It’s funny how certain colour palettes recall individual formats. The unmistakable combo of pink and cyan for CGA, for instance. As the name suggests, 8-Colors Star Guardians + opts for a limited colour palette, recalling the humble ZX Spectrum. Whereas the Speccy was known for its hard as concrete platformers and mixed bag of arcade conversions, this is more contemporary. I don’t know how gamers would have reacted to a boss rush game circa 1988; a concept not unheard of, but certainly quite ‘out there’ for the time.
What we have here is an inexpensive (£4.99) turn-based boss battler featuring the titular Star Guardians – a group of enthusiastic heroines, each with their own personality traits. A handful of modes are on offer, including a campaign spread over two significantly different chapters. With each mode lasting around an hour, this can be considered a condensed experience with no bloat or filler. There’s no inventory, loot, or even an XP system – it’s a straightforward case of battling bosses, with dialogue between battles that expands the story while fleshing out the characters, with one being an alien who speaks childishly.
The eight bosses can be tackled in any order, but this isn’t a case of choosing freely – a new move is gained at the end of a battle, and these are essential for overcoming harder bosses. This means there’s an order to figure out, requiring trial and error. Upon failure, our color-coded heroines – who brazenly resemble a certain mighty monster battling team – reflect on their defeat and share cryptic clues that’ll help on the next attempt. A good example here is that a flame-spewing boss requires a bubble shield to defeat, meaning you’ll need to beat the whale-like underwater foe first.
There’s more depth to the proceedings than merely working out the ideal order, as only three characters from a pool of five can be taken into a battle. Because new attacks are automatically assigned to certain fighters, you’ll need to assemble the perfect party too. While things aren’t too taxing initially – I was even able to beat two bosses simply by spamming special moves – the last two battles are quite challenging, requiring you to seize opportunities within narrow windows. If you’ve played a lot of turn-based RPGs in your time, chances are you’ll have an advantage in working out what’s required to succeed.
The second chapter, which was a post-addition to the PC version, is an improvement over the first. All the moves from the first chapter are available from the outset, and all five characters enter a battle at once instead of just three. You’re also up against multiple enemies, making for trickier battles that require a few attempts. There are more gimmicks and unique situations here too, making for a more varied experience. Overlook this chapter, and you’ll be missing 8-Colors Star Guardians + at its best. Arcade elements have also snuck in elsewhere, with one mode tracking the number of turns.
When it came to exploring the additional modes, my interest did start to wane, and that’s despite the two campaigns taking less than three hours in total. 8-Colors Star Guardians + is pretty limited in what it can offer, purely focused on delivering a boss rush experience. Once the campaigns are beaten, everything has been laid bare. The campaigns are worth jumping in for though, and the presentation is appealing – despite not boasting many frames of animation, characters have a lot of personality, jiving away on the spot – and the music is suitably upbeat.
Those who relish a boss battle will likely find this a perfectly priced budget buy. Not quite full-on RPG, not quite an arcade-like experience, 8-Colors Star Guardians + shares the common ground, and that’s a place we rarely get to visit.
DerMondhase’s 8-Colors Star Guardians + is out January 11th. Published on Switch by Flynn’s Arcade. Also available on PC.