Shutshimi is a wacky retro-styled 2-D side-scrolling shooter, and what makes it unique is that levels only last ten seconds before you move onto the next. It’s like Gradius meets WarioWare!  Play as a goldfish with huge muscular arms (kind of looks like Trogdor or that dolphin thing from Gravity Falls), and shoot all manner of sea creatures as you try and survive and power-up.  Shutshimi is available for download on Wii U, PSN, and Steam, but reviewed on Wii U here.

Just like other 2-D shooters such as Gradius or Darius, you’ll mow down waves of sea life and other critters as you try not to get hit yourself. After ten seconds, the level is over and you’ll be presented with a shop screen.  You have a few seconds to choose an item from the shop, and then it’s off to the next round of ten second shooting.  And you just repeat the process until you run out of lives!

Every few rounds you’ll face a boss. You still only have ten seconds, so if you don’t defeat it, you’ll have to come back after a few more rounds.  But luckily the energy you took off of the boss will still be gone, so you can defeat them eventually.  Once you do, you’ll face a new tougher boss after a few rounds as well.

In the shop screen, you’ll have to pick from one of three items, but the pictures of the items and the descriptions under them won’t help at all. Some people may be annoyed by this, but it’s all part of the randomness of the game so you just have to roll with it.  Some items give you permanent or temporary power-ups, like faster or more powerful shots, rapid fire, three-way bullets, a fishbowl shield, and much more.  Other times you might get a hat, which can sometimes be used as a power-up as well.  Other times what you pick may affect the stage or your controls.  You might slow down or speed up in the next level, have your controls reversed, or view the screen upside down.  One item can even turn the whole next ten second level into an inflatable bounce house where you just bounce around and don’t have to worry about dying!  Part of the draw of the game is adapting to whatever challenge or new thing they throw at you every ten seconds.  And while many of the items seemed random, I noticed that I’d play the next level in a thunderstorm if I picked the boomerang, or would play the level upside down if I picked the cat statue item, so maybe it’s not as random as I think it is.

Shutshimi has lots of gameplay modes. There are tutorial and beginner modes, as well as normal, hard, and boss rush modes.  You can also do multiplayer with up to four people, but multiplayer is actually harder than single player because many of the items in multiplayer mode affect your controls in relation to the other players, and you bump into each other and bounce off of one another instead of passing through them.  You can also view high scores and achievements.

Really the only problem I had with the game was I hoped the multiplayer mode would make things easier, but it doesn’t. Also, some serious shooter fans may not like the randomness of the power-up system, as it can sometimes keep you from getting the high score you want.  But that’s just part of the game’s silliness, and that’s where the charm of the game comes from.  Your score is displayed on the bottom screen by a flexing muscle arm, and one of the hats you get is a blonde flattop, and they play Guile’s theme from Street Fighter 2 in the background for that level!  I’m surprised Capcom let them get away with that.  So if you like shooter games with an extra dose of wackiness, you might want to check out Shutshimi.

Kid Factor:

Shutshimi: Seriously Swole is rated E-10 with ESRB descriptors of Mild Fantasy Violence, Crude Humor, and Use of Tobacco. While you do shoot sea creatures, they only explode into confetti, so it’s not too terribly violent at all.  In the opening cutscene, your fish character is shown cocking a gun and smoking a cigar looking all tough, so that’s the tobacco usage.  One of the items makes the next level have crudely draw butts in the background with farting noises, so that’s where the crude humor comes in.  But the game is so silly and goofy I’d let any kid play it.  Reading skill is helpful for the menus, but not necessary just to play.  And the whole family can have fun all at once with the four player multiplayer mode.

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