The title Xexex is one that strikes awe into the hearts of many a shooter-fan.. Konami's arcade shooter - never released on a home console, and as yet unemulated - is remembered as being one of the company's finest hours in the shooter genre.. Recently, thanks to the Shmups team, a 'secret' level of Xexex in the Japanese-only SNES game Goemon 2 (Sequel to 'Legend of Mystical Ninja' and a great game in itself) was revealed.. and it's a great little 'teaser' for those who can at the moment only dream of playing the actual arcade game.

To play the Xexex mini-game you'll need the following:

ZSnes emulator (I use version V.0989c) which you can
download from the ZSNES homepage.

Goemon 2 ROM which you can grab here.

The ZSNES save state which you can download here.

You'll need to unzip then stick the save state file in your Zsnes root folder - and when you fire up the game just select slot 0 and load it in and you're away (read the docs for more info on this). If you have any trouble try using the rom I've provided or renaming the save state file (make your own save state in the game, then rename your Xexex save state file to the same name). Should be all fairly straightforward stuff.. so enjoy the Xexex mini-game!

Outside an interesting building.. should we enter?


What's this? A great big TV screen in 12thC Japan?!


Aha.. Xexex then.. lovely stuff. Note the tentacle
attachment, it's one of the game's most innovative
features. Button B activates it in a similar way
to R-type. Blast those bubbles and enjoy!

Thanks to Akira for the file!