Tonight I played the two original Zero Gunner 2 versions to completion -- those being the Sega Dreamcast (2001) and Sega Naomi (2001) versions -- and then followed it up with this PC port by City Connection to compare the three in a back to back to back fashion while working in some shrimp fra diavolo in the middle of it all because dinner time. Whatever problems there were with this port in the past must have gotten fixed up as this plays nicely and with a decent amount of options. It maxes out at 1080p which is unfortunate, but still doesn't look bad scaled up to a 4K screen and it's also native 16:9 compared to the 4:3 Dreamcast and arcade versions.

Seeing as the majority of bad reviews are from 2020 or early 2021, then the game got an update in July 2021 and the bulk of the reviews have been positive since, I think it's safe to say this port is a fine one now; certainly I didn't have any problems with it in two full playthroughs.

The game itself is an odd one at first. It looks and plays like a lot of the shmups of the early 2Ks but it has an awkward pivoting mechanic that takes some getting used to. You definitely need to be comfortable pushing two buttons at once, one to keep autofire held down and one to swing your ship to face the action else you have to constantly take your finger off the fire button which is no bueno. There are 7 stages and an end boss and like a lot of Psikyo shmups of the time, the first few levels are randomized meaning play the game three different times and you could get a completely different series of levels 1, 2, and 3 in your three plays. There are 30 achievements and a score attack mode with leaderboards. Solid game, solid port (now). 8.5/10

Want to play with your keyboard? Well....... You are left guessing where are the default key bindings by randomly pressing EVERY, SINGLE keyboard buttons until you figure out which button does what.

The settings menu does not help either as It offers the option to reconfigure the controller inputs but not the keyboard buttons.
Even so, I cannot play this game with a PS controller despite Steam telling me that the gamepad is successfully connected. Not sure if it would work with an XboX or Steam controller as I don't own them.

Also, there is NO FULLSCREEN option.

Horrible PC port. DO NOT BUY.

Zero Gunner 2 doesn't conform to the traditional vertical or horizontal shooter, though; it is a top down shoot 'em up. I find the game interesting and fun, but also somewhat frustrating at the same time. Due to the limitation of Steam reviewing, I'm going for a recommend since I do enjoy playing it. That said, the game does have several flaws both in the way it was ported and game play that may turn off other players.

The big gimmick with Zero Gunner 2 is the ability to rotate your helicopter around. However, this is done is a somewhat cumbersome way. Instead of tank controllers to rotate clockwise/counterclockwise, the player brings up a target reticle and pirouette around it. The advantage is it's possible to quickly make a 180 degree turn. The downside is it takes a lot of getting used to, and is tough to track targets.

Beyond that. the game has you collect power ups for more power guns and missles and energy for a powerful attack that consumes that energy. The game allows the player to really store up that energy as well. I haven't yet maxed out the capacity. The player also has the choice of 3 helicopters.

Like many Psikyo games the early stages are randomized. Which is also a double-edged sword. It's nice to see nearly half the game without much effort. But it also means that the player has to a steeper learning curve to play on a single credit.

As for the port itself, it seems this is one the earliest ones City Connection did. Like other port they've done, much (but not all) of the configuration done before playing the game with the configuration tool. The game defaults to windowed. Joystick button mapping doesn't detect inputs. So the player has to guess which buttons the tool numbered what for non-standard controllers like the 8-button USB Sega Genesis controller I use.

Additionally, once the buttons are mapped there, the player still has to assign there function in game. This is standard for all the City Connection Psikyo games I've played, but the early ones at least allow you to input the buttons in the Configuration Tool panel. Zero Gunner 2 does not.

Zero Gunner 2 is mildly fun. However, this port can take some configuring and adjustments to get it to work how the player would like it. Additionally, the core gimmick may turn many players off as it could take some time to get used to.

Going to start this off with I've never played the original or ever really even heard of this game until the recent SHMUP Sale. I bought it for my and my BF, since it's in a style we both kinda like.
Initially it was a pain to even get started. I do have compatible controllers, but I wanted to use my keyboard to play since setting those up for me are usually a bit of a hassle. So I tried looking into guides or a comment or even a review that would tell me which keys were for what since you can't change keybinding in game (It only ever shows controller bindings...). None existed, at least as far as I could find, so I figured it out on my own (I also made a short guide that I posted to the community if interested).
Once i figured out how to actually PLAY the game I bought, it was okay.
It looks nice, and plays decent. It's a basic shoot-em up, with a nice little turning mechanic. I do really like the enemy ship/mech designs. It's all pretty clean.
I don't like how the music sounds. It sounds like if I booted up an old Dreamcast, smashed it with a hammer, then kicked it down the stairs. I guess they tried to make it nostalgic, but it just doesn't work, it sounds bad.
Overall, I'd say if you want to get it, get it on sale like I did. It's fun for a bit, but it's nothing too attention stealing. Then again, maybe if I grew up with this game, I'd be a bit more into it, but I just don't have that type of attachment.