99999, from Yongjustyong games, challenges you to keep changing weapons to defeat waves and waves of strange enemies.
99999 is a 2D platformer rammed full of shooting and guns. Heavily inspired by Vlambeer’s Super Crate Box, it features similar, tiered-platform level layouts, however rather than requiring the player to clear waves of falling enemies who grow stronger when missed, they must instead collect new weapons before the timer runs out. The levels are also wider and differ from level to level.
Enemies come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, which is something that makes your constantly shifting weapon into quite the challenge. Nimble, flying enemies are easily despatched with a rapid-fire weapon, but when the shotgun comes around everything becomes a bit more of a gamble. As hulking brutes emerge and you are left holding a basic pistol, it might seem a bit unfair.
99999’s charm really comes in through its unlocks and density of levels. The game’s title is indicative the variety of levels it is reported to have — the ridiculous number is split between several modes, of course, but is impressive regardless. Unlocks, new weapons and new ways to play are paced out based on persistence; the further you get, the more weapons you add to the selection, which will drop.
In addition to unlocking new weapons, the latter stages take you to different environments, replacing the green, hilly zone you start in with caves and hellish zones. You’ll also unlock a selection of items and abilities which can be added to your loadout — abilities like ‘Last Stand’, which clears the screen rather than you dying on your third hit.
The demo, which launched late last month, is branded as an alpha, with plenty of work still to be done before the game is ready for launch. 99999 is still early in development and is planned to launch for Windows PCs when it is ready. If you’re interested in following the development then you can on Twitter.
