Gaming Hell

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Blast Off (Namco, 1989)

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Thought defeated after the 2281 war, in 2289 the Bosconians strike back and once again begin to invade UGSF star systems (find out more about this plot on the official UGSF website). And so, the Blaster FR fighter pilot is deployed to stop the Bosconians at all costs! The Blaster FR's equipped with four main weapons- the red helix, the blue backshot, the yellow reverse-T shot and the green Y shot- that you can cycle between with the press of a button. Each of the six missions is split into three phases- the initial approach, breaching the giant space station and then destroying the core (with this third phase being presented in an up-close view, to bring you right up to the action)- with enemy ships all over the place. Only you can bring peace back to the galaxy!

Developed by N.H. System, some kind of Namco subsidiary or subcontractor that also developed the charming Märchen Maze, if you were looking for a true sequel to Bosconian... This isn't it, I'm afraid. It's got some elements of the original game, but they're all presentation- the original voice-clips show up (including BLAST OFF which is where the game gets its title), the space stations with a core that need to be shot and even the spy ship mechanic is in place (let spy ships slip past you and you'll enter CONDITION RED where more enemies appear)- but otherwise this is a more straightforward vertical shmup. It does look nice, mind- some good detail on the sprites, and I'm a fan of the way it enlarges all the sprites for the interior sections, even if it makes you a bigger target. Not a whole lot else to say really, it's completely fine but definitely not a Bosconian follow-up, if that's what you were hoping for.

... And yep, it's one of those weeks where the ACA release doesn't show up on the EU storefronts for seemingly no reason! I suppose it's fitting for the final ACA game to be covered on this Cohost. More on that in a later post, the future of these posts is uncertain!

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Vs. Battle City (Namco, 1985)

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Preference options allow you to toggle whether sprites that overlay each other show black space or not, and to display the score during gameplay.

Your last mission in defending the pride of our batallion, the eagle flag, went so well- with you taking out many an enemy tank, and destroying many an obstructing wall- that you've caught the attention of the top brass back at HQ. You might remember in your debriefing that last time, you had to do this alone and with no outside assistance, but fear not, HQ has your back. Your mission to defend the flag from wave upon wave of enemy tanks will continue, but now you can bring a second player into the fight for co-op defensive action and also pick up power-ups like shields, screen-clearing grenades and even tank upgrades that eventually let you destroy the otherwise-impenetrable steel walls. It's a good thing too, as your battle is much more complicated this time- new types of enemy tanks and terrain like vision-obscuring forests and impassable lakes are now dotted around the battlefield. Protect that flag, soldier, at all costs!

We're back to the Vs. System games frrom Namco, and this one's a pretty famous Famicom title, albeit one probably better known in the West for being endlessly cloned and pirated on various multicarts and bootleg systems. It's to Tank Batallion what Warpman is to Warp & Warp, a game inspired by its arcade predecessor but massively expanded with different terrain and power-ups. This completes the tank action trilogy of Tank Batallion, Battle City and Tank Force on Arcade Archives, which is nice! Still, the original Famicom version is also available in Namco Museum Archives Vol. 2, and that version features a level creator obviously missing from the arcade version, but there are differences in the level order and what appear to be exclusive levels in this Vs. System version like the one based on Mappy. Maybe check out the level select option (see the ACA manual for details) to see them all!

... Two more Arcade Archives posts remain before the end of Cohost.

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Knuckle Heads (Namco, 1993)

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Only the Japanese ROM is included, but what little text the game has (the endings) is already in English with Japanese subtitles, so you're not missing anything. The Preference Settings allow a solo player to play on the second player side but only if the game is set to 2 Players and not 4 Players.

In that sweet prime time slot just after Rock Bottom, it's America's favourite game show, KNUCKLE HEADS! Tonight, six of the world's toughest fighters are here to duke it out for fame, glory and a fabulous cash prize that we're amazed the network let us get away with offering! Robert Vincent from the USA, Takeshi Fujioka from Japan, Blat Vaike from Greece, Christine Myao from China, Gregory Darrell from Norway and Claudia Silva from Brazil are all here and ready to duke it out, supplied with a weapon of their choice- bo staffs, tonfas, giant claws, all are OK in this arena, and up to four of them get to brawl at once until only one is left standing! The contestants are about to enter the spotlight, so what do we say, audience? That's right! WIN OR DIE!

One of the few remaining holdouts from the Wii Virtual Console era of Namco arcade rereleases, Knuckle Heads is finally available in homes across the world and it's a doozy. Released in the early part of the fighting game boom of the early '90s (after Street Fighter II but before Super Turbo), Namco's take on the genre goes a bit wild with a three-button layout using low attacks (although there's no crouch blocking), high attacks (good for anti-airs) and jump (yep, no up to jump here) and support for up to four players at once. That last one's the reason there's no crouch blocking or up to jump- when three or four players are in the arena, you use up and down to move in and out of the screen like a scrolling brawler! Once there's only two players left, the combat shifts back to a single plane (one-on-one fights start this way) but up and down still won't jump or crouch like other fighters, but you can use them to input special moves as you'd expect. The other major mechanic is being able to hold either button down to charge up power which changes your normal attacks both on the ground and in the air. This means negative edge is a big deal here as you'll need it to pull off charged-up special moves which have different properties, but you can also hold one attack button then press the other to let the charge off if you find that easier.

Knuckle Heads is an ambitious, messy, janky, fascinating fighting game. It has a lot of interesting ideas, and a manic four-player fighting game was a real rarity back in 1993, but it feels a little rough. It feels a little slow-paced, it has a very small roster even by the standards of the time and moving in and out of the screen just feels very awkward in a game like this, even if it does help facillitate the four-player action. It almost feels like it's falling apart too, with somewhat stiff animation and abrupt cuts to black between scene transitions (this is incorrectly emulated in MAME but that's how it is on real hardware)... And yet I can't help but be fascinated by it. Namco really wanted to try something different to stand out from the other fighters spawned in the wake of Street Fighter II, and they absolutely did it, once you see Knuckle Heads it's kinda hard to forget it! I kinda wish it had shown up on slightly better hardware though, but it's a bold little game, and if you're interested in weird fighting games from the boom period, it's definitely worth a look. Also, it has a Takayuki Aihara soundtrack that is just wall to wall bangers.

To end on a bit of fun trivia... As mentioned by ohfivepro, it has professional voice actors, a break from the norm for fighting games- Christine Myao is voiced by Megumi Hayashibara (Rei from Evangelion, girl Ranma from Ranma 1/2), Robert Vincent and Gregory Darrell are voiced by Nobuo Tobita (Kamille Bidan from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam) and Claudia Silva is voiced by none other than Kotono Mitsuishi (Usagi Tsukino / Sailor Moon from, uh, Sailor Moon).

Also from ohfivepro, some Gamest coverage of the game, with a rare bit of official Knuckle Heads art. You can read the issue of NG Community Magazine that used the art you see there and above too.

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Vs. The Advanture of Valkyrie: The Legend of the Key of Time (Namco, 1986)

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The title used here is the official translation, this game's original title is Valkyrie no Bouken: Toki no Kagi Densetsu. While the game is untranslated, there's very little text and a full strategy guide is included (with maps) to help you beat the game. At the press of a button, you can bring up a Password Memo screen that allows you to record 16 passwords for later use. A Preference Setting allow you to display a two-second warning before enemies appear on-screen and also display a timer to show when 896 seconds (just barely under 15 minutes) are up, signalling the appearance of an unkillable enemy that also closes off inns and shops until your inevitable defeat- get to an inn and grab a password before it appears!

The evil Zouna has taken over the fair kingdom of Marvel Land, plunging the land into darkness! Only one warrior can stand up to this injustice- the warrior maiden, Valkyrie. From a top-down perspective similar (but not identical!) to the adventures of a certain young man in Hyrule, she must travel across Marvel Land, defeating Zouma's minions and finding items along the way to help her progress, as well as earn experience to learn new magical spells to aid her quest. She can also do some shopping for supplies with the money earned in combat or take a breather at the inn to heal and level herself up after a good night's rest. Lead on, adventurer, Valkyrie's quest awaits!

This is a pretty interesting rerelease for a few reasons, not least of which being this has never been dumped for use in MAME, making it an Arcade Archives exclusive for the time being. To be honest, I thought someone had made a mistake listing Vs. System games online and figured it didn't really exist, but I guess this rerelease shut me up! Can you blame me though? A top-down action RPG, in an arcade cabinet? Surely not, but Namco will make it work somehow. Other than a few changes outlined in the Hamster stream for the game (3:34:00) which amount to the 15 minute 'time limit' mentioned above and being able to use certain potions 8 times instead of 4, the entire game is basically in-tact, a full exploration RPG in an arcade cabinet, even letting you pause to switch items!

I can't really comment too much on the game itself as it's not my area (although the fact that some items needed to progress are just in invisible spots on the overworld seems very cruel). One thing I will say, I kinda respect the fact that rather than put a hard timer on, Namco just said, "OK, this enemy will eventually show up to make you get off the cabinet and also stop you from getting your password". It's a very blunt solution to the problem. Fortunately, if you're curious about this game yourself, the manual provides a full strategy guide complete with enemy and monster listings, maps of every area and even a step-by-step guide on what to do to beat the game. It's very helpful and makes me want to spend a bit more time with it, although it's a good thing you can display the amount of time you have before the time limit enemy shows up- losing all your progress because you didn't get to the inn within the limit is rough!

In any case, another undumped Vs. System game, nice! This list on Undmped Wiki has a few other interesting Namco Vs. System games- The Tower of Babel / Mytsery Tower, The Quest of Ki, Family Tennis... Hopefully Hamster can work something out and get these games reissued too, maybe some of those mysterious Sunsoft Vs. System games... At least get to Vs. The Quest of Ki before Vs. Sky Kud, please!!