Overview – developed by Super16bits and published by Eastasiasoft, Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke is a side scrolling bullet hell shooter about Yokai causing chaos at the Hyakki Yagyo. As one of four Yokai girls, take to the skies and blast through 5 stages set in Japan, with various spirits to fight and take down. This version of the game is available on all console platforms, with a link to each version at the bottom of this review.
Disclaimer: before I get into the review, I would like to thank Eastasiasoft for providing the copy of Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke used for this piece. The provision of this software has not influenced the contents of this review, all thoughts and opinions contained within are my own.
Now with the introductions out of the way, let’s get into the review, starting off with the story. For the sake of brevity, I will be referring to the game as the shortened name of Twilight Parade throughout the review.
Story – once a year, Yokai take to the streets, celebrating the Hyakki Yagyo festival, the Night Parade of One Hundred Yokai in Japan. However, this year, the Oni Twins have not been invited to the event, as they are too rowdy. To get revenge for being snubbed, they decide to cause chaos at the Night Parade. With the help of their friends Kitsune and Gyokuto, they set out to ruin the party and get payback for being left out.
Gameplay – Twilight Parade is a side scrolling bullet hell shooter, where the player takes on hordes of Yokai across 5 stages. Each of the stages is part of the Hyakki Yagyo, the Night Parade of One Hundred Yokai, with many distinct spirits based inspired by Japanese folklore. The player can select one of four characters for this adventure, with the Oni Twins, Blue and Red, the fox spirit Kitsune and Gyokuto, a rabbit girl who lives on the moon.
Each of the playable characters have two cosmetic variants, a traditional outfit and a swimsuit. These outfits can also affect their form of flight, with the Oni Twins riding a broom in their traditional look, with their swimsuit style replacing the broom with a surf board. Gyokuto the rabbit rides her Mochi Hammer in her standard outfit, which is replaced by a banana in her swimsuit outfit. Kitsune is an outlier, as she rides a pipe in both costumes.
After selecting their character, the player goes straight into the action, with two attacks that the player can use. The first is the standard fire, where the player unleashes a barrage of endless fire upon the enemies. Then there is precision fire, which has the same endless rapid fire as the standard shots, but the player will have their movement slowed for precision movement. Depending on the character, their bullet patterns will change.
The Oni Twins have a Tanuki familiar as an assistant, with Blue Oni’s familair having a circular pattern, that fires shoots in a wave pattern. Then we have the familiar for Red Oni will follow the path she moves, firing in a straight line. Kitsune has twin fox familiars, who circle her as she moves, firing in wave pattern with her. Last is Gyokuto who has a pair of sentient Rabbit Mochi that are positioned above and below her, firing in a straight line.
While the player makes their way through each of the stages, they will fly through the stage from left to right, taking on wave after wave of enemies. These enemies will from the top, bottom and right of the screen, either as stationary or moving targets. Many of the enemies will fire directly at the player, attempting to hit the green Jewel on the player character. If the jewel is hit by a shot or contact is made with the enemy, the player will take damage.
There are two things that can occur if the player takes damage, with the first being a talisman explosion, which will clear the screen of bullets. The player will have three talismans to protect them from damage, which are activated by taking damage, but they can be manually deployed. Once all of the talismans are used, the player will lose a life if damage is taken. If all lives are lost, the player can continue to keep playing infinitely.
As the player fights their way through the stages, they will collect gems from destroying enemies, which adds to the total score. These gems will be pulled to the player automatically when they are dropped. Alongside the gems, the player will be able to collect golden coins, either from destroying enemies or by shooting parts of the stage. The coins are not magnetised to the player, meaning they must be picked up manually or they will be missed.
At the end of each stage, the player will encounter a giant Yokai maiden, who will engage in battle with the player. During these fights, there will be a hail of bullets that fill the screen up, making it difficult to avoid attack. These boss battles are challenging, as the patterns will be complex and fill the screen with projectiles. This is the best place to use talismans if the player has any, as they can give a big score boost, as well as a reprieve from the enemy fire.
If the player is able to defeat the boss without needing to continue, a slot machine will appear for the player to use. This slot machine uses the gold coins that players pick up during the stage, costing five coins each time. When using the slot machine, if the player is able to line up three matching icons, they will gain additional lives for the next stage. In the event that the player needs to continue during the stage, the slot machine can still appear.
The game is relatively brief, with the game ending rather abruptly when the final battle is done. The player will immediately be returned to the main menu, being able to play again from the beginning. Even though the game has a rather short run time, there is some replay value to the game, as is a set of achievements that players can unlock. These include beating the game with specific characters, defeating the bosses and more to challenge.
Now with the gameplay covered, it is time to discuss the other aspects of this release, starting with the controls.
Controls – there is a super simple to use control method for Twilight Parade, where the player controls their selected character with either the D-Pad or the thumbstick. The attacks use the face buttons, with two regular shot buttons and one each for the precision shot/talisman release. It is recommended to use a controller with a responsive D-Pad, or if able use an arcade stick or retro pad, as these will offer a comfortable and precise experience.
Difficulty – there is an escalating difficulty within the main portions of the stages, but there are spikes in difficulty when the player encounters a boss. This can be rather frustrating due to the massive bullet sprays that appear on screen, which are pretty tough to avoid. The penalty for death is punishing, as some players may never see the slot machine after defeating a boss. Thankfully, players can keep improving due to there being no limits on continues.
Presentation – Twilight Parade has a pleasing pixel art visual style, with bold sprite work, vibrant environments and a great use of color. The boss enemies are beautifully detailed, with their significantly increased size and exaggerated assets. There is a lack of cinematics, with the game lacking as much as a game over screen which is disappointing. I liked the sound, with a soundtrack that was exacting and enhanced the action on screen.
Final Thoughts – I do like to sink my teeth into bullet hell games, as they are exciting and can really cause that adrenaline to get pumping. That was true for this to an extent, but sadly the excitement was cut short abruptly with the lack of an ending. I had a lot of fun with the game, as the gameplay experience was challenging, but it did feel unfortunately short. I did enjoy unlocking the different achievements during the course of the game.
There was some disappointment due to there not being an ending, or even a leaderboard for recording scores. If these issues were fixed, then it would have been a near perfect game. It does control well, with a balanced difficulty that only spikes during bosses, so it can be a good first bullet hell for players. So with that being said I am happy to recommend this game to everyone, regardless of if you are a veteran or playing for the first time.
In the end, I give Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke a final score of 4/5. This is a fun and challenging bullet hell shooter, with a virbrant and colorful style, alongside gorgeous sprite work for the characters and bosses. The only issues are a lack of an ending, the short length and no way to record scores during play. If you want to check this title out for yourself, a link to each version will be below.
Link to Nintendo Switch version (HERE)
Link to PlayStation version (HERE)
Link to Xbox version (HERE)
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