Gleylancer Reviews
Whatever the mode, there’s no doubt Gleylancer’s a brilliant 16-bit shmup. The game’s fantastic use of parallax scrolling adds not only speed but excitement to its varied eleven stages; taking you down through icy depths, weaving between small gaps in tight tunnels, slowly looping around a gigantic battleship, or hurtling through an asteroid field. The ways your Movers — the floating gun turrets that follow your ship — can behave are so different from one another they have a direct impact on how you tackle everything from “popcorn” enemies to end of level bosses, and the newfound flexibility of Modern Mode feels like the perfect twist on an already brilliant idea. Gleylancer is as fresh and thrilling as it’s ever been, only now it’s as authentic — or accessible — as you want it to be too.
Released in Japan in the same month as Thunder Force IV, when magazines felt fatigued with an overabundance of Mega Drive shmups, Gleylancer became hidden behind the likes of Gaiares, Gynoug, Hellfire, and Zero Wing as competition. Yet, it could attract attention today, since using the Rewind feature to complete 11 stages in less than an hour snags easy Platinum Trophies on both PS4 and PS5. Once precious trinkets have been grabbed it's most fun to practice each stage using save states to improve your skills, and see how far you can legitimately progress. Gleylancer deserves better than to become lost again, as just another Ratalaika Games easy Platinum release.
This Gleylancer re-release is full of meaty gameplay enhancements that make it one of the most engaging and easy-to-enjoy classic shmup experiences you'll have on modern consoles.
Gleylancer is a deep shooter that grew from a good shmup to a great one the longer I played it. To those in the know, this clever shooter's a tour de force, and I can now see why. It's smooth, addictive, highly replayable, and enjoyable, with rarely a dull moment. If you're a genre enthusiast, consider this an essential addition to your gaming library. Kudos to Ratalaika Games for publishing this, and for only $6.99. If this game had co-op, it might've been a 10.
There may not be much to keep you going back to Gleylancer once you’ve completed it, but that shouldn’t be much of an issue considering its budget price. And while the action it provides is rather basic compared to some other shoot ’em ups, it doesn’t stop it from being entertaining from beginning to end. In fact, it can feel quite refreshing. This is just simple, classic, retro fun.
This idiosyncrasy aside — it’s something you’ll just have to adjust to — Gley Lancer is a fantastic shoot ’em up, and Ratalaika Games have done an exemplary job with this port. Not only is it a fantastic, authentic-feeling way to enjoy a Mega Drive classic, but it’s also a thoroughly accessible means to do so, with its optional modernisations feeling fresh and well-implemented, but remaining optional for those who prefer to enjoy it how they knew it back in the day.
A great retro style shoot 'em up with beautiful visuals and a large selection of weapons and a bunch of replayability. I just wish the game was longer as it felt like it was over in no time!
Gley Lancer is one of those obscure shoot 'em ups that has aged impressively well despite its occasional annoying moment. Plus, the fact that it's been modernized in clever ways and you can even play it as a twin-stick shooter is just radical, dude.
Even having played a ton of arcade shooters over time I’m still fascinated periodically when I run across ones that I’d somehow missed over the years...
The only issue I have is with the difficulty of Gleylancer but what I have been reminded of is just what a crime it was that this game never got the exposure it deserved back in 1992 and what Ratalaika have done is perfectly bring back an absolute hidden gem to allow everyone to experience what is one of the best shmups that have ever been made and quite simply I say to you all – go and buy this game, go and enjoy this game and to Ratalaika I just say thank you for saving a piece of gaming history from being forgotten.
Games such as Gleylancer deserve to be brought back into the limelight. This revised version, for the lack of other alternatives outside of importing the original or taking the illegal route of acquiring a ROM, is an excellent way of legally discovering a true gem that time forgot.
Gleylancer is a fantastic shoot-em-up that holds up to today's standards. It also puts the vast majority of classic shoot-em-up ports to shame. The game has no noticeable input delay, it has loads of options for play, it adds in quality of life features, and it even throws in a modern control scheme for kicks. Sure the scoring system is a bit naff, but everything else here is golden.
Gleylancer is a 2D side-advance shoot 'em up that was originally released in 1992. Launched by Masaya on Mega Drive, it did not cross the Japanese borders, being relegated to the Japanese market, and after passing through the Wii Virtual Console, now It comes to us with a modernized version that gives the game a new dimension and greater packaging. Gleylancer can finally prove her worth in the shoot 'em up genre.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Gleylancer is a fun hardcore Shmup with challenging gameplay and I really appreciate all the tweaks that Ratalaika made to make ik more accessible for all gamers.
At its budget price ($6.99 at the time of writing), this game is an absolute no-brainer for shmup fans. I would argue that it’s a great option for genre newcomers as well, with its relatively easy opening levels before the difficulty really ramps up. As I continue my exploration of retro shmups, I’m glad this one fell into my hands.
Gleylancer is one of those few classics that even those who never played should have heard of. Though it is only a port among many that exist nowadays, one advantage of it is that it follows the Ratalaika standard — that is, a fun game at low cost compared to other similar titles and at the same time offers an easy platinum for trophy hunters, beyond being one of the gems from the golden age of the Mega Drive system.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
A timeless classic is hard to develop especially with advancing technology as advancements can lead to certain gameplay systems and visuals becoming dated. Titles like Super Mario Bros., Super Metroid, F-Zero, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Final Fantasy are a few examples of the most notorious classics that can still stand against modern titles but there are many more lesser-known games. Gleylancer is an example of a timeless classic that has aged well and still provides a stellar and challenging shoot 'em up experience but not many have heard of it. Now modern audiences can relive this classic with some new features or take on the challenge of completing it without any of the conveniences.
Gleylancer is an outstanding port of a fun Mega Drive shooter, presented with pretty much every quality of life feature you could possibly ask for! From SRAM Hi-Score saving, to dual-stick controls, to weapon and speed swapping on the fly, this revision is easily the best and most accessible Gleylancer has ever been by far.
Gley Lancer may be one of the best examples of official emulation, like, ever made.
Despite its short length, I had a lot of fun with Gley Lancer. The amount of variety on hand from the start is impressive and it encourages you to experiment with different formations and weapons. I’m a sucker for 16-bit games and this one hits you right in the nostalgia feels. The graphics are great for what they are but the music just makes it for me. Gley Lancer is definitely one for my import Mega Drive collection if I can find a copy. Despite playing this on PlayStation, I can see it being a great addition to the Switch. I award Gley Lancer the Thumb Culture Gold Award!