cmnd/ctrl vs Retro Buzz
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
cmnd/ctrl
Engage in an endless pixel art space shooter experience with a retro soundtrack. Choose from over ten unique ships, each with distinct firing capabilities, and explore multiple game modes. Power-ups and leaderboards add to the classic arcade challenge.
- Unlock 10+ unique ships
- Varying fire rates and bullet speeds
- Several power-ups
- 2 game modes (Main & Extreme)
- Leaderboards
- Retro soundtrack and sound effects
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Fire through a pixel art universe to a retro soundtrack and sound effects that are inspired by the old-school arcade game era. Players can cycle through multiple game modes and choose between ten unique ships with varying fire rates and bullet speeds, meaning no one game will ever be the same! Features include: ◉ Unlock 10+ unique ships - with varying fire rate and bullet speeds ◉ Several power ups ◉ 2 game modes – Main, & Extreme - more to come! ◉ Leaderboards ◉ Music by Nihilore
Retro Buzz
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RETRO BUZZ — A LOVE LETTER TO THE ARCADE. Dodge, shoot, deflect, chase and raid your way through a swarm of pixel-art insects across an endless ladder of escalating stages. Inspired by the arcade legends of the early '80s, Retro Buzz layers modern game-feel — combo multipliers, powerup drops, a dodge-dash, screen shake, telegraphed enemy fire — onto chunky multi-colour pixel art with a soft neon glow. SIX STAGE TYPES — AND YOU EARN THE DETOURS Formation stages are the backbone. Everything else happens because of what you did in them. • FORMATION STAGES — The classic. Bees, butterflies and Queen Bees fly in choreographed lines, settle into formation, then dive at you in pairs and groups. Watch the marked RUNNERS: they bolt for the planet once the swarm thins. Kill them all for a bonus... • PURSUIT — ...or let one escape and next stage you chase it down. Free 2D flight over a scrolling planet surface, ground turrets, waves that push harder the harder you fire, and a fortress with three cores to crack at the end. The escapees turn up as 5× bounties. • BASE ASSAULT — If a Queen carries your captured fighter off, or you shoot down the spy ship and grab its beacon, the next stage is a free-roaming raid across a looping star map. Your ship flies forward, you steer, and fire goes fore and aft. Hunt the hex stations on the radar, punch the core through its hatch (or strip all six cannon pods), dodge mines, and watch the alert climb from GREEN to RED. Find the station holding your fighter and it rejoins you as a wingman. • CHALLENGE STAGES — Bonus rounds where twin lines trace S-curves, loops, figure-8s and spirals across the screen. No damage. Pure accuracy. • BONUS ROUND — Score a PERFECT on a challenge stage and your ship becomes a paddle. The swarm fires, you bounce it back, and the ricochets one-shot anything they touch. • BOSS BATTLES — Every fifth stage the Queen Hornet drifts overhead: three HP-keyed phases, aimed shots, three-way spreads and U-shaped dive attacks. You get a 3-hit buffer per life. Every fourth stage cleared grants an extra life, and a rare 1UP drop floats down from killed enemies. Deep runs feel earned. POWERUPS R — Rapid Fire. Faster fire, bigger bullet cap. S — Spread Shot. Three-way fan. O — Shield Orb. Absorbs the next hit. B — Smart Bomb. Wipes every diving enemy on screen. ! — Beacon. Dropped by the spy ship. Reveals the enemy bases. 1 — Extra Life. Very rare. Treasure it. POLISHED FEEL • Hit feedback on every impact: sprite flash, sparks, debris, screen shake. • Combo multiplier — chain kills without a miss for up to 5× score. • Enemy fire is telegraphed at the muzzle, so you always get a fair read. • Enemies bank into their turns and face where they fly. • Hand-drawn multi-colour sprites: striped bees, red-winged butterflies with eyespots, crowned Queen Bees and a 48×48 Queen Hornet. • Optional CRT scanlines. Persistent high score and best stage. • Leave the title screen alone and the game plays itself — a different stage type every time. CONTROLS An analog stick, DASH and FIRE live in their own band under the playfield, so your thumbs never cover the action. Hold FIRE to shoot, tap DASH to dodge through bullets. The stick moves you sideways in the classic stages, flies in 2D on the planet run, and steers on the base raid. NO ADS. NO IAP. NO ACCOUNTS. JUST THE GAME. Best paired with: a quiet evening, a dim room, and the satisfying feeling of finally finding the base that took your fighter.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Retro Buzz at none against cmnd/ctrl's 1. cmnd/ctrl's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 weeks) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. cmnd/ctrl sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Retro Buzz asks for nothing beyond the download.
cmnd/ctrl ships an update fortnightly, Retro Buzz every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | cmnd/ctrl | Retro Buzz |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (44 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 75.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 44 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 46 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Astro Hound Studios | Alexander Garmash |
In-app purchases
cmnd/ctrl
- Remove Ads$0.99
Retro Buzz
No in-app purchases









