I really love it when WayForward dives deep into its vault and brings back some of its more obscure games. They’re not all perfect, mind you, but they’re a reflection of a gaming era lost to time. Their latest rerelease, Sigma Star Saga DX, originally came out on the Game Boy Advance over twenty years ago. Now with some updates and remastering, this role-playing space shooter returns with quite the good spit shine.

Coming from the mind of Matt Bozon (one-half of the Shantae creators), Sigma Star Saga DX has you playing as Recker, an Earth pilot going undercover to stop the enemy species, the Krill. The game has two different styles of gameplay. First, there’s the top-down mode, which has you exploring planets, taking down enemies, and finding secrets. But from time to time, you will be called into battle, which leads us into the second style of gameplay.

When in battle, Recker will control a ship and shoot down enemies. For the most part, players are required to shoot down a certain number of enemies. The more they kill, the more points they’ll earn to upgrade Recker’s health and other offensive/defensive abilities. These battles bring to mind classic shooters, especially the Thunder Force franchise.

In bigger Ship Battles, you’ll sometimes have to deal with a boss at the end. Some of these bosses can be tricky, as they maneuver in ways that make it seem like they’re already predicting where you’ll be. However, with the right strategy and the right weapons selected, these boss fights can be both fun and rewarding. Win, and you may earn something that will aid you on your quest to take down the Krill.

As you roam through the worlds, not only will you fight enemies, but you’ll also come across some goodies. Perhaps the most important are the gun upgrades, which will aid you in your ship battles. There are a plethora of guns, bombs, and other secondary weapons where, with the right combination, will make your ship the ultimate killing machine. But is that necessarily a good thing?

Where Sigma Star Saga DX shines is in its story. It’s not just another war tale where the enemy is apparent. As you dive deeper into the Krill’s background and Earth’s own army, you’ll soon realize that neither side seems to be in the right. In fact, both sides of the war seem to be controlled by monsters!

There’s a huge emphasis on Recker’s relationship between the Krill pilot, Psyme, and the human scientist, Scarlet. Neither really trusts him, but if he wants to keep either alive, he’ll have to find ways to believe in what he’s doing. Even as the story dives deeper, Recker’s complicated feelings for the war just keep getting harder. All of it leads to an ending where you’ll have to make some sort of sacrifice to appease one of them. (Thankfully, there are multiple endings, which can be acquired through playing the New Game+ mode after completing it once.)

Visually, the game has the same vibes as it did in its Game Boy Advance era. Bozon’s trademark character designs are still just as cute now as they were in 2005, especially with both Psyme and Scarlet. Playing on the TV screen, one can see the clunkiness of the graphics compared to a small handheld. With that being said, the DX version of Sigma Star Saga has some solid improvements, especially in its map presentation.

DX also fixed one other thing: the random encounter rate. No more does it feel like you’re beamed into battle every ten seconds. Instead, it’s more like a minute, and while that’s still a lot, it’s a big improvement over the older version. It also helps that you can save whenever you want instead of at those special pedestals, but you’ll still need the latter to recharge your health.

This does bring up one gripe about Sigma Star Saga DX: the lack of health pickups in the Ship Battles. If you’re running out of XP, then you better hope that you’re close to your next upgrade. Otherwise, your ship will blow up, and you’ll have to start from your last save point. Believe me when I say just how frustrating this can be!

PROS:

• Solid story
• Cute character designs
• Lots of gun options

CONS:

• Lacks health pickups in Ship Battles
• Looks better on a smaller screen rather than a TV
• Gameplay can get slightly repetitive

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Sigma Star Saga DX may not have been on anyone’s “Returning Game Wish List”, but be glad WayForward brought it back. Even after twenty years, it’s still fun to experience. It may have some flaws with its gameplay, and its visuals may feel stretched out when playing on a TV, but where it gets things right, Sigma Star Saga DX hits its targets with glee.

Promotional consideration provided by WayForward Technologies. Reviewed on the Nintendo Switch.