Review by: Matthew Frost
Published: September 17th, 2005

The scrolling-shooter hasn’t changed very much from when it first appeared more than two decades ago. Despite this, the age-old genre still has some life in it with recent and very impressive releases such as Ikaruga, Gradius V, and R-Type Final showing a whole new generation of gamers why the simple formula has endured for so long. So perhaps it is not so surprising to see many impressive shoot-em-ups, or “shmups” as they’re fondly called, also appearing on the handhelds which are uniquely suited to presenting older genres to new generations. What is surprising is that a German developer, Shin`en, is responsible for some of the most impressive of these releases in what is a genre usually dominated by Japanese development teams. Shin’en has previously created two other shooters, Iridion 3D and Iridion II that presented a level of detail previously not thought possible on the GBA. While Iridion 3d received only lukewarm reception by critics, Iridion II was generally regarded as an outstanding shooter. Now Shin`en has delivered their latest offering, Nanostray, to Nintendo’s DS.

Nanostray’s meat and potatoes is the time-tested shooting action in which you pilot your space fighter from a top-down perspective while trying to survive an onslaught of aliens that seem all too willing to throw themselves into harm’s way. Beyond that, Nanostray brings several interesting twists to the table. Instead of the standard format in which you simply progress from level to level, you are presented with sets of three levels to choose from and play in any order with only the last two levels being played sequentially. More over, the game autosaves after each level and allows you to have up to three games saved at any one time.

Beyond the main adventure mode you’ll find an arcade mode, multiplayer mode, and a challenge mode, as well as a gallery for unlocked art and music. For most players the arcade mode will be the real draw of the game since it serves as the means to achieve and record high-scores.
Unlike other scrollers, the arcade mode is broken up into the eight individual levels with you trying to achieve high scores for each of them instead of the game as a whole. When you achieve a high score the game will generate a “nanocode” for you to take to the Nanostray website so you can see how you rank against the world. As for the challenge mode, you are presented with twenty-two challenges that range from achieving a certain score to completing a level without the use of autofire. Completing these challenges will present you with new treats in the gallery.