There is something wonderfully odd about a game in which the hero turns into a bee and takes to the skies to save his poisoned wife, but Apidya’ Special has always embraced that peculiar premise rather than trying to hide it. Originally released on the Amiga in 1992, the shoot ’em up returns on PlayStation 5 in a version rebuilt from the ground up by Team Apidya, preserving the basic structure of the original while giving its presentation and accessibility options a considerable overhaul. The story remains little more than a reason to send Ikuro through a miniature world filled with insects, creatures and increasingly strange obstacles, but that is hardly a problem for a genre where the action has traditionally mattered far more than the narrative. The opening and ending presentation does add some personality, however, and the wonderfully bizarre setup fits the game’s distinctly early-’90s character rather well.
At its heart, Apidya’ Special is an unapologetically traditional horizontal shoot ’em up. Ikuro flies continuously through a series of stages, shooting enemies, avoiding projectiles and environmental hazards, and learning the patterns that stand between the player and each boss. Defeated enemies can drop flowers, which are used to build up a familiar power-up system that lets the player decide when to invest in increased speed, different firing patterns, bombs, a laser, a drone or a protective shield. That gives the otherwise straightforward combat a little more tactical consideration than simply holding down the fire button, since choosing when to cash in those flowers can make the difference between being well equipped and being caught without the tool needed for the next section. There is nothing particularly revolutionary here, and anyone looking for a modern bullet-hell shooter with layers of systems will probably find the mechanics rather basic, but Apidya’ Special understands that its appeal lies in faithfully delivering an older style of arcade action rather than reinventing it.
That commitment to old-school design also makes the difficulty something of a double-edged sword. Apidya’ Special can be brutally demanding, with enemies appearing from awkward positions, hazards that can punish unfamiliarity and sections that are clearly designed around learning through failure. Some of the more troublesome encounters can feel unfair before their patterns become familiar, particularly when enemies appear with little warning or when the visual activity makes it difficult to immediately identify what is dangerous. Boss hit detection and certain environmental challenges can add to that frustration. At the same time, the game does a good job of recognising that modern players do not necessarily have the patience to endure every limitation of a 1992 shoot ’em up. Difficulty levels, additional lives and continues, checkpoints, the ability to retain upgrades after death and other configurable options allow players to decide just how closely they want to reproduce that old-school punishment. Those options do not completely remove the challenge, but they turn what could have been an unnecessarily inaccessible relic into something much easier to approach.
The controls complement that philosophy nicely. There is very little to learn, which makes Apidya’ Special immediately approachable, and the responsiveness is important when the screen begins filling with enemies and projectiles. The additional control settings, including options affecting analogue dead zones and directional sensitivity, are particularly welcome on a modern controller. There are nevertheless moments when the game’s age shows through in its design, especially when dealing with enemies positioned close to the ground or hazards that leave little room for correction. The absence of a conventional screen-clearing bomb in favor of a charged attack is also an unusual choice for players accustomed to more contemporary shoot ’em ups. None of this fundamentally undermines the experience, but it does reinforce the fact that this is a carefully preserved arcade design rather than a game rebuilt around modern genre conventions.
Where Apidya’ Special really manages to distinguish itself is in its world design. The early stages use nature as the foundation for their imagery, turning gardens, vegetation and waterways into surprisingly imposing battlefields where ordinary insects and animals become giant threats. Later areas move into sewers and more technological environments, creating a deliberately strange progression that can involve everything from grotesque organic enemies to mechanical constructions. Some of the later science-fiction visuals are less imaginative than the strongest early stages, and the final stretch can feel comparatively plain, but the overall variety gives the campaign a personality that many mechanically similar shooters lack. Giant insects are hardly a revolutionary concept, yet Apidya’ Special repeatedly finds entertaining ways to make its miniature world feel unusual, and the collection of bosses and hidden stages gives the adventure more variety than its simple premise initially suggests.
The visual treatment is arguably the strongest part of the remake. Rather than simply presenting an emulated version of the 1992 release, Apidya’ Special recreates its pixel art while offering a modern widescreen presentation with additional parallax effects. The original 4:3 presentation can also be selected, and CRT effects such as scanlines and bloom help reproduce the appearance of an old home-computer display. More importantly, these options never feel like an attempt to disguise the game’s age. The ability to switch between the modern and original presentations makes it possible to appreciate how much work has gone into the remake while still preserving the character of the source material. The enhanced visuals can occasionally become busy enough that bullets are harder to distinguish from the background, particularly in some of the more elaborate sections, but the trade-off is a much richer and more expressive version of the game’s already distinctive pixel art.
The same care has gone into the audio. Chris Hülsbeck, who composed the original soundtrack, returns with newly recorded studio versions of the music, giving the soundtrack a more polished presentation without abandoning its retro identity. The new arrangements are one of the clearest examples of how Apidya’ Special manages to modernise rather than simply duplicate its source material, while the expanded sound effects retain the appropriately arcade-like character of the original. Being able to compare the classic and updated audiovisual presentations makes the preservation aspect particularly appealing, especially for players familiar with the Amiga release. For newcomers, meanwhile, the music and sound design work perfectly well without requiring any nostalgia to appreciate them.
There is also more here than simply running through the campaign once and putting the game aside. Five themed worlds, multiple stages, numerous bosses, hidden bonus sections and events such as Night Mode provide a reasonable amount of material for a compact shoot ’em up, while the local two-player mode adds another welcome way to experience the stages. The cooperative option is particularly well suited to the straightforward design, as a second player can simply join the action without needing to understand an elaborate progression system. At the same time, the game’s relatively short core campaign means that its longevity depends heavily on whether the player enjoys improving runs, tackling higher difficulty settings and exploring the additional content. For someone uninterested in that arcade-style pursuit of mastery, Apidya’ Special can feel rather brief.
That ultimately leaves Apidya’ Special in an interesting position. It is not doing enough mechanically to stand completely apart from the many other retro-inspired shoot ’em ups available today, and its old-fashioned difficulty and occasional visual clutter can make it less inviting than some of its modern competitors. Its real strength is the combination of a wonderfully peculiar setting, memorable stage design, strong pixel art and an unusually thoughtful approach to preserving the original audiovisual experience. The accessibility options also strike a good balance: players can make the game considerably more forgiving without turning it into something fundamentally different. Apidya’ Special therefore works best not as a groundbreaking new shooter, but as a lovingly reconstructed piece of Amiga history that still has enough personality to justify its return. For dedicated shmup players and retro enthusiasts, there is plenty to appreciate; for anyone simply looking for the next big evolution of the genre, the familiar mechanics may leave less of an impression.
Score: 7.0/10