Strato Freaks 2

THIS IS AN EARLY DEMO--PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU FIND ANY BUGS (we already found a few after this demo dropped because of course)

2023 was a big year for the Super Freaks. Their fourth mainline platformer, Super Freaks 1 Ultimate Edition, released at SAGE 2023 and became an immediate cult favorite, earning a whole truckload of cameos and crossovers. But that wasn't all; 2023 saw the long-awaited release of Super Freaks Presents: Strato-Scruffy, a Super Freaks shmup game from 2009 that was similar to Sega’s classic Fantasy Zone. 15 years later, it’s time for the Super Freaks to take flight again in Strato Freaks 2!

Gameplay

Just as in Strato 1, you can freely move your character around in any direction, with no auto scrolling. Traveling around is pretty quick thanks to the new endlessly looping level sections! Fly around and gun down those killer Kranibots at your leisure, but don't just sit there! You can rack up a gnarly combo by knocking out your enemies and collecting yorbs as fast as possible. Unlike in Strato 1, there is a time limit, but it's high enough where you can easily milk a level for points. Oh, and don't forget to use the strafe button to shoot in one direction!

In each level, the end goal is to find and collect the magic monkeys. They'll usually be found frolicking around, somehow completely oblivious to the chaos happening around them, though you may need to free some imprisoned monkeys by doing some star challenges. Once all the monkeys in a section are found, a portal opens to the next.

Strato 2 contains a whole heaping of new levels, as well as every level from Strato 1. The Strato 1 levels are presented as they were in 2009, with tweaks to the level layouts to better accommodate Strato 2's expanded gameplay. Strato 2's new levels, on the other hand, are split into multiple sections for faster paced gameplay, and contain some very smooth and fluid cartoon graphics!

Oh, and one more thing; this game has two player co-op! A buddy can drop in whenever they please and you two can team up. Don't ask me how I got the multiplayer camera working with the endlessly looping levels, I cannot explain that ungodly black magic coding in words.

DEFAULT CONTROLS (KEYBOARD + MOUSE):

Move - Arrow Keys, WASD
Shoot - Z, Left Click
Strafe - X, Right Click
Powerup - C, Shift, Middle Click
Start - Enter, ESC (Won't close the game this time!)
Move - Arrow Keys, WASD
Shoot - Z, Left Click

DEFAULT CONTROLS (GAMEPAD, XBOX LAYOUT):

Move - D-Pad, Analog Stick
Shoot - A, LT
Strafe - B, RT
Powerup - X, LB, RB
Start - Start
Confirm - A
Deny - B

Story

Welcome to the United States of Craziness, a galaxy where anything goes. Thanks to Unlimit Energy, anyone can do whatever they want, provided they gather enough of it. You can go to Brazil! You can smear sunscreen on your liver! You can even shoot frozen yogurt out of your armpits! 

The Powerful Monkey Council is a group of magic monkeys who are perfectly attuned to Unlimit Energy and can easily control it. For this reason they are frequently sought after by evildoers, such as Sticky Funnybone of the skeletal Ribson family. In 2009, the evil skeleton tried to capture the powerful monkey council and make them his perfect power source, but he was stopped by his mortal enemies, the Super Freaks, in their brand new Grand Gyros.

The year is 2024, and things are as different as they are the same. The Super Freaks grew more powerful, and gained new forms and appearances. Meanwhile, after a time travel incident, Sticky’s hated brother Kranion stepped in and replaced him for a while as the galaxy’s most feared evil skeleton, and the other Ribsons followed suit.

After Kranion was forced to seek out Sticky to reluctantly ally with him, the evil skeletons now share equal prominence, which they hate more than anything—but the enemy of my enemy is my friend, after all. While Sticky’s Stronghold was under renovation, he was forced to stay at the Ribson household for the weekend, and put up with his half siblings: Kranion, younger brother Krankenspine, sister Whipeon, and the three headed cousin Geryon. He was also never too fond of his father Marrow Prime’s wife, Karen. And yet, the ever-scheming skeleton knew something useful when he saw it; all of these evil skeletons he was unfortunately related to were some of the strongest beings in the universe. Suddenly, hunting down and capturing the Monkey Council didn’t seem like such a sky-high notion afterall. Against his better judgement, Sticky decided to recruit the entire Ribson clan to do his dirty work.

Of course, if we were to repeat what happened in 2009, it was time for the Super Freaks to head back to the stratosphere. By a funny coincidence, they were just giving their Grand Gyros a new paint job when they noticed the massive skullships darken the skies. The Super Freaks no longer feared Sticky or Kranion, but the whole Ribson family ravaging the galaxy raised their eyebrows. They needed to act fast. Luckily, they had a lot going for them; Scruffy’s training in Brazil gave him white gloves. Gambi finally got that teardrop shaped head! With these new powers, and a whole helping of unwilling participants yoinked from a capsule machine, the Super Freaks were going to rattle some bones.