Uploaded June 2023 | Updated September 2026, 4 minutes ago

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zakichi.itch.io/wexew-mexem

Wexew Mexem is a freeware doujin shmup that came out earlier this month on itch.io. It was created by Zakichi, who is known for creating Kaikan, Vastynex, and Zakesta to name a few of his previous shmups. Many of his games pay tribute to older, more famous shmups to one extent or another, and this game is no different.

This game pays quite a bit of homage to Exed Exes and Vulgus in its presentation, two old school Capcom shmups. The mock poster art on the side is a reference to the Exed Exes poster art. The honeycomb like tiles in the background are also an obvious tribute to that game. The big bugs that swoop down are reminiscent of some of the enemies in Vulgus, as well as the swirling circles that drop down occasionally.

However, this game stands out from Zakichi's previous works because of its emphasis on scoring. The High Point Mode is pretty much your Hyper, and the bulk of your scoring will come from cancelling bullets while in this mode. Also, enemies killed while in this mode leave behind food, usually fruits, that you can pick up for even more points. You can enter this mode once you've filled up the bar on the left by picking up enough "Woops" left behind by enemies.

You also want to make sure your multiplier is as high as possible, which is measured by the bar on the right side of the screen. This bar builds up the same way as the High Point Mode by collecting the "Woops". However, if you let any of them fall to the bottom of the screen, your multiplier goes down.

It's a good thing that the scoring is really fun because the level design seems to be secondary for the most part. The actual stages are really similar to each other outside of the bullet patterns getting denser and the enemies being more plentiful. The bosses do not show much variation outside of the last boss. Thankfully, the action is pretty exciting despite that, especially in later stages as plenty of enemies and bullet fly around. It also helps that the game is pretty short, making this shortcoming more forgivable and easier to play again for a higher score.

As far as the commentary goes, I tried to react to each level one by one instead of doing a completely scripted commentary all in one take. There are plenty of things happening on screen and it was a bit tough to keep up at times. I know there are a few moments that could have been better, but this is actually my first real shmup commentary since my last two 1CC commentaries covered a racing game and a run and gun.

#shmups #itchio #freeware #freegames #doujin #zakichi