Apidya’ Special from ININ Games brings us a remake of a classic 2D shoot ’em up that is making the jump from the Amiga to the Nintendo Switch. Learn more about it in our Apidya’ Special review!

 

Apidya’ Special from ININ Games brings us a remake of a classic 2D shoot ’em up that is making the jump from the Amiga to the Nintendo Switch. We’re getting a new 24-bit pixel remake that has been built from the ground up to remain faithful to the original while expanding on its content, as well as adding some quality-of-life improvements here and there. This new version has been developed by the original team, along with the efforts of Apidya super fan turned developer Stefan Becker – a.k.a. fl_cody.

Apidya was originally released for the Amiga way back in 1992, developed by Kaiko and released by Play Byte. It also got a release in Germany through the disk magazine Amiga Spiele Disc. This was later followed by a budget game release from Team17 in 1994. It’s now 2026, and 30+ years from its first release, it’s now getting another chance to shine under the spotlight. We’re getting 5 worlds with up to 5 levels each, 20 bosses to defeat, as well as some hidden stages here and there.

 

The game is based on a previously abandoned console port from back in the 1990s, and it combines original assets with new pixel art, remixed music, and additional authentic sound effects. You can play either with the original 4:3 aspect ratio, or dive into an HD widescreen presentation with one click. You can even use optional CRT effects that give it that old-school look from back in the day. And to drive home that overall classic feel, composer Chris Hülsbeck has worked on new studio versions of the game’s soundtrack.

You can customize your experience by choosing from a variety of options for your mission. You can pick between the Practice, Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty settings, change how many lives and continues you’ll be able to use, pick how many points are needed to get a 1UP, if the stage should be reset when you die, if your weapons should be downgraded when you die, as well as pick the game’s speed by selecting between the European (50 FPS) and NTSC (60 FPS) options.

Since this one is a horizontal shoot ‘em up, you’ll be taking control of your bee by using the left analog stick or the D-Pad as you fly through each level while trying to avoid crashing into enemies or being damaged by their attacks. You can use your single shot attack by pressing the X button, or you can make good use of the autofire feature by pressing and holding down the B button. Switch at any time between the classic and the remake by pressing the R button.

As you defeat enemies, some of them will drop power-ups for you to collect. Each one you grab highlights a different Extra you can add to your loadout. Each subsequent power-up that you grab before selecting an Extra will then highlight the next Extra in the chain. Your options will be speed up, bomb, spread, laser, pulsar, drone, shield, or speed down.

Apidya’ Special brings us a remake of a classic 2D shoot ’em up that is making the jump from the Amiga to the Nintendo Switch. We’re getting a new 24-bit pixel remake that has been built from the ground up to remain faithful to the original while expanding on its content, as well as adding some quality-of-life improvements here and there. This new version has been developed by the original team, along with the efforts of Apidya super fan turned developer Stefan Becker – a.k.a. fl_cody.

Along with the option of playing with a 4:3 aspect ratio or in widescreen HD, there’s also the new co-op mode so that two players can jump in at the same time. Apidya‘ Special launches today on the Nintendo Switch with a $19.99 price tag. You can also go ahead and grab yourself a physical copy pre-order for Apidya‘ Special – Special Edition on Nintendo Switch from our friends at ININ GAMES. Along with the game on a Nintendo Switch cartridge, this one includes a Special Edition Box, an artbook, as well as a soundtrack CD.

Disclaimer
This Apidya’ Special review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by ININ Games.