VEXAL: The Mechanic's Uprising
ORIGINAL SHMUP. DO NOT STEAL.
REZON, Arcade Archives 2, and an idea that got a little out of hand.
Sometimes the internet gives you a headline that practically demands investigation.
And sometimes that investigation leaves you wondering why you bothered clicking in the first place.
Enter REZON, a relatively obscure horizontal arcade shooter that has recently found itself back in the spotlight thanks to HAMSTER's Arcade Archives 2 release.
Our friends over at Time Extension introduced it with a rather interesting headline:
1987's Rezon (Original Shmup Do Not Steal) Shamelessly Slips into the Arcade Archives 2 Lineup
Well, that's certainly one way to get someone's attention.
Naturally, I clicked.
The elephant in the arcade.
REZON is a horizontal scrolling shoot-'em-up originally developed by ALLUMER.
Players control an SR-91 fighter equipped with something called the VAWS (Variable Armor & Weapon System). Its attachments provide additional offensive and defensive capabilities, including attacking enemies from behind and blocking incoming projectiles.
Sounds interesting enough.
However, there's one rather noticeable elephant in the room.
R-Type.
Time Extension isn't particularly subtle about the similarities. The article points out the resemblance between ships, enemies, weapons, stage layouts, attack patterns, and even the logo typography.
Whether you consider REZON an interesting historical curiosity or an exceptionally enthusiastic exercise in borrowing homework, it's certainly an unusual addition to the arcade preservation catalogue.
So what's the damage?
HAMSTER has brought REZON back through its Arcade Archives 2 lineup.
The Xbox listing offers the game for $9.99.
View Arcade Archives 2 REZON on Xbox
You can also browse the broader Arcade Archives catalogue here:
There's something worthwhile about preserving these older arcade titles, even the ones that have a questionable reputation.
But that doesn't mean every release is automatically worth buying.
The clickbait question.
Now, here's where I have a little grievance.
The headline did its job. It got my attention.
"Original Shmup Do Not Steal" is practically an invitation to investigate.
But getting someone to click and giving them something worthwhile to read are two different things.
I was hoping for a little more arcade archaeology. What was its actual history? How widely was it distributed? What happened to the original hardware?
There's an interesting story hiding behind the headline.
I just wanted a little more of it.
Still, at least the article introduced me to something I probably wouldn't have gone looking for otherwise.
And that brings us to an entirely different idea.
VEXAL: THE MECHANIC'S UPRISING
A fictional 20XX arcade shooter concept from Vexaris Games.
What if we took the general idea of a horizontal scrolling space shooter and gave it an entirely new identity?
Not another lost arcade release. Not another suspiciously familiar spaceship.
Something of our own.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow us to introduce VEXAL™: THE MECHANIC'S UPRISING.
The proposed look of a game that doesn't exist. Yet.
Meet Kade Vexal.
Imagine a disgraced genius mechanic who has spent his career designing experimental military spacecraft.
His designs are rejected. His funding disappears. His former employers decide he's too dangerous to continue working.
Naturally, Kade takes this rejection exceptionally well.
By disappearing into a hidden industrial complex, he begins constructing his own private fleet using reverse-engineered technology, custom weapon systems, and stolen alien alloys.
His ultimate ambition?
Take control of Earth's defense network and reshape the world according to his own design.
His company? Vexaris Games.
His creation? VEXAL.
And his attitude? Nobody told this man that being rejected from a government contract wasn't a declaration of war.
What would the game actually be?
Our fictional concept would be a modern horizontal scrolling shoot-'em-up with a focus on modular spacecraft, weapon customization, and increasingly ridiculous mechanical adversaries.
Imagine:
- Customizable fighter spacecraft.
- Modular weapon and armor configurations.
- Boss encounters against massive biomechanical machines.
- Multiple environments, from orbital foundries to alien industrial complexes.
- A campaign following Kade Vexal's expanding private army.
Rather than simply collecting another weapon upgrade, the player would gradually develop a combat configuration suited to different enemy types and encounters.
The idea is to take the familiar arcade shooter formula and give it a personality of its own.
Whether it would actually make a good game is another question entirely.
But that's the fun of imagining it.
A little help from Grandpa Jerry.
Of course, no questionable gaming project would be complete without a visit from Jerry "The Ankle-Biter" Silverhand.
Our resident raccoon has already inspected the proposed advertisement and apparently approved the entire operation.
His official verdict:
A disgruntled mechanic, a private spaceship empire, and a world-domination scheme?
Yeah. This is VEXAL.
Jerry's final verdict.
REZON brought us the headline.
The headline brought us the investigation.
And the investigation somehow resulted in an entirely fictional gaming company, an angry mechanic, and a spaceship empire.
Sometimes you don't need to buy the game.
Sometimes you just need to imagine the game you wish existed.
VEXAL™ — THE MECHANIC'S UPRISING.
A fictional 20XX game concept from Vexaris Games.
— Jerry "The Ankle-Biter" Silverhand
Department of Petty Affairs — Office of Arcade Archaeology & Questionable Entertainment.