We’re gonna enjoy this game…Ordyne trying.
Ugh, that’s terrible. Let’s move on.
Namco released the cartoonish shoot-em-up Ordyne to Japanese arcades in 1988. It’s definitely one of Namco’s lesser-known properties, in part because its only home console part was to the PC Engine/TG-16. The latter of those ports is what we’re taking a look at this week.
Ordyne is a horizontal shoot-em-up, or ‘shmup’ as die-hards tend to call them. It plays pretty similarly to Gradius and similar games – you’re met with small groups of enemy ships, and you get a bonus pickup if you wipe out an entire group. In the case of Ordyne, the pickups are all “crystals,” the game’s currency which is used to by power-ups of various types.
That’s right – Pac-Man has changed careers and is now, uh…bombing stocks? I didn’t try this one, so I’m not sure what it does. Other items increase your speed and/or firepower, often to significant degrees, but like a lot of other games in this genre, you lose those powerups if (and when) you die.
The TG-16 version of Ordyne is decently forgiving when it comes to difficulty – it gives you five lives per game as well as 5 continues (though the latter has you restart the level you’re currently on). It typically avoids both super easy sections and “bullet hell” situations, which is nice – it’s a good challenge without being totally infuriating. That said, this version does suffer a bit in how it controls – precise movement is a huuuuge part of shooters like this, and in Ordyne‘s tighter spots your ship can feel just a bit too clunky. In some sequences, like this weird “red blood cell” area, I really round myself wishing for smoother controls.
That’s honestly about as severe of a complaint as I can levy against Ordyne. It plays out fine, has interesting environments and enemies, and challenging but satisfying boss fights:
It’s also worth noting that this is a pretty darn impressive conversion from the original arcade game. The graphics and controls are all a bit smoother, but the overall experience is about the same . Here’s that same boss fight in the arcade version:
Not a bad conversion at all.
If you’re a fan of shoot-em-ups or want to get a glimpse at an obscure corner of Namco’s history, Ordyne is definitely worth a try. It probably isn’t in the top tier of the “shmup” pantheon, but it still looks and plays really well. The TG-16 has a surprisingly robust lineup of lesser-known shooters in general, so this is one of several you should probably hit up if you have the means.
Ordyne never got any sequels, though it has been referenced a couple of times in other Namco releases, particularly ones that also call for random shopkeepers. She runs a taco stand in the weird sports arcade release Mach Breakers and flying store in the crossover tactics game Project X Zone 2. She’s a real entrepreneur.
Our next game is going another 16-bit Namco joint, though that’s about where the similarities end to this week’s entry. There will be (perhaps unfortunately) a lot less flight and space murders. You can’t win ’em all, I suppose. See you then!