First of all, about the port. The scaling is hideous and doesn't offer any options besides "smoothing on/off", I had to muck around in my graphics drivers to eliminate some nasty screen tearing, and there's no scanlines which makes parts of the colour palette look pretty off. But it has a couple of things going for it:

- It's better than the PS2 port.

- It'll inevitably be more responsive than on Switch.

- It's... Here, I guess. You don't need a JTAGged 360.

Which is handy, because Mushi might be the best entry into Cave shmups, or for the right kind of player, shmups full stop. It's certainly a much easier (and better) sell than Ikaruga. It boils down to two fire modes (one which makes you move slower) and a bomb, a scoring system that (as far as any mortal understands it) boils down to "kill more and die less and you'll get a better score", and bullet+enemy patterns that reward good & confident positioning. It's got everything a beginner needs to get what the genre is about, and start building the requisite skill set, while being fed some eye candy.

The one downside is... Some parts of the game are better than others. You'll find yourself playing Stage 3 and thinking "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, why doesn't the whole game flow like this?! If only there was a sequel that applied this lesson..." And that game does exist, and you should play it instead.

Except, chances are you can't if you're reading this, because the Futari home port remains exclusive to the 360, and (exceptional port though it is) it is not cheap to import - yes, import. I don't think anyone looking to dip their toes into the genre is in the market to spend £70 and then dust off their Xbox 360 arcade stick while they wait for it to be cleared by customs. Except me, I did that, but I'm not representative. The obvious question is, why haven't Cave had that one ported too? And the answer is, lord ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ knows. Any day now...

First of all, about the port. The scaling is hideous and doesn't offer any options besides "smoothing on/off", I had to muck around in my graphics drivers to eliminate some nasty screen tearing, and there's no scanlines which makes parts of the colour palette look pretty off. But it has a couple of things going for it: - It's better than the PS2 port. - It'll inevitably be more responsive than on Switch. - It's... Here, I guess. You don't need a JTAGged 360. Which is handy, because Mushi might be the best entry into Cave shmups, or for the right kind of player, shmups full stop. It's certainly a much easier (and better) sell than Ikaruga. It boils down to two fire modes (one which makes you move slower) and a bomb, a scoring system that (as far as any mortal understands it) boils down to "kill more and die less and you'll get a better score", and bullet+enemy patterns that reward good & confident positioning. It's got everything a beginner needs to get what the genre is about, and start building the requisite skill set, while being fed some eye candy. The one downside is... Some parts of the game are better than others. You'll find yourself playing Stage 3 and thinking "holy shit, why doesn't the whole game flow like this?! If only there was a sequel that applied this lesson..." And that game does exist, and you should play it instead. Except, chances are you can't if you're reading this, because the Futari home port remains exclusive to the 360, and (exceptional port though it is) it is not cheap to import - yes, import. I don't think anyone looking to dip their toes into the genre is in the market to spend £70 and then dust off their Xbox 360 arcade stick while they wait for it to be cleared by customs. Except me, I did that, but I'm not representative. The obvious question is, why haven't Cave had that one ported too? And the answer is, lord fucking knows. Any day now...