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"It's time for Rivaaaaal Megagun!"

Rival Megagun is a competitive vertically-scrolling Bullet Hell Shoot 'Em Up developed by Spacewave Software and published by Degica Games. It was released on November 29th, 2018 for the Play Station 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam.

In the year 2000, an unknown race of aliens called the Harvesters emerge from a portal near Earth's orbit and start attacking satellites, space stations and anything else they could find. An attempt to fight them off fails due to the Harvesters cobbling their collected debris together into makeshift weapons and armour to curb-stomp their enemies. Since then, all the world's governments have resorted to sending junk up into space to keep the swarm occupied. Twenty years later hovever, and things have grown desperate. As resources dwindle and cities get more crowded, rumours abound that the world's landfills can no longer keep up with the Harvesters and their collection rates. A mission has been put into action to find the one who will destroy the Harvesters and save the planet, but how will they find that hero?

Why, turn it into a reality TV show, of course! And maybe throw in a hefty cash prize for the winner too while they're at it!

Gameplay-wise, the game serves as a Spiritual Successor to older competitive shoot-em-up games such as Twinkle Star Sprites and the two Touhou Phantasmagoria games, albeit with a sci-fi flavour. Two players are pitted against each other across the screen and must destroy as many enemies as possible in order to send in drones to attack each other. The more enemies destroyed in a chain before it expires, the more drones will appear in the opponent's space. These drones can also be destroyed by the opponent to keep their chain counter running. Players will also make use of special attacks such as homing missiles and proximity mines to run interference with their opponents at the cost of a special meter that builds up as they destroy enemies. Bombs are also present to use for the player should they start getting overwhelmed by all the enemies and bullets that come their way. Lastly, if the meter is full they can choose to transform into a "Mega Gunship" form, a powerful Super Mode that will invade the opponent's space and turn their session into a boss fight complete with dense bullet patterns and a life meter for the opponent to whittle down until either one is destroyed.

There are six playable characters to choose from as well as a secret seventh one to unlock:

  • Gen Thompson, pilots the STAR Blazir which can transform into the Phoenix Wing.
  • Dr. Magic, pilots the STAR Eon which can transform into the Infinity Cannon.
  • Nano Ayesa, pilots the STAR Stinger which can transform into the Buzzkill.
  • Ruby Hart, pilots the STAR Volta which can transform into the Tempest Blade.
  • Buddy 2.0, flies as himself and can transform into Buddy 2000.
  • Smith, pilots a mech suit called Tank which can transform into Giga Tank.
  • The Host, pilots the STAR Zero and can transform into a larger version of his true form called... the Host.note 

An arcade version called Rival Megagun XE is currently in the works for exA-Arcadia, which will include arranged tracks by Keishi Yonao.


Rival Megagun features the following tropes:

  • Attack Drone: Destroying enemies will send these over to your rival to interfere with their progress, although they won't actually be deployed until your combo ends. The more enemies destroyed, the more powerful and more numerous your drones will become. You can also destroy your rival's drones to keep the chain counter going.
    • There's also an unlockable Gear that summons an option to provide cover fire for you.
  • Blood Sport: The titular Rival Megagun, where pilots compete with each other to see who can destroy the Harvesters first. However, there's more to it than what meets the eye...
  • Bullet Hell: Pretty obvious. It can get particularly hectic on higher difficulties when more and more enemies start appearing. Combine that with your rival sending a bunch of drones at you and you're in for a rough time.
  • Character Customization: Present in the game; you can customize your characters' loadouts in the form of equipping up to two Gear upgrades, changing their special weapon and what drones will appear as they destroy enemies.
  • The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: In arcade mode's sixth stage, your opponentnote  will immediately activate their Mega Gunship form without meter. Yep. Hope you have a bomb or two handy...
    • This gets taken up to eleven on very hard, where every single opponent does this.
  • Earth-Shattering Kaboom: In the good ending, this ultimately happens to the Harvesters' home planet after the Harvester Core is destroyed.
  • Easy-Mode Mockery: Beating arcade mode on easy won't count towards unlocking certain extras such as the Host and stages 4-6; it has to be done on normal or higher to unlock them.
  • Guide Dang It!: Unlocking Gear and Trading Cards are both this, since some of them require fulfilling rather obtuse tasks to get.
  • Heel–Face Turn: The Host he ends up turning on the Harvesters because he realized his life back home sucks more than his newfound fame and fortune on Earth. He even ends up Easily Forgiven for it.
  • Humongous Mecha: Both Buddy and Smith can transform into this in their Mega Gunship forms (Buddy 2000 and Giga Tank respectively), with the latter being a sort of Meta Mecha for Tank.
  • Macross Missile Massacre: Gen's special weapon has him fire some homing rockets at his opponent. Ruby and Buddy can also fire missiles at their opponents from the top and bottom of the screen respectively
  • Multiple Endings: Two, both from arcade mode:
    • The first ending has the player character leaving the Harvester planet after defeating the Gigantic Thing, wondering if there's something they've forgotten, only to get ambushed by a stray Harvester. This occurs if they used a continue before defeating the Gigantic Thing.
    • If they manage to reach and defeat the Gigantic Thing without continuing, then they will go inside it to confront the Harvester Core, leading to the True Final Boss. Defeating it leads to the good ending.
  • Not Just a Tournament: Turns out, the Host turned the original mission to defeat the Harvesters into a sport in order to have the pilots destroy each other so that they won't destroy the Harvesters. Doing so would seriously cripple their livestreaming of the creatures on his home world, see.
  • Serious Business: The titular sport, namely due to the fate of the Earth hanging in the balance.
    • This also goes double for the Enceladians' favourite TV show, "Harvester Hour". They're willing to jeopardize another planet's welfare just to keep their favourite show on the air, for crying out loud!
  • Shout-Out: Quite a good amount:
    • Buddy's Buddy 2000 form looks a lot like a Gundam knockoff.
    • Nano's Mega Gunship, Buzzkill, is clearly a reference to Hibachi, the True Final Boss of the DoDonPachi series.
  • Spiritual Successor: To older competitive shoot-em-up games such as Twinkle Star Sprites and the two Touhou Phantasmagoria games, though unlike those ones this game goes for a more sci-fi theme as opposed to fantasy.
  • Super Mode: Mega Gunship mode, where players can turn into boss-esque forms and invade their opponents' spaces to really mess up their game.
  • Throw Down the Bomblet: Dr. Magic's special weapon consists of him lobbing a few mines at his opponent from above.
  • Womb Level: Stage 6 consists of the pilots going through the Harvester planet's tunnels, which are a mixture of organic and technological materials cobbled together by the Harvesters.

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