Well, well; what do we have here? Me buying a game I swore off a couple of years ago, that’s what — and buying it freakin’ digital to boot! Now, did I change my mind and finally realise Aqua Kitty’s awesomeness after all these years? Nope, not quite. What happened is that I stumbled upon an Astro Aqua Kitty track on Youtube, liked what I heard, and immediately proceeded to purchase the whole soundtrack on Bandcamp. There, I was given the opportunity to purchase an Electric Café package, and gladly accepted — all the more greedily as I spotted four brand-new Aqua Kitty tracks. I listened to them, was utterly blown away (more on that later), and decided that I couldn’t live another day without shooting with abandon to the beat of these sonic gems — and the rest is history, and me scurrying to the Nintendo eShop to purchase AKUDX.
A couple of shooting sessions later, I regret nothing. I came for the music, yet ended up staying for the gameplay, a million times over. Not just any gameplay, mind you: the brand-new Dreadnought Mode. Look, I’ll bare my heart here: Dreadnought Mode is the sh*t. Had it been included in the original Vita version of Aqua Kitty, I’d have purchased the Limited Run physical edition in a freakin’ heartbeat. And you can bet your sweet life that if any publisher releases a physical version of AKUDX, I’ll get my greedy paws on it faster than you can say meow.
The Dreadnought Mode basically gives me everything I wanted, yet didn’t get, from the original AK. It gives me epic dashes through treacherous waters infested with milling masses of foes, it gives me nerve-wracking yet deliciously challenging boss battles, it gives me a palpable sense of progress and, last but not least, it gives me the much-needed and highly enjoyable possibility to strategize and shoot it my way. The Dreadnought Mode could actually pass as an entirely different shooter from the rest of the game — a much deeper, layered and challenging shooter. It’s basically a giant boss rush — think Monster Hunter meets Level 2-3 from Super Mario Land, with a whiff of Titan Souls. It’s a super-addictive mix, and one I fancy much more than the regular AK gameplay.
Long story short: I totally dig the Dreadnought Mode, from the overall gameplay to the quirkiest details. Like, I always wiggle with joy when me eyes catch the wonderfully sweet name of ‘Meowiana’ in the mode’s pitch, and I always shiver with delight when hearing the deliciously threatening sound of the core activation. I burst out laughing upon discovering one of the dreadnoughts was called friggin' Fissionchips — heck, I'm still giggling a bit writing it. The grateful mreow of the freed kitties is as lovely as before, and the soundtrack is better than ever. What more can a shmup lover ask for? Well, how about a juicy physical edition sporting both Aqua Kitty UDX and Astro Aqua Kitty? I would buy it in a millisecond, I swear. (Edit: Limited Run Games did release that juicy physical edition, and I did buy it in a millisecond ^^) And now, on to the next shot!
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