Recca

About Recca

Recca (1992) is KID's Famicom vertical shooter, made for a Naxat Soft competition, that pushed the hardware with relentless speed and sprites and is now one of the rarest Famicom games.

Recca in Depth

In 2302 an alien armada that has already obliterated the Andromeda galaxy, shortly after humans made peace with its inhabitants, sets out to destroy mankind. The player flies the Recca415 fighter in a fast-paced vertically scrolling shooter across four stages of enemies, obstacles and bosses. Five main weapons, each with strengths and weaknesses, and five sub-weapons that add two satellite options firing in several directions drop from destroyed enemies and are upgraded by collecting the same icon again, while clearing several waves can earn extra lives. Its signature feature is a charging shield: stop firing briefly and an energy shield forms in front of the ship, absorbing ordinary bullets and destroying anything in its blast when launched.

Being hit or crashing into scenery costs a life and resets firepower. Finishing the first loop of the Normal Game unlocks a harder second loop of seven rearranged stages. Score Attack challenges players to score as high as possible in two minutes, and Time Attack to clear two stages as fast as possible within five minutes. A hidden Zanki Attack mode, unlocked by cheat code, gives fifty lives but makes enemies release suicide bullets when destroyed, awarding bonus points for lives left at the end. Its sheer number of sprites and speed made it a showcase for what the Famicom could do.

Making Recca

KID, a contract developer that had worked on American-focused games for Taxan, created it for Naxat Soft's Summer Carnival competition; Shinobu Yagawa programmed it, a designer known only as Etsuka drew the graphics, and Nobuyuki Shioda wrote the music after Yagawa asked for four-minute tracks, claiming they could "do the impossible on the Famicom". Released as attention was shifting to the Super Famicom, it sold few copies. Critics were mostly positive about its action, modes and music: Famitsu's reviewers warned it was unsuitable for beginners with too much on screen, while Poland's Top Secret gave it a perfect score in 1994, calling it "one of the best in its class". Retrospective commentary has been positive, and it is regarded as a precursor of modern bullet hell games.