Did anybody play Target Earth?
ScottH
Genesis/Megadrive. I recently reacquired it, and I'm really impressed with
the quality of the title.
For one thing, for a game that came out in 1990 it's shifting around a
lot of sprites, and has some excellent audio. At points in the game you
could be on the ground, with two or three layers of backgrounds all
scrolling at different speeds smoothly, a large space ship overhead, or two
smaller ships, as much as eight enemy sprites, not including your own
character and other "good" mechs, one or two foot sized human scale enemies
and random gun turrets. Then on top of that everything's shooting pea sized
bullets around, and when you blow something up three to ten ball of
explosion go flying off the dieing sprite. And all with no slowdown,
flickering, or glitches whatsoever.
The gameplay is what's really polished though. From the basics of
running left and right, shooting in eight directions, and jumping in your
mech, to the jetpack, zero gravity shooter style gameplay with the same
eight directional shooting, and sky diving, this games got quite a bit of
diversity in the missions. Shooting against the clock before jumping into a
drop ship at the last second, in order to avoid attracting enemy fire to the
drop ship itself, is another aspect of a couple of the levels. Jump in too
soon and you either get blown up for your anxiousness, or you leave valuable
(in points for those handy weapons) comrades behind.
In addition to the challenge of staying alive, which is almost
impossible (there's an invincibility code), you also need to destroy massive
amounts of enemies in order to score enough points to get the good
equipment. Shields, extra armor plating, the jet pack, ship destroying
laser cannons, grenade launchers, bazookas, spread fire shot gun, probes
that spin and rip apart anything they touch, and more are available by the
end of the seven or eight missions available. What's really satisfying
though is the ability to destroy enemies in one hit with your regular
cannon, by shooting them in the face plate, rather than the torso, which may
actually repel your shots once or twice. It's extremely satisfying to shoot
once and see that enemy explode in a satisfying chain reaction of fireballs,
with accompanying base filled explosion sound effect.
Then, something that's almost unheard of in a game from 1990, it's also
got a bit of a storyline. Not to mention a cinematic style full screen
ending sequence showing our hero walking away from his dead battle mech and
out of the wreckage of the mothership he'd flown into the heart of. All in
all the experience is very well done, and I'd be surprised if it isn't on
the top of anyone's list who's ever really played it through.
I recall a game that was very similar, available for the Snes around
91'-92', does anybody remember what it's called?
Neo Kaze
>91'-92', does anybody remember what it's called?
>
You may be referring to Cybernator, which was known as Assault Suit(s) Valken
in Japan, and also by NCS/Masaya, if memory serves. Also a very well done and
extremely challenging (though rewarding) game.
--neo
Seph
>
>in Japan, and also by NCS/Masaya, if memory serves. Also a very well done
>and
>extremely challenging (though rewarding) game.
There was also a Saturn Version, which was more like the SNES version. I also
had the original, it was great, but I couldn't get past the 5 or 6th level
without the code = (...and I don't see how anyone could get through the last
level without it either. Great game tho!
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Dragonmaster Lou
> I think it was called Assault Suits Leynos in Japan. It was for the
> Genesis/Megadrive. I recently reacquired it, and I'm really impressed with
> the quality of the title.
[rest snipped]
I agree... This was a great title, and one of my favorite Genesis games
of all time.
--
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Joe Ottoson
news:2XYV8.1692$Tb4...@nwrddc02.gnilink.net:
> I think it was called Assault Suits Leynos in Japan. It was for
> the
> Genesis/Megadrive. I recently reacquired it, and I'm really impressed
> with the quality of the title.
I played it to death back when it was still new. Terrible music in stage 1,
but I liked trying outall the weapons and trying to pump up a huge score
etc.
THe game was killed by the easy invincibility code though. (Something
stupid like hit up on controller two while you're playing) Not many people
made it through legit.
Scott H
"Seph" <joe...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020707150638...@mb-ca.aol.com...
> >You may be referring to Cybernator, which was known as Assault Suit(s)
Valken
> >
> >in Japan, and also by NCS/Masaya, if memory serves. Also a very well
done
> >and
> >extremely challenging (though rewarding) game.
>
> There was also a Saturn Version, which was more like the SNES version. I
also
> had the original, it was great, but I couldn't get past the 5 or 6th level
> without the code = (...and I don't see how anyone could get through the
last
> level without it either. Great game tho!
Yeah! I think that was the game. It had to have been, being from the same
company. Thanks!
Scott H
"Joe Ottoson" <jaot...@fortlewis.edu> wrote in message
news:Xns92449268F829ja...@130.133.1.4...
Yeah, but that invincibility code helped me stay interested in it.
After playing it non-stop with that invincible code, I found I could beat it
legit too. A similar thing happened with Ghouls N Ghosts. I probably never
would have completed either game just playing the first few levels over and
over and trying to get through.
Max Lords
Genesis one is supposed to kick serious ass. I've been looking for a
complete one for a while...never see it.
"ScottH" <Weapo...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:2XYV8.1692$Tb4...@nwrddc02.gnilink.net...
Dean Siren
some ways TF2 was better. I thought the control was very sloppy compared to
Cybernator/Valken and the Contra and Metroid games. I never played the Saturn
version, but I heard that the people who made the Assault Suit games also made
Gun Hazard with Square! For technically impresive Genesis games, play Thunder
Force 4 (AKA Lightning/Lightening Force), Vectorman 1/2, or Streets of Rage 2/3.
Scott H
"Dean Siren" <d...@iu.net> wrote in message
news:uij6e8r...@corp.supernews.com...
Well yeah, it doesn't compete with Thunder Force 3&4, but it's also not
a traditional on rails shooter. Neither is it exactly like Contra or
Metroid, even though the core gameplay is extremely similar. I agree that
it doesn't stand up as well as SOR 2 does today, but that game is just
amazing. I'd personally put Target Earth above TF2 though, that game's just
not the same type of game at all though. Target Earth is just an overall
clean and polished package, especially considering the date. I'd expect
that Cybernator would be better, it came out a couple of years later and
might as well be a sequel.