‘You can be my wingman anytime.’

Cue the Faltermeyer Top Gun theme! Or perhaps DiCola’s War from when Rocky threw seven-foot long Ivan Drago at the Russians? No? Not even Crockett’s Theme?

Maybe Spiderman’s Animated intro was more your thing, my point being – those decorative moments of guitar-riffs that left you feeling walking-against-the-setting-sun-with-a-pair-of-Aviators kind of cool that no pile of homework could surmount?

Yeah, all of that and more is the effect Blazing Legion: Ignition has had on me this morning and I’m 24 going on 42 last I checked.

Dated November 2017. That Blazing Legion: Ignition has managed to stay off my retro-radar all these months is an abomination.

It’s bullet-hell alright, heavily character driven to the point that it wants to leave you introspecting against one Vana’s consequential climb back into the cockpit of a seven-story mecha. In the heat of a revolution. Minus the homework.

What started out as a prototypical world in the aftermath of a game jam has seemingly matured into a lo-fi amalgamation of skillful maneuvering, split-second pilot drama, mid-air checkmates and the kind of audio-visual exhilaration that keeps you up at night.

very important feature
[#KillerAuto // #gamedev #lowpoly ] pic.twitter.com/LjBLApRYUU

— KIDD RADD (@EthanRedd) March 16, 2018

Quite literally, if you’ll step in Virtuoso Neomedia’s Twitter for a moment. I’ll concede that more than the electrifying eccentricity of the visuals of which much has been said any way, it’s the music that has me intrigued.

The trailer is definitely a yearning for more from Steve Lukens alias SkyBridge, audio lead and Virtuoso co-founder alongside Ethan Redd.

And if the duo’s recent neo-noir single and Virtuoso’s signature roster of lo-fi arcade sensibilities are anything to go by, I’m enthusiastically looking to the OST of Vana’s contemplations.

By the looks of it Blazing Legion: Ignition will be making a playable appearance at the Game Developers Conference alongside the prototype of another arcade flier (#KillerAuto?) Redd is silently working on.

In fact, he might even race you on the latter if you know the codeword. Enlist here.