Twitch ’em up with the side-scrolling shooting joys of Rick Henderson

Created in order to pay homage to those classic 16-bit shooters from years gone by, Rick Henderson will have you twitching your trigger finger as you take to the depths of the universe, delicately dodging space debris and taking down enemy forces as you go. 

Out now on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5 and Nintendo Switch, Rick Henderson is the latest in an ever-increasingly long line of titles to pop up from the Eastasiasoft team. And whilst we sometimes find their games to be hit or miss – a bit of a hit for Ayo the Clown but a huge miss for Drunken Fist 2 – hopes are already extremely high for this one. 

Priced up at £6.69 and fully optimised for the new-gen consoles, Rick Henderson is off to a flyer. Throw in Xbox Smart Delivery to ensure you’re playing the best version for your console, and things get ever more exciting. But then we drop in the retro side-scrolling, the endless horizontal fun that Rick brings and the multiple difficulty levels and once more those interest levels rise. 

From there, a score system that works in multipliers, grazing, ranks, perks and more will keep you playing, as Rick Henderson lets you equip no less than twenty-seven of the finest pieces of weaponry known to a space cadet. Further upgrades and a pumping soundtrack pretty much seal the deal. 

Yep, we’re excited for Rick Henderson, and with the key features in place, you should be too…

• Shoot, dodge and graze your way through infinite side-scrolling action!
• Choose from 3 ships with a vast array of armaments and upgrades.
• Take down 40 enemy types and more than 15 boss variants!
• Use Bullet, Energy or Missile weapons for different effects.
• Face hand-crafted enemy swarms, randomly arranged in each playthrough.
• Select standard or hard difficulty settings to customize your experience.
• Access one-color mode for visually impaired players.
• Enjoy nostalgic 16-bit pixel art presentation and a synthwave soundtrack!

Give that trailer below a blast and then head to the digital store of your choosing, grabbing a copy of the digital delights of Rick Henderson as you go. The Xbox Store is here and lets you play on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. It’s on PS4, PS5 and Nintendo Switch too. 

Game Description:

Blast through menacing enemy fleets in retro side-scrolling shoot’em up style! Paying homage to arcade classics and wrapped in nostalgic 16-bit graphics, Rick Henderson is an endless horizontal-scrolling shoot’em up with unlimited replayability. Twitch your fingers through five enemy factions and their bosses, upgrade your ship and try to survive unpredictable space events. Rick Henderson features multiple difficulty modes to maximize accessibility, helpful tutorials to get you started and a deep scoring system with multipliers, grazing, ranks and perk bonuses. Choose a ship that suits your playstyle, equip 27 unique weapons, perform upgrades and test your skills against dozens of enemy types, all set to a blood-pumping synthwave soundtrack.