[Review] Gynoug - Nintendo Switch

Developed and Published By: Ratalaika Games, Masaya (Original)
Categories: Retro, Shootem'up
Release Date: 11.12.21

Gynoug is an odd game. An incredibly odd game. Consider Gynoug, or how it was known in the west “Wings of Wor” to be a proto Cho Aniki. This should come as no surprise as both games were developed by Masaya.

Gynoug is a bit standard. As Wor you’re defending the heavens from these “Demons of Iccus”, controlled by “The Destroyer” You, as the shirtless, muscular Wor shoot your way through these grotesque monstrosities. Gameplay wise, Gynoug is maybe a tad standard. You get regular shots and you get magic abilities. I found that just shooting, which spreads VERY wide more often than not does the job just right. From what I noticed, most of these magic power ups do simple things like make your shots bigger, wavy, or even go in reverse, which can help.

This is an incredibly easy game for most of the time, but I wouldn’t say this is a bad thing. This is the contrary in fact, Gynoug is one satisfying shooter. This is partially from the difficulty, and partially because of the excellent sound design. I’ve heard people complain about the sound effects, but MAN do it feel good when you get that bass-ey sound from blowing an enemy up, it almost felt like rumble. There are sections where you are just flooded with enemies before a boss or mid boss and it just feels spectacular.

Just a heads up, you’re gonna see some mad phallic imagery in this game. One boss is literally just a offcolor, veinless ~~penis~~. You know, the shmup genre really does have a connection with phallic imagery. Gynoug, Cho Aniki, R-Type. At least this game is mostly serious and not as crass as Cho Aniki gets. The game gets awful organic and bloody near the end however, with one boss looking like the Tyrant from Resident Evil years before that game.

You’ve played a Ratalaika release, you know the gist. Amazing CRT filter options are the spotlight once again. Gynoug forgoes the multiple versions of games and instead just lets you use a cheat menu from the start. I don’t think Gynoug is that difficult of a game, but for taking footage or screenshots, this is probably key, as it can just give you infinite…well everything!

Gynoug is the least wow-factory of these releases. It’s a bit valuable in the secondhand market, but it was released in America and wasn’t exactly a super rare game in the first place. Regardless, it’s obscure and more people getting exposed to and playing this game is fantastic, which makes this release valuable in my eyes.