Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke is the latest release from the prolific indie retro publishers Eastasiasoft, whose spooky platform game Halloween 1985 we recently enjoyed, and who will soon be publishing the 30th anniversary edition of the classic platform game Montezuma’s Revenge, as we previously reported.
But today, Eastasiasoft has a new side-scrolling shoot ‘em up for us, and this one’s in the vein of Konami’s surreal classic Parodius, or, given Twilight Parade: Moonlight Mononoke’s prediction for busty bosses with bouncing bosoms, perhaps the Parodius spin-off Sexy Parodius would be a more accurate point of comparison. Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke has been developed by Eastasiasoft, in conjunction with Super16bits, whose name gives you some idea of what you can expect from the game.
Indeed, the first thing you’ll notice about Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke is that the colorful pixel art graphics are absolutely stunning, perfectly evoking the classic era of the arcades and 16-bit consoles, and the bizarre baddies you’ll encounter throughout the game (all inspired by Japanese culture) are all gorgeously rendered, whether they’re flying eyeballs, vending machines, busty cat ladies, lucky waving cats, or all manner of other uniquely Japanese weirdness.
In many ways, Twilight Parade: Moonlight Mononoke is a rather bizarre game, with the game’s story, that is, involving a pair of twin girls and two of their friends wreaking havoc on the titular Twilight Parade after they were banned from attending it for being “too rowdy”!
So while the story and the enemies of Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke certainly aren’t your usual shoot ‘em up fare, the game itself very much is. Upon starting the game, you have four girls to choose from, each offering their own unique shot pattern, with upgradable weapons, with three of them flying on broomsticks, and a fourth riding a flying banana (of course!) The game plays like a standard meat-and-potatoes shoot ‘em up, with nothing particularly inventive to offer gameplay-wise, but the slick controls make the game a lot of fun to play, regardless.
One thing to note about Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke is that it probably isn’t a game for hardened shoot ‘em up enthusiasts, leaning very firmly towards the casual end of the genre. That’s not to say that there aren’t any tricky moments to navigate in Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke, as the game has frequent bursts of “bullet hell,” in which the screen is pretty much completely filled with bullets, and which require catlike reflexes, and agile dodging and weaving to avoid being hit, but with only five stages, and unlimited continues, finishing Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke shouldn’t pose too much of a challenge, though managing a 1CC would be much more difficult, and setting yourself a 1CC as a challenge would certainly add considerable longevity to the game.
Rather impressively for a budget game, a number of language options are available to choose from, namely: English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese.
Overall, then, Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke is a fairly simple, straightforward side-scrolling shoot ‘em that is elevated by its gorgeous eye candy visuals, and its very weird, and very Japanese setting.
While not offering much of a challenge, you’ll enjoy every minute you spend playing Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke, thanks to its slick controls, weird enemies, and its enormous sense of fun! In fact, “fun,” is the perfect word to describe Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke, as every second of the game simply oozes with fun.
So while Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke perhaps isn’t recommended for grizzled shoot ‘em up veterans looking for their next hardcore shooting challenge, it certainly does come highly recommended to anyone looking for a quick blast of fun, and even for newcomers to the genre. At its wallet-friendly budget price, Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke is the perfect budget game for anyone who enjoys a bit of silliness with their arcade action, and I had so much fun with Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke , that I can see myself returning to the game again and again for years to come. Not bad for a budget shooter!
Twilight Parade: Moonlit Mononoke was released today (November 5, 2025), on PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One & Series X|S (version tested), and Nintendo Switch.
