Air Twister
Have you ever, ever felt like this? How strange things happen...
Hello, I’m back after a short hiatus. As some of you will know, I’ve been studying for Data Engineering exams (spoilers: I passed) and so gaming has fallen by the wayside for the last couple of months. With the exams over and the need to have a diversion from learning new programming languages, building ETL pipelines, attaching myself to DevOps projects and whatnot, video games will inevitably start seeping back into my routine.
To ease myself back into gaming, I instinctively turned to Air Twister; an arcade rail shooter that originally released on Apple Arcade but has now come to all platforms (full disclosure: I received a review code for Xbox Series X). Now, dear reader, you may be wondering why I would turn to this niche, esoteric little oddity when other well-reviewed, blockbuster titles like Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Spider-Man 2 and Alan Wake 2 have come out in recent weeks. Well, that’s simply because Air Twister is Space Harrier in all but name and, if you know anything about me, you know I have an unconditional love for Space Harrier.
Air Twister was developed and published by YS Net, a small indie outfit founded and headed by Yu Suzuki. Suzuki may be more well known for being the creator of Shenmue and Virtua Fighter, but for me, he’s first and foremost the genius who created Space Harrier. Whilst Suzuki is apparently hesitant to say Air Twister is the spiritual successor to Space Harrier, he’s not kidding anybody. It might as well be called Space Harrier III (or 3-D 2, I suppose).
Air Twister has you play as Princess Arch; a cutscene at the beginning of the game shows her home planet being sieged by a horde of space creatures, some of which seem to have a hilarious naming convention according to the game’s achievements (Tetrabeans, Dodecabeans and the like) and are carbon copies of those seen in Space Harrier, even down to their polygonal bodies and pill-shaped neon-coloured projectiles. Her fellow citizens, riding on the backs of giant geese, try to fend off the attack but are largely unsuccessful. This is when we take control of Princess Arch, who has the ability to float around the screen, just like Harrier, and is armed with a crossbow that can inexplicably shoot single and multiple homing missiles.
There’s a quick tutorial to get used to the simple controls for those who have little exposure to Space Harrier, or any arcade rail shooter for that matter. Unlike Space Harrier, the first few levels are very forgiving, easing you into the flow of the gameplay wherein the jumpsuit-clad, crossbow-wielding heroine flies around the screen dispatching enemies whilst dodging oncoming enemy fire that zooms towards her. There are twelve main stages, each accompanied by a variety of interesting enemy designs, from stingrays to bone dragons, culminating in a boss fight at the end. It’s in these boss fights where the gameplay leans towards that of Panzer Dragoon and has you piloting your trusty goose or other rideable beasts that are encountered throughout the game. It’s all very silly stuff that I couldn’t help but be amused by.
In terms of difficulty, Air Twister is nowhere near as punishing as its Space Harrier predecessors. You’re given several continues and Princess Arch can absorb a lot of hits before you’re even having to resort to putting in an extra metaphorical quarter. It took until the seventh stage, when I was appropriately warned in a cutscene that the enemies had become fiercer, for me to see my first ‘Game Over’. I welcome this lower level of difficulty; even with years of practice I still struggle immensely with Space Harrier at times and it’s nice to see Air Twister is a much more forgiving game that newer generations can enjoy whilst still getting the quintessential arcade experience.
If you do happen to game over, Air Twister offers an interesting rogue-like element where, using stars collected in stages, you can upgrade a skill tree that will unlock new abilities, weapons, amulets and jumpsuits. Some of these will affect gameplay such as offering you more durability, an increased number of lock-ons, shields, slow-down and the like whilst others are purely cosmetic so you can customise Princess Arch with different face paints, jumpsuit colours etc. In addition to this there are also daily, weekly and time-limited tasks where you can earn additional stars or you can try your hand at the the game’s challenge and bosh rush modes.
With the lessened emphasis on difficulty, I was able to thoroughly soak in and enjoy Air Twister’s ridiculous spectacle. In terms of the visuals, some of the background textures are quite muddy, especially when blown up on my 55 inch TV, but this is entirely understandable given the game was originally developed for mobile devices for Apple Arcade (I’d like to find the person at Apple who greenlit this game and buy them a drink). There’s still a sharpness to some of the assets and at times the game can look quite dazzling. There’s a colourful variety to each of the stages environments, from tawny desert landscapes to verdant forests, and with the eccentric art direction and enemy design (one boss is essentially Cogsworth and Lumière from Beauty and the Beast), the game’s the lack of fidelity is easily overlooked.
Accompanying proceedings is a bizarrely placed rock opera soundtrack. The title screen song, titled Phantom of the Opera 2022 (yeah…), had my ears tricked for a split second where I was convinced I was listening to an alternate version of Bohemian Rhapsody on the B-side of a Queen LP. But no, it was just the ululations of Dutch multi-instrumentalist Valensia who was asked by Suzuki, a big fan it seems, over Facebook Message to create the game’s soundtrack. Is it completely incongruous to the game’s genre and gameplay? Yes. Do I love the absurdity of it? Absolutely.
As you may already be able to tell, it’s hard to be objective about Air Twister. For someone who laments the lack of modern arcade shooters and thought a Space Harrier successor would be less likely than world peace, I’m so grateful that Air Twister somehow exists. The only criticism I have is that there’s no way to access the settings menu once you’re in the game - I wanted to boost the music over the sound effects because I needed to hear it in all its ridiculous splendour. Other than that, I’ll make any excuse for Air Twister, whether that’s it’s ugly menu design or overly-simplified gameplay. There’s a rough charm to Air Twister and, whilst I can’t recommend it to most people, it’s nostalgic gameplay will certainly satiate any Space Harrier fan. And really, that’s all I wanted.
Many thanks to PR Hound who provided a review code for Air Twister
Other musings:
I recently procured my late uncle’s Sega Master System II; one of the consoles he lent me when I was a child; and the first cartridge I put in and played was, you guessed it, Space Harrier.
For anybody (nobody) wondering about this article’s subheading, it’s from good ol’ Australian kids comedy series Round The Twist, which I’m sure only me and my sister watched in the early nineties.