Apidya' Special Review - A Legendary Amiga SHMUP Returns

Ole Gamer Joe

Aug 24

6 min read

Apidya' Special

PC / PS / XBOX / SWITCH

8/25/26

Team Apidya / ININ

https://youtu.be/IxXIvYQJP3I?si=v0cYdgzqwOAztUsw

Released for the Amiga in the early 90s, it’s understandable if many of you have never even heard of Apidya, a name pulled from the Greek “Hexapoda,” meaning six‑legged insects. And yes, I looked that up… No goddamn way I would have known otherwise. Fresh off the success of Gem’X, their earlier, risqué puzzle hit, developer Kaiko decided it was time to try something a bit different, like, an entirely different genre kinda different. Sure, Apidya started as a straightforward arcade space shooter, but quickly took a sharp turn when graphics artist Frank Matzke pitched an insect theme be added to the project, to help the game stand out in a genre already packed with heavy hitters like Gradius, R‑Type, Thunder Force, and Darius. You know, a series or two you’ve PROBABLY heard of. As development rolled on, the team leaned into a bold anime‑inspired art style in both its sprites and cutscenes that paired perfectly with the buggy concept, resulting in one of the most fascinating SHMUPS of its time. From mild erotica to bugs… life’s strange like that for game developers, isn’t it?

From what I can gather and just based on the fact that I rarely hear anything about this game from anyone, it would appear that Apidya didn’t exactly light up the sales charts. And hey, it had a lot going against it. Arcades were still relevant and, well, this game wasn’t released in arcades. The Amiga itself was on its last legs, with the next wave of home consoles like the SNES and Genesis starting to plant their roots. Apidya wasn’t part of an established franchise, its niche, and yeah, even some pretty dang good reviews weren’t enough, apparently.

But you know how this story goes if you’ve followed games as long as I have… Apidya would become a bit of a cult classic, and now, much like Geppy X, a game we also reviewed recently, it's ready to make an unlikely comeback of sorts. Apidya’ Special has arrived, bringing a slew of new features, spreading its wings like PB over toast and hoping to transform into a beautiful butterfly. But should you let it crawl back into your library… or did it leave Ole Gamer Joe with a bug up his butt? Oh whoops, that’s something else up there!

Few games offer an art style like Apidya

I know I talked about how Apidya tried to stand out visually, and it certainly did, but truth be told, the actual gameplay is very similar to a lot of other horizontally scrolling shooters of its time. This version is interestingly enough based on the abandoned console port that had been planned. That’s right, no quick and dirty emulation here — much of the original team is back and really going for it! Our tale follows Ikuro, on a quest to save his wife Yuri, who’s been poisoned by some evil overlord dude. And what better way to save your girl than by turning into a bee, right? Sure… let’s go with it. Apidya’s cutscenes are kinda awesome in the same way the original Ninja Gaiden’s were, or really, whatever your favorite 8‑bit or 16‑bit cinematics happen to be. They’ve got grit, drama, and some wonderfully wonky translation work. Nobody’s playing this game for its story, so I’m not gonna harp on it too much, but everything here has that fun, old‑school charm, and I really enjoyed the art that both the intro and ending offered.

Let’s get to the really good stuff now! We play as a projectile‑firing bee! Move over Buck Bumble, who I always called Fuck Fumble. Anyways, the bee, or Ikuro, will fire away at foes through five unique zones with a few fun bonus areas to find, carefully weaving through precarious situations, bonus rooms with weird angel babies to collect, and ultimately coming face to face with some of the weirdest looking bosses you’ll ever see — like this giant baby thingy that looks like it got rejected by the Garbage Pail Kids. Did I mention Apidya is weird?

All the basics of the genre are here, including a power‑up system like that of Gradius. As you mow down foes, some of them will leave behind flowers if you're lucky, which, when collected, allow you to grow stronger. There are shields to earn, better beams and bombs to blast with, and plenty more, though surviving long enough to see these upgrades is a whole other matter. Thankfully, the game controls quite well; it feels responsive throughout, the speed seems on‑point, and I didn’t experience any notable input lag. There are really not many buttons to be concerned with either, being a SHMUP, so the initial learning curve is at least easy enough.

I probably shouldn’t have said the word easy there. Solid mechanics are great and all, but it doesn’t change the fact that Apidya is really goddamn hard, even on the normal difficulty setting. Yes, you can go down to practice or easy if the going gets too tough (spoiler alert: it will), but if you want to be a purist about things, this one is going to take some practice. Enemy patterns are unpredictable, bosses are brutal, hitboxes aren’t what I would call perfect, and level layouts can be every bit as unforgiving as the foes that fill them. Expect the environment — walls, cliffs, spikes — to kill you just as often as the many bullets and attacks. With its formidable enemies, tricky hitboxes, environmental hazards, and menacing bosses, this is not a SHMUP for the faint of heart, which is where the newly implemented accessibility features come in handy. Like I said, you can adjust the game’s difficulty, but there’s more! Lives can be lowered and raised, continue spots made more forgiving, there’s a GOD mode to cheese through the entire damn thing, you don’t have to lose weapon upgrades, hell, you can even go for 50fps to mimic the European version if you want. A lot of love and care went into this version of Apidya, and I for one greatly appreciate it as someone reviewing the game. Otherwise, I don’t know if I would have seen the credits roll. Heck, there’s even a 2‑player mode where a friend can pilot a drone and being a SHMUP you’ll earn points based on your performance — with adjustable thresholds for extra lives. Dumbing things down can come with a cost, however, as not every level is accessible on easy or practice mode, just something to be aware of.

Accessibility options make the game fun for everyone!

The developers have also gone above and beyond in terms of visual presentation. Players are able to enjoy updated HD graphics in widescreen or go back to a classic 4:3 format with old‑school appeal. You can switch between both with the press of a button, which also shifts between two versions of legendary composer Chris Hülsbeck’s soundtrack. And on that subject, you probably don’t need me to tell you this, but of course these compositions are incredible. Did you expect any less from the man that brought us so many incredible Turrican soundtracks? The songs are hard‑hitting, infectious, and backed by great retro crunchy sound effects and amusing announcement voice work. The 24‑bit pixel art looks fantastic throughout in both classic and updated modes, and a few CRT filter options are also available. I’ll tip my hat — this game has a CRT filter that doesn’t entirely suck. Apidya features creative, unconventional enemy designs, varied levels from swamps to sewers, and always sounds awesome in the process. For those wondering about performance, I didn’t come across any notable issues or glitches, with the game also running just fine on Steam Deck in my brief testing. This means you can take the action on the go without issue.

The history of Apidya may be a bit strange, but in the end, this is a really unique, fun SHMUP that fans of the genre and retro gaming in general can appreciate. Its newly tuned‑up visuals and soundtrack rock, it still plays great all these years later, and it offers plenty of challenges that veterans will appreciate. The art style won’t be for everyone, even if I personally loved it, nor will its difficulty, but the sheer amount of accessibility options helps ease at least one of those concerns. Not only is it great to have this all‑too‑forgotten release back again and more widely available than ever before, but it’s a great game for newcomers too that offers more than just nostalgia. Now buzz off and grab this one for yourself! I am awarding Apidya’s Special the silver genie lamp of approval.