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スペースハンター
©1986 Kemco
Release: 1986-09-25 (¥4900)
Cartdridge KSC-HT
Action/Platform game
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Space Hunter is an action game by Namco. In the year 2199 AD
and after a devastating nuclear war, all of humanity relies upon cyborgs and
robots to survive. But a group of cyborgs is now leading a revolt against
their masters and the Earth is under extremely heavy bombardment from
space. A 16 years old female cyborg named Altiana is sent to eradicate
the threat - she is on a mission to explore six maze-like planets and to defeat
their ferocious guardians one by one in order to unlock and access the final
and seventh level, the enemy space-fortress. All six planets can be accessed
from the beginning of the game and each one is made up of a large grid of
inter-connected screens. Along the way, Altiana has to avoid various
obstacle and enemies but also explore mysterious underground shrines - although
most of them reward the player with new weapons or special items (such as
Health cells which extend Altiana's maximum health), one of them
leads to the guardian's lair. Once the guardian is defeated, the planet's
self-destruct mechanism activates and the cyborg has a finite amount of time
to escape before the place goes to oblivion. Altiana is equipped with
a jetpack-type device which enables her to fly around each visited areas. She
is also armed with 2-way bombs, her primary defense system which can also be
used to reveal hidden items and doors. More weapons can be collected along
the way such as the laser beam, light-saber or boomerang-laser
as well as Shield Crystals. Unlike bombs, these new weapons drain her
power-energy, which she must recharge continuously by collecting moon shaped
items left behind by defeated enemies (Star shaped icons are also there for
the taking and refill her health). Although all six planets can be played in any
order, special items need to be acquired first in order to explore some of the latter
worlds (for instance, Altiana has to retrieve the swimming gears before
diving in the ocean planet) - and failing to collect them can greatly
compromise the success of her entire mission. Finally, the player's progress can
be saved at anytime by writing down the password constantly displayed in the status screen.
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Game Staff :
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Programmer
Sue
Shina
Kari
Sea
Fumi2
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Japanese Guidebook
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Japanese Guidebook
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Click on picture to enlarge |
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Here are some hints to help you through the game:
・ The bombs only explode when Altiana is out of their destructive range.
・ Bombs can reveal secret doors and hidden items. These items usually increase Altiana's power points.
・ The swimming gears and the boomerang-laser are located on
Furekishido (フレキシド, the red sun planet).
・ The light-saber is located on Asubesutā (ｱｽﾍﾞｽｱｰ, the ringed planet). However, it
is hidden behind a secret door.
・ The 4-way bombs and the freeze time ring are located on Akuanetto
(アクアネット, the ocean planet). They are both hidden behind a secret door.
・ The final weapon is located on Semyufu (セミュフ, the white sun).
・ You must equip and use the final weapon to defeat the last boss. But you
need exactly 250 power points to use it. However, a bug in the game resets Altiana's
power level to 1 it goes beyond 255 - so watch out for that bug !
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LK
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Add your Pov here !
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P
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Although Space Hunter shows its age through recycled enemies,
static screens, simple graphics and a repetitive gameplay, it's a very fun
game accompanied by some very good design decisions. Unlike so many games
for the system, Space Hunter actually rewards the player for his or
her efforts. When you die, you never lose your weapons or items and you're
just sent back to the system map. Then the password system allows you to
save all your progress at anytime (you can even use the ones from the
screenshots accompanying this review! how cool is that ?). Nothing in the game
is designed to frustrate the player in any way, but to motivate him to go
further and to explore new territories (as long as you don't obliterate a planet
before collecting important items though). Only the boss encounters can be a
bit sticky, but you're allowed to leave each fight at anytime to rethink your
strategy. Finally, if you get stuck on a planet, nothing prevents you to start
tackling another one instead and maybe collect a new weapon or more health cells.
Overall, as previously mentioned, Space Hunter shows its age and the
gameplay is slightly repetitive and rather simple, but I think the game design
is clever, highly polished and extremely fun to play overall.
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