In the year 2210, the "ultimate arcade machine" was released: a hyper-realistic virtual reality game known as Grind Stormer. It is notable for the fifth gameplay setting, "V-V", in which the player is unable to return to the real world until they complete it. To date, everyone who has tried to take on the "V-V" campaign has failed. A government agent has been dispatched to take on "V-V", engage in the virtual NA-00 fighter, rescue the players who have been effectively abducted by it, and find out its true purpose...
The original V-V build effectively serves as a Creator-Driven Successor to Slap Fight, featuring a Gradius-style power meter at the bottom. By collecting orange diamond tokens, the player can advance the power bar and then activate the highlighted powerup with button 2. The ship has at least two Attack Drones at all times, with three different behavior modes: "Shot" (drones change angle when moving vertically, allowing for a variable Spread Shot or a concentrated Wave-Motion Gun), "Missile" (drones follow the player's movement relative to the screen and fire concussion missiles), and "Search" (drones follow on-screen enemies). There are six stages in all, and beating all six stages sends the player back to stage 1 but with increased difficulty; unlike many prior Toaplan shmups, the game ends after this second loop instead of looping endlessly. The overseas Grind Stormer build eschews the power meter system and instead has the player collecting powerups through direct-upgrade/change items, and gives the player access to Smart Bombs; this mode can be activated in the V-V build through a cheat code.
A Sega Genesis port was released in 1994, featuring both variants of the game in both the Japanese and US versions. An emulation port of the game by Bitwave Games was released on Steam for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux in 2024, and was included in the Toaplan Arcade Collection Vol. 2 Compilation Re-release for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X and S, and Nintendo Switch in 2025.
Grind Stormer / V-V contains examples of:
- Anti-Frustration Features: The Genesis version supports an accessibility feature called "Left-Handed" in the options, which makes it so that left-handed players can hold the controller upside down and use the D-pad with their right hand. What's interesting is that this is the only Genesis game that has this "Reverse mode" feature
, something Sega had announced in its 1988 launch of the console but was seemingly never officially enforced. - Arrange Mode: Grind Stormer is this to the original V-V, swapping out the power meter in favor of simply collecting items that directly change your ship's firing mode or upgrades your ship and adding a Smart Bomb feature. This variant can be played on V-V by inputting a code, and the Genesis / Mega Drive version features both versions, with the game defaulting to V-V for the Japanese version and Grind Stormer for the American version.
- Astral Finale: The majority of the game takes place on the surface of an alien planet, but the final stage switches to space level in its back half. The process of how this happens is quite curious; you seemingly pass through the same subterranean tunnel from the previous stage, but when reaching the end, you are suddenly at the ionosphere of the planet.
- Attack Drone: The player's ship is flanked by 2 or 4 drones that fire in sync with the player. Their firing mode can be changed by activating the "Shot", "Missile", or "Search" items on the power bar in V-V or by collecting their respective tokens in Grind Stormer.
- Dual Boss: The boss fight of Stage 1-1 and 2-1 consists of two large tanks that fight you simultaneously.
- Guide Dang It!: The secret 1-Up requires you to avoid destroying a conspicuous yellow box in Stage 1-3, and then the 1-up is rewarded in Stage 1-5. This isn't hinted at anywhere, so a new player may get the 1-up in one run and then in later runs try to figure out what in Stage 1-5 triggered it...and then realize that the 1-up is determined by actions from two stages prior.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: Everyone who tries out the "V-V" campaign in-universe ends up failing and is trapped in the game.
- Mercy Invincibility: If you get hit while you have the Shield powerup active, you'll be given a few seconds of invincibility.
- The Most Dangerous Video Game: In-universe, players who attempt "V-V" can only return to the real world by completing it. Unfortunately, it seems the game is Nintendo Hard, as no one who has played it has completed it.
- Nintendo Hard: Played for Drama with the Framing Device for the game: Nobody who tries "V-V" is able to come out alive, implying that the game is far too difficult for them.
- Single-Use Shield: Available exclusively in V-V, it is at the end of the power meter and protects the ship from one hit when active.
- Smart Bomb: Available exclusively in Grind Stormer, where what would be the "activate item" button instead fires a screen-clearing bomb.
- A Winner Is You: Were you expecting some juicy reveals about the true nature of the Grind Stormer Framing Device when you complete the game? Too bad, all you get is a credit roll and a simple "mission complete" message.