Tokyo Xtreme Racer Advance [Model AGB-BTZE-USA] (c) 2005 Crave Ent., Inc.

- STAFF -
Produced by: David A. Palmer
Programmed by: Nigel Speight
Artwork by: Greg Harris
Audio by: Mark Cooksey
President: Vincent J. Bitetti
Senior Vice President, Woldwide Product Development & Acquisitions: Mark Burke
Studio Director Robert Bryant
Executive Producer: Steve Ryno
Associate Producer: Greg Gibson
Quality Assurance Manager: Tuan Trinh
Quality Assurance Lead: Roger Hu
Primary Tester: Steven Gay
Quality Assurance: Aron Ahles, Carlos Vazquez, Jim Balthaser, Steven Webb, Judy Taubel, Vincent J. Bitetti, Brian Cutts, Robert Dryburgh, Jo Ann Faustino, Darold Higa, David Kang, Anthony Lee, Richard Martin, Thomas Quast, Ramiro Ramirez, Ramon Ramirez, Denis Takara, Paul Taniguchi
Director of Marketing Services: Sheri Furumi Snow
V. P. Corporate Counsel: Barry Seaton
Special Thanks: Nima Taghavi, Michael Maas, John Bloodworth, Jeffrey Dickson
- SOURCES -

Game's ROM.

Sky Dancers - They Magically Fly! [Model AGB-B4DE-USA] (c) 2006 Crave Ent., Incorporated.

- STAFF -
Produced by: David A. Palmer
Programmed by: Nigel Speight
Artwork by: Peter Tattersall, Greg Harris
Audio by: Mark Cooksey
Levels by: Martin Smith
Senior Vice President, Crave Entertainment: James Flaharty
Senior Vice President, Worldwide Product Development & Acquisitions: Mark Burke
Senior Producer: Kathy A. Bucklin
Associate Producer: Thomas Quast
Quality Assurance Manager: Tuan Trinh
Quality Assurance Lead: Brian Cutts
Primary Testers: Nam H. Kim, Darold Higa
Quality Assurance: Anthony Lee, James Dodd, Jo Ann Faustino, Steven Gay, Aaron Hartman, Roger Hu, Tony Martin, Ramon Ramirez, Marti Rivera, Denis Takara, Paul Taniguchi
Director of Marketing Services: Sheri Furumi Snow
Director of Brand Marketing: Doug Panter
Package Design: Truth - Santa Ana
Special Thanks: Nima Taghavi, Michael Maas, Robert K. Dyer, Robert Bryant, John Bloodworth, Judy Taubel

- SOURCES -

Game's ROM.

- DESCRIPTION -

Wanpaku Safari © 1998 Sega.

- TRIVIA -

Released in November 1998 in Japan.

- SOURCES -

Game's ROM.

- TRIVIA -

Released internationally on 27th July, 2023.

- SOURCES -

https://maimai.sega.com/

- TRIVIA -

Released in Korea on July 4th, 2023. Released worldwide on August 1st, 2023.

- SOURCES -

https://www.arcadebelgium.net/t6614-pump-it-up-2023-phoenix

- TRIVIA -

Released in Japan on July 24, 2023.

- SOURCES -

https://www.arcadebelgium.net/t6612-quiz-magic-academy-kogane-no-michishirube

Zanac A.I. (c) 1987 FCI

Export release for the USA. See the FamiCom disk system entry "Zanac A.I. [Model L29V5906(PNF-ZAN)]" for more information about the game itself.

- TECHNICAL -

Game ID: NES-ZA-USA

- TRIVIA -

Even if the title screen says 1986, Zanac A.I. was released in October 1987 in North America.

- STAFF -

Game designed by: Compile
Produced by: AII

- SOURCES -

Game's ROM.

Quester (c) 1987 Namco ltd.

The player must move a paddle left and right across the bottom of the screen deflecting a ball to hit bricks. Some bricks contain special power-ups to enhance play.

- TECHNICAL -

Namco System 1 hardware
Game ID: QS

Main CPU: 6809 (@ 1.536 Mhz)
Sub CPU: 6809 (@ 1.536 Mhz)
Sound CPU: 6809 (@ 1.536 Mhz)
MCU: HD63701 (@ 1.536 Mhz)
Sound Chips: Yamaha YM2151 (@ 3.57958 Mhz), Namco advanced 8-channel stereo WSG, stereo DAC

Screen orientation: Vertical
Video resolution: 224 x 288 pixels
Screen refresh: 60.61 Hz
Palette colors: 24-bit RGB palette

Players: up to 2 (alternate)
Control: Dial
Buttons: 1
[A] = shoot the ball

- TRIVIA -

Quester was released in September 1987 in Japan only. It represented at its time the Namco's response to Taito's "Arkanoid".

Round #2 is inspired by round #3 of Arkanoid, although the red blocks can be destroyed after a few shots. Round #5 shows a flagship from Galaxian. Round #6 shows Pac-Man.

Completion of the game gives you the image of Earth, eastern hemisphere with western side of the Pacific ocean and then appears the CGI sequence with the capsule landing in the aeronautical base during daytime.

Creative staff is written in white, engineering - in yellow (programming section) and red (hardware section).

Even if you complete entire game, you'll still a game over.

The high score allows you to put 8 characters.

Victor Entertainment released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Namco Video Game Graffiti Vol.4 - VDR-5282) on 08/03/1989.

- TIPS AND TRICKS -

* Quester is a timed game. Complete the stage in less than 2 minutes to get bonus. The time you required to complete the stage is shown after it. Otherwise, you'll see time 'UP' in the post-stage box and you'll get no bonus.
* There are 2 types of blocks speeding the ball up or slowing it down: the red triangle pointed up speeds the ball up, blue triangle pointed down - slows it down. You may need to avoid both blocks.
* Pick the 'B' power-up and as soon as the molecule appears, insert the ball there to increase the ball count rapidly. This tip is useful for stage #4.
* Watch out for meteorites: they shorten the paddle.
* Take 'L' power-up to mount a barrier.
* Bonus stages occur every 7 rounds. They require you to push the fire button to shoot the balls and clear all the blocks in 15 seconds.
* A bunch of stages feature disco blocks - they add red ones next to flashing bricks. Shoot them 4 times to wipe them out of the play-field.
* Complete 33 stages.

- STAFF -

[CREATIVE] Game designer: Shinji Noguchi
[CREATIVE] Field designers: Toru Iwatani, Shinji Noguchi, Yukihiko Yagi
[CREATIVE] Graphic designers: Nobutaka Nakajima, Shinji Noguchi, Yukari Miyagi, Satoshi Norimatsu, Michiyo Yamashita
[CREATIVE] Title logo designer: Akira Usukura
[CREATIVE] Music composer: Shinji Hosoe
[ENGINEERING, PROGRAMMING SECTION] Game sequence: Kosei Matsuura
[ENGINEERING, PROGRAMMING SECTION] Device driver: Atsushi Yuhara
[ENGINEERING, PROGRAMMING SECTION] Sound driver: Junko Ozawa, Takatoshi Kobayashi
[ENGINEERING, PROGRAMMING SECTION] Hardware test: Hideto Yamazaki
[ENGINEERING, HARDWARE SECTION] PCB & chip design: Toru Ogawa, Makoto Inoue, Tsutomu Fujita, Takao Okada, Kazukiyo Shinozaki
[ENGINEERING, HARDWARE SECTION] Control panel: Akira Ohsugi, Hiroyuki Kobayashi
[PROBABLY CREATIVE] Produced by: Toru Iwatani

- SOURCES -

Game's ROM.

Galaxian (c) 1984 Namcot (Namco ltd label for home releases).

A portage of the first coin-op game using full color TV set, released in October 1979.

- TECHNICAL -

Cartridge ID: NGX-4500
Players: up to 2 (alternate)
Controls: d-pad 2 ways (left and right)
Buttons: 1
[A] or [B] = fire

- TRIVIA -

Galaxian for Famicom was released on September 7, 1984 in Japan.

The 1979 copyright year is a reference to the coin-op original, published in October 1979.

All the levels are the same.

The HUD will show 5 flags up to stage 5. After that, one flag will show up and the stage will be written in numbers.

- SCORING -

* Red alien = 50 points (when static; 100 when flying)
* Lavender alien = 40 points (when static; 80 when flying)
* Bottle-green alien = 30 points (when static; 60 when flying)
* Flagship = 60 points (when static; 150 when destroyed alone; 200 when destroyed with 1 alien, 300 when destroyed alien first then flagship, 800 when destroyed with 2 aliens)

- STAFF -

By: Haruhisa Udagawa

- PORTS -

* CONSOLES:
Philips CD-I [EU] (1996) "Arcade Classics"

- SOURCES -

Game's ROM.

WarpMan (c) 1985 Namcot (Namco ltd label for home releases).

WarpMan is a fixed-screen action game by Namco ltd and likely sequel to the arcade game "Warp & Warp", originally released in July 1981.

The player assumes control of a little astronaut and the game starts out in space, complete with floating asteroids and a large black hole at the center of the screen. All kinds of mysterious, yet cute aliens constantly appear and the goal of the game is to zap them to oblivion with the help of a ray gun (a counter located on the left of the screen shows how many aliens are left to defeat in that round).

However, when the black hole at the center flashes and changes color, the player can enter it and warp to a maze-like world. During this phase, the small astronaut swaps his ray gun for powerful bombs controlled by 3 timed fuses (cobalt blue - 5; cyan - 12 and green - 20 beeps).

WarpMan also features power ups, but they come with a little twist - they only upgrade the opposite weapon that the player currently uses, and this for the duration of one level. For instance, if the player collects a power up icon in the space level, it will upgrade the bomb for the next maze phase, and vice versa.

Interestingly, power ups also open warp portals allowing the player to instantly access a new level, thus implicitly activating the upgrade. Furthermore, shooting three enemies of the same kind usually brings special bonus aliens into the action - they come in three flavors and although they award bonus points, some of them occasionally carry bonus letters and spelling out EXTRA awards an extra life. WarpMan also includes a simultaneous cooperative two-player mode.

- TECHNICAL -

Cartridge ID: NWM-4500
Players: up to 2 (simultaneous)
Controls: d-pad 4 ways
Buttons: 1
[A] or [B] = fire gun (when in space levels) or plant a bomb (when in maze): press to plant a short-fused (cobalt blue) bomb, hold for a short while to plant a medium-fused (cyan) bomb, hold for a long while to plant a long-fused (green) bomb

- TRIVIA -

WarpMan was released on July 12, 1985 in Japan for 4500 Yen.

The 1981 copyright year is a reference to Warp & Warp, published in July 1981 for coin-op machines.

Stage 49 isn't counted - 4 red flags with '10' will show on the right side of the screen along with 8 regular, red flags adding up to 48.

Outer space levels feature 9 patterns.

- TIPS AND TRICKS -
* When you're playing a space level, you may encounter a green power-up opening the black hole leading to a maze. But if you forget to take it, the hole will open itself after a longer session. You have 5 seconds to enter the black hole.
* When you're in maze and you complete the level, unlike in coin-op original, you're not directed to outer space. If you want to get out of the maze section, collect a diamond, detonate the hole and return to outer space. If you forget to take the diamond, the hole won't appear itself.
* When you own the powerful shot, keep distance: when the bullet hits the wall, any enemy or meteorite, you'll lose a life if you're too close.
* Don't shoot your co-player in 2-player mode: the astronaut will be frozen for 1 second.
* A pig-like enemy (rounded, with antenna) stops every few seconds and closes eyes, making it invincible both in outer space and in mazes. Wait 1 second, then kill it.
* One extra life is awarded after earning 30000 points, then you have to spell 'EXTRA' (in any letter order) to get the next ones.
* A ring played after a longer session on a stage warns you the enemies are going faster. The music isn't sped up though.
* You have to defeat 24 enemies at all the stages.

- SERIES -

1. Warp & Warp (1981, Arcade)
2. Warpman [Model NWM-4500] (1985, Famicom)

- SOURCES -

Game's ROM.
Game's description by Laurent Kermel; http://www.videogameden.com

Binary Land (c) 1983 Hudson Soft.

- TECHNICAL -

GAME ID: WD-1007

Sonic Fighter (c) 1970 Allied Leisure.

An air-to-air combat jet fighter game controlled using a yoke that was modeled after fighter jets of the day. As a projection of clouds passes your view, line up your reticle to shoot down the enemy plane for points. Features realistic sounds including radio chatter.

- TRIVIA -

Released in June 1970. While not a video game, electro-mechanical games like this could be seen as early influences for video shoot 'em ups, including Sega's AfterBurner.

Engineer Jack Pearson explained how the game was built and worked:

"What you did was you went to a local hobby shop and bought a 3D model of an airplane or whatever you wanted to shoot down and you painted up this model and took 35mm slides from all different angles and then built a projector. We'd go out and buy a projector lamp and build a mechanism for it ourselves and buy a lens. Then we'd have the projector mounted on a mechanism that we could move. So when we wanted to send an airplane across a screen, we'd turn this motor which would drive the projector and then turn the lamp on and it would show that picture going across the screen."

"You had a little PC [printed circuit] board that had contacts on it and a wiper blade and as the projector moved, the wiper blade would move to different contacts on the projector. The gun would have the same kind of mechanism. So if the projector was on pin 2 and the gun was on pin 2 and the trigger was pulled, you'd get a [closed] circuit. Then we'd have a solenoid that would pull another slide in front of the projector with a picture of a red explosion. So the explosion would move the same way the airplane would have. It was difficult because you had to make everything yourself - the projectors, the guns and so forth."

- STAFF -

Engineering & design - Jack Pearson

- SOURCES -

Machine's picture.
Allied Leisure's history - http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-ultimate-so-far-history-of-allied.html

Wild Cycle (c) 1970 Allied Leisure.

An "answer" to Chicago Coin's Speedway, this featured a motorcycle instead of a car. Ride your bike on a projected course while rocking out to groovy tunes that are pumped out via 8-track. Features 2 courses, Novice and Daredevil.

- TRIVIA -

Released in April 1970.

One of the first games to incorporate force feedback into the controls, the handlebars rumbling when you would crash. The handlebars also featured two real gauges.

The game came with an 8-track tape to play the music but operators could easily swap this out for any tape they wanted.

This was so successful that two other manufacturers attempted to buy Allied out but they declined, opting to continue producing games on their own.

- STAFF -

Ron Halliburton
Norman Gabe
Stephen Mendell

Dead or Alive 2 Millennium (c) 2000 Tecmo.

A brilliant 3-D fighting game from Tecmo. The gameplay is similar to its predecessor, but now has new additions such as multi-tiered arenas and tag-team matches.

- TECHNICAL -

Runs on the Sega "NAOMI" hardware.
CART ID: 841-0003C

- TRIVIA -

Dead or Alive 2 Millennium was released in January 2000.

This game is also known as "Dead or Alive 2 '2000".

- SERIES -

1. Dead or Alive (1996, Arcade)
2. Dead or Alive ++ (1998, Arcade)
3. Dead or Alive 2 (1999, Arcade)
4. Dead or Alive 2 Millennium (2000, Arcade)
5. Dead or Alive 3 (2001, XBOX)
6. Dead or Alive 4 (2005, XBOX 360)
7. Dead or Alive - Dimensions (2011, 3DS)
8. Dead or Alive 5 (2012, PS3, XBOX 360)
9. Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade (2013)

- SOURCES -

Game's ROM.
Game's screenshots.

Racing Jam - Chapter II (c) 1998 Konami Company, Limited.

- TECHNICAL -

Main CPU : PPC403 (@ 32 Mhz), 68000 (@ 16 Mhz), ADSP21062 (@ 36 Mhz)
Sound Chips : RF5C400 (@ 36 Mhz)

Players : 2
Control : 8-way Joystick
Buttons : 3

- TRIVIA -

Racing Jam - Chapter II was released in July 1998 in Japan.

- TIPS AND TRICKS -

* Unlock Time Trial Mode : Press down on Clutch and Brake simultaneously and press the Start button. Don't let off the pedals until the race starts.

- SERIES -

1. Racing Jam (1997)
2. Racing Jam - Chapter II (1998)

- SOURCES -

Game's ROM.

Racing Jam (c) 1997 Konami Company, Limited.

This racing game boasts (at least) 24 cars and 4 different modes of play, with differing difficulty levels : Time Trial and Circuit Course racing (beginners and intermediate), uphill and downhill versions of Winding Road (expert), and several Gymkhana Racing modes. Like "Gran Turismo", it is possible to upgrade engine power and suspension.

- TECHNICAL -

There were at least 2 versions of this cabinet - a sit down version boasting a large curved rear projection screen and a twin cabinet version with standard television screens.

Main CPU : PPC403 (@ 32 Mhz), 68000 (@ 16 Mhz), ADSP21062 (@ 36 Mhz)
Sound Chips : RF5C400 (@ 36 Mhz)

Players : 2
Control : 8-way Joystick
Buttons : 3

- TRIVIA -

Racing Jam was released in December 1997 in Japan, Twin Version was released in February 1998 in Japan.

Racing Jam was originally intended as a showcase title for Konami's new COBRA hardware. After rumours of a hardware switch to the lower-end Konami Hornet hardware, Racing Jam was eventually released on Konami NWK-TR hardware.

This game appeared as a prize on Bruce's Price is Right (the British version of The Price is Right hosted by Bruce Forsyth) in 1998 during the Showcase Showdown and was successfully won.

- SERIES -

1. Racing Jam (1997)
2. Racing Jam - Chapter 2 (1998)

- SOURCES -

Game's ROM.

1000 ex produced.

Alexey Pajitnov's Welltris (c) 1991 Video System Company, Limited.

A fun and addicting puzzle game from the creator of the hugely popular "Tetris".

- TECHNICAL -

Main CPU : Motorola 68000 (@ 10 Mhz)
Sound CPU : Zilog Z80 (@ 4 Mhz)
Sound Chips : Yamaha YM2610 (@ 8 Mhz)

Players : 2
Control : 8-Way Joystick
Buttons : 2
=> Turn, Drop

- TRIVIA -

Welltris was released in March 1991. This arcade video game is a port from an original computer game released in 1989 on the Atari ST.

- PORTS -

* COMPUTERS:
Commodore Amiga (1992) Action Masters
[JP] NEC PC-9801 (may.27, 1992)

- SOURCES -

Game's ROMs.
Game's screenshots.

Starship 1 (c) 1977 Atari.

The object is to destroy alien spacecraft while maneuvering the Starship through star and asteroid fields, 'saving the Federation'.

- TECHNICAL -

Game ID : 007513-007531

Main CPU : MOS Technology M6502 (@ 750 Khz)

Players : 1
Control : Stick (Steering Yoke for X-Axis, Throttle stick (fast/slow) for Y-Axis)
Buttons : 3 (Button 1= Fire, Button 2= Torpedo, Button 3= Brake(?) )

The game uses a half-silvered mirror to reflect the image over a black light lit space background. The monitor has a ''+'' (a target crosshairs) taped directly onto the monitor to aid in lining up enemy ships.

- TRIVIA -

Starship 1 was released in July 1977, selling at an MSRP of $1445. Approximately 3500 units were produced.

It is another fantastic Atari first. This incredibly realistic video sensation (at its time) goes where no game has gone before. This is one of, if not the, first game to use sprite scaling to increase the size of the 2D objects in the game as they get closer to the player.

After a nearly 50-year run, the mid-1970s video games like Starship 1 spelled the end of the electro-mechanical arcade games (such as "Killer Shark" seen in the movie Jaws). Video games would spawn a nation-wide phenomenon which has gone on to this day.

Starship 1 was one of many mid-1970's Atari games such as "Night Driver", "Sprint 2" and "Drag Race" which were often found at carnivals and bowling alleys. Kids would flock to these establishments just to get an opportunity to play the games rather than the primary source of entertainment they offered. When the 80's arrived, video games could be found everywhere including grocery stores and kids didn't have to go very far to play their favorite game.

At the end of a game, two different sayings will be displayed. One simply saying to deposit a quarter to be the captain of Starship 1, the other saying that "Sensors detect another quarter in your pocket, deposit it to be the captain of Starship 1". Pretty funny the first time you see it!

A Starship 1 unit appears in the 1978 movie "Dawn of the Dead".

- TIPS AND TRICKS -

Easter Egg:
Disable the 'Bonus Time' DIP switch. Hold the Phasor and Start buttons down. Drop a quarter in the Coin 1 slot, then quickly let up the buttons and slam the Slow control. The words 'Hi Ron!' will appear on the screen, and you will get 10 free credits.

- STAFF -

Designed and programmed by : Ron Milner, Steve Mayer, Dave Shepperd, Dennis Koble (at Grass Valley)

- SOURCES -

Game's ROM.
Machine's picture.

Indy 800 (c) 1975 Kee Games.

Race around the track, avoiding other cars and the walls. The car colors are purple, peach, yellow, green, light blue, white, red and dark blue.

- TECHNICAL -

The game is housed in a massive cabinet!! This machine takes up a phenomenal amount of floorspace; 16 square feet, which is truly massive for something from this era. The game has a truly massive game board. It is a card rack system, containing a board for each of the eight cars, sync, coin control and score boards.

There are mirrors overhead that allow passers-by to see the game action while people are playing.

Used discrete logic hardware and a full color screen

- TRIVIA -

Released in April 1975. At the time of its release, it was Atari's most expensive game ever produced, selling at an MSRP of $6495 (almost the equivalent of $37,000 in 2023).

This was the first 8-player video game ever released.

- SERIES -

1. Indy 800 (1975)
2. Indy 4 (1976)

- SOURCES -

Machine's picture.
Game's ROM.

F-114 (c) 1975 Allied Leisure.

- TECHNICAL -

This was an Electro-Mechanical game that used rear projection onto the curved screen. Players would attempt to shoot down as many enemy planes as they could before the time runs out. The seat was powered by a motor and would move side-to-side depending on where the player was pointing the action by using the joystick.

Dimensions:
63 in. high
46 in. wide
28 in. deep
(chair) 20 in. deep

Weight: 470 lbs.

- TRIVIA -

Despite not being a "proper" video game, this would count as one of the first motion simulators found in the arcade industry.

- STAFF -

Designed by : Jack Pearson

- SOURCES -

Machine's picture.
YouTube video of the game in action

Qwak ! (c) 1974 Atari.

A light-pen duck-hunting game that would be an early predecessor to Nintendo's Duck Hunt

The gun used an electronic duck call that would sound off before the ducks would go flying into the air and sound when a duck was hit and fell to the ground.

The reeds/grass were painted onto the glass in front of the 23" B&W monitor.

- TRIVIA -

Released in November 1974. This was the first time that a video arcade machine would use light-gun technology.

- STAFF -

Designed and engineered by: Harold Lee

- SOURCES -

Atari Inc: Business Is Fun by Curt Vendel and Marty Goldberg
Machine's picture.
Game's ROMs.

Tennis Tourney (c) 1973 Allied Leisure.

An early black and white two- to four-player tennis game.

- TRIVIA -

Tennis Tourney was released in July 1973. It was the first 4-player video arcade game.

According to an interview with Nolan Bushnell in the June-July 1975 issue of Play Meter Magazine, Allied releasing Tennis Tourney when they did forced Atari to release Pong Doubles (Atari's first 4-player game) earlier than desired. This caused a little bit of an uproar among operators who felt that Atari was pushing too fast to upgrade to the newer, better model.

More than 5000 units were produced in the US.

- SOURCES -

Machine's picture.

フォボス (c) 1982 DB-SOFT.
(Phobos)

- TECHNICAL -

GAME ID: F-3001

ハーベスト (c) 1983 Micronet Co., Ltd.
(Harvest)

- TECHNICAL -

GAME ID: MN-102001

Zero Fighter (c) 1983 Hudson Soft.

- TECHNICAL -

GAME ID: X-1065-G

ゼロファイター (c) 1983 Hudson Soft.
(Zero Fighter)

- TECHNICAL -

GAME ID: WB-1017

スーパードアーズ © 1983 Hudson Soft.
(Super Doors)

- TECHNICAL -

GAME ID: WB-1026

イタサンドリアス (c) 1983 Hudson Soft.
(Itasundorious)

- TECHNICAL -

GAME ID: WB-1012

Binary Land (c) 1983 Hudson Soft.

- TECHNICAL -

GAME ID: WB-1025

See See Find Out (c) 1999 Icarus.

A game that combines "Whack-a-mole" and "Spot-the-difference" mechanics. Players have to find all the differences between the left and right sides of the screen and hammer them out. Designed mostly as a 2-player versus game, can also be played solo against a timer.

- TECHNICAL -

Main CPU : ARM7 (@ 54 Mhz)

Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 320 x 240 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz
Palette Colors : 256

Players : 2
Control : 8-way Joystick
Buttons : 1

- SOURCES -

Game's ROM.

Dark Tower (c) 1992 The Game Room.

A simple yet playable platform game which is somewhat unique in that while the game itself is original (i.e. not a direct clone of another game) many of the game's component parts are NOT. See 'Trivia' for further details.

- TECHNICAL -

Main CPU : HD6309 (@ 3.579545 Mhz), Hitachi HD63701 (@ 1.193181 Mhz), Motorola M68705 (@ 4 Mhz)
Sound CPU : HD6309 (@ 3.579545 Mhz)
Sound Chips : Yamaha YM2151 (@ 3.579545 Mhz), (2x) MSM5205 (@ 384 Khz)

Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 256 x 240 pixels
Screen refresh : 57.44 Hz
Palette colors : 512

Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 3

- TRIVIA -

Some sprite characters are ripped directly from Capcom's 1985 classic, Ghosts'n Goblins, while the mummies are taken from another Capcom game, Black Tiger. Most of the music and SFX are taken from Technos' Double Dragon.

- STAFF -

Designed and programmed by : Kyle Hodgetts (K H)

- SOURCES -

Game's ROM.

Top Speed (c) 1987 Taito corporation.

Export version. For more information about the game, please see the original Japanese version entry: "Full Throttle".

- TRIVIA -

Top Speed was released in October 1987. Licensed to Romstar for US manufacture and distribution.

Top Speed removes territorial notice. Both US and world roms have no warning before the game. Also, Full Throttle is replaced by Top Speed before staff roll (line: Full Throttle is over!).

A Top Speed unit appears in the 1989 movie "The Wizard" (though it was erroneously referred to as Capcom's "F-1 Dream" in the movie).

- SOURCES -

Game's ROM.
Machine's picture.

Konami RF2 - Red Fighter (c) 1985 Konami industry co ltd.

Drive your car through 6 courses, avoiding other cars and motorcycles. Drive through fuel bubbles to gain more fuel. Run out of fuel and it's game over.

- TECHNICAL -

Game ID : GX561
Runs on Nemesis/Gradius hardware
Main CPU : Motorola 68000 (@ 9.216 Mhz)
Sound CPU : Zilog Z80 (@ 3.579545 Mhz)
Sound Chips : (2x) General Instrument AY8910 (@ 1.789772 Mhz), K005289 (@ 1.789772 Mhz), Sanyo VLM5030 (@ 3.579545 Mhz)

Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 256 x 224 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.61 Hz
Palette colors : 2048

Players : 1
Control : steering wheel with no lock + 1 pedal (gas, digital) or 2 (gas and brake, both digital), high-low gear shift
Buttons : 0

- TRIVIA -

Konami RF2 - Red Fighter was released in October 1985.

Exported outside Japan as "Konami GT [Model GX561]".

This game has collecting gas bubbles more or less in common with Road Fighter, as well as flights occurring on later stages.

Not all versions of RF2 or Konami GT have a brake pedal.

This game can be converted into Hyper Crash (when Konami GT with or without brake option in dip switches is set there)

Alfa Records released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Konami Game Music Vol.2 - ALC-22904) on September 25, 1986.

- SCORING -

* 5 yards driven = 10 pts
* Gas bubble = 500 pts; 1000 pts and every 500 pts, up to 5000 pts (when not crashed; accident resets to 500 pts per bubble)
* bonus score = 500 pts per fuel unit (awarded after stage) + 3000 when a skull appears.
* biplane flight (on stage 2) = 1000 pts
* helicopter flight (on stage 3) = 2000 pts
* spaceship flight (on stage 4) = 3000 pts
* UFO flight (on stage 5) = 5000 pts
* sled flight with reindeer and Santa Claus (on stage 6; doesn't always appear) = 5000 pts

- SOURCES -

Game's ROM.
Machine's picture.

Konami GT (c) 1985 Konami.

North American release. Game developed in Japan. See the original for more information; "Konami RF2 - Red Fighter [Model GX561]".

- TECHNICAL -

GAME ID : GX561

- TRIVIA -

Konami GT was released in October 1985 in the USA.
Konami GT was published as a PCB rom image instead of Bubble System cartridge. The game doesn't have a warming up countdown, doesn't tell to deposit a coin before the title screen shows up, attract mode is still played after around 20 seconds of inactivity from insertion of a coin and the "step on accelerator" text is flashing slower than in RF2.

- SOURCES -

Game's ROM.
Machine's picture.

Bonze Adventure (c) 1988 Taito.

Export version. For more information about the game itself, please see the original Japanese version entry; "Jigoku Meguri".

- TRIVIA -

Bonze Adventure was released in June 1988.

If you beat the final boss without transforming into a dragon you are awarded a 'fantastic bonus' of 200000 points.

- PORTS -

These are ports released outside Japan. For Japanese ports, please see the original Japanese version entry; "Jigoku Meguri".

* CONSOLES:
Sony PlayStation 2 [AU] (mar.30, 2006) "Taito Legends 2 [Model SLES-53852]"
[EU] Microsoft XBOX (mar.31, 2006) "Taito Legends 2"
[EU] Sony PS2 (mar.31, 2006) "Taito Legends 2 [Model SLES-53852]"
[US] Sony PS2 (may.16, 2007) "Taito Legends 2 [Model SLUS-21349]"

* COMPUTERS:
[EU] PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (mar.31, 2006) "Taito Legends 2"
[US] PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (jul.10, 2007) "Taito Legends 2"

- SOURCES -

Game's ROM.

ジッピーレース (c) 1985 Irem Corp.
(Zippy Race)

1985 conversion made by the original maker - Irem corporation.

- TECHNICAL -

GAME ID: IF-01
Players: up to 2 (alternate)
Controls: d-pad 2 ways (left and right) - tilt the bike in the desired direction
Buttons: 2
=> [A] = accelerate, [B] = brake (down to 059 km/h)

The cartridge features a red LED that lights up when the machine is switched on.

- TRIVIA -

Released on July 18, 1985 in Japan. Zippy Race was the very first Famicom game by Irem (IF-01).
The 1983 copyright year is a reference to coin-op release of Traverse USA (title changeable via dip switches) published in June 1983.
This port contains 5 engine classes: 250 cc reaching 180 km/h, 500 cc - 240 km/h, 750 cc - 300 km/h, 1000 cc - 360 km/h and 1200 cc - 420 km/h.
This is an incomplete port - desert stages end up in the middle of progress bar.

- TIPS AND TRICKS -
* You'll not finish 1st on 250 cc engine class as the NPC spawn system is broken there. But you can reach that position after 250 cc.
* You can control the speed during a jump or wheelie, but not the bike itself.
* Don't perform a wheelie on 4-lane roads of stages #3 and #5 - the tape is put on the far right side which will lead you to a crash.

- SCORING -
Overtaken car = 500 points
Wheelie (asphalt stages only) = 500 points
Jump (desert rides only) = 500 points
'100' and '200' (on desert stages) = 100 and 200 points respectively
Bonus fuel = 100 points per fuel line based on stage end positions
Stage end position 1 = 20000 points
Stage end position 2 = 14000 points
Stage end position 3 = 12000 points
Stage end position 4 = 10000 points
Stage end position 5 = 8000 points
Stage end position 6 = 6000 points
Stage end positions 7~10 = 3000 points
Stage end positions 11~15 = 2400 points
Stage end positions 16~20 = 2200 points
Stage end positions 21~30 = 2000 points
Stage end positions 31~40 = 1800 points
Stage end positions 41~50 = 1600 points
Stage end positions 51~60 = 1400 points
Stage end positions 61~70 = 1200 points
Stage end positions 71~80 = 1000 points
Stage end positions 81~90 = 800 points
Stage end positions 91~98 = 600 points
Stage end position 99 = 0 points

- SOURCES -

Game's screenshots.
Game's ROM.

Salamander (c) 1987 Konami Industry Company, Limited.

Salamander is an horizontal shooter and conversion of their own arcade game originally released in 1986.

The galactic entity Zelos is dangerously approaching planet Latis. The space monster's appetite is growing and he is devouring everything on its path. The player on board the Vic Viper and a partner on board the Lord British star fighter fly to Zelos's lair in an attempts to destroy the invader.

This port of Salamander borrows its weapon system from Gradius - unlike the original arcade game which featured a more traditional and straightforward power-up system (except Japanese release of LifeForce which had a power bar inspired by Gradius). A power bar at the bottom of the screen displays available weapons and power capsules must be collected to activate them. There are 6 types of upgrades - speed up, missiles, ripple gun, laser, options (up to 3) and force field.

Options are at the core of the gameplay and mimic the ship's motion and attacks - they are also invulnerable and can withstand enemy bullets. However, losing a life also means losing all the painfully accumulated upgrades. The game features 6 zones and alternates between horizontal and vertical scrolling levels - they all end with intense boss battles in the most venerable shooting traditions.

- TECHNICAL -

Game ID: RC821
Barcode: 4988602529418
Players: Up to 2 (simultaneous)
Controls: d-pad 8 ways
Buttons: 2
=> [B] = shoot missile and front gun, [A] = accept highlighted power-up

- TRIVIA -

Salamander for Famicom was released on September 25, 1987 in Japan.

This Famicom port of Salamander is different than the original arcade game. It is a mix of both the Japanese Salamander and the American Life Force topped with exclusive content.

This is the first and only game to use the VRC3 mapper. It can generate IRQs.

The Konami code wasn't implemented into this game, so every game begins with 3 lives.

Player #1 controls Vic Viper and player #2 - Lord British.

'Character design' is misspelled in the staff roll as 'charactor design'.
A pilot is discovered to be a female just after the staff roll (only when completed with no continues). When you continued once or twice, you'll see Vic Viper, but when you continued 3 or more times, you'll see just a helmet.

Export releases:
[US] "Life Force [Model NES-LF-USA]"
[EU] "Life Force Salamander [Model NES-LF-EEC]"
[KO] "Life Force Salamander"

- TIPS AND TRICKS -
* You can use only one type of upgraded frontal weapon - either a ripple gun or laser.
* First 3 stages contain extra life pick-up (flashing blue alternated by red) and 5000 point bonuses.
* Highlight the last bar (force field) as soon as it goes down. If it's already highlighted, don't take red pick-ups, let the force field go down and quickly accept this power-up.
* After you accepted the laser for the first time, you need to accept it again as the first laser is slow.
* When you collect too many speedups, you'll lose control over your ship.
* Complete the game with no continues for the best ending.

- STAFF -

Programmed by: S. Umezaki, T. Danjyo, H. Hori, H. Yanagisawa
Character design: S. Muraki, Y. Yoshimoto, C. Ozawa, J. Maruo
Music by: S. Sakamoto, S. Terashima, H. Maezawa, A. Fujito
Visual design: K. Shimoide, N. Satoh
Special thanks: H. Machiguchi
Directed by: S. Umechan, Osetsusan

- PORTS -

* CONSOLES:
[JP] Nintendo Wii [Virtual Console] (Dec 24, 2008) [Model FENJ]
[JP] Nintendo Wii U [Virtual Console] (Oct 8, 2014) [Model FC9J]

* HANDHELDS:
[JP] Nintendo 3DS [Virtual Console] (Feb 20, 2013) [Model TBZJ]

- SOURCES -

See Goodies section.
Game's ROM.
Game's description by Laurent Kermel; http://www.videogameden.com

Life Force (c) 1988 Konami industry co., ltd.

North American release. Game developed in Japan. For more information about the game itself, please see the original Japanese release entry; "Salamander [Model RC821]".

Description from the back cover:

Calling all Viper Pilots - the galaxy's on the edge of doom again!
You've saved the innocent people of Gradius from the vile Bacterions. But now an even deadlier plague has slimed into the neighborhood.
It's Zelos, an all-engulfing, planet-eating alien who's hungering to take a bite out of you!
Only this time you don't have to rescue the millions of Gradians alone. You can call on a starfighter friend from the planet Latis, who'll fight beside you in his RoadBritish space destroyer.
You'll both be gunning for max power-ups, with ripple lasers, plutonic missiles and impregnable force fields.
But you better be on target. For this isn't your ordinary space scum. And to crush him you've gotta soar through his guts, blast past his death traps and ultimately blow out his heart.
Good luck, Commander. The Galaxy's counting on you!

- TECHNICAL -

Game ID: NES-LF-USA
Barcode: 083717110118

- TRIVIA -

Life Force for NES was released in August 1988 in North America and contains license from Nintendo Of America inc.
This version has a smaller power-up bar (6 short lines); the currently highlighted one is magnified in a window next to the last bar. Another difference is 2 options instead of 3 in FamiCom port and the staff roll has been removed leaving only Konami logo. Title screen has no animations. On the other hand, Konami code is available here and grants 30 lives.

- PORTS -

* CONSOLES:
[US] Nintendo Wii [Virtual Console] (Feb 16, 2009) [Model FENE]
[US] Nintendo Wii U [Virtual Console] (Aug 21, 2014) [Model FC9E]

* HANDHELDS:
[US] Nintendo 3DS [Virtual Console] (Jan 23, 2014) [Model TBZE]

- SOURCES -

Game's ROM.

North Star [Model 208] (c) 1964 Gottlieb.

- TECHNICAL -

Model Number : 208

- TRIVIA -

Released in October 1964.

2,525 units were produced.

- STAFF -

Design by : Wayne Neyens
Art by : Art Stenholm

- SOURCES -

Machine's picture (bossyman15)