The short version
A classic side-scrolling shmup with waves of enemies and a real d-pad-plus-buttons touch scheme, confirmed genuinely functional by real touch input rather than assumed. Shipped with the same missing-viewport fix its LittleJS stablemates needed, plus an honest note about a small leftover UI label that doesn't reflect the game's actual behaviour.
Biggest strengths
- Touch controls confirmed genuinely functional - a real held drag on the on-screen d-pad moved the ship correctly, and a real press on the face-button diamond registered as a fire input, both dispatched as actual multi-point touch events and confirmed via before/after screenshots
- Wave-based side-scrolling shmup structure (score, lives, wave counter) gives it a real sense of progression rather than an aimless demo
- Desktop WASD-plus-Space controls confirmed working identically, moving the ship and firing a visible projectile at an enemy
Biggest weaknesses
- A small, honest cosmetic bug: a "[KEYBOARD MODE]" label at the bottom of the screen never updates to reflect touch input - it stays fixed even while the on-screen d-pad and buttons are visibly and correctly driving the ship. It's a leftover/unsynced UI label, not an actual control gate, since touch input works regardless of what the label says
- The as-found file was missing its <meta name=viewport> tag, the same bug found in several LittleJS stablemates this cycle; fixed before installing
- Fairly plain, single-palette space visuals typical of the genre rather than a standout look
Who it's for: Fans of classic side-scrolling shoot-em-ups who want proper on-screen touch controls rather than a keyboard-only port.
Our recommendation: play
7.5 / 10
Opening
Powerwing is a side-scrolling shoot-em-up in the River Raid / Xevious tradition: pilot a small ship through waves of enemies, tracked by a score, lives count, and wave number. It's part of the same open-source LittleJS arcade collection as several other titles reviewed this cycle, and needed the same small fix.
The same viewport fix, reapplied
Like several of its stablemates, the as-found file had no <meta name=viewport> tag, which on a real phone triggers Chrome's desktop-emulation shrink-to-fit fallback and shrinks on-screen touch controls. The standard one-line fix was applied before this build was installed, and confirmed via window.innerWidth correctly reading 390 on a simulated phone afterward.
Controls, confirmed with real touch
The touch layout is a d-pad cross for movement plus a four-button diamond, and both were tested directly: a genuine held touch-drag on the d-pad moved the ship visibly across the screen, and a genuine touch press on the face-button diamond registered correctly (shown pressed in the resulting screenshot) as a fire input. Desktop WASD-plus-Space controls were confirmed the same way, moving the ship and firing a visible projectile toward an enemy.
A small, honest quirk
One real but harmless issue turned up: a [KEYBOARD MODE] label at the bottom of the screen stays fixed regardless of what's actually controlling the ship - it was still showing on the phone test even while the on-screen touch d-pad was clearly and correctly driving movement. It's a leftover or unsynced status label rather than an actual functional problem, since the touch controls work correctly regardless of what the label claims.
Final Verdict
A solid, correctly-controlled classic shmup that just needed the same small viewport fix as its stablemates. Touch controls are proven genuine, not just present, and the one cosmetic quirk found doesn't affect actual play.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Touch controls confirmed genuinely functional - a real held drag on the on-screen d-pad moved the ship correctly, and a real press on the face-button diamond registered as a fire input, both dispatched as actual multi-point touch events and confirmed via before/after screenshots
- Wave-based side-scrolling shmup structure (score, lives, wave counter) gives it a real sense of progression rather than an aimless demo
- Desktop WASD-plus-Space controls confirmed working identically, moving the ship and firing a visible projectile at an enemy
- Already carries a licence file and a clean, dependency-free LittleJS build with no third-party analytics
- Correctly required the same one-line viewport fix as several of its stablemates, applied and reconfirmed before shipping
Cons
- A small, honest cosmetic bug: a "[KEYBOARD MODE]" label at the bottom of the screen never updates to reflect touch input - it stays fixed even while the on-screen d-pad and buttons are visibly and correctly driving the ship. It's a leftover/unsynced UI label, not an actual control gate, since touch input works regardless of what the label says
- The as-found file was missing its <meta name=viewport> tag, the same bug found in several LittleJS stablemates this cycle; fixed before installing
- Fairly plain, single-palette space visuals typical of the genre rather than a standout look