The Punisher, the Video Game by Capcom Co., Ltd. [Japan]
DESCRIPTION
Type of the machine : Video Game
The Punisher © 1993 Capcom.
Play as either the Punisher or Nick Fury, together or solo- and fight your way through many dangerous locales filled with criminals. Lots of devastating weapons and moves to unleash on your opponents. Find and defeat the Kingpin in this side-scrolling beat'em up. Very similar to the game "Final Fight", also by Capcom.
The Punisher © 1993 Capcom.
Play as either the Punisher or Nick Fury, together or solo- and fight your way through many dangerous locales filled with criminals. Lots of devastating weapons and moves to unleash on your opponents. Find and defeat the Kingpin in this side-scrolling beat'em up. Very similar to the game "Final Fight", also by Capcom.
TECHNICAL
CABINET :
;)
Main CPU : 68000 (@ 12 Mhz), Z80 (@ 8 Mhz)
Sound Chips : Q-Sound (@ 4 Mhz)
Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 384 x 224 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz
Palette colors : 4096
Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 2 (ATTACK, JUMP)
TRIVIA
Released in April 1993.
This game features the main characters from the comic books respectively titled 'The Punisher' (First appearance : Amazing Spider-Man 129, 1973) and 'Nick Fury' (First appearance : Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos 1, 1963), Agent of SHIELD, both published by Marvel Comics. The acronym SHIELD stands for 'Surpreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division'.
Scully, the first of the boss villains here, is loosely based on a villain named Chester Scully who appeared in issues 22-23 (August and September, 1989) of the Punisher's first ongoing series, which ran from 1987 to 1995. The leaping kicks he uses in the game are an homage to the cover of the 23rd issue where his comic book counterpart is shown attacking the Punisher by kicking at him while jumping.
Bushwacker, the 4th stage boss, is based on the omonimous Marvel's super villain (enemy of Daredevil, The Punisher and Wolverine). Although, there are some aesthetic differences from his appearence in the game and in the original comic: half of his face is horribly scared in the comic, while in the game his face seems in good conditions. Also, his special right arm, altered bionically to function as a gun, is still revealed on his real form on the comic, while in the game he can turn his arms from normal form to guns form, like a type of mutant morph (and this should sound incongruous, because he's a mutant's hunter on the Marvel's comics). He appear on the Capcom's game before he was hired by Kingpin for kill Punisher in the original Punisher comic series, so his presence fit perfectly in the game's plot.
Jigsaw, the non-boss enemy appearing in the 2nd area of the final stage (elevator's top) is one of the most dangerous enemies of Punisher in the original comic series. Although, is showed different in the game - in the game he appears like a commando-mercenary, while in the comic he was a former killer of a notorious mobster family of New York. - By the way, his scared face (caused by the same Punisher on the comics) is identical on his original appearence on the comics.
Bruno Costa, the bald gangster with sunglasses appearing in the scenes of attract mode and during the first stages of the game, is also showed in the comic, and he's the responsable of the massacre of the Frank's Castle family, like the game says. However, Punisher killed him in the comic's series, while in the game he's killed by Guardroid (the 2nd stage boss).
Hidden Bonus Level : Looking in the game source code, there's a hidden second bonus game in stage directory. It shows an airplane hijacking or something and two of the generic game thugs burst through the winshield. They run across the screen to the left and then punisher shows up. There are several stewardesses on the floor as hostages and when you go over to them they get freed. But then the stage like instantly is interrupted and randomly takes you to the score screen after every stage and says 'Stage 7 complete' and then switches to an alternate credits screen with all the enenmies in the game running across and doing random things. It's probably a part of the game not completed and not remove from the final product and still present in the source code. The only way to see this hidden stage is to browse the source code or using a cheat with emulator like MAME.
Soundtrack releases :
Pony Canyon / Scitron - Tenchi wo Kurau II The Battle of Red Wall : G.S.M. Capcom 7 - PCCB-00133 - 20/08/1993.
This game features the main characters from the comic books respectively titled 'The Punisher' (First appearance : Amazing Spider-Man 129, 1973) and 'Nick Fury' (First appearance : Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos 1, 1963), Agent of SHIELD, both published by Marvel Comics. The acronym SHIELD stands for 'Surpreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division'.
Scully, the first of the boss villains here, is loosely based on a villain named Chester Scully who appeared in issues 22-23 (August and September, 1989) of the Punisher's first ongoing series, which ran from 1987 to 1995. The leaping kicks he uses in the game are an homage to the cover of the 23rd issue where his comic book counterpart is shown attacking the Punisher by kicking at him while jumping.
Bushwacker, the 4th stage boss, is based on the omonimous Marvel's super villain (enemy of Daredevil, The Punisher and Wolverine). Although, there are some aesthetic differences from his appearence in the game and in the original comic: half of his face is horribly scared in the comic, while in the game his face seems in good conditions. Also, his special right arm, altered bionically to function as a gun, is still revealed on his real form on the comic, while in the game he can turn his arms from normal form to guns form, like a type of mutant morph (and this should sound incongruous, because he's a mutant's hunter on the Marvel's comics). He appear on the Capcom's game before he was hired by Kingpin for kill Punisher in the original Punisher comic series, so his presence fit perfectly in the game's plot.
Jigsaw, the non-boss enemy appearing in the 2nd area of the final stage (elevator's top) is one of the most dangerous enemies of Punisher in the original comic series. Although, is showed different in the game - in the game he appears like a commando-mercenary, while in the comic he was a former killer of a notorious mobster family of New York. - By the way, his scared face (caused by the same Punisher on the comics) is identical on his original appearence on the comics.
Bruno Costa, the bald gangster with sunglasses appearing in the scenes of attract mode and during the first stages of the game, is also showed in the comic, and he's the responsable of the massacre of the Frank's Castle family, like the game says. However, Punisher killed him in the comic's series, while in the game he's killed by Guardroid (the 2nd stage boss).
Hidden Bonus Level : Looking in the game source code, there's a hidden second bonus game in stage directory. It shows an airplane hijacking or something and two of the generic game thugs burst through the winshield. They run across the screen to the left and then punisher shows up. There are several stewardesses on the floor as hostages and when you go over to them they get freed. But then the stage like instantly is interrupted and randomly takes you to the score screen after every stage and says 'Stage 7 complete' and then switches to an alternate credits screen with all the enenmies in the game running across and doing random things. It's probably a part of the game not completed and not remove from the final product and still present in the source code. The only way to see this hidden stage is to browse the source code or using a cheat with emulator like MAME.
Soundtrack releases :
Pony Canyon / Scitron - Tenchi wo Kurau II The Battle of Red Wall : G.S.M. Capcom 7 - PCCB-00133 - 20/08/1993.
UPDATES
The US version has the "Winners Don't Use Drugs" screen.
Japanese version is a bit different :
* The Super Kick results in blue flames on the enemy instead of blood.
Japanese version is a bit different :
* The Super Kick results in blue flames on the enemy instead of blood.
TIPS AND TRICKS
* Super Kick : Down, Up+Attack
* Super AIR Kick : Forward(x2), Jump, Down+Attack
* Special Ending : finish the game without having to continue to see a different credit sequence (badguy parade).
* On 2nd area of first stage, the enemy Cool will appear for few seconds from a open door, then he will flee : if you're fast, you can kill him before he disappear with the handgun that the players draw automatically in that moment.
* When you're in the 2nd area of stage 2, the gangsters' mansion in Florida, there are 3 jail cells in which 3 girls are being held hostage. Break open the cells and then stand still. The girls will give the players thank-you hugs that restore energy to their lifebars.
* At the end of the 2nd stage you'll fight against the Guardroid. At the end of the room where the battle is set, you'll found an huge bed and a painting in the wall. Destroy this objects for obtain extra weapons and energy that could help you during the fight
* In the 3rd stage (the harbor) you'll encounter several cars, where gangster carrying machine gun will exit from there for attack the players. If you destroy those cars before they'll exit from there, they'll disappear in the explosion: also, you can see the poor driver carbonized after the car's explosion!
* The Punisher and Nick Fury's personal handguns are usually drawn automatically whenever enemies carrying firearms - and also the robots called 'Pretty Boy' - turn up. With the exception of the robots, which are tougher to deal with, try to refrain from killing the enemies armed with guns until after you've killed some of those who aren't carrying guns. This certainly comes in useful during the showdown at the end with the Kingpin, who's drawn much larger here than he was in Sega's own "Spider-Man - The Videogame", made 2 years earlier.
* Super AIR Kick : Forward(x2), Jump, Down+Attack
* Special Ending : finish the game without having to continue to see a different credit sequence (badguy parade).
* On 2nd area of first stage, the enemy Cool will appear for few seconds from a open door, then he will flee : if you're fast, you can kill him before he disappear with the handgun that the players draw automatically in that moment.
* When you're in the 2nd area of stage 2, the gangsters' mansion in Florida, there are 3 jail cells in which 3 girls are being held hostage. Break open the cells and then stand still. The girls will give the players thank-you hugs that restore energy to their lifebars.
* At the end of the 2nd stage you'll fight against the Guardroid. At the end of the room where the battle is set, you'll found an huge bed and a painting in the wall. Destroy this objects for obtain extra weapons and energy that could help you during the fight
* In the 3rd stage (the harbor) you'll encounter several cars, where gangster carrying machine gun will exit from there for attack the players. If you destroy those cars before they'll exit from there, they'll disappear in the explosion: also, you can see the poor driver carbonized after the car's explosion!
* The Punisher and Nick Fury's personal handguns are usually drawn automatically whenever enemies carrying firearms - and also the robots called 'Pretty Boy' - turn up. With the exception of the robots, which are tougher to deal with, try to refrain from killing the enemies armed with guns until after you've killed some of those who aren't carrying guns. This certainly comes in useful during the showdown at the end with the Kingpin, who's drawn much larger here than he was in Sega's own "Spider-Man - The Videogame", made 2 years earlier.
STAFF
Game designers : Akiman, Maeda, Buchi, Jun Keiba, Ohn
Program designers : Kazuhito Nakai, T. Ueno, Y. Kawabata, Mitsu, Y. Mikami (ZZR)
Character designers : Eripyon.N, Matsunaga, Mayo Seriya, Daniel, Vlad.T, Inukichi, Minobeyan, Yokota Yokozo, Koizumi, Iwai, Go, T. Tathivana, Mikiman, Marilyn Higuchi, Harusan
Sound designers : Yoko Shimomura (Pi B), Isao Abe, Toshio Kajino, Syun Nishigaki, Nobu. Oouchi
Director : Noritaka Funamizu (Poo)
System advicer : Jaboon
Illustration designer : Sensei
Program designers : Kazuhito Nakai, T. Ueno, Y. Kawabata, Mitsu, Y. Mikami (ZZR)
Character designers : Eripyon.N, Matsunaga, Mayo Seriya, Daniel, Vlad.T, Inukichi, Minobeyan, Yokota Yokozo, Koizumi, Iwai, Go, T. Tathivana, Mikiman, Marilyn Higuchi, Harusan
Sound designers : Yoko Shimomura (Pi B), Isao Abe, Toshio Kajino, Syun Nishigaki, Nobu. Oouchi
Director : Noritaka Funamizu (Poo)
System advicer : Jaboon
Illustration designer : Sensei
PORTS
Consoles :
Sega Mega Drive1994)SOURCES
Game's rom.
Machine's picture.
Machine's picture.
LAST EDITION
August 22, 2009