It’s more than just that, though, it’s also an excellent game. At its most basic level, it’s just a shmup, but the stylus-only control makes it unlike any other game in the genre. The ship is moved by dragging it around, and shots are fired by flicking the stylus in the desired direction anywhere else on the touch screen. It can be problematic at times when the ship is accidentally grabbed when a shot was intended, but these occurrences are rare and as long as the player keeps track of where their ship is, rarer.

In a wonderful touch, enemy fire is not just from enemies, but from the player themselves. With the bullets fired taking the form of fireworks, anything that doesn’t hit an enemy explodes when it reaches the edge of the screen and the debris rains down as friendly fire. In later levels, this is often the difference between success and failure.

Failure is a common enough occurrence as it is. Big Bang Mini is very old-school in difficulty, in that it punishes every single mistake. There’s no health bar, no second chances, and no room for error. Get hit once, and it’s back to the very beginning of the level. While the temptation is to plant the ship in a safe part of the touch screen, this tactic is futile due to Arcade mode's method of progression. Destroyed enemies drop stars, which must be collected by dragging the ship towards them, filling a gauge on the left side of the lower screen. Only once the gauge is filled will the level end.

There’s a lot to contend with; find a safe place to fire from, avoid enemy (and player) fire, all the while keeping in mind that falling stars need to be collected – it’s a lovely system that ensures there’s always something to think about, creating some hectic gameplay. With 90 levels in the main arcade mode to battle through, however, these mechanics can become stale in the middle levels. It starts slowly, but the gameplay is fresh and it's a pleasure to play. It ends frantically, with bullets everywhere, quicker, cleverer enemies, and the difficulty adds an incredible amount of fun to the gameplay. Other levels, though, don’t find a good middle ground between these two extremes, and can be a chore to get through – it’s definitely worth persevering with, though; the final boss is simply stunning, and is worth any amount of effort to get to.

While levels can become tiresome, the game makes a great effort to ensure that they’re never boring. There are nine worlds, each with ten levels and each utterly unique. Every world has its own graphical style, its own music, its own enemies and perhaps most importantly, its own mechanics. This means that every tenth level the experience changes entirely (well, within reason) and it ensures that interest remains long after the core gameplay has become familiar.

Some worlds offer different types of shields; New York contains enemies that can only be killed by certain colours of bullets; the walls in Kamakura close in on the player and restrict movement unless enemies are killed quickly. The greatest change comes in Abyss, though, with the addition of mines. These will blow up the level (and player) if hit, meaning that rapid-fire tactics employed in earlier worlds are useless here, with care and attention essential in every shot. Keeping the game exciting throughout 90 levels was, in the end, too much to ask, but Arkedo make an admirable effort towards that goal, and should be congratulated for what they've achieved.

There are two other criticisms to level at the Arcade mode, however appearing to acknowledge these flaws, there are additional modes to correct them. Arcade mode misses a scoring mechanic, and there's little excuse for its absence; indeed, it could easily have solved the second criticism in one fell swoop. Completing the fourth world, however, unlocks 'Challenge' mode, in which scores (and Wi-Fi rankings) are present. This takes the basic mechanics from the main game, but eschews the level-based gameplay in favour of a never-ending stream of enemies and a chain-based scoring mechanic; what it does retain is the one-hit-kill frailty of the player ship. This mode is a welcome addition, and feels like a whole new game in itself.

The second issue relates to debris from player fire, which is simply too easy to avoid in early levels, rendering it irrelevant. While this isn't the case later in Arcade mode, the problem is removed entirely in 'Mission' mode, which sets specific conditions on gameplay. Complete levels within a time limit, or with only 25 (or less) bullets, complete levels without missing a shot, among many other challenges. Challenges are varied, fun and, unlike Arcade mode, never get tiring. Anyone that finds Arcade mode too easy also will have no such issue here. To unlock this, however, Arcade mode must be beaten. The game does a brilliant job of dealing with its problems; it’s just that it can be a bit of a test of endurance to achieve it.

Big Bang Mini is among the best shooters on the DS. It certainly has its flaws, but, throughout the course of the game, does everything in its power to lessen their effects or remove them entirely. It's a fun, varied, and unique game, wrapped in a package that’s simply brimming with its creators' love.