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rRootage Online is a version of the original PC rRootage, one of the finest productions from ABA Studios, which has one employee: the brilliant Kenta Cho. Cho's been making games for well over a decade now, mostly shoot-'em-ups, and gives everything he makes away for free; it's an attitude that he says comes from making the games he wants to play and having no interest in making money from them. In every respect he's a remarkable developer.rRootage is one of Cho's finest (and oldest) games, a vertical one-screen shooter with tons of levels and four distinct game modes, and while modes can often seem like little bonuses in shmups, in rRootage they're the whole focus. The core of the game is boss fights. Every level is one giant ship at the top of the screen and your ship at the bottom, which is in fact just a hitbox with a shell. The boss ship fires a pile of bullets, and will change form several times throughout each stage, which also varies up the shooting patterns. And there's one tiny, crucial other detail: the closer you are, the more damage you do.
This is rRootage in 'Normal' mode, but this is only one of four ways to play through its many, many levels. The modes are like a personal history of shmups filtered through Kenta Cho's unique style, and normal is straight-up bullet hell, where your special attack is a bomb that wipes out all on-screen bullets and damages the boss. This is the best way to settle into rRootage's central rhythm of dodging and getting close, but it's when the mechanics begin to take on some classic influences that things get spectacular.
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