find another that extends the life of the game by offering entirely new ways to approach thorny sections, scoring, and boss fights.
Castle of Shikigami also relies heavily on the superficial appeal of its cast, with an overarching story mode where every interval is punctuated by exchanges and anime imagery. To make things better, Degica has gone out of their way to add a much-needed brand new translation, which makes the reading sections much more interesting to jump around. But if you don’t like the preamble, there’s a quick option to turn it off completely.
Aesthetically, it still looks almost identical to its Gamecube, Dreamcast and PS2 iterations, albeit refined and with a sharper resolution. Not bad for a 20-year-old title, with some genuinely nice visuals and particularly attractive explosions, but with little in the way of lavish background detail. Still, there’s so much going on on screen that the relative rawness of its 3D becomes much less apparent.
The game Castle of Shikigami is multifaceted. On the one hand, the big cast and their different attributes change the way you approach the challenge; on the other hand, the power-up and scoring system is extremely enjoyable to play. As bullets pour in, thickly but at a leisurely pace, your primary shot will dramatically spike in power the closer you get to incoming fire, building up until the projectile you’ve been hugging moves out of range. This promotes a risk-reward factor that is crucial to victory, as it’s not only useful for adding digits to your score, but integral to taking down bosses quickly.
So you’re encouraged to wade through the knee-deep maelstrom, looking for evolving tributaries and chicanes to blast your way through as you unleash volleys of hell upstream. Grabbing power-up bullets also grants a score multiplier for each enemy destroyed, maxed out at X8, and extends to removing lifebar segments of each boss at the right moment. Increasing the score also gives the player extra lives, making the dance even more necessary.
With the basics down, you can focus on learning each stage, which usually consists of the first leg, mid-boss, final section, and then the final guard. And that’s great. The slower cadence of the bullets combined with the grazing mechanics create a rewarding adrenaline rush. It’s exhilarating to fly through a field of multi-colored pastel fire, freeing your family at strategic points, before tearing up the screen at high speed. It’s also stylish, with unique anime character art and fantastic boss designs. There’s an element of cool to it all, whether you’re going up against the fire demon lolita of the first stage or the onslaught of the twin knights of the third stage and their tandem attacks. Like its predecessor, certain levels also feature mild puzzle elements, where you’re forced to enter mazes and fight mid-bosses that require the use of both your familiar and shooting to carve a clear path to breathing space.
While the series is generally entertaining, this second entry feels the most complete. And, in addition to offering clever patterns and outstanding boss battles, it’s further supported by an excellent soundtrack. Some of the bigger fights are marked by drum and bass motifs and dark riffs that really kick in when you’re in the heat of the moment, pumping up your adrenaline and heightening your senses.
There’s a lot to love about Castle of Shikigami 2, and it’s absolutely packed with mods. There are options for practice and beginners, and an extreme mode that ups the challenge, spewing suicide bullets all over the place. But the Switch’s all-new modes are where fans and newcomers alike can get truly enthusiastic. The new mode of entry — essentially a completely remastered game — changes enemy placement and patterns and creates new obstacles to overcome. It’s also pretty cool, upping the ante, changing up key connections and creating a whole new buzz with increased challenge and denser bullet sprayers.
Additionally, Dramatic Mode turns the original arcade game on its head by allowing you to select two characters and instantly switch between them during gameplay. While they still share bombs and health supplies, you can use their individual shooting types and familiars for sections and bosses where you feel they have an advantage. The ability to handle two characters instead of one plays to the strength of the tactical diversity of the cast, opening up entirely new dimensions of gameplay. As for the story, this mode also allows you to enjoy the extended dialogue scenes present in the two-player game. And, to top it all off, online ranking is available, as well as the ability to customize button configurations.
Not everything is flawless, of course. The initial two stages become a bit mundane once you master them, and your character’s glowing hitbox can be hard to see in more intense bullet hits, causing you to occasionally misjudge their proximity in condensed patterns. This is a shooter where, due to its grazing mechanics, you spend a lot more time focusing directly on your character than on the desired middle point of the screen, and this requires some adjustments.
We’ve also always felt, even since the original release, that some of the characters move too fast when in shooting mode, meaning that even short touches can accidentally lead to collisions with enemy fire. Still, it’s by no means the hardest of its kind thanks to the reduced speeds, and like any game in this subgenre, practice is an integral part of successful runs. While you only get three sequels at first — and that’s still enough to easily see most of the game — extended play unlocks more of them, eventually culminating in an unlimited free-to-play mode.
Conclusion
Degica’s work here is to be commended. Not only is this the best series, but now it’s the ultimate version. Castle of Shikigami 2 is easily recommended for fans of bullet hell shooters, and while it may not be among the best, it’s certainly original, cleverly designed, and layered like crazy. With all the characters, their individual elements and stories, as well as completely new ways to play, this is the way we like to see publishers dealing with re-releases of arcade titles, rather than throwing out another simple port-of-port.
