A Quick Look At Sturmwind - Dreamcast & Switch Comparison

Zero Gunner 2, Ikaruga, Gunbird 2. All games that first appeared - in the home at least - on the Dreamcast, and which have found a new audience on the Nintendo Switch. The latest game to follow this trend is Duranik's awesome horizontally and vertically scrolling shooter Sturmwind. It's actually called Sturmwind EX and has been released on PC and Xbox One too, but for the sake of consistency we'll be looking exclusively at the Nintendo Switch version here.

Sturmwind was originally released as a totally independent game back in 2013, and at the time it was lauded for its (inter)stellar visuals and thumping soundtrack, as well as adding relatively modern features not usually seen in Dreamcast games, either contemporary or ante-mortem. Things like unlocking achievements and being able to save a replay to an SD Card; or being given a code at the end of every arcade run that could be entered into a bespoke web portal to post scores to an online leaderboard.

Sturmwind...both on and in the Nintendo Switch. See?

Yes, Rush Rush Rally Racing did something similar and online leaderboards were totally a thing back in the heyday of the Dreamcast, but for an indie dev to go to such trouble was just impressive back then. As well as being an absolute tour de force of graphics, sound, inventive gameplay mechanics and boasting a ton of content, Sturmwind felt like a complete package...and it wasn't even an official Sega-sanctioned release. Oh, and and it was released 12 years after Sega effectively killed off the Dreamcast.

Dreamcast

Switch

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. Duranik's finest moment has now found its way to the Nintendo Switch with some lovely updated visuals and all of the features that made the Dreamcast game a treat. So, how does it play and how does it stack up against the original? Buckle up as we prepare to launch the Sturmwind craft and take the battle to the stars...

Dreamcast Shooter Sturmwind Heading To Nintendo Switch

Another day, another Dreamcast-related shooter pops up on the Nintendo Switch eShop. This time, coming absolutely out of nowhere, it's Duranik's much-loved Sturmwind. Sturmwind hit the Dreamcast way back in 2013 after initially starting life as a project for the Atari Jaguar CD titled Native - indeed, there are fleeting references to Atari's maligned system hidden throughout Sturmwind.

Following the likes of Ikaruga, Zero Gunner 2 and Gunbird 2, Sturmwind EX for Nintendo Switch looks to be something of a 'remaster,' with improved screen resolution and totally redrawn graphical assets. The Nintendo Switch version will run at 1080p (docked) and at 60fps, while the upcoming Xbox One version will be full 4K, according to Duranik.

Though Sturmwind was originally released back in 2013, it was given a re-release in 2016 on Dreamcast and time has been kind - it's still as much of a blast to play now in 2019 as it was back when it first came out. This new Switch port has been handled by Duranik and is published by b-alive GmbH - the same outfit which published the recently released Steam version, as well as such gaming behemoths as Equimagic: Gala Show of Horses and Farm World. Hmmm.

Sturmwind EX features ripped directly from the Nintendo website (although I've removed the multiple typos and added some punctuation):

In Sturmwind EX you can play mission mode with all 16 levels, saving your progress with every finished level, or play arcade mode with 6 levels and no continues. Other features include:

• 2 different game modes: mission mode and arcade mode
• 16 Levels
• 3 difficulty levels
• Different weapons selectable
• Upgradeable weapons, drones and different weapon-/drone-formations
• Additional super weapons like super beam and smart bombs
• More than 20 large boss enemies
• Hundreds of different enemies
• Achievements, Highscore and Level statistics
• Customizable user interface

We've covered Sturmwind here at The Dreamcast Junkyard multiple times, and even interviewed Johannes Graf, the man behind Duranik a few years ago, so it's pretty safe to assume we're pretty big fans of the indie shooter.

Sturmwind EX releases on Nintendo Switch on Friday 8 November 2019 and is priced at £11.69. No word on a physical release yet, but we'll be sure to give it the same Dreamcast/Switch comparison treatment as we did with Ikaruga, Gunbird 2 and Zero Gunner 2.

Related articles:

• Developer Interview: Duranik
• Feature: Why Sturmwind Is Still Incredible
• News: Sturmwind Re-release Imminent