A 111-page official strategy guide, titled Einhänder Official Guidebook, was published in Japan by ASCII Corporation in December 1997. Its content includes stage maps, information on the spacecraft and data tables. The development team behind Einhänder worked on the Gummi Ship portions for Kingdom Hearts III. In a similar vein as with Final Fantasy and The World Ends with You in previous Kingdom Hearts games, Einhänder is represented in Kingdom Hearts III in the form of the Endymion being a Gummi Ship and Schwarzgeist being a secret boss in the Gummi Ship portions of the game along with a remix of the latter's theme. Reception The game received "generally favorable reviews", just one point shy of "universal acclaim", according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 31 out of 40. American gaming publications stated that the game was especially notable for a shoot 'em up as it had no strong competitor on the PlayStation at the time of its release. The website AllGame referred to the game as the best side scrolling shooter "to come out in the post 16-bit era of video gaming", while Eurogamer called it "the most successful of Square's expeditions into non-RPG territory". Next Generation said in an early review that the game "makes no effort to be anything more than a traditional shooter, with the addition of 3D backgrounds and enemies, but waiting to see what's next is a rewarding experience, as any game should be. It's a welcome challenge for those gamers dying to play a good shooter; and hopefully, Einhander can inject some life into a moribund genre." The gameplay was praised by critics. AllGame lauded the game's intense action and diversity of spacecraft, the gun pod system and the fact that bosses are composed of different destructible parts. GamePro noted that while the gameplay scheme is common to other shoot 'em ups, the title's "thumb-busting" action and variety of weaponry made for an enjoyable experience. The site called diversity "one of the game's biggest assets". GameSpot further called the game's play mechanics "finely tuned" and featuring a "fascinating" plot, while IGN felt the tilting camera angles were one of the features that make the game "so exciting". Concerning the graphics, GameSpot, AllGame and Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine appreciated the level of details and effects used in the different stages, as well as the large size