What's a ZeroRanger?

[@Bluesine_R]

Nice video, one thing I wish you talked about more is the scoring system in ZeroRanger. The scoring is also made quite accessible to newcomers and is very interesting when you think about a 1CC (one credit clear) and the True Final Boss. Bullet hell shmups like ZeroRanger, DoDonPachi, Ketsui, and Ikaruga are designed so that your true goal is to beat the game with one credit. Sometimes you can try to beat two loops with one credit, with the 2nd loop being much harder (like in DoDonPachi). Learning the scoring system helps in achieving this, since you get extra lives when reaching certain scoring thresholds. In ZeroRanger, the goal is to shoot enemies in a chain, which makes your score multiplier go up. If you don't shoot enemies for a while, the multiplier starts to rapidly go down. The combo multiplier maxes out at 6.4, but here's the interesting part: if you use your mech form, you can increase the multiplier all the way to 12.8!! This changes the mech form from kind of a useless novelty to an absolutely integral part of the core gameplay, where you constantly change between the fighter and the mech form. You gain extra lives from score in ZeroRanger, and the less lives you currently have, the easier it is to get lives from score. If you beat some enemies fast enough, additional orange enemies will spawn that are worth much more score. The really interesting thing is that if you really learn the score chains for each level when trying to get a 1CC, you will get so much score that you'll get 6-8 continues immediately to use for the True Final Boss section, even if you start from a fresh save file. It's a really interesting way to incentivise the player to learn the scoring system of the game.

[@Pollymacho]

This is a great source of info, thanks for willing to share it! Would you mind if I pin this?

[@Bluesine_R]

@@Pollymacho Not at all! There's a lot more info on the Shmups Wiki page for ZeroRanger.

[@Bluesine_R]

@@Pollymacho No problem!

[@pillementzetch]

it doesn't end there. another crucial aspect to scoring is its "overkill" mechanic. for most enemies that don't die in one shot, you'll notice they don't immediately explode. that's because you're able to keep shooting them to effectively kill them again for double the points (based off your current multiplier)! you'll know you've done it when there's a twinkle as they enter hitstop and explode. the crucial balancing act is keeping your multiplier while also getting every overkill you're able to, as overkilling unlike shooting at a living enemy doesn't stop your multiplier from decreasing.

[@realkraid]

If you like games that have gusto then System Erasure is THE indie dev for it right now, I've become a devoted fan

[@Pollymacho]

Eyy right on! Looking forward to getting destroy in Black Onion Mode and so curious about the next project they tackle next!

[@biteryn]

I've been spoiled​ that it's another shmup one level from which can be accessed in VS@@Pollymacho

[@godlyvex5543]

@@Pollymacho Did you play void stranger? That was their next game. I personally liked it, but if you have a short attention span, the slower pace might not be for you. It takes a shmup approach to the puzzle genre, which sounds odd but you'll get what I mean after you get pretty far in it.

[@Pollymacho]

@@godlyvex5543 I sure have! I actually made a video about that one too, but it was more focused on the basic puzzle/gameplay stuff (Didn't want to spoil stuff)

[@cachotognax3600]

BTW the "next time you'll make it unscrathed!" (that you read as unscratched) text appears when you clear a stage taking damage only once in it! It knows you are close to being untouchable and it's cheerign you on!

[@ah3611]

Great video! At 16:37, you mention the 2-4 orbs during the descent. If you want max points and an extra life, you grow the green ones with A,B, and C shots, then pop them with your melee attack. Conversely, the melee attack will subdivide the orange orbs and you can shoot them at their smallest for the biggest bonus. Do enough of this, and you'll guarantee an Orange 1-up as well as potentially getting you over the hump to another additional life from points. If you're starting from 2-4, you'll get two lives total out of doing this correctly.

[@TheFancyMoustache]

Very rarely do I pause a video to go buy a game, you definitely sold me on this one good work!

[@BrawlerGamma]

So glad people are coming back around to ZeroRanger. A personal favorite. I wish I could find the time and dedication to fully discover the depths of their other game whose title starts with a word synonymous with 'nothing' and ends with the letters RANGER, but I'm starting to think I might as well watch a video delving it at this rate...

[@Pollymacho]

Thanks for watching! Enjoy that certain title synonymous with "Nothing" however you will! Thought I have seen some guides on steam that can act as progress trackers that help just enough not to ruin that sense of discovery.

[@Bluesine_R]

Perhaps a programming-based puzzle game called Null Arranger?

[@Mintybeard]

This was a really well put together video that shed light on a game I'd never heard of before. Your use of editing to subvert expectation and match the tone of the nature of the game was really commendable. Kudos to you, and thanks for the recommendation.

[@Pollymacho]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the really nice comment!

[@unkindness_sanctuary]

An amazing documentary! Great game & great presentation! First shmup I'd want to finish though.

[@ownageDan]

There's so many references to other classic SHMUPs in this game, all of them worth trying if you enjoyed ZeroRanger. The most obvious being Dodonpachi (specifically Daifukkatsu / Saidaioujou) in the Final Boss sequence, but there's many others aswell - the hand pattern of the final boss is a reference to ESP.RaDe's final boss, the first 2 midbosses are the ships from Gradius and R-Type, the little bonus score witch in the moon is the WonderWitch from Eschatos, mechanically the whole game takes alot from Radiant Silvergun, etc. etc.

[@WangleLine]

I love ZeroRanger!!!! Such a fantastic game... Played Void Stranger too, for 25 hours so far... There's still so much to discover & learn!! ahhh

[@spidermacho123]

hey, amazing video! it's great to see system erasure get more recognition because they absolutely deserve it you should try playing for a high score, by the way, it feels like playing a completely different game with how much depth there is to it and is super satisfying! also, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE USE YOUR MECHA FORM MORE!!! it was, for the lack of a better word, agonizing, to see you neglect it in the gameplay footage. like, when you talked about the part right before the final boss and said the orange blobs die and the green ones "just grow when attacked", the green ones actually can be defeated if you just attack them with the mech form. also, if you attack the orange ones with the mech form, they split into multiple blobs, and if you defeat enough of them you get an extra life

[@Pollymacho]

Thanks for the note! Started using it more and surprised how quick it is to rack up high scores with the additional score multiplier.

[@ZERO-LICH]

If I lost my memory, I would definitely play this game again to experience the long-lost feeling again!

[@LostSoulSilver]

I really really love this game, thank you for talking about it

[@Pollymacho]

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!

[@tomerilan4647]

yes! More people talking about zeroranger! Such a shame dunkey only talked about it so little, but at the same time he spoiled nothing, so probably for the better. Also, 16:30 - Orange take damage from ship and heal from mech, Green take damage from mech and heal from ship. This section is an easy way to get 2 extra HP before the despair fight (1 for points, 1 if you kill enough cells) You really don't use mech enough! (At least, in the footage) It can destroy most projectiles with it's weapon (or at least slow them down) and it ANNIHILATES the boss of 2-1. Fighting Despair with just mech is super fun too. And for the fake ending - there is also another dialogue that appears in co-op, and there is even some extra (maybe?) lore in the steam cards for the game... Thanks for showing the different fake endings, I missed the 2nd one when I played the game, I thought it always goes to the pinball one... There is just so much in this 'short' game.

[@Pollymacho]

Thanks for the notes and for watching! This game is nuts and hope those developers get so much credit for this stuff, looking forward to seeing what they come up with next!

[@andymarie8920]

I'm sold just on the ost alone! It's great to see and feel so much passion in a game! I might check it out! (This coming from a video game newbie that only plays farming sims)

[@realkraid]

eebrozgi is one of the greatest new talents in the indie game composition scene, and has the greatest range of any of them I've heard so far

[@Pollymacho]

It's such a banger ost! Have a great time if you give it a shot! Also, the songs featured in this video are in the description if there's a one in particular you're looking for.

[@noahmcalister]

I've never heard of this game before and honestly, I'm not much into bullet hell type stuff so I never would've looked at this, but this video was intensely fascinating. It seems like an incredibly interesting, so great vid, thank you for making it, bc if you hadn't, I wouldn't have gotten to "experience" the game in this way. Keep it up, man! Loved this

[@Pollymacho]

Glad you enjoyed it man, System Erasure games are nuts in the best way!

[@johnisdead]

severely underrated channel. great job mate, this was such a great watch.

[@Pollymacho]

Thank you! Glad you got some enjoyment out of it!

[@DanielG-e8t]

Best vid on zeroranger I've seen yet!

[@Infermium]

I'm just commenting for the algorithm. I enjoy your content, keep it up. May you attain enlightenment.

[@Pollymacho]

You do me a great service, thank you!

[@beastmonsterthing3]

since that boss gets mad at you if you wake him up, i figured the solution was to just not wake him up, so i just waited. if you wait a few minutes and dont do anything he just dies LOL

[@mdr188]

Wanted to say that I stumbled on your channel recently and that your videos are a real joy to watch ! Keep up the good work and I hope you introduce us to more cool games (and game analysis) soon !

[@Pollymacho]

You do me a great kindness with this comment, thank you! I'll keep you all posted when a new one is shaping up.

[@goodgamer1419]

this is prolly one of the best smups ever made, i am so glad its getting the attention it deserves

[@jtlego1]

I genuinely cant wait for what System Erasure has up their sleeve next. Between Zero Ranger and Void Stranger i wanna see what genre-breaking shit they come up with next.

[@loadingscreen8888]

buh, the blue-pink color palette looks so bright and completely throws the base color relationship out of the window (green as darker background details and orange as not too bright important details). Can't imagine how it pleased your eyes since neon blue and hot pink are both attention-catching colors.

[@ghostagent3552]

I've seen this raw power once before... just with more shrine maidens

[@SSFplayer2]

And mushroom obsessed witches

[@FayeHunter]

Fantastic video, thank you for giving me clarity on the game that SoundCloud won't stop recommending me the OST of, and i keep eating it up. -Faye⚓

[@Aanzeijar]

My review of Void Ranger starts with "This. Bloody. Game". As you said, there's no in between with these games. Either you bounce off, or you get absorbed by them.

[@ssaijas1201]

Attain enlightment, my brother.

[@IPODsify]

Uhh, I beat this game twice and never saw that lotus section. What the hell?

[@that1gamurguy-91]

My most underrated game ever along with void stranger. Peak and a half

[@realkraid]

By the way, the cell enemies can all be killed; the orange ones are vulnerable to ship weapons and the green to mech ones

[@Pollymacho]

Thank you for the correction!

[@stevenmcdonald5837]

another banger! keep it up plz

[@Pollymacho]

Thanks Steven! You got it!

[@ozanozdinc9197]

You can desteoy the green cells in 2-4 with melee attack

[@YungSkrimbo]

Zero ranger is the best, i adore that game. I played a little of void stranger and it has that same mysterious feeling. I am absolutely heartbroken that i am not good at or really enjoy sokoban puzzles

[@Pollymacho]

Hey that's alright, if it's not a good fit there's nothing wrong with that! There are other ways to enjoy the game if you don't like playing it like the music or art or reading discussions about it. Or maybe it'll click next time you try it.

[@Mewseeker]

In case it might click with you, there is an early access shmup roguelike game named The Void Rain Upon Her Heart where you bring love to big scary monsters. It's super wholesome and has an interesting take on meta-progression. It also have several difficulty levels.

[@Pollymacho]

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll look into it!

[@DiRekt.EXE_Music]

11:17 hey thats that one area from xevious

[@ChrisdeCastro]

Zer Orange r Could translate to orange destruction or destroyer. Can’t unsee it now.

[@papuyu4564]

worth 30 minutes of mylife..

[@Pollymacho]

Glad this video was entertaining, thanks for checking this out!

[@lemniscatelogos7917]

Also have you tried black future 88 or arrest of a stone Buddha or the eternal castle remastered

[@Pollymacho]

Can't say I have, but I'll look into them, thanks for the suggestions!

[@redhand8836]

In 2-3, shoot the shadow in the water throughout the stage for a surprise.

[@Pollymacho]

Thanks for the tip!

[@Shnowz]

kind of a stange reward for stage one but I'm not here to judge

[@PSRB-zg8ue]

26:21 lady jumpscare

[@tallytwigs]

awesome

[@itsahexagon]

Y'know I was kind of expecting this to go into what's a "ZeroRanger," in the sense of what that term actually means in the game's context - we have textmessages ingame like "This is the story of a fighter who wanted to become... ZERORANGER" which seems to imply that "to be a ZeroRanger" means something specific Still a good video though!

[@prokiller4860]

I really want to suggest Lobotomy Corporation because that also what game that made me feel gaming was worth it being a gamer

[@MelficeOne]

lil hint the green cells in Menacing (2-4-1) can be destroyed. Just use your mech form. just be careful not to hit the orange enemies with it, they just split apart and multiply by this also tiny tidbit about the Despair boss fight [Spoilers] Since Despair is the original fighter that Types A B and C are mimicrys of, most of her attacks are the powerups you can collect. AND the circle "announcing" them corrospond to the upgrade numbers the Flamethrower Box-in is both the side shot and Back shot, the Gems are the drill, the Crosses as you called them is the sword, the explosion most likely might be the charge shot and the hands following you the homing shot DOUBLE BONUS TIDBIT: when fighting one of the True End endgame bosses in Void stranger, dont some of the attacks feel familiar?

[@lemniscatelogos7917]

After seeing this shmups don’t exist to me anymore there is only downwell and zero ranger

[@DiRekt.EXE_Music]

4:46 tell me you like thunder force without saying it

[@torinsmith9867]

WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU SURRENDER!? It's a hugely important question, especially since you represent the badguys.

[@Lopsidationy]

Thanks for the video! System Erasure games are amazing in every way except for the game design. After Void Stranger's player-hostile design, I'm glad I decided to watch this video rather than play Zero Rangers.

[@SWANGINGHUSTLA5]

I remember when you were conflicted

[@peekachoo2531]

misusing your influence..........

[@tompuce84]

[@bartekwalos]

same here

[@DaikonDev_]

what a weird way to revise for my RS GCSE

[@mattmaddogwheaton4724]

Need I mention I see quite a bit of Macross, Gundam, and Evangelion in ZeroRanger, which tells me that the guys at System Erasure are huge ass anime fans. Another reason why these guys are awesome indeed. That and the game is legit awesome indeed.

[@it_is_i_deo]

I'm really glad I watched this video instead of playing the game for myself. I would not have the patience for it.

[@thejas123rapperdude]

The term Manusha is very peculiar. I don't know much about the deep lore of this game, but in hinduism and hindu mythology, Manusha means "children of Manu". Manu means "the first man". Man, or Humanity, as defined by hindu mythology doesn't refer to homo sapiens, but rather the dominant species of the current "age of humanity". an "age of humanity", also called a Manvantara lasts 306,720,000 years. We are currently in the 7th age of humanity. A core part of hindu belief is that the universe slowly goes from a state of untruth/darkness, to a state of truth/enlightenment, which is played out in the cycles of time. That is to say, I think ZeroRanger is depicting the transitioning of a previous age of humanity to a new age of humanity. One that is just a little less flawed than the previous one.

[@victoncio1996]

i will be honest with you i stopped watching at 2:50, because you already convinced me to try this one out, seems to be the kind of game you want to try without knowing anything about it. i'm not a shoot n up fan but i'm willing to try

[@cachotognax3600]

Have fun! This game is an amazing starting point to discover what makes shmups so beloved by their fans!

[@Pollymacho]

Rock on! Have an awesome time!

[@nervaaugustus7089]

Not even three and a half minutes in, and I already see "May you obtain enlightenment" and three vague hints on the boss. I'm already having some Radiant Silvergun flashbacks. However, there's one thing I can't stand. Look, if I want to deal with permanent failure states and consequences that will haunt me forever, with little to no chance of ever being able to correct them, simply because of the hurdles placed in the way of doing so *I have real life for that.* So I'm glad I watched this video, because it's ensured that I will *never* touch this game. I don't care how well a game is put together, how friendly and inviting it is, how good its gameplay is or how well-engineered its difficulty curve is, any game willing to destroy every bit of previously-persistent progress I've put into it just for some heavyhanded symbolism will not be a game I play. I can respect the developers sticking to their guns on this, but I'm going to be sticking to *mine* on this decision as well. I will not be Sisyphus, pushing a boulder up a hill only to to have it roll all the way back down on the cusp of victory. Sure, it took you six tries through the whole game. But imagine the guy who isn't so great at shmups. The one who it might take ten or twenty. Or maybe their reflexes are simply *not good enough* and will *never be good enough* and it's a pointless endeavor to even try. Should they have to suffer through that repeatedly, after coming so far? I'll admit, I'm that person. I'm terrible at shmups, and despite literally every friend I've known trying to get me into them at some point, there's been very few I've been able to get far on, let alone complete. I can play other games, but shmups elude me. My brain just kinda shuts down when there's too many things to keep track of onscreen at once. You can make a near perfect game. One that's so well-engineered and a blast to play that even people that normally don't enjoy the genre will enjoy the ride to the endgame... but I guarantee you, the only reason why you praise it now is because you beat it. That last experience? That will make or break a game in people's minds, because all in all, that's what's going to stick with you most. You got your save wiped six times, and you felt the morale loss. You planned to back up your save just to dodge this *odious* damn mechanic. That right there, is a telling criticism, a damning indictment, even. How good is a mechanic, really, when it's so punishing that you openly admit to intending to *cheat* to get around it, just so you could keep enjoying a game that has otherwise been good? Now, don't get me wrong. I don't blame you for wanting to cheat there. Believe me when I say that of all people, I understand. But I will insist on this; *imagine how you'd feel if you'd lost run seven.* Picture what it'd be like if, despite coming to a new realization and giving it everything you got, you *still* failed. Now imagine run eight never happened. Instead of cheating, you came to KZbin to review this game at *that* point. Would your review still be full of glowing praise? Think on that, and then see if you can still tell me that a mechanic that wipes your whole save and make you start over, when all previous progress has been persistent across runs, is a good mechanic.

[@ZacHawkins42]

Who pissed in your Cheerios?

[@mysteriousspaceman]

What ZeroRanger understands is that even if it wipes your save, you haven't really lost anything important. With shmups progress isn't checkpoints or stats, it's your muscle memory and knowledge of the stages. So even if your save is wiped, once you get over the shock you realize it isn't a big deal at all, you've been learning the stages and you can get back to the final boss to try again in a fraction of the time it took you before.

[@spidermacho123]

bro, you can't criticize a game you've never played.

[@Garrus876]

Such long text just reeks of cope. You want to play this game. You want to feel that emotional high, that satisfaction of reaching enlightenment. You try to tear this guy down. "Imagine what would have happened if you lost," you say, as you try to reach for any shred of confirmation bias. So do yourself a favor and get the game. Backup your save if you have to. It won't save you from the hardest part of the run, having to do 2-4. Enlightenment isn't for only a select few born with good reflexes; this is a pattern based game after all. Enlightenment is for everyone that is willing to put in a little effort. Your algorithm brought you here, you watched the full video, wrote a lenghty and passionate comment. You are no stranger to commitment, thus this game is still for you. You want to play this game, but your ego won't let you accept it on its own terms. Cheat if you have to, but do yourself a favor and experience this masterclass of its genre. I'm sure before long, you'll return to it and beat it properly. Mastery is half the game length for these 5 hour games. Good luck.

[@JuanRoosterbeard]

#pewpew

[@cosmosspacecentertelevision]

I appreciate your video but there's a lot of misinformation in it and also some straight up unmarked spoilers (calling the Lotus Flower what it is so early surprised me). I know and understand you feel passionate for ZeroRanger but it is a game that needs to be treated with care and I don't think this video is careful enough. Cheers

[@Pollymacho]

I'd hate for the video to lead to misinformation about the game. Any examples you're willing to share? Cheers!