Spolous 2

2026-07-24

I've been having a great time with the doujin shmup Spolous 2 by suppon. It's a Gradiuslike with great music and graphics, and some pretty gnarly Lifeforce/Salamander-esque level design later on. The pics are Ship B I think but I really enjoyed Ship C's backwards shot.

The game is not yet finished, but it's been making the rounds the rounds on the indie game blog/site circuit, and for good reason. This is a very well designed shmup that is fun and approachable, but unafraid to kick your ass around Stage 3 or so. The slowdown segments are perfectly balanced. This is a great shmup, made with love. I highly recommend it.

2026-07-26

More Spolous yaay. I unlocked a few ships, and kinda dig the D and E versions, which have a vertical and 45 angled front double shot. Stage 3 is proving a consistent grave, and this was the first time I made it to the boss.

This is a fun stage that requires planning ahead due to Lifeforce-esque barriers that must be destroyed to pass through. I've found it useful to stick to the right side of the screen as much as possible, and try to push through areas that don't have lots of barriers (the trade-off being these areas have enemy clusters that get triggered when you pass through). There is an ESPECIALLY tight squeeze toward the end on the upper route that I'm not sure you can get out of if you don't have some sort of angled or upper beam shot. Since the levels are multi-screen height, and The Squeeze is up top, I'll explore the bottom and see if it's easier to get through.