Strania -The Stella Machina- is a Vertical Scrolling Shooter by G.rev, the same developers behind Border Down and Senko no Ronde, as well as the providers of the engine used in Treasure's Ikaruga. Strania is an old-school throwback to classic arcade shooters of the 1980s.
The arcade game was first released in 2009, players take the role of the Stranian force's Soichirou Touma (player 1) and Yu Beatrix Barrett (player 2) as they pilot their mecha and take on the Vower. Just as the old shoot 'em up days, players plows through everything that stands in their way, collecting various weapon power-ups, and generally blowing stuff up.
It was later released for the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade on March 30, 2011. Roughly two months after its release, G.rev released the downloadable Side: Vower Expansion Pack for the game. As the title suggests, the Side: Vower expansion allows the players to play as the enemy forces, the Vower's Yosemite (player 1) and Su Quadra (player 2), while the game's original stages are played in reverse, adding in a new soundtrack, and throwing in a harder game. A PC version has since been released in Fall of 2015 through Steam.
Amidst Strania's and Vower's conflict, the following tropes are provided:
- All There in the Manual: All of the background information on the story and characters can be found in the game's How to Play section.
- Another Side, Another Story: The Side: Vower downloadable expansion.
- Arrange Mode: The "Side: Vower" DLC has you play as the Vowers, the enemy forces of the main game. In it, you play through a harder version of the main game's six stages backwards with a new soundtrack.
- Back to Front: The Side: Vower expansion plays the game's six stages of the Stranian side in reverse order.
- Battleship Raid: For the Stranian forces, Mission 3 has the player defending their battleship from the Vower. For the Vower, players attack the Stranian's battleship instead in Mission 4.
- The Vower attacks a humongous space carrier in the final battle in Mission 6.
- The Berserker: Yosemite is known for going berserk in the heat of battle.
- Body Backup Drive: Beatrix, considering she has been killed in battle three times already and 70% of her physical body was recreated with cultivated cells.
- Bullet Hell: When the game's difficulty is set to Hard or Expert mode.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience:Stranians are blue and Vowers are red.
- Degraded Boss: The Mission 4 boss in both sides are re-fought in Mission 6 as common enemies.
- Easy-Mode Mockery: Playing the game on Normal prevents you from facing the True Final Boss, and ultimately, prevents you from seeing the game's ending.
- Energy Weapon: Plenty of it, ranging from simple laser bullets, to powerful laser cannons that fill up the screen.
- Every 10,000 Points: Gain extra armor points for the first 200,000pts then for every 1,000,000pts afterwards.
- Excuse Plot: The Stranians and Vower are at war, pick a side and blow stuff up.
- Eyepatch of Power: Beatrix, who may have lost her eye after being killed at least three times in battle.
- Guns Akimbo: Your mecha can dual-wield any firearm you find.
- Dual Wielding: See Laser Blade below.
- Sword and Gun: When combining both the Sword and any firearm.
- Handgun: The only usable weapon the Stranians get to use during the True Final Boss battle after their mechas are heavily damaged from escaping the exploding Vower fortress.
- Harder Than Hard: The Side: Vower expansion offers a harder game than the Stranian side.
- Homing Projectile: The Missile weapon, although enemies can fire homing missiles too.
- Humongous Mecha: It's what this game is all about.
- A more literal case with the Stranian forces as they battle against a Vower mech about four times their size in Mission 4 and one of titanic scale in Mission 6.
- Impressive Pyrotechnics: See for yourself
. - Inertia Is a Cruel Mistress: Happens in the True Final Battle for the Stranian side. The player's mecha is severely damaged and it's movements carry inertia, which can make shooting Yosemite's mecha and avoiding his attacks harder.
- Interface Screw: Mission 1's boss for the Vower, as it jams the visual display the game's screen to the point of Pixellation.
- Laser Blade: The Sword, and it can be swung rapidly with one hand or dual-wielded with both.
- Dual-wielding swords however limits to how many times they can swung to three in exchange for the ability to cut bullets with third swing of the swords. Each character also performs their third swing differently.
- Laser Sight: Can be seen sometimes before the enemy fires their weapons.
- Latex Spacesuit: Soichirou and Beatrix wear one.
- Limit Break, Super Mode: The Overdose mode provides a short burst of speed, invincibility, and a score multiplier bonus as the Overdose runs out.
- Mecha-Mooks: A majority of the enemies you fight are mechas or robotic drones.
- Mook Maker: Mission 3's boss for the Stranians.
- Power Glows: During your mech's Overdose mode.
- Rank Inflation: At the end of each Mission, players are ranked (from lowest to highest) C, B, A, and Snote and given a point bonus for the rank.
- Razor Wind: The men in the game when dual-wielding swords. The women makes use of a Spin Attack.
- Scoring Points: Enemies you destroy rewards points of varying amounts, as does leveling up your weapons' ranks with use and collecting them. Using your Overdose will give you a score bonus of x1.1 to x2 as the Overdose depletes upon use. At the end of each stage, you're awarded extra points based on your performance in the stage.
- Side Missions: There are defense and assault missions to score extra points during Missions 3 and 5 for the Stranians and on Mission 2 and 4 for the Vower.
- Spread Shot: The Vulcan weapon fires in a spray burst, and leveling it up will up the spread and rate of fire.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Everything you destroy goes boom. Literally.
- Super-Deformed: At the end of game's trial version, players are treated to super-deformed versions of Soichirou, Beatrix, Yosemite, and Su while they are having a pie fight against each other. Said super-deformed versions of the characters can purchased as Gamerpics from their respective icon packs.
- Sword Lines: Occurs whenever you swing the sword.
- True Final Boss: Only accessible on Hard and Expert difficulties.
- Stranian side: after the Stranians narrowly escaped the explosion of the Vower's fortress, they are pitted against in one last stand-off with Yosemite's burning mecha, all while the player's mecha is wrecked beyond repair and armed only with a handgun for the battle.
- Vower side: they face against Soichirou's mech while taking their mech's Overdose capabilities up to eleven.
