You may know
this game under the western title of Bio Hazard Battle. I'm
guessing they couldn't call it that in Japan due to Resident Evil being
called Bio Hazard over here. You can see where the confusion would
be. still, a very odd name to use for the Japanese release.
The actual Japanese title translates as Crying Sub-Life War.
The game
features a 2D side-scrolling shoot 'em up style of gameplay and the
character chosen by the player can be moved in 8 directions by the
D-Pad. The player can move, shoot, dodge, and block. To block an enemy
projectile, the player must place the power star in the path of the
projectile. There is also an array of different weapons at the ships'
disposal.
The player will begin with a pre-set number of lives, from 1 to 5, 3
being the default. When a player is hit by a hostile creature or
environment, their ship is destroyed and will reappear with one less
life. Extra lives are attainable by absorbing 1-UP icons in the various
stages, or being awarded 20,000 points without getting Game Over.
The game also features strong usage of deep, bass-heavy music tracks,
creative and colorful artwork and foreground and background elements.
Despite the many obstacles in the scenery and landscape, the player
cannot be harmed or die by bumping into anything other than an enemy or
enemy fire. You can die however by being stuck between the screen's edge
and a wall. The player travels through eight levels, each one increasing
in difficulty, with the last three only being available on the harder
difficulties. The game ends showing all four characters flying back into
the mothership. A short paragraph explains that the planet Avaron has,
for the moment, been saved. "A moment of peace, but who is to say a
similar crisis will not occur in the future?"
You have a
choice between four types of ships: They include the bird-like blue and
red ship Orestes, the reptile-like red and green ship Electra, the
bug-like green ship Hecuba, and the fish-like yellow and purple ship
Polyxena. These ships all have organic shells, making them look like
actual creatures.
There are five
different types of weapons in the game- one primary and four secondary.
Primary Weapon
The front of the Bioship is equipped with a weapon which can be used in
two ways. The Bioship normally fires a plasma beam at the same time as
the Power Star, but by holding down the fire button for a few moments,
the Bioship pulls plasma energy into its power core and releases it in
one massive burst, called the Plasma Wall. This wall of energy is
powerful enough to destroy almost anything with one burst.
Secondary Weapons
The Power Star
The Power Star is your secondary weapon. The Power Star, both a shield
and a weapon, floats near the Bioship. As a shield, it stops most
creatures from hitting your Bioship. More importantly, it uses power
from the Energy Seeds to generate weapons. Your Bioship ingests Seeds by
passing over them and the energy is transferred to your ship's Power
Star.
The Energy Seeds
There are four types of Energy Seeds: Yellow, Orange, Blue and Green.
Each Seed changes the Bioship's genetic structure, enabling the ship to
generate a different type of weapon. The Energy Seeds are incremental in
effect, that is, as the ship ingests the Seeds, the weapon's power
increases. Remember that this power increase only happens when you pick
up Seeds of the same color. Maximum power capability is reached when the
Bioship ingests three Seeds of the same color. If the player loses a
life, the Power Star, if upgraded, will downgrade one level. Energy
Seeds are scattered by the space station along the flight path your
Bioship will take. Near the beginning of each stage, there are usually
four seeds available, one for each color.
As stated before, there are four different types of Energy Seeds.
The green seed is the same for all ships. This weapon shoots Implosion
Pods which create a vacuum upon impact causing damage. When upgraded, it
shoots more pods at a time, and has a wider field of range. It is a good
all-around weapon, although it is somewhat weaker than most other
weapons.
The blue seed has two different types. First, the bond type, is a
strong, concentrated sphere of energy which will home in on enemies at a
close range, attach to the creature, and explode. It is one of the
strongest weapons, and can also destroy enemy bullets. It can be used by
Electra and Hecuba. The other type, called nova, is an 8-point range
weapon, meaning that it shoots 8 units in 8 directions at once. When
upgraded, the projectiles become larger and more powerful. This can be
used by Orestes and Polyxena. The blue colored spheres are good against
large, armored enemies, but since the bubble has a slow fire rate and
the 8-point range has holes in its field, they are not good against
swarms of small enemies.
The orange seed has two types. One type is the plasma ring, available to
Orestes ship and Hecuba. Plasma rings are spinning rings of energy which
bounce off of inert matter and detonate upon contact with living matter.
The other type is a seeker laser, which will head straight for any
enemies in its vicinity. Converse to the blue spheres, they are weak,
meaning they are not as effective against large enemies, but given their
nearly universal field of range, the orange spheres are very effective
against hordes of small enemies. When upgraded, units of fire will
increase in size.
The yellow seed also has two types. The first is the fire petal, which
is a stream of white-hot fireballs that can deal a decent amount of
damage. The second is a spinning twin laser beam that always shoots
forward, even though the port will still rotate around the ship. Yellow
weapons can destroy enemy bullets. The yellow weapons are suitable for
dealing rapid, decent damage, although they are more difficult to
control. At times, it may be impossible for the player to maneuver the
port towards an enemy without running into a hostile creature.
Text taken from Wikipedia.
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