Astro Burn is our love letter to the early ’90s cute-em-up classics like Parodius and Pop’n TwinBee — games that were bold, wildly creative, and completely, delightfully bonkers!
What is a cute-em-up?
A cute-’em-up is a playful twist on the classic shoot-’em-up genre, blending fast-paced arcade action with adorably chaotic characters and worlds. Expect all the dodging, blasting, and bullet-hell intensity you love—wrapped in bright, charming, and often hilarious visuals.
Build up your catnip power bar and trigger your MEODOOOKEN!
Building up power bar to unlease special weapons is pretty much in most bullet hell games, but what makes this unique is that the power moves are like Anime bonkers fighting action moves! watch our space cat turn into a hulk and unleash feline fury!!! There are tons of these special moves, and are random, so if you get that special legendary move - its special! (think Pokemon!!).
Astro Burn isn’t just a mindless bullet-hell cute-’em-up — there’s real heart at its core. Between each level, a story unfolds as we follow Astro on her own “follow the yellow brick road” journey to find her way back home with her robot sidekick.
But what if the chaos we’re battling through isn’t just external? What if every level is a manifestation of Astro’s feline subconscious — a dream… or perhaps a nightmare?
Armed with outrageous weapon combos, a rocket-fuelled jetpack, and purrfectly tuned reflexes, you’ll blast through absurd bullet-hell swarms, dodge rainbow-coloured laser storms, and face off against giant cosmic creatures who rule the galaxy with an aggressively adorable iron paw.
Expect screen-filling mecha pandas, hyperactive huskies wagging up solar vortexes, opera-singing space squids, and celestial goldfish launching star-shaped projectiles — all delivered with the wonderfully unhinged, anything-goes spirit of the 90s arcade classics.
This is cute-em-up chaos dialled to MAX — a nostalgic side-scrolling shooter inspired by 16-bit arcade madness, reborn with modern pixel art, tight controls, and over-the-top personality.
It’s retro mayhem with a cosmic wink: giant animal bosses, unhinged bullet patterns, cosmic comedy, and jetpack-fuelled heroics all wrapped into one delightfully chaotic adventure.
KEY FEATURES
nostalgic side-scrolling Cute -’em-up inspired by 16-bit classics
Reborn with slick modern pixel art, tight controls, and adrenaline-pumping action .
9 lives cat health system
2 Player Co-Op Arcade modes
Unlock each level as you progress, with the freedom to replay anytime
Earn steam achievements
Challenging end of level bosses
Stack-em up weapon system: Collect as many weapons and fire them all at once!
Battle through 10 diverse levels—from deep space and mechanical worlds to Earth’s skies, underwater realms, sprawling cities, and beyond!
Enjoy 3–5 hours of action-packed gameplay, with even more hours to sink in through skill mastery and level replays
Hi-Score leaderboard with Time (hello speed-runs!)
Build up your Catnip power bar to unleash Feline Fury Special moves!
Awesome synth-wave retro cool soundtrack by Venice Bleach, with a dash of meow-ness layered in!
Did we also say - Surreal Bonkers end of level bosses?
Double the chaos — team up in co-op mode!
Share weapons and work together to take down the evil machines
Competitive co-op, Space cat with the highest score is the winner.
Claw your way to the top of the leaderboard in this purr-fectly retro space shooter — will you be the ultimate space cat with the high score to match?
Local Leaderboard (with classic 3 letter initials with your score and fastest time)
Online Leaderboard via Discord, to share with your friends, community of Astro Burner's and join discord tournaments.
In the options menu, select "connect to discord", and now whenever you play the game and hit that highscore with an impressive speed run, all your discord friends will see it - now thats a flex!
Astro Burn is an original IP created and owned by Beyond The Pixels ® Limited.