The eXceed collection is the work of two doujin circles, FLAT which was then taken over by Tennen-Sozai. In eXceed players will explore stages while shooting in a typical Japanese style and the entire series takes girls as protagonists. Starting from 2005 to 2007 and only circulated at Comiket and local stores at that time, this series was then localized by Nyu Media in 2012. This was a big step because many overseas players are not familiar about doujin shooters. As one of the masterpieces in doujin shooters, The eXceed Collection is PC exclusive and focused on standard bullet hell but with some criticical differences which distinguish one iteration from another.
EXCEED - GUN BULLET CHILDREN
eXceed – Gun Bullet Children is the very first game of the series, made by doujin circle FLAT which was released at Comiket 69, on December 30, 2005. FLAT eventually shut down and transferred all copyrights to Tennen Sozai. When humanity is at war against vampire and deviants, mankind’s last line of defense is a group of young children known as “Gun Bullet Children.” They were trained by the Catholic Church to wield powerful magic that can rival the demonic hordes at the cost of most of their life span. One day, more than 500 vampires and hordes of deviants has been detected in the airspace above Tokyo Portal 5. The first line of defenses has been obliterated and the Gun Bullet Children launch a counter attack to stop the invasion.
As an intro to the series, Gun Bullet Children is a simple game and may be worth a try. The main objective is to get to the boss at the last level and defeat them. In a game like this the biggest challenge is not dying en route. While the enemies and bullets are fast enough, they have a tendency to shoot in patterns and getting the rhythm down is an essential part of beating the game. Another important part of the game is leveling up your character which will make their standard attack more powerful. Destroyed enemies will make them drop red or blue items. Collecting this items are required not only for leveling up but scores as well. Whenever the score reaches a certain point, you get an extra life. There are three playable characters, each with different abilities, counter-magic and a nice bomb animation.
EXCEED – 2ND VAMPIRE REX
eXceed 2nd - VAMPIRE is the 2nd game in the series and the direct sequel to eXceed – Gun Bullet Children. It was released at Comiket 70, on August 16, 2006 and later was remade by Tennen Sozai as eXceed 2nd - VAMPIRE REX in 2007. While both game are the same, the REX version offers re-arranged and additional soundtracks by Saitama Saisyu Heiki (also known as S.S.H.) whose works include in several popular franchise such Castlevania and Super Mario Bros. The music in REX version has fast paced and leans heavily on very excited synths and electronical rythms. All character artworks also been improved with larger sprites. Some of the backgrounds in the game are ones from the previous game and some newer ones are present.
eXceed 2nd - VAMPIRE featuring a polarity system -adapted from Treasure’s Ikaruga- in which allows player to absorb enemy bullets and inflict double damage on enemies hit by different polarity than the one they have. There are two polarities: vampire (purple) and human (white), where player can freely switch between the two to suit their needs. Each absorbed bullets will charges the bomb gauge which when full can be detonated to unleash a blast for massive destruction. This special attack also cancel all bullets of the opposite polarity and destroy enemies on screen. This gameplay mechanic requires quick reflexes to not get shot by any wrong bullets. The biggest challenge lies in trying to get chain bonuses for hitting enemies of reverse polarity gives incentive to start dodging instead of continually switching polarities to absorb bullets.
EXCEED 3RD - JADE PENETRATE - BLACK PACKAGE
eXceed 3rd - JADE PENETRATE is the third game in the series and the sequel to eXceed 2nd - VAMPIRE. It was released at Comiket 72, on August 17, 2007 and also the last game made by FLAT before remade by Tennen Sozai as eXceed 3rd - JADE PENETRATE – BLACK PACKAGE in 2009. In renewed version player will encounter new enemies as well as different bullet patterns. Despite the implication in the game’s title that eXceed 3rd is a direct sequel to eXceed 2nd, one doesn't in fact need any prior experience with either of the previous eXceed games in order to understand the happenings of the game’s plot. Takes place in the world named Pandemonium, various races are fight each other for recognition and supremacy. The only sovereignty who rule over everything is seven powerfull sorcerers.
JADE PENETRATE removes Ikaruga’s polarity system, instead adding all new powerups which offer an excellent directed weapon fire when player activate slow mode. There are six levels and player have three continues. But since the game is harder than before, player can easily use them all too soon. Two new difficuties are added: extra and exceed, which intended for hardcore shooting players. Both modes can only be unlocked when player meet certain requirements.
Game Information
The eXceed collection | Genre: Shooting game | Developer: FLAT, Tennen-Sozai | Publisher: Capcom | Language: English | Release: 2012 | File size: 781 MB
Minimum Requirements
Windows Me/2000/XP/Vista/Windows 7 | Processor Intel 4 or better | 512 MB RAM | 1.5 GB Free HDD | DirectX 8.0 | 128 MB video card compatible with DirectX 8.0
