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サイコチェイサー
©1990 Naxat Soft
Release : 1990-04-06 (¥5800)
HuCard (2 Mbits) NX90003
Shooter / Vertical
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Psycho Chaser is an vertical shooter by Naxat Soft.
In the space calendar X 2981 Y, a biotechnological war was under way.
The western countries developed the Aura project, which eventually grew a lot stronger than they expected.
Humanity was soon unable to control it and Aura started to built a huge empire.
Humans had to counter the new threat and decided to launch a counter strike!
The player takes control of a walking humanoid-cyborg,
armed with an arsenal of lethal weapons
that can be switched over at anytime during the game. Four different weapons are
available: Fire Balls, Multiway, Side Buster and
Homing Thunder. Special icons can be collected during the game to
either vary our hero's walking speed, add secondary missiles or a special,
and rare, power-up boosting up the main weapons to mind-blowing powers for a limited time.
At the end of each area,
our cyborg is rewarded with Psycho Energy Points. These can be
used to power-up (up to four times) any of the available weapons. The game
consists of six intense stages filled up with all kind of enemies, including
middle-stage bosses.
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Psycho Chaser for the PC Engine really sounds and
looks similar to Override,
released a year later by Data East. A closer look at the
game's credit makes everything clear, virtually the same staff
worked on both games!
If you are a shooter fan, like me, then Psycho Chaser has a couple of
things in store that will get your nostalgic juices flowing! Read on!
Naxat Soft is actually closely linked to Sting Entertainment,
a notorious Japanese video game company that created amazing PC Engine titles such as
Override (1990),
Tatsujin (1992) and other games such as
the excellent Baroque (Sega Saturn, 1998/Sony Playstation, 1999).
The staff on Psycho Chaser was apparently surprisingly small and consisted
of only six people - and most of them are actually really notable!
Toyofumi Kunihiro is also credited as a graphic designer
on the excellent Xevious Fardraut Saga (MSX, 1988),
Override (PC Engine, 1990)
and Tatsujin (PC Engine, 1992).
Tsutomu Takase also worked on Bubble Bobble (1987),
Rainbow Island (1988), Override (PC Engine, 1990)
and Tatsujin (PC Engine, 1992).
Another name is Shinichi Abe who also contributed to
Override (PC Engine, 1990)
and Baroque (1998). Yasue Santo and Takeshi Santo
are also worth noticing, although for reasons that are a little more obscure...
Takeshi Santo was one of the composers and programmers
at Compile and later founded Sting in 1989! However he apparently let Yasue
compose music while he would concentrate on sound effects, but Yasue was
only credited on Override (PC Engine, 1990)
and Psycho Chaser as far as I know... Takeshi Santo was however credited in
Override (PC Engine, 1990),
Guardic Gaiden (as "Shant"),
Baroque (1998), Star Soldier (Playstation Portable, 2005)
and Knights in the Nightmare (Playstation Portable, 2008)!
Finally Tomoyuki Yamagishi, the director, was only credited
on Psycho Chaser and the average pool simulator Break In (PC Engine, 1989).
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Game Staff (Copied from the end credits) :
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Programmer
Toyofumi Kunihiro
Graphic Designer
Shinichi Abe
Tsutomu Takase
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Sound Composer
Yasue Santoh
Sound Effect
Takeshi Santoh
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Director
Tomoyuki Yamagishi
END
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S
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Faster Game:
On the game title, hold I and II, and then reset Select + Run.
Sound Test:
Reset Select + Run the game thirty-five times.
When the game title appears, press Select seven times (game's logo will
flash) then press Run.
Stage Select:
Select the sound 1F on the sound test, then press Run eight times.
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Invincibility:
On the Stage select, hold I and press Run.
See the Ending:
On the Stage select, hold I , II, Select and press Run.
Four Screens Split:
This unusual option seems to be fairly common with Naxat Soft games, I'm wondering why though...
Anyway, on the game title screen, hold II then reset Select + Run.
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Click on picture to enlarge |
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Add your Pov here !
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P
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Psycho Chaser is sadly an average game overall. However, it is
far from being a disaster, but it feels like something of a
missed opportunity. The concept of a walking robot is excellent
and definitively adds to a genre cursed with uninspired alien spaceships and
flying saucers. And well, I love that the main characters kinds of look like
Robocop, one of the 1980s sci-fi cinematic classic!
But the game lacks quality in almost every aspects, with average
graphics featuring flashy aliens and arguably bland backgrounds
(yet they get better in later stages). Additionally, music tracks and sound effects
are far from memorable. But the gameplay and controls are fairly solid
and this is what definitively saves this title. An average but
yet entertaining game that can usually be found for really cheap, so
why not give it a try?
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