If you’re a fan of side-scrolling arcade shooting, it turns out that the Switch and Switch 2 pretty well have an embarrassment of riches for you to enjoy on the eShop. Whether your tastes are more simple, geared towards bullet hell, or something in between, there are plenty of options out there. One that I’d missed on release, but have now gotten to spend quite a bit of time with, sort of stands alone as something that goes its own route, and its name is Rick Henderson.

While normally you wouldn’t think an arcade shooter would require checking out information on how to play, in this case it would be in your best interests. Sure, for the most part the base style of play is familiar, but it has some rules around its weapons that you’ll want to be aware of. Capable of choosing between your bullet, laser, and missile weapons, which are each mapped to a different button, you’ll need to be conscious of the types of enemies you’re facing on a periodic basis. Sure, the general mobs can be hit with anything, but if you’re facing ships with armor or shields you’ll want to be sure to use the right firepower for the right situation. Of course, just to make things interesting, you’ll encounter a variety of modifiers for each of your different weapons, and those can quickly turn your go-to weapon into one to have in reserve or vice versa. The lack of predictability and this juggling of different weapon systems absolutely helps to set the game apart from its older peers.

That said, there are also some aspects that didn’t quite agree with me. In general, I think the different ships you’ll have to choose from are too sluggish. I think this problem pretty well defeats the game’s graze system, which will fill a gauge that will call in some extra support briefly, but because even the game’s quickest ship simply doesn’t feel all that nimble, that system feels like more trouble than it’s worth. I was also incredibly underwhelmed by the pilots’ special abilities, which at best have a contextual use but functionally for the most part felt worthless. Granted, I didn’t expect them to be the screen-clearing uber attacks seen in some games, but with as much effort was put into the other weapons I hardly ever felt like the special was worth even considering. It’s a shame that some of these key elements felt a little out of whack, since otherwise the core gameplay really feels different and fun.