The arcade run and gun genre has endured even as the industry has moved on to more modern forms of gameplay and storytelling. There’s just something about the hard as nails challenge and satisfying carnage delivered by games like Contra and Metal Slug that speaks to audiences- and more of that is always a good thing. JoyMasher’s recent run and gun sidescrolling shooter Blazing Chrome delivers just that, and since its recent launch, it has caught the fancy of many. Prior to its launch, we sent across some of our questions about the game, and received some very interesting answers from Danilo Dias of JoyMasher. You can read our conversation below.
NOTE: This interview was held prior to the game’s launch.
"Boss battles are the big thing in all our games, we care a lot about them and we always pack our games with LOTS of them. As a run’n’gun we used a lot of encounters to guarantee that we’re always throwing some new to the player. This is essential for a run’n’gun."
How much will the gameplay style differ depending on which of the two characters players are playing as?
The first two characters in Blazing Chrome are basically the same, it’s just a skin, like in Metal Slug 2, 3 and X. However, after finishing the game you unlock two new very different characters, more melee style, faster and who can jump high but cannot collect special weapons.
Can you speak to us about the variety of weapons that will be on offer to players in Blazing Chrome?
We have a normal machine gun weapon, a grenade launcher, an energy whip and a particle cannon. We choose to keep 4 weapons because we wanted to guarantee that we’re not creating useless armament, every weapon has its strong points. Besides, the 4 main weapons players can collect assist bots. These are little fellas that help you with three different types.
Attack bot: A small robot follows the player and shoot enemies, like in a shmup game.
Defense bot: These robot brothers generate a shield that protect the player; if you get hit two times you lose them.
Speed bot: This guy helps the player to run faster, jump higher and double jump! Speedrunners’ favorite.
We also feature vehicles section in every stage to guarantee a good amount of variety in gameplay.
Boss fights and set piece encounters can often make or break run’n’gun titles- how much of an emphasis does Blazing Chrome put on such encounters? Can you talk to us a bit about how you’ve designed them?
Yeah, boss battles are the big thing in all our games, we care a lot about them and we always pack our games with LOTS of them. As a run’n’gun we used a lot of encounters to guarantee that we’re always throwing some new to the player. This is essential for a run’n’gun. We spend a lot of time designing them and creating crazy encounters, it was super fun but also super difficult, but we had a great time and we hope everyone has fun with it.
"A very experienced player will probably finish the first run in 50 minutes, however most players will take more time, also after finishing you unlock new characters and new gaming modes, it’s a hell of a ride!"
About how long is an average playthrough of Blazing Chrome?
Depends of the player, a very experienced player will probably finish the first run in 50 minutes, however most players will take more time, also after finishing you unlock new characters and new gaming modes, it’s a hell of a ride!
Are there any run’n’gun games in particular that you drew inspiration from for Blazing Chrome? I imagine you hear this a lot, but the game immediately gives off Contra vibes at first glance.
Ah yes, we got inspiration from lots of titles- not just Contra, there’s Metal Slug as well and even some underground titles like Gun Force 2.
Classic run’n’gun titles were often defined by how challenging they could be- is that something we should expect to see in Blazing Chrome as well?
Definitely, Blazing Chrome has a lot of challenges, even the easiest setting will put players to the test!
As an indie developer, what are your thoughts on the Switch, which has become a haven for indies since its launch?
Switch is a great platform to feature your indie title, there’s a lot of attention! There are people who bought two or more times the same game just to have it on Switch, it’s great!
Does the game feature Xbox One X specific enhancements? What can players expect if they are playing the game on Xbox One X? Is 4K/60fps on the cards? And how has the PS4 Pro version turned out in terms of resolution and frame rate?
Well, our idea is to keep 60fps in all platforms, since Blazing Chrome is a fast action game, we have to guarantee that. Now, we don’t have an answer yet for the 4k, maybe we can see about that in a future patch, at least on PC if your desktop is set at 4k the game will upscale to 4k automatically.
"Switch is a great platform to feature your indie title, there’s a lot of attention! There are people who bought two or more times the same game just to have it on Switch, it’s great!"
How is the game running on the original Xbox One and PS4, frame rate and resolution wise?
On Xbox and PS4 Blazing Chrome is running at 1080p 60fps, however the game’s native resolution is 427×240 so basically our game upscales to this resolution.
What is the resolution and frame rate of the Switch version in docked and undocked modes?
On Switch we’re also trying to keep 1080p and 60fps in all modes, we’re still working on some tweaks to fix all kinds of performance gripes that the game may have.
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