Ekoro

More information about Ekoro is available on the Gal*Gun Wiki.

Ekoro is a deuteragonist of Inti Creates' Gal*Gun rail shooter series and one of the first two Extra Characters introduced to Blaster Master Zero in the Version 1.2 update on June 1, 2017. She was announced alongside the "Destroyer Mode" playthrough style for Jason (made available to all players upon patch release) and Gunvolt (made available for download/sale the previous month).

For the Nintendo 3DS and Switch release, she was originally made available for free for one month after release, then priced at USD $1.99 afterward. She and Gunvolt are bundled free with the Steam release.

Appearances & Synopses

Blaster Master Zero

As with all other Extra characters, no story cutscenes are given to explain Ekoro's appearance in the Underground, nor her acquisition of Sophia III (or Sophia Zero, should the player meet the requirements to access Area 9). As well, all in-game character dialogue is disabled, and the Receiver has no effect in the first eight areas.

Sophia III's primary palette becomes an angelic pastel pink and white, but its performance is otherwise unchanged. Life Capsules are changed to hearts, Life Ups are changed to angel wings, major item pickup sound effects are changed to natively synthesized versions of Gal*Gun stage clear chimes, and explosions from ordnance and defeated monsters are changed into clouds of hearts.

Jason's additional subweapons and the Energy Guard are turned into dummy pickups, offering no permanent benefit to Ekoro but counting towards the item completion rate. They are shaded in greyscale in the same manner as Jason's Life Ups/Energy Guard in Destroyer Mode.

Gameplay Changes

Ekoro's arsenal in both top-down and side-scrolling modes behaves the closest to Jason's, with straightforward replacements for the Gun and top-down sub-weapons that cover all the bases. The most drastic top-down mode difference is that the Gun Meter and sub-weapon ammo counts are folded into a single Heart Gauge that can be recharged with Gun or Ammo Capsules, generated by damaging targets with her Desert Angel (top-down mode only), or fully replenished by collecting Jason's sub-weapons and Energy Guard.

Ekoro is immune to fall damage/fall death in side-scrolling mode, has twice Jason's jump height, and can float horizontally for up to 2 seconds after a jump, preserving horizontal momentum for the duration, by pressing and holding the Jump button a second time while in mid-air. As of the Version 1.4 update, she can also use the "Call SOPHIA" button to rapidly regroup.

Desert Angel

A gun made by angels | Hold the Shoot button to perform a Charged Shot

Ekoro's twin love pistols serve as her Gun replacement and primary mode of attack. In side-scrolling mode, she can fire off up to 3 Love Arrows at once, even while flying, that can fully traverse the screen and destroy blocks. Damage per arrow is the same as that of Jason's Blaster Rifle shots. Once Hyper Shot has been acquired, these arrows become able to damage armored enemies as well, including Skeleton Boss.

In top-down mode, this rapid-fire capability is expanded to 6 arrows (with the caveat that they originate from alternating barrels, resulting in minor vertical and diagonal shot drift) which deal ~80% of Blaster damage and generate 1/8 HG on target hits; alternately, the Shoot button may be held for ~1 second and released to charge and fire a terrain and target-piercing energy heart which deals ~400% of Love Arrow damage (~320% of Blaster damage) and generates 1/2 HG per target hit.

Two salvos of Homing Shots curve towards a newly spawning Photophage bank.

Homing Shot

Fire a shot that pursues its target | Activate with the Sub-weapon Button

Ekoro's default sub-weapon out of her initial three. Rapid-tapping or holding the A button fires off homing pulse bullets that pass through terrain and deal ~150% of Love Arrow damage (~120% of Blaster damage). Though it is denoted as having a 1 HG cost, one notch of Heart Gauge will actually yield 4 bullets. Up to 10 Homing Shots may be on screen at once, though achieving the input cap usually requires a deficit of enemies on screen.

In the Weapon Select screen, selecting Homing Shot highlights Ekoro's Desert Angel.

Angelic Grenade

Throw a grenade that makes enemies fall in love with you | Activate with the Sub-weapon Button

A hybrid of the Grenade Bomb and Flash Bomb with a 1 HG cost. Angelic Grenade is Ekoro's only means of opening cracked walls and lighting up dark locations.

Targets within the normal Grenade blast radius take ~375% of Love Arrow damage (~300% of Blaster damage) as expected, but those outside and still on-screen wind up "lovestruck," temporarily stunned with hearts bubbling overhead for the duration. As with other stun effects, enemies stunned by Angelic Grenade gain 5 seconds of stun immunity (doubled for bosses) after they recover from the effect.

In the Weapon Select screen, selecting Angelic Grenade highlights Ekoro's left hand (similarly to how Jason's left arm is highlighted while selecting any of his sub-weapons).

Ekoro Kick

Perform a dropkick attack | Activate with the Sub-weapon Button

A melee sub-weapon with a 2 HG cost. Ekoro delivers a forward flying kick propelling her roughly 5 blocks, through enemies and over hazardous terrain. Enemies take ~1250% of Love Arrow damage (~1000% of Blaster damage) from Ekoro Kick, and Ekoro is invincible for the duration of the kick.

In the Weapon Select screen, selecting Ekoro Kick highlights Ekoro's shoes.

Doki Doki Field

Open the Doki Doki Field and give euphoria to mutantkind! Find their weak spot and fire that Ecstacy Shot!

An ultimate sub-weapon with a 5 HG activation cost which is gained by picking up the cherub on the floating island near the top of Area 1 (in the same spot as Gunvolt and Shovel Knight's extra weapons).

Mercifully for the game's ESRB E/CERO A/PEGI 7+ rating, opening the Doki Doki Field merely translates to giving the player 10 seconds, as indicated by a heart counter in the top-left corner, to operate a free-aim cursor in the same manner as Jason's Remote Blast sub-weapon and rapidly tap the Shoot or Sub-weapon button to fire at mutants on screen. Unlike Remote Blast, each shot immediately deals ~150% of Love Arrow damage (~120% of Blaster damage) to all enemies within a 1-block radius, but time is slowed to half speed rather than stopped, leaving Ekoro vulnerable to advancing enemies and gunfire (either will end the mode if they connect with her). Doki Doki Field may also be ended prematurely by pressing the Jump button (which is normally non-functional in top view).

Enemies targeted or damaged by Doki Doki Field shots may be lit up with katakana denoting that a "Weak!" or "Weakest!" point has been hit, though most do not boast obvious notation for which parts of their sprites count as these points.

In the Weapon Select screen, selecting Doki Doki Field highlights Ekoro's beating heart, which is normally not visible on this screen.

Trivia

• Ekoro is styled after her appearance in Gal*Gun: Double Peace, but the Gal*Gun series would not arrive on a Nintendo system until Gal*Gun 2 was released for the Nintendo Switch on March 15, 2018.
• Like Gunvolt, Ekoro has no weapon capable of breaking Area 4's blue rocks.