4

4 /5

The third DoDonPachi game features a return to the world of DoDonPachi, with a mixture of new elements and altered versions of the stages and enemies of the previous game. The three ships, which function very similarly to their DoDonPachi counterparts, each feature different movement speeds and different option (support ship) formations. Players choose from one of two different kinds of bomb at the beginning of the game: a traditional shooter-style bomb, or an energy bomb whose meter charges up as the player just barely avoids being hit by bullets. In addition, players can swap option formations at any time during play by pressing the start button at the cost of a brief window of vulnerability. The chain scoring system also works essentially as it did in the previous game; the player's combo meter goes up every time an enemy is destroyed, and can be "held" by firing the laser at large enemies. Combos are slightly more forgiving than in previous games, as dropping a combo doesn't instantly reset the meter to zero but instead starts rapidly counting down; this gives the player a chance to rescue their combo by destroying enemies again.