| Battlecorps | |
|---|---|
 European cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Core Design |
| Publisher(s) | Core Design |
| Producer(s) | Jeremy Heath-Smith |
| Designer(s) | Jason Gee Jonathon Hilliard |
| Programmer(s) | Jonathon Hilliard |
| Artist(s) | Jason Gee |
| Composer(s) | Martin Iveson |
| Platform(s) | Sega CD |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Battlecorps is a shooter video game developed and published by Core Design for the Sega CD in 1994.
Battlecorps involves a walking robot in a variety of terrain, armed with a large number of different weapons. [4] Player characters include kickboxing specialist Becky Ojo, cyborg Dika "A" Jang, and special forces soldier Jack Cutter. [5] [6] The game is set in the year 2085 on the mining planet Mandelbrot's World. [7]
Battlecorps was developed by British studio Core Design. The game's staff consisted of programmer and lead designer Jonathan Hilliard; graphic artist Jason Gee; product manager Guy Miller; and producer Jeremy Heath-Smith. Gee and Miller also contributed to the design and story. The music was composed by Martin Iveson with live guitar solos provided by Anthony Wheeldon. Miller lent his recorded voice to the start of the game's missions. [8] Battlecorps was created simultaneously with Core Design's Soulstar , both being Sega CD projects built off the custom technology from the company's previous title AH-3 Thunderstrike . [9] [4] The project began as a series of pencil sketches. Once the mech shooter concept was established, the game's initial environment was crafted using the AH-3 Thunderstrike engine. Every aspect of Battlecorps was then drawn out on paper. [10]
Hilliard claimed that development only took around six months. [11] The team carefully planned out Battlecorps around the Sega CD's competent graphics chip as well as its limitations such as a relatively small amount of video RAM. [8] Like Soulstar, the game utilizes depth shading for distant objects and increases the number of texture-mapped landscape colors found in AH-3 Thunderstrike from 16 to 64, compensating by making the display window smaller. [8] [9] For the terrains, Core Design heavily applied the console's sprite-scaling capability. [12] Hilliard wrote a mere ten lines of code to the graphics sizing chip so that the ground is "effectively a huge sprite that scales and rotates beneath you." [9] [13] He further recalled, "I figured out that you could trick the flat floor drawing system into drawing textured (fake) perspective walls. It took a bit of work, you get a bit of wasted render overhead for each wall drawn, and the perspective on the walls is a bit wonky, but in the end it looked great, and no one else had done it yet." [11]
Battlecorps makes limited use of full-motion video but team members were not fans of the feature and opted to take advantage of the Sega CD's other hardware traits to prioritize playability. [9] [11] It was reported early in production that the game would take place on six different planets. [9] This was later changed to three moons and was then further reduced to a single planet consisting of six distinct terrain types. [8] When questioned about the lack of a save or password feature, Hilliard could not recall the reason but speculated it could have been time-related, a management decision, or simply forgotten. [11] Weapon power-ups that could be picked up during missions were planned at one point but were cut as testers preferred having pre-mounted weapons in limited-quantities. [8]
Core Design self-published Battlecorps in Europe in August 1994 while Time Warner Interactive was the game's distributor for the North American release that same month. [1] [2] Victor Entertainment published the game in Japan on September 30, 1994. [3]
Next Generation reviewed the game, rating it three stars out of five. The reviewer called it a "Big mistake" to trade the flying machines of Thunderstrike for the walking robot, as "the net effect is the slowing down of action". He did find that the game offered "a relatively exciting challenge" but criticized the "bitmaps that look fine if you fly by them look blocky walking up to them" and quipped that "we'll keep waiting for Thunderstrike II." [4]
The game was reviewed in French magazine Supersonic #23 (Jul, 1994), which gave the game a rating of 94%, saying that Core Design knows how to make good games for the Mega CD. [5]
The game was reviewed in French magazine Consoles Plus #34 (Aug, 1994), which gave the game a rating of 89% and found that its visuals were innovative, but that the game becomes repetitive over time. [6]
Martin Hughes reviewed Battlecorps for the website Sega-16.com (Aug 01, 2011) and stated that "Whether you want to see the game though, or just blow up some stuff, Battlecorps caters for all." [7]
The Sega CD, known as Mega-CD in most regions outside North America and Brazil, is a CD-ROM accessory for the Sega Genesis produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles. It was released on December 12, 1991, in Japan, October 15, 1992, in North America, and April 2, 1993, in Europe. The Sega CD plays CD games and adds hardware functionality such as a faster CPU and graphic enhancements such as sprite scaling and rotation. It can also play audio CDs and CD+G discs.
In the history of video games, the fourth generation of video game consoles, more commonly referred to as the 16-bit era, began on October 30, 1987, with the Japanese release of NEC Home Electronics' PC Engine. Though NEC released the first console of this era, sales were mostly dominated by the rivalry between Sega and Nintendo across most markets: the Sega Mega Drive and the Super Nintendo. Cartridge-based handheld game consoles became prominent during this time, such as the Nintendo Game Boy, Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear and TurboExpress.
Theme Park is a construction and management simulation video game developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts in 1994. The player designs and operates an amusement park, with the goal of making money and creating theme parks worldwide. The game is the first instalment in Bullfrog's Theme series and their Designer Series.
Batman Returns is the name of several video games for various platforms based on the 1992 film of the same name.
Flashback, released as Flashback: The Quest for Identity in the United States, is a 1992 science fiction cinematic platform game developed by Delphine Software of France and published by U.S. Gold in the United States and Europe, and Sunsoft in Japan.
Gunstar Heroes is a run and gun video game developed by Treasure and published by Sega. It was Treasure's debut game, originally released for the Sega Genesis in 1993. The game's premise is centered around a pair of characters, the Gunstars, in their efforts to stop an evil empire from recovering four powerful gems. The characters can fire guns and perform a series of acrobatic maneuvers to fight enemies across each stage. There are four weapons in the game which can be combined with one another to create different shot types.
Wonder Dog is a side-scrolling platform game developed by Core Design and released by JVC Musical Industries for the Sega CD in 1992. It is one of the first games developed for the system. The game features Wonder Dog, a mascot for Victor and the Wondermega during the early 1990s.
Fantasia is a side-scrolling video game developed by Infogrames and produced by Sega for its own Mega Drive/Genesis system. The game was loosely based on the film of the same name.
The Sega Genesis, known as the Mega Drive outside North America, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan as the Mega Drive, and in 1989 in North America as the Genesis. In 1990, it was distributed as the Mega Drive by Virgin Mastertronic in Europe, Ozisoft in Australasia, and Tectoy in Brazil. In South Korea, it was distributed by Samsung Electronics as the Super Gam*Boy and later the Super Aladdin Boy.
Soulstar is a hybrid rail shooter/third-person shooter video game developed and published by Core Design for the Sega CD in North America in September 1994, Europe in October by Core Design, and in Japan by Victor Entertainment on December 22.
Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf is a shoot 'em up video game released by Electronic Arts (EA) in March 1992 for the Sega Genesis. The game was released on several other formats such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, including a much upgraded version for the Amiga home computer. The game was inspired by the Gulf War and depicts a conflict between an insane Middle Eastern dictator, General Kilbaba, and the United States. The player controls an Apache helicopter and attempts to destroy enemy weapons and installations, rescue hostages and capture enemy personnel, while managing supplies of fuel and ammunition.
Thunderhawk, known as AH-3 Thunderstrike in North America, is a combat flight simulation video game developed and published by Core Design and released for Amiga and MS-DOS in 1992. A remake was made and published by JVC Musical Industries for Sega CD in 1993 and for MS-DOS in 1996. An Atari Jaguar CD port was planned but never released. In the game, the player flies a fictional AH-73M attack helicopter.
Worms is a 2D artillery tactical video game developed by Team17 and released in 1995. It is the first game in the Worms series of video games. It is a turn based game where a player controls a team of worms against other teams of worms that are controlled by a computer or human opponent. The aim is to use various weapons to kill the worms on the other teams and have the last surviving worm(s).
Firestorm: Thunderhawk 2, known as Thunderstrike 2 in North America, is a 1995 combat flight simulation video game developed and published by Core Design for PlayStation, Sega Saturn and MS-DOS. It is the sequel to Thunderhawk AH-73M.
Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament is a 1994 racing video game developed by Supersonic Software and published by Codemasters for the Sega Mega Drive. The sequel to Micro Machines, the game is themed around Galoob's Micro Machines toys, and players race around environments in miniature toy vehicles. Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament adds new vehicles and game modes, and the Mega Drive version was released on J-Cart, enabling up to eight players without a multitap.
Jurassic Park is a 1994 point-and-click adventure game developed and published by Sega for the Sega CD. The video game is based on the 1993 film of the same name, and includes elements from Michael Crichton's 1990 novel Jurassic Park, which the film is based upon.
Micro Machines is a racing game developed by Codemasters and originally published by Camerica for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991. Themed around Galoob's Micro Machines toys, players race in miniaturised toy vehicles around various environments. The game is the first installment in the Micro Machines video game series.
Yu Yu Hakusho Makyō Tōitsusen is a 1994 fighting game developed by Treasure and published by Sega for the Mega Drive. It is based on the manga series Yu Yu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi. The plot follows the protagonist Yusuke Urameshi, who is tasked by the ruler of the afterlife with solving detective-style cases involving both humans and demons threatening the living world. The story begins to focus heavily on martial arts battles as it progresses.
Swagman is a 1997 action-adventure video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive in Europe for the Sega Saturn and in North America for the PlayStation. In the game, players assume the role of Zack and Hannah to free the imprisoned Dreamflight fairies and stop the villain Swagman from unleashing his horde of monsters upon the world, whose inhabitants cannot wake up from their nightmares. The title was developed in conjunction with other projects at Core Design, taking influence from the works of Tim Burton. Versions for both the 32X and Atari Jaguar CD were announced but not released. It was received with mostly positive reception from critics.
The Terminator is a 1993 platform shoot 'em up game developed and published by Virgin Games for the Sega CD. It is based on the 1984 film of the same name, and includes full motion video from the film. The game was praised for its graphics and its soundtrack performed by Tommy Tallarico, although the film footage was considered low quality. The gameplay also received some criticism.
.jpg){kind=link}