Line #17 VideoGame/Psyvariar


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a0962477975_10.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:The most recent game in the series.]]
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4	''Psyvariar'' is a BulletHell ShootEmUp game series created by Creator/{{Success}} for Taito's G-NET arcade hardware and released on March 2000.
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6	In the far-flung future, humanity has been forced out of the solar system. To aid humanity's recovery, scientists created an organic silicon-based AI. Unfortunately, a nearby supernova caused the AI to malfunction and revolt against its creators. Psychic pilots called "Psyvariars" are then trained to destroy the AI and its army once and for all.
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8	One of its main gameplay mechanics is the ability to graze enemy bullets to increase experience. Once enough bullets are grazed, the fighter levels up and becomes temporarily invincible. In addition, rapidly moving the joystick in alternating opposite directions will roll the ship, increasing the fighter's movement speed and graze radius, reducing the size of its hitbox, and concentrating its fire forward for the duration of the roll.
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10	The original version, subtitled ''Medium Unit'', only allowed you to graze bullets once, but in an ArrangeMode subtitled ''Revision'', bullets can be grazed as much as possible
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12	A CompilationRerelease of both ''Medium Unit'' and ''Revision'' was released for Platform/PlayStation2 in March 28, 2002 in Japan and September 29, 2003 in Europe, as well as a sequel titled ''Psyvariar 2: The Will to Fabricate'' in 2003 before being ported to consoles the following year, and an UpdatedRerelease of the former titled ''Psyvariar Delta'' was released in Jan 30, 2019. Outside of this series, it also gets representation in another Success shoot-em-up, ''[[VideoGame/FantasticNightDreamsCotton Superlative Night Dreams: Cotton Rock 'n' Roll]]'', in the form of a MoeAnthropomorphism of the Axion-μ ship called "[[PunnyName Saiva Ria]]".
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14	!!The game contains the following tropes:
15	* AIIsACrapshoot: The Galactic Unified Intelligence System (GUIS).
16	* AntiGrinding: The X stages heavily reduce your EXP gain for buzzing bullets.
17	* BewareMyStingerTail: Crek-G's second phase has one. It doesn't do anything, though.
18	* BossWarningSiren: Every boss fight is precesed with the following, with a voiceover in the {{Updated Rerelease}}s:
19	--> WARNING: \
20	The area target \
21	''(boss name)'' \
22	is approaching fast
23	* BrutalBonusLevel: In ''Revision'', there are level requirements for harder stages, and reaching those level requirements allows you choose those stages alongside the preset stages. The X stages that house the GUIS' physical forms, in particular, have ridiculous level requirements, and if you reach their level requirements, you'll be dragged into those stages regardless of which stage you just finished. Did we mention that the X stages have ''very'' low experience per buzz?
24	** Example: Have your level stay too low throughout the 4 normal stages, and you'll be dragged to stage X-A (Photon) and the game immediately ends once you defeat Photon I.U., giving you no chance of facing the X stages (including [[NoFinalBossForYou Gluon]]), but if you spend your time grazing bullets while timing out the second stage's boss, you can get dragged to stage X-A ''right after completing the second stage''.
25	* BulletHell: Ayup.
26	* CloseContactDangerBenefit: Grazing is encouraged as a gameplay mechanic, as doing so builds up an experience meter that, when filled, levels up your ship, temporarily making you invincible and powering up your ship at certain level milestones.
27	* EveryTenThousandPoints: Instead of lives, you get [[SmartBomb bombs]] for reaching certain scores.
28	* GuestFighter: The Blanche from ''VideoGame/{{Cybattler}}'' appears as DLC in ''Delta''.
29	* HitboxDissonance: The "Buzz" system actually encourages you to use this to your advantage, as grazing bullets allows you to level up your ship, which temporarily makes you invincible, allowing you to graze more bullets.
30	* InvincibilityPowerUp: Every time you level up, you gain a few seconds of total invincibility. If the bullets are thick enough, it's possible to chain together multiple level-ups and thus a much longer invincibility duration.
31	* LongSongShortScene: Psyvariar is ''very'' guilty of doing this. A lot of stage tracks tend to be more than a minute long, while the stages themselves are very short, usually around a minute or less, before reaching the stages' bosses.
32	* NintendoHard: This is one of those shmups that doesn't give you the luxury of ExtraLives, not helped by the fact that you're supposed to get ''near'' bullets for scoring. This in particular results in [[TryNotToDie no room for error!]]
33	* NoFinalBossForYou: Fail to reach the level requirement for stage X-D in ''Revision'', and the game immediately ends right after you defeat the boss of whichever X stage you're on, denying you from reaching Gluon I.U. as a result.
34	* RecycledSoundtrack: ''Delta'' uses stage tracks from the short-lived mobile release ''Reassemble'' when using its own soundtrack, alongside new music composed for ''Delta''.
35	* ShoutOut: The BossWarningSiren is clearly inspired by ''VideoGame/{{Darius}}''.
36	--> ''' ''Darius'' series:''' WARNING! A HUGE BATTLESHIP ''(boss name)'' IS APPROACHING FAST \
37	''' ''Psyvariar'':''' WARNING! THE AREA TARGET ''(boss name)'' IS APPROACHING FAST
38	* ThemeNaming: The GUIS' physical forms are named after particles: Photon, Graviton, Weakboson and [[TrueFinalBoss Gluon]].
39	* TransformingVehicle: Your ship takes on new forms as you level it up.
40	* TrueFinalBoss: Gluon I.U. In order to reach its stage, you must achieve a very high level right after you finished Weakboson I.U. on stage X-C. That requires a LOT of buzzing throughout the game.
41	* UniqueEnemy: Some bosses only appear in one stage instead of in branching stages, depending on the version:
42	** SQP only appears in Desert stages (stage 2-A in both versions)
43	** Cranaum only appears in stage 2-B (Forest) in ''Revision'' (it can be encountered in stage 2-C (Valley) in ''Medium Unit'' as well)
44	** MZIQ only appears in stage 4-D (Colony) in ''Medium Unit'', and in stage 3-A (Asteroid) in ''Revision''.
45	** Bjok-51 only appears in stage 4-C (Asteroid) in ''Medium Unit'' (it appears in stages 4-C (Zero-Space) and 4-D (Colony) in ''Revision'' instead)
46	** Trigam only appears in Factory stages (stage 5-A in ''Medium Unit'', stage 4-A in ''Revision'')
47	* VisualPun: The player's ship is called the Axiom. Look at ''Medium Unit'''s variant of the ship and tell me if it doesn't look like an axe to you.

Context VideoGame / Psyvariar