Harmful Park

The horizontal shmup Harmful Park came out exclusively for the PlayStation in 1997, only to get a superfluous but much appreciated fan translation 25 years later. While I have experience with some bullet hell shooters, I don't normally play traditional horizontal shooters. Lo and behold, Harmful Park turned out to be one of my favorite non-RPG PS1 games: a charming experience through and through. Considering this is publisher/developer Sky Think System's only game (described by HG101 as part of the shmup "underground"), I'm going to assume the budget was considerably less than modest. But what Harmful Park lacks in production value doesn't matter much, as its addictive scoring mechanics and sheer creativity are what drives its replayability. At the time of writing I have 1cc'd easy and normal mode. Here are my thoughts.

You have four weapons to toggle through on the fly, each with a unique special ability (I just call them bombs):

-Ice cream cones that shoot lasers. Medium power. Ended up using this most of the time because it's a godsend for racking up points (and in turn 1-Ups)
-Jerry beans that are weak but have decent homing capabilities. Useful for when enemies are behind you. The bomb is a jello shield that grants you invincibility and damages whatever enemy you touch. Has its uses
-A pie thrower that shoots in arcs. Pies are slow but incredibly powerful, and one of the most satisfying weapons to use, but not always ideal. The bomb shoots out giant cakes all around you. Never used it much.
-A spread attack from a robot hand (really? they couldn't think of another baked good?). I found this to be the least helpful. The bomb is a screen-clearing sweet potato.

You can upgrade an equipped weapon if you grab a power-up orb. Each weapon goes up to level four but resets to level one if you die while using it. Thankfully you still save your other weapons' levels, and even then getting stuck with all level ones isn't a complete run killer. Power-up orbs aren't given out like candy but they're somewhat generously placed throughout, and deciding what to upgrade when adds a layer of depth to the gameplay that keeps it from feeling like a slog when you're underpowered.

Each enemy gives a base set of points, multiplied (up to 16) for every individual 'shot' that kills an enemy. A well timed shot can net you a chadload of points if you're willing to let enemies collect on the screen which adds an inherent risk-reward element to scoring. Some enemies drop emeralds that score extra points, starting at 500 and increasing in increments of 500 up to 4000; the catch is that letting an emerald fly offscreen resets the points modifier, and I've lost my fair share of lives trying to rescue a stray emerald in vein. Every 500,000 points nets you an extra life, making it very much in your best interest to chase after points if you're going on one credit (you start with just two lives). Each level lasts maybe five minutes, which is just enough time to explores it theme/gimmicks with a few mid-bosses to separate areas until you get to the big bad. Some enemies and bosses are more fun and creative than others, but the lesser ones are still solid.

It's disappointing the spread weapon feels so gimped in both score potential and power, as it could have pushed Harmful Park into an ever higher realm. Additionally, the music is fine (the MIDI is charmingly "of the era") but never exceptional. So as it stands Harmful Park is merely very, very, good. Worth your time, but maybe not the $700 asking price on ebay.

B+