When most people think of the Super Nintendo, their minds immediately flock to games like Super Mario World or Donkey Kong Country. But for me, one of the games that resonates brightly from that particular era was Gradius III, one of those games that I hardly understood when I was a kid, and have grown to appreciate more as an adult. It was difficult, beautiful, and had one hell of a soundtrack.

While Shmups have fallen a bit to the wayside, some developers are eager to bring them back into the limelight. While the name Rick Henderson may not sound like something that would belong to a hard-as-nails rougelike shmup, I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered it years ago. Now? It's available on more platforms, and the Extra Edition packs in plenty of extra goodies that made me feel like I took a one-way trip back to my childhood.

It’s Been Far Too Long Since I’ve Held a Floppy Disk in My Hands, and ‘Rick Henderson’ Made It Happen

Game preservation is something that I hold near and dear to my heart. I have a collection of retro consoles. All featuring a variety of different games that I either grew up with or wanted to play but couldn't. As time has passed, I've amassed a sizable collection of games across various consoles. Seeing as Steam has said the quiet part out loud, stating that your games are just a license that they can revoke at any time, I've started collecting some of my favorite indie games on other platforms, or in physical form.

Rick Henderson, a game that many people may not have heard of, is the latest addition to that collection. It's available on Steam, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch, and it deserves to have more followers. It takes the frantic action of '90s shmups and adds in plenty of modern QoL features to make it engaging, replayable, and most importantly, fun to play. Much like how Glizzy is changing the game with curated game drops, VGNYsoft is hoping to keep the indie dream alive, giving smaller publishers a chance to put out astonishingly cool collector's editions.

Affordable and Collector Don’t Typically Go Together, but VGNYsoft Makes It Happen

Collectors' editions, especially as of late, have lost their sauce. Imagine going out to a store and dropping $250 on a CE for Borderlands 4, and not even getting a physical game, let alone a code for the game, with it. It's disgraceful and shows why I've slowly started to move away from Collector's Editions for most major games. But VGNYsoft does it differently, and I love them for it. No, this isn't a sponsored post — but they can hit me up if they want it to be, hehe — but game knows game. When I see something I like, I need to give it a shoutout.

What makes the Rick Henderson Extra Edition special, you might be asking? I'm glad that you asked. Rick Henderon is developed by Fat Pug Studios, an incredibly small studio that puts passion above profit, and the perfect candidate to receive a lovely collector's edition such as this. For $74.99, there are tons of physical goodies, including:

• Physical copy of Rick Henderson
• Floppy Disk with USB Drive containing Developer Archives
• 5" Vinyl with two soundtrack songs
• Pins
• Stickers
• Lenticular Display

It's incredibly slick, and I'd rather have something like this in my home any day of the week. Especially seeing how much effort has gone into Rick Henderson since its inception. VGNYsoft has a ton of amazing indie games available on physical, and I strongly suggest that you check them out. Okay, I promise I'm done glazing VGNYsoft, but I love their mission and need to protect them however I can.

Why ‘Rick Henderson’ Was the Surprise of the Year for Me

Sometimes, a game can completely take you by surprise. I've been craving something that could help me scratch that Gradius III itch. Seeing as Konami seems allergic to releasing a stand-alone version of the SNES copy? I decided it was time to start raiding the Steam shop in search of something better. That's where I stumbled upon Rick Henderson for the first time. While the name, honestly, didn't instill much hope in me, the screenshots and videos did.

This silly little shmup looked a lot like Gradius, while also having a ton of flair and a killer soundtrack of its own. So, for $6.99, I decided that I should jump in and give it a shot. Little did I know that this little game was going to completely surpass all of my expectations, delivering an interesting and intricate roguelike experience unlike anything I had played before. It took what I loved about games like Gradius and Thunder Force AC, and made it shine bright in a landscape of remasters and remakes.

For a Game About Loops, There’s Plenty of Variety Available

Rather than focusing on a tight story, Rick Henderson focuses on tight gameplay. It takes all of the tropes and quirks of the Shmup genre, twists them around on their head a bit, and turns them into an engaging and exciting roguelike. Roughly 30 weapons are available, and 5 bosses that I needed to try my best to defeat. In typical roguelike and shmup fashion, however, these bosses are not pushovers. In fact, I spent plenty of time dying not only to standard bosses, but to regular enemies along the way.

It's difficult in a good way, rewarding repeated playthroughs with not only an incredibly fun score multiplier system, but a ton of features that make it stand out. There's a "Graze" meter, which rewards players for being nimble and avoiding bullets with split-second precision. There are special attacks that each of the three available pilots can utilize, from holigrams to missile barrages. Each ship is also adorned with three weapons — a standard bullet attack, energy weapons, and missiles that can dispatch enemies in different ways. Oh, and you'll also need to see which attacks do the most damage to each type of enemy. Enemies will flash different colors depending on the weapons you're using, and you'll need to adjust on the fly if you're hoping to get your multiplier pumping. Good luck! You're going to need it.

In a World Where Game Key Cards Are a Thing, Physical Media and Preservation Are Key

Outside of Steam, I've been playing a lot of Rick Henderson on my Nintendo Switch 2, and that's why something like the Extra Edition is honestly important, more so now than ever. My physical collection of Nintendo Switch 2 games is an eclectic mix of anything from Donkey Kong Bananza to Hitman: World of Assassination. Many of the games that I have aren't even proper games, though. They're digital keycards. Those that are tied to a physical piece of equipment. It's such a strange thing to do, and something that makes this edition of Rick Henderson more poignant than ever before.

Every day, there are roughly 50 games released on Steam. That's a total of roughly 18,250 games released from January 1 to December 31. Well, if we're going without room for fluctuation. Many of these games are overlooked, and other games are pulled from storefronts for licensing issues. Sadly, many are just forgotten about after a while. Physical editions of smaller games like Rick Henderson, put together with some excellent goodies by VGNYsoft, mean that these games will have a much longer life. I'm all about that life, and I wish every game could get the same treatment.