Today I will review an arcade fighting game before Street Fighter 2 which is common standard for fighting game. Heck. Even before first Street Fighter. Wait, come back! What if I told you that the fighting games is about space robot? Are you interested, right? It’s Konami’s Galactic Warriors (1985)
The title is pretty bland although I like the shading effect on the letters. The shadow effect on the back also good, in my opinion. There’s no story or instruction. But you get to see the playable robots. There are 3 robots that you can play which is big step up compared to Street Fighter which only has Ryu and Ken moreover they have identical function. Let’s meet up with those galactic warriors!
I love their name is based on Greek Mythology. Oh wait! Samson is biblical figure though. I have no clue what “Entry No.” for. I think their weight is something staple to put in the technical specification data here. Height is also important. I reckon Poseidon is the best for me so I go with him. But I will show the other robots later.
Much like in Googol math game, I have to put my name before the game starts. I find it quite peculiar.
First match takes place in Mars. I assume this
robot represents Martian people in the tournament. I will beat this bastard to
show them not to invade America our planet again.
Honestly, for first opponent this robot is too difficult because he has ability to shoot a plasma projectile and that’s all he can do. First time I play this I was shocked and had rough time. So, go to dipswitch setting to set my life reserve to 7 and difficulty to easy. Hey! I have to do this so the show can go on. Besides I’m not doing this for 1 CC challenge. Anyway, you probably think why not jump kick the enemy as he shoot projectile. Solid idea but this game came out before proper jump kick is invented. What I try to say is: the jump kick in this game is just straight. The jump kick doesn’t come out in lower angle to ensure you can hit enemy on the ground while you’re jumping. So the jumping kick is just for air-to-air situation. By the way, the control for the movement is joystick. Also you pull it up to jump and pull it down to crouch. All seems basically all right.
The game has 3 buttons. Pressing left button to change weapon from left to right. Pressing middle button to block enemy’s attack. Lastly, pressing right button to use currently selected weapon. All playable robots have punch and kick on their arsenal. The most left weapon on the box in the bottom of the screen, is the special weapon which different among the robots. In Poseidon’s case, he has stretchy punch which predates Dhalsim by 6 years. However, I prefer this stretchy punch associated with Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece. Everytime Poseidon does the punch, I shout “Gomu gomu no punch!” :D
All I do for this fight is punch the opponent a lot and he seems doesn’t know how to counter the mighty Gomu gomu no punch.
So my first opponent is called Urunus. Konami possibly intentionally made that typo to avoid dirty word that make most childish men chuckle.
Next fight takes place in Ice Land? What planet is that?
Next opponent has punch and whip, that’s about it. Pressing middle button will make your robot quickly take their shield. It’s shiny and bulky but it only reduces damage from enemy’s attack by a bit. The only use of block is to mitigate telegraphed attack like enemy’s projectile. There’s no limit how many times you can block but the block is not useful, in my opinion.
One thing that pretty noticeable is there’s no auto-turning. You and your opponent can show your defenceless backside if you are not careful. Like here, he makes some bad jump then I punch him in the back of neck until die. Anyway, why my opponent looks like Xenomorph? Nah. Probably just my feeling.
Well, damn! That robot’s name is Giger as in H.R. Giger the creator of Xenomorph! So, I should say “In space nobody can hear you beat the heck of Giger alien robot”
Next fighting place is in Satern. I don’t know why I think Satern feels the name of Tatsunoko’s character.
All of sudden, we have slipper ice physic but not in previous stage which is clearly ICE LAND! Turns out, if I decide to jump, I can float without worry of gravity. But nah. I choose crouch and it’s working well for me. As for my opponent, he likes to throw spiked ball on chain like my main in Asura Blade: Goat. He also has light saber but I don’t care. My crouching gomu gomu no punch prevails over him.
So, that was Boreas, huh? He barely does something icy or cold and he is not even in ICE LAND where I should encounter him as befitting Greek God of winter and ice!
Next stage is in space. What in The Warp is the previous stage? How’s this stage is even more space than the “Satern”, huh?
There’s space in background and we’re fighting in solid arena. Sure, whatever. At this point, the game ramps up the difficulty. The previous fights can be won while you’re half asleep. But in this fight, you have to pay attention intensively. This guy has laser and it’s far more damaging and longer than Urunus’ projectile. Fighting opponent that can shoot projectile, is certainly problem here because I have mentioned about the unavailability of jumping kick. But at least Shoryu-ken/Dragon punch is not invented yet. I’m not sure how I can win this fight. I vaguely remember like this. Sometime when I try to gomu gomu no punch him. He jumps over me and because there’s no auto turn-around feature, I can punch the back of his head for free. Also, more gomu gomu no punch naturally.
Oh snap. I just defeated Hindu superhuman demigod: Asura. I reckon that guy could be equivalent of Akuma/Gouki in this game. So, where go to next?
It’s just place called station. Though space station is pretty good place to have mecha fight, I reckon.
First time I fight this guy, I was laughing at his inability to do anything other than punch. But then I realized he hits like truck and has constitution of steel wall! As the opposite of previous fight with Asura, you have to keep distance in this fight and jump over him once in awhile to avoid being cornered. But jumping over him requires precise timing and then there’s funny jumping physic. I will demonstrate it later.
Usually, enemy has reaction being hit with gomu gomu no punch. But not for this bulky git. He keeps walking toward you, very determined to punch you in the chin. Fortunately, he’s slow.
Spy_sf12_badmagic02.wav. That guy was Orion, who has the same name as that wizard in Soul Fighter that I played last week! Orion is such a sophisticated name, though.
Earth is our next destination. Tell me, please! Does he look familiar to you?
I mean, of course. It’s mirror match. That’s why he looks similar to me. That’s fatal mistake right there, buddy. Try to block my low attack with jumping block. Not going to work. Ever! But nice of him to try fighting me fairly unlike me who keep gomu gomu no punch his kneecaps.
Then he decides to stop blocking my attack and have crouching gomu gomu no punch contest with me but it’s already too late. I already do the stretchy punch since the match begins. I win! \o/
There’s no epilogue after beating all the opponents. Your reward only this congratulation screen and the game loop back…
… but with extra weapon! Now I can do gomu gomu no kick which is longer and stronger than gomu gomu no punch. Urunus also has new weapon and that is: diagonal close shot to deal with me if I get too close to him.
Giger now has two boomerangs throw. They’re pretty fast but my gomu gomu no kick wins!
Looking at his arsenal on the bottom screen, Boreas has ability to fire bullets, I guess. He is no tougher than we first met, anyway.
Asura now has ability to fire diamond-shaped laser and it really stings! Again, fight with Asura is where you need to be serious.
In the fight against Orion redux, I realize what’s the weakness of gomu gomu no kick. It’s certainly strong weapon. But because it reaches long, it takes long time to fully retract my leg before I can move or do the move again. I though the stretchy kick will make this fight easier but no! I should stick to gomu gomu no punch that’s faster than gomu gomu no kick.
Orion now has proper rocket punch like legit anime mech. I also notice how manipulative the enemy AI is. When Orion has more health than me, he pretends being dumb by trying punch me like usual. But when I have more health than him, he throws his rocket punch without hesitate. The rocket punch is massive game changer. Remember that he has bigger attack and defense power than me. If I were him, I just throw the rocket punch. I would win the damage race for sure! The only weakness of his rocket punch is it has limited range. And also he has to wait for the fist to come back to his arm before he can move again.
Like in previous loop, the mirror match feels relaxing compared to the fight with Orion. Oh look, I gomu gomu no punch him right in the crotch. That’s supposed to be bad sportsmanship. Or should I say bad sportsmechship.
“You finish 2 rounds tournament. Here’s the measly 500 points because you know you’re cheating. Now get the freak off from the arcade cabinet! We want other’s money”
That’s probably not true especially the 500 points reward part. It’s in small number most likely because I finish the mirror match with just a sliver of health. I thought I get more extra weapon for 3rd loop but no. There’s none. I supposed I have to show you about the other playable robot then.
Samson...Goddamn Zaku from Mobile Suit Gundam! His special weapon is light saber which is weaker than Poseidon’s stretchy punch! But it’s Goddamn LIGHT SABER! How is it weaker than overly long punch? Go figure. The light saber is shorter and weaker than gomu gomu no punch so I don’t see the appeal of Samson. Except if you like Zaku, I guess.
As for Samson’s extra weapon: it is scepter or spear or mace or whatever. It’s longer and stronger than light saber so it’s a plus. However, the hitbox for this weapon is just on its head. The rod part doesn’t count as hurting enemy. So, it requires some skill to use said weapon. On to next galactic warrior: Gaea…
Gaea’s special weapon is...boob projectile. Isn’t obvious? Sure, she’s the only galactic warrior with projectile weapon. But does it have to be boob, Konami? Are you freaking serious?
Here’s the funny jumping physic that I talked about. It’s bouncy. If your galactic warrior makes skin contact while jumping, they will bounce really hard. It’s like fight between balloon animals in bouncy castle. The bouncy physic is not supposed to happen because they’re Goddamn robot and not balloon animals that just recently inflated by your local party clown! Also, Orion’s punch can knock you back. Joy. In this fight, boob projectile shows its weakness. It’s slow and doesn’t do much damage against Orion. Like it only makes Orion’s health bar goes down in a millimeter. Imagine when Orion got the rocket punch, then the fight become nigh impossible to win with Gaea.
As for Gaea’s extra weapon: it’s a bullet fired from her knee. It’s certainly stronger than the boob projectile because knee is harder than boob, see? I think this new projectile attacks supposed to catch enemy off guard when they do standing block because it’s low projectile. I kind of disappointed with this new weapon though. I was expecting Iron Man’s unibeam or rocket. You can think of this knee bullet as the opposite of Skyrim’s guard meme “I used to be adventure like you until I took an arrow to the knee”. Anyway, I’m done here!
Konami’s Galactic Warriors (1985) is pretty unique fighting game. It’s quite neat game but with caveat this game came out before first Street Fighter. The gameplay idea is fairly solid although I prefer if the game has 4 buttons instead. Add 1 button for melee attack and remove the punch and kick from selection. That way the mechanic feels more comprehensive and functionally better. The hit detection is quite reasonable. For example there’s blank spot in rod part of Samson’s mace/scepter/spear or arm part of Poseidon’s stretchy punch, only his knuckle that is active hitbox. There’s neat feature on health bar. The health bar turns red if the owner has less health than their opponent. The music is not memorable although I like the jingle before the math begins. The sound effect is simplistic. On to the bad part. The bouncy jump physic is annoying. It’s very difficult to simply jump over the opponent. Even if I did it perfectly, there’s 50% chance that I get punched in the back of my head by Orion immediately. The block is nigh useless while the jump is even more useless unless you can jump over the opponent and not close in on opponent that fire projectile. Even if you manage to close in, you just present yourself to enemy’s punch. They have faster reaction to switch their weapon immediately. Moreover as I have mentioned before that the proper air-to-ground jumping kick is not invented yet for this game. There’s no reason to use punch or kick because why would you want using the melee when all of the special weapons have longer reach and dealing stronger attack power compared to melee attack? That’s why I suggesting the melee attack is in separated button. The crouching attack is hard to avoid. I mean you can jump over it but there’s slight delay before you can move again after landing on the ground. Not to mention the absence of auto turn-around. The projectile attack is so game breaker. There’s no limit how you or CPU fire projectiles. Nothing stops you from spamming projectile over and over again. Probably speed but that’s not enough. I notice that you can negate opponent’s projectile if you can hit them first either with gomu gomu no punch or boob projectile. The game probably more serviceable if it facilitates 2p versus mode but apparently there’s none. The game is just pure 1p fighting game. So I can’t put “Better experience with multiplayer” tag, sadly. The game also doesn’t give you any continue. Once you have 0 life reserve, it’s game over. That’s kind of stingy.
In conclusion, Galactic Warriors (1985) is fun game to play. Probably just to beat the heck out of Xenomorph looking robot. Playing beyond that point is inadvisable. But maybe it’s worth it to finish a circuit just to acquire the extra weapon. I prefer Fighting Master or Mobile Suit Gundam Ex Revue than this game. But it provides me with unique game experience especially when using the boob projectile.
No comments:
Post a Comment