RangerDog (Switch)

You’ve gotta love subgenres, I know I do and as a huge fan of shmups I just can’t get enough of the “Cute em up” genre. Fortunately for me, Hanaji Gamea has dropped another Shmup and it’s time for the Doggos to dodge bullets. Is Ranger Dog the hero we need? Read on to find out.

Ranger Dog is the horizontal scrolling shoot ’em up/STG following the tried and tested format of shooting, dodging and high scoring, developed by OOEGAMES and published by budget Shmup enthusiasts Hanaji Games

You have a choice of 3 dogs to choose from, each with different “shot paths” much in the vein of titles like Gradius or Parodius, the latter feeling like a HUGE inspiration on this title.

Controls are simple with a shot button and a bomb button. You upgrade or change shots by finding pickups and can also increase speed, pick up screen clearing bombs and gain a shield from these.

Graphics are in the early 16bit pixel art style and ooze charm as you play through this anti-cat adventure. Stages look fun and the enemy ships are a pleasant mix throughout.

The game is 7 stages long with slight puzzle elements in some of the boss battles and one stage randomly had a focus on coin collecting. While great for mixing the formula up it seems a little unfocused at times.

There are 3 difficulty settings and you can choose how many lives to start with too. Credits are plentiful especially on Normal which hands you 9 to get through the game with, extends are easy to find throughout resulting in a first game 1 CC for me. 

The music is all kinds of fun with some silly little tunes, sound effects aren’t the strongest and I feel they could of gone slightly wackier here but it’s nothing damaging really. 

Several bosses and stages feel like throwbacks to classic shmups such as the Battleship stage and the flying between a giant cats legs which feels like a massive parody of Parodius, I loved the call backs and got some genuine smiles from it. 

RangerDog isn’t a Shmup that will change the world, it doesn’t need to, cute em ups are fantastic and fun titles something which RangerDog nails throughout. 

It’s not too difficult on its normal difficulty, it’s rules are clear and simple and the boss fights and stages are just good old fun.

Unfortunately RangerDog only supports local Leaderboards so no sharing online and climbing that ladder of supremacy. Still you can always go old fashioned and screenshot your score!.

RangerDog isn’t a Shmup that will change the world, it doesn’t need to, cute em ups are fantastic and fun titles something which RangerDog nails throughout. 

It’s not too difficult on its normal difficulty, it’s rules are clear and simple and the boss fights and stages are just good old fun.