| Finest Hour | |
|---|---|
 Promotional sales flyer | |
| Developer(s) | Namco |
| Publisher(s) | Namco |
| Composer(s) | Katsuro Tajima |
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Run and gun |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer (alternating turns) |
| Arcade system | Namco System 2 |
Finest Hour [lower-alpha 1] is a 1989 run and gun arcade game developed and published in Japan by Namco. It was later re-released on the Wii Virtual Console on August 25, 2009. [1]
The player must take control of a Transformer-like battlemech known as Sygnus, who is equipped with a laser cannon, Vernier jump-jets, auto-targeting, and an automatic cooling system. Pushing that joystick twice in the same direction will make Sygnus switch from a march to a dash while he is moving, and the player may not make him change the direction that he is facing in mid-air. He has no "life meter", just a temperature meter which increases when he is hit, and decreases when he is not hit - but, if the timer should run out, his cooling device will break. If he should overheat, the game will immediately be over. The game is made of four stages which must be finished twice.
In Japan, Game Machine listed Finest Hour on their October 15, 1989 issue as being the eighth most-successful table arcade game of the year. [2]
Gradius is a side-scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Konami. The first game in the Gradius series, it was originally released as a coin-operated arcade game in 1985. The player maneuvers a spacecraft known as the Vic Viper that must defend itself from the various alien enemies. The game uses a power-up system called the "power meter", based upon collecting capsules to purchase additional weapons.
Arkanoid is a 1986 block breaker arcade game developed and published by Taito. In North America, it was published by Romstar. Controlling a paddle-like craft known as the Vaus, the player is tasked with clearing a formation of colorful blocks by deflecting a ball towards it without letting the ball leave the bottom edge of the playfield. Some blocks contain power-ups that have various effects, such as increasing the length of the Vaus, creating several additional balls, or turning the Vaus into a laser cannon. Other blocks may be indestructible or require multiple hits to break.
Double Dragon II: The Revenge is a side-scrolling beat 'em up produced by Technōs Japan originally released as a coin-operated arcade game in 1988. It is the first sequel to Double Dragon, released during the previous year. The sequel involves Billy and Jimmy Lee in a mission to avenge Billy's girlfriend Marian after she is shot to death by the Black Warriors leader Willy, who is retaliating against the Lee brothers after his defeat at the end of the previous game. Double Dragon II was initially developed as an upgrade kit for the original Double Dragon, but evolved into a stand-alone game due to an increase in memory size, resulting in the developers reusing assets for both games.
Track & Field, also known as Hyper Olympic in Japan and Europe, is an Olympic-themed sports video game developed by Konami and released in 1983 for arcades. The Japanese release sported an official license for the 1984 Summer Olympics. In Europe, the game was initially released under the Japanese title Hyper Olympic in 1983, before re-releasing under the US title Track & Field in early 1984.
Lode Runner is a 2D puzzle-platform game, published by Broderbund in 1983. The player controls a character who must collect all the gold pieces in a level and get to the end while being chased by a number of enemies. It is one of the first games to include a level editor.
Ikari Warriors, known as Ikari in Japan, is a vertically-scrolling, run-and-gun shooter arcade game developed and released by SNK in 1986, and released in North America by Tradewest. The game was released at the time when there were many Commando clones on the market. What distinguished Ikari Warriors were rotary joysticks and a two-player mode. The rotary joystick controls were in turn based on SNK's earlier TNK III (1985). Ikari was originally intended it to be an official licensed adaptation of the film Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), but SNK were initially unable to acquire the rights to the film.
Star Wars is a first-person rail shooter video designed by Mike Hally and released in arcades in 1983 by Atari, Inc. It uses 3D color vector graphics to simulate the assault on the Death Star from the 1977 film Star Wars. Developed during the Golden Age of Arcade Games, Star Wars has been included on lists of the greatest video games of all time.
Commando, released as Senjō no Ōkami in Japan, is a vertical scrolling run-and-gun shooter game released by Capcom for arcades in 1985. The game was designed by Tokuro Fujiwara. It was distributed in North America by Data East, and in Europe by several companies including Capcom, Deith Leisure and Sega, S.A. SONIC. Versions were released for various home computers and game consoles. It is unrelated to the 1985 film of the same name, which released six months after the game.
Tennis is a sports video game developed by Nintendo in 1983, and released for the Family Computer (Famicom) in 1984. The arcade game version Vs. Tennis was also released for the Nintendo Vs. System in 1984, becoming a hit at Japanese and American arcades that year. Tennis is one of 17 launch games for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in North America and Europe. The game was re-released for the Game Boy as a launch game in North America.
Astron Belt (アストロンベルト) is a laserdisc video game in the form of a third-person, space combat rail shooter, released in arcades in 1983 by Sega in Japan, and licensed to Bally Midway for release in North America. Developed in 1982, it was the first major arcade laserdisc video game. The game combines full-motion video (FMV) footage from the laserdisc with real-time 2D graphics. The arcade game was available in both upright and cockpit arcade cabinets, with the latter having illuminated buttons on the control panel, a larger 25" monitor, and a force feedback vibrating seat.
Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars is a platform arcade game released by Sega in 1986. It was ported to the Master System in 1987. It was also released on the Wii Virtual Console in North America on March 9, 2009, and in the PAL regions on April 17, 2009.
Gun.Smoke is a 1985 vertical scrolling run-and-gun shooter arcade game by Capcom. This Western-themed game was designed by Yoshiki Okamoto. Gun.Smoke centers on a character named Billy Bob in the NES version, a bounty hunter who is after vicious criminals of the Wild West.
Hopping Mappy is an arcade game which was released by Namco in 1986. It is the sequel to Mappy, which was released three years earlier. The game was ported to the Wii Virtual Console in Japan on June 2, 2009.
Yokai Dochuki is a 1987 platform arcade game developed and released by Namco in Japan. The player controls a young boy named Tarosuke as he must make his way through Jigoku, the Japanese concept of Hell, to reach Buddha, who will determine his fate. Tarosuke can fire small "ki" bullets at enemies to defeat them; he can also charge them to increase their power. Enemies will drop money when defeated, which can be used to purchase weapons and other items in stores.
Konami '88, released as '88 Games in North America and as Hyper Sports Special in Japan, is the third in the Track & Field game series by Konami, where players test their Olympic skills against other world-class athletes. As the title implies, it is loosely based on the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair is a side-scrolling action game developed by Westone Bit Entertainment that was originally released for the arcades by Sega in 1988. It is the third game in the Wonder Boy series and the last one released for the arcade. A console adaptation was made by Hudson Soft, released in 1989 in Japan for the PC Engine CD-ROM² System and the subsequent North American release on the TurboGrafx-CD dropped the 'Wonder Boy III' title. It was also converted and released by Sega for the Mega Drive in Japan in 1990 and Europe in 1991. Both, the TurboGrafx-CD and Mega Drive versions have been re-released for the Wii Virtual Console.
Cobra Command, known as Thunder Storm (サンダーストーム) in Japan, is an interactive movie originally released by Data East in 1984 as a LaserDisc-based arcade game. A Mega-CD port of Cobra Command developed by Wolf Team was released in 1992.
Time Soldiers, known in Japan as Battle Field, is a 1987 run-and-gun shooter arcade game developed by Alpha Denshi and published by SNK, while later distributed in North America by Romstar. A Sega Master System version was also produced, as well as versions titled Time Soldier for the Amiga, Commodore 64 and Atari ST.
Crime Fighters (クライムファイターズ) is a 1989 side-scrolling beat-em-up released by Konami for the arcades. The players takes control of a duo of undercover police officers who are assigned to rescue a group of kidnapped damsels from a crime boss and his army of punks.
Rolling Thunder is a run-and-gun shooter action game produced by Namco, originally released as a coin-operated arcade game which ran on the Namco System 86 hardware in 1986. It was distributed in North America by Atari Games. The player takes control of a secret agent who must rescue his female partner from a terrorist organization. Rolling Thunder was a commercial success in arcades, and was released for various home computer platforms in 1987 and the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1989. The original arcade game has also been included in various classic game compilations as well. It influenced later arcade action franchises such as Shinobi and Time Crisis, which borrowed mechanics such as taking cover behind crates.
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