| Acrobat Mission | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | UPL |
| Publisher(s) | ArcadeSuper Famicom
|
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Super Famicom |
| Release | Arcade
|
| Genre(s) | Vertically scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Acrobat Mission is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game released by UPL in 1991, licensed to Taito for manufacture and distribution. It was ported to Super Famicom in 1992.
Players started the game equipped with the default weapon, the Standard Shot: a semi-automatic laser weapon. Though moderately powerful, the Standard Shot cannot be upgraded or charged. Once the player has lost a significant number of lives and their selected weapon his lost its upgrades, the Standard Shot will once again take over.
Two other weapons are selectable to the player, one of which is the Wave Shot (announced as Wide in the Arcade version). The Wave Shot is a spread shot that increases in size, numbers and strength. When charged, the Wave Shot can unleash a short range, but powerful laser blast that increases in width and strength when Wave icons are collected. The other weapon was the Hurricane Shot, a unique area-effect weapon that encircles the ship clockwise when fired before flying forward. When charged, the Hurricane Shot fires a ball of energy across the screen, but there is a one-second delay every time the shot is fired.
The player also had Bombs although unlike many shooters, the player can only hold up to two bombs. Once collected however, the two bombs get physically mounted under the ship's wings. If an enemy shot hits one of the bombs, then the bomb will detonate, creating a destructive shield for the player. The player can manually detonate either bomb at will.
The player's Icarus fighter ship has a number of defenses at its disposal as well. Whenever the player moves their ship in any given direction, a burst of flame from the ship's jet exhaust will shoot out from the opposite direction the player moves the ship in. This applies to all directions: left, right, front, back and all four diagonal angles. This jet exhaust not only serves an aesthetic purpose, but it can also harm nearby enemies and destroy nearby objects.
Whenever the player is hit, their ship will steer wildly out of control. Once this happens, a timer will appear near the ship which indicates how long the ship has until it explodes. The explosion of the player's ship will harm any nearby enemies. Also, because the Icarus is apparently well built, any kamikaze enemies or drifting objects that touch it will not damage or destroy the player's ship, allowing the player less restrictive movement.
In Japan, Game Machine listed Acrobat Mission on their September 1, 1991 issue as being the fourteenth most-successful table arcade unit of the month. [1]
Antonio R. Filho (Brazil) holds the official world record for this game with a maximum 279.900 points.
Stargate is a side-scrolling shooter game released for arcades in 1981 by Williams Electronics. Created by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, it is a sequel to Defender which was released earlier in the year. It was the first of only three productions from Vid Kidz, an independent development house formed by Jarvis and DeMar.
DoDonPachi is a vertically-scrolling bullet hell shoot' em up developed by Cave and published by Atlus in 1997. It was the second game developed by Cave, and the sixth on Cave's first-generation arcade hardware. As with its predecessor DonPachi, the title is both a Japanese term for expressing the sound of gunfire, and a term that relates to bees. The sequel to this game is DoDonPachi II, which was made by a different developer. The original developer later released its own sequel, DoDonPachi DaiOuJou.
19XX: The War Against Destiny is a vertical scrolling shooter arcade game released by Capcom in 1995. The story takes place before a fictional 20th century war as a lone pilot tries to defeat an entire army and evil organization from starting another World War, which soon escalates to a nuclear apocalypse.
R-Type II is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed and published by Irem. It was released in arcades in 1989. It is the sequel to R-Type, and the second game in the R-Type series.
Curse is a 1989 shoot 'em up game developed by Micronet for the Mega Drive video game console. It was a sideways scrolling shoot 'em up spread across five levels. Although an American release was planned, it was never officially released outside Japan.
Mars Matrix: Hyper Solid Shooting, or simply Mars Matrix, is a vertically scrolling shooter arcade game developed by Takumi and released in 2000. The game was published by Capcom and run on their CPS-2 arcade system board. Mars Matrix was later ported to the Dreamcast video game console in 2001. The arcade version uses a horizontally aligned monitor, despite being a vertically scrolling game.
DoDonPachi DaiOuJou is the fourth arcade game in Cave's DonPachi series. The history section of DoDonPachi Resurrection on iPhone calls it DoDonPachi Blissful Death in localisation. CAVE later ported the game to iOS under this localised name.
Soukyugurentai, also known as Terra Diver, is a vertical-scrolling shooting game by Raizing originally released as an arcade game for the ST-V platform in 1996. The game was ported to the Sega Saturn and PlayStation in 1997, with neither port being released outside of Japan.
Silent Bomber is a 1999 arcade style action video game for the PlayStation, and the second game developed by CyberConnect. Silent Bomber is based on the classic top down shoot 'em up genre but with a twist: Instead of shooting the enemy, the player blows them up using bombs. In 2006, it was released for the PlayStation Network in Japan.
Dimahoo is a medieval-themed manic shooter video game developed by 8ing/Raizing and published by Capcom for the arcades in 2000. It was released in Japan as Great Mahou Daisakusen. It is a sequel to 1993's Sorcer Striker and 1994's Kingdom Grand Prix. The game's soundtrack was published by Suleputer.
Codename: Outbreak is a first-person shooter video game developed by Ukrainian GSC Game World and published by Virgin Interactive. It is set during the early 21st century. Prior to the start of the game, a meteor shower arrives containing a parasitic alien life form that takes control of their hosts. The invasion is fast spreading. The game involves fighting off this alien invasion over 14 different levels.
BlaZeon: The Bio-Cyborg Challenge is a horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game released by Atlus in 1992 and was ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in the same year. The game's most distinguishable feature is that players come equipped with a device that allows them to freeze and control certain robots.
Vapor Trail: Hyper Offense Formation, known in Japan as Kuuga – Operation Code Vapor Trail and usually simply referred to as Vapor Trail, is a 1989 shoot 'em up arcade game developed and published by Data East. Vapor Trail was followed by Rohga: Armor Force and Skull Fang.
Shienryū (紫炎龍) is a vertical scrolling shooter created by Warashi for the arcade which was released in 1997, later followed by a Sega Saturn console release in 1997 and PlayStation release in 1999 (JP) and 2002 (US).
Space Lords is a video game released in arcades by Atari Games in 1992. It is a first-person perspective space combat video game.
Master of Weapon is a 1989 vertically scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and published by Taito in Japan. A port to the Sega Mega Drive was released in 1990.
Nostradamus is a vertically scrolling shooter released by Face in 1993.
Solar Quest is a monochrome vector arcade game created by Cinematronics in 1981. It was designed and programmed by Scott Boden, who previously worked on Star Castle. It had a home release for the Vectrex system in 1982.
XDR (エックス・ディー・アール) is a 1990 Japanese horizontally scrolling shooter released for the Sega Mega Drive. It contains six levels.
Dariusburst is a horizontal scrolling shooter developed by Pyramid and published by Taito. Forming part of the Darius series, it was released for the PlayStation Portable December 24, 2009. Like previous Darius games, Dariusburst is an offbeat sci-fi shooter set in outer space with aquatic-themed robotic enemies. In keeping with tradition, the game also features branching paths instead of the linear progression found in most video games. There are a total of 11 zones in the game, with 5 stages per run.