At first glance, this is another Eastasiasoft retro shoot ’em up, and it immediately gives the impression of being built on the same familiar engine with the same recycled mechanics. I’ve always had a soft spot for this publisher — and the developers they support — because they consistently dare to release games most others wouldn’t touch. But ever since Soldner X2, one thing has become painfully clear: almost nothing coming from Eastasiasoft’s shoot ’em up lineup can get anywhere near that level of polish, and that’s genuinely disappointing.
Most of these newer releases seem to come from small indie teams trying to break into the scene, and Eastasiasoft gives them a platform. That’s admirable, and sometimes it results in genuinely solid efforts. But once you’ve published one of the most refined shoot ’em ups in recent memory, you can’t help but wonder why the gap between that high point and the newer titles is still so wide.
New Mechanics Yet Old Mechanics…
BLAST’N BOUNTY thankfully does more than just recycle the usual retro shooter formula. It introduces a mechanic where you technically only have one life, but your weapons degrade every time you collide with enemy fire. It’s basically the same idea RESHOOT‑R uses — just nowhere near as refined as Spielschreiber’s Amiga masterpiece — yet it’s still a twist you rarely see in the genre.
Weapons work as pickups, and you choose your loadout before each run. Every completed level unlocks a new weapon, and you can carry three of them into the next stage. There’s no way to swap them mid‑level, and the only method to restore all three is by grabbing a weapon‑upgrade item that appears throughout the stage. On top of that, the game gives you a very generous invincibility window after taking a hit, which basically encourages you to plow straight through enemy fire to grab the upgrade.
Sounds fun, right? Well… not if you’re an experienced shoot ’em up player. The mechanic ends up making the game far too forgiving, stripping away the tension that normally defines the genre.
DITHERING, I HATE YOU…
BLAST’N BOUNTY is yet another game trying a bit too hard to look like a 16‑bit relic. You get the usual cocktail: heavy dithering, flickering bullets, and enemy designs that feel more placeholder than purposeful. The bosses, to be fair, are a noticeable step up — more variety, more personality, and generally better execution.
What I’ll never understand is why developers intentionally downgrade their visuals with aggressive dithering when they’re releasing on modern “super‑computer” hardware like today’s consoles and PCs. If this were an Amiga release or a game targeting late‑80s or early‑90s consoles, sure — dithering makes sense. But on modern OLED, LED, or whatever panel you’re playing on, it just ends up looking incredibly meh. It’s retro for the sake of retro, and not in a way that actually benefits the experience.
SOUND, 16 or 8bit, Please Decide…
The music and sound effects feel like an afterthought. Sure, the tunes themselves work — they sound fine — but why go for an 8‑bit style without committing to something authentic like real SID sound? And if the game is aiming for a 16‑bit aesthetic, why not lean into that era’s audio instead? I love SID, but there are far better ways to blend generations than this halfway approach.
They could easily have gone for an Amiga, SNES, or any other 16‑bit‑era sound profile. Instead, they’ve landed on that typical SEGA Master System / Mega Drive‑style audio, which — in my opinion — had one of the weakest sound chips of its generation. It’s a strange choice, and it doesn’t do the game any favours.
Too Short And Too Easy…
BLAST’N BOUNTY is over in about twenty minutes, with virtually no replay value, and the Platinum trophy is laughably easy — you basically earn it just by finishing the game. In those brief minutes you’ll dodge a fair amount of bullets, fight a handful of genuinely well‑designed bosses, and see some decent visual variety from level to level. The controls feel premium, the general gameplay loop is smooth, and if the difficulty had been even slightly higher, this could easily have been a one‑to‑two‑hour experience instead of a quick snack.
Every stage ends almost before it begins. My guess? They’re two minutes long at best.
For inexperienced players, the game also hands out a whopping nine continues, which is extremely generous. Across all my playthroughs, I never used a single one — the game simply never pushed back hard enough to make them necessary.
Nine Levels And A Story…
There are some cool bosses here, and they even come with a bit of story — though, like most genre fans, I skip it without a second thought. The boss names, though, are genuinely the highlight. Kob Botick and the rest of the roster feel like clever nods to classic gaming, and if you’ve been into games for a long time, you’ll definitely recognise a few of the references… maybe even all of them.
The Verdict…
One thing worth mentioning is the price: at $4.99, BLAST’N BOUNTY is undeniably cheap. Even though the game is pretty generic, you still get a fair amount of entertainment for that low cost. Just don’t expect more than half an hour of gameplay to beat it — and if you’re a completist, maybe a few extra minutes to grab the Platinum trophy, which is basically handed to you for finishing the game.
It’s a straightforward package: generic gameplay, simplistic graphics, basic sound, and a minimal overall presentation. Nothing terrible, nothing exceptional — just a small, budget‑friendly shooter that does its job and then quietly bows out.
It’s a straightforward package: generic gameplay, simplistic graphics, basic sound, and a minimal overall presentation. Nothing terrible, nothing exceptional — just a small, budget‑friendly shooter that does its job and then quietly bows out.
