Under Defeat

Written by Jeremy Duff on 2/25/2025 for PS5  

The shmup genre of games is certainly a “niche” market in the modern era. The genre had its heyday in the arcade scene; that was where it proved to have, arguably, its biggest success and where the fans have flocked the most. That hasn’t stopped games from making the transition from the ‘cade to the home market, but they are usually lost amongst the big budget releases of more popular genres on the home consoles. I, however, happen to be a huge fan of the genre and will take an installment whenever and wherever I can get it; I can especially appreciate it when a classic title in the genre gets new life on current consoles and that is exactly what is happening with Under Defeat.

The classic, 2005 arcade shooter from G.rev and Sega, is back in the forefront with an updated release on all the modern consoles. This isn’t just a straight port either, it is bringing along some new bells and whistles to sweeten the deal for returning players and hopefully entice some new ones to join the fray. There can be some debate as to how effective this release can be at pleasing both of those groups, but overall, this outing is a big success. The game, which first hit the home market as one of the final releases on Sega’s Dreamcast, has been brought back to life several times on different platforms, but this may be its best installment yet.

 

In terms of pedigree, Under Defeat is about as straight forward as they come in terms of the mechanics of a shmup, and that is meant in a good way! This isn’t a bullet-hell experience, and you won’t find yourself fighting with complicated controls or game systems here; you have an attack helicopter, and you can shoot and drop screen-clearing bombs. There is a joystick, and two attack buttons… that’s it! The “trick” up its sleeve, or what makes it unique, is its play on the aspect of controlling an attack helicopter. With a chopper, you aren’t locked in to simply shooting straight ahead. Here, your chopper can be tilted at an angle as you maneuver around the screen, giving you the ability to angle your shots at your enemies as you move out of the path of their fire.

I can’t lie: it takes a little getting used to in order to get the hang of it. Many shmups lock you in the straight vertical or horizontal position, limiting your ability to attack the same enemies that you are maneuvering away from. The tilt feature gives you a chance to strategize as you do as you swing your fire in an effective manner. Usually, it is fire or dodge, but here it is dodge and fire (if that makes sense). Once you get the hang of it, it becomes a feature that I wish existed in SO many more games.

That mechanic is the core of the Under Defeat experience. Aside from the tilting option, which you can adjust with inverse controls if you would like, the game doesn’t complicate things in any manner. You move, shoot, dodge, rinse and repeat. There is a forgettable story (not meant in an offensive manner) to give things a bit of substance but your goal here is challenging the high scores of yourself and friends, just like in the arcade, either by yourself or with a partner in 2-player co-op. It is a classic shooter from start to finish and one that proves to hold up quite well with its age.

 

While the new release includes the classic arcade experience in all its original form, there are a handful of upgrades added to this iteration that fans of the franchise will really appreciate. The most glaring change is the offering of the new, 16:9 aspect ratio mode of the New World Order mode alongside a nice upgrade to the textures and sprites of the game. It looks REALLY sharp from every angle. Not only do all the vehicles and enemies look great, but there is an amazing level of depth and detail to the background where you’ll see ground troops shuffling around and maneuvering, or cows running through pastures, as you fly overhead. There is a lot happening on the screen, and it suits it well to have it all spaced out across modern, widescreen monitors and TV’s.

Unfortunately, in what is hands down my biggest complaint of the experience, the game’s HUD didn’t get the notes about this visual update. Even though your gameplay area now spans the entire screen (although the classic arcade mode is present and gives you the narrow, vertical screen with the visual bezel on the screen), the HUD information doesn’t get shifted along with it. All the various information is still confined to the narrow, vertical area in the center of the screen. It becomes really distracting over time because things such as your score, life and bomb count as well as credit information are just floating right in the center of your screen. It looks out of place and would be much better suited to spreading out to the new corners of the action.

The soundtrack has received an excellent overhaul as well, courtesy of Shinji Hosoe. This Japanese composer has crafted a great score that drives the action throughout the various modes. This is just one of several music options available, including the original music and the various updates it has received throughout the years. It is little things like this that will really mean a lot to fans of the game you have been here before.

These sorts of additions go a long way to rejuvenating an experience like this for returning fans. If you have enjoyed Under Defeat in the past, you will surely enjoy revisiting its great gameplay and classic-shmup experience again. As a major shmup fan, it’s just extremely nice to see the game given the reverence it deserves and a chance to prove that it can still stand today as a great example of what joy you could find in a classic arcade experience. At the same time, that creates a bit of a problem for those who are new to the experience: it’s not doing anything new to make a place for itself in the current play space. The game is a shining example of what fans of shmups enjoy, but if you weren’t hooked before, there isn’t anything that will hook you now.

Personally, I love it and have really enjoyed relieving the adventure with better audio and visual. The game has tight mechanics and simple gameplay, putting the focus on the skill and experience of the battle. You aren’t fighting with other things and focus solely on the action, which I really appreciate. Under Defeat is as solid as ever and can still stand on its own against others of the same cloth, there just aren’t a lot to compare it to to show off how good it is in that niche area.