SHMUPS





Scorpius - B-Type / Shinseisha









Scorpius

Reviewed by Postman

Ah, great, another rarity! I love dissecting shooters that many people have never heard of, or something that is not in the mainstream. It’s like I’ve found a gem, especially in Scorpius, that I can share for the first time with the shooter public., because face it, we need something new and refreshing every now and then. Yes, we’re getting lots of new games, like Giga Wing, and Mars Matrix and the sort, but find me a shmup from the “golden age” of 1989-1995 that was swept under the rug, and I’m a happy camper.

Scorpius was made for the x68000, an excellent computer for shmups by the way, by B-Type/Shinseisha. If this is their first attempt at a shooter, they did quite a job. Scorpius has a style all its own, though some elements have been taken from R-Type. The music can be described as “spooky” and the graphics have a sort of bio-mechanic feel to them. Even the ship designs are quite unconventional. There are three to choose from, and each one has a different weapon system. Each ship does have a claw device, which is the main selling point of Scorpius.

Just like when you played R-Type for the first twenty or so times, you need mastery of this claw device to finish the game. You can ram enemies with it, or just pop it out and lay it on a boss for some major damage. When extended, the claw does fire like your main weapon, and here is where the different ships come into play. Weapons include a lightning flash, 6 way shot, 3 way shot, and a green circle. Scorpius level design is bulit for using the claw, with some levels vertical and some enemies hidden behind walls. The claw is also able to absorb bullets, so it can also be used defensively, and play control is like a Gradius option, following the movements of the ship.

This is an extremely fun and challenging game. I’ve never used anything quite like this claw device, although the one ship in R-Type delta with the “latch on” is similar. Adapting your gameplay style is where the fun lies in this game, and when you master the claw you can kick some serious behind. Scorpius is pretty easy up until level 4ish, and then it is one for the masters only! The sixth level is like a Gradius final level, with enemies all over the place. Unfortunately this game freezes a lot, and I only got to the boss of level six once. But rather than wait to try and finish the game, I figured it was about time for a review. This is a “must play” for any shooter fan, using the claw device will sharpen your gameplay skills.



That’s more like it, a real title screen, with a menu and everything. The options are in Japanese, so I don’t know what the difficulty levels are like..

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The ship selection screen. Here it explains where each weapon is and how the powerups will affect it. There isn’t really much difference between the ships though, ship A looks the most normal.

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Level one is really short, be sure to play around with the claw feature. 1ups are frequent in this game too, but you will need them in the later levels..

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The first boss, about to be smashed by the lightning laser. .

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Level two is underwater, and has a system of tubes and tunnels. You must navigate them or be crushed by the walls!

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When these big enemies come out (some from behind also….) use the CLAW! It’s very powerful when placed on an enemy.

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The second boss, sewer gunk that rotates around and fire on you. One will have a different color from the rest, target that and claw him.

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The third level moves vertically. If the game hasn’t frozen on you by now, you’re in luck.

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Now the game starts getting difficult. If you don’t take this boss out quick. You don’t have a chance. His bullets fire in a circle, very quickly, too quick for you to dodge in fact.

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The fire level has a weird color scheme. Very hard to see bullets.

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The boss is some kind of gestating bug, the heat must make it perfect for little larva to breed. Lots of things attack you here, use the claw wisely.

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Level five, “lost in space...”

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Part two of level five pits you against some stronger battleships. I was hoping for an Rtype size battleship, but no luck...

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Boss #5 rotates and expands every now and then. Not too difficult for you shmup nuts.

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Level six gets really ridiculous. Now is my time to rant... there is so much going on, and so many enemies... and these stupid guns with big green bubbles, and these huge ships that take forever to kill, and walls that close in, and...

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diamonds that trail from the walls, you’d better be practiced up for this section...

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Here’s the boss of level six, he jumped around a bit, then shot me, and I gave in for the day... could he be the final? I hope so!



Another day another X68000 gem. Recently I found an X68000 (Expert-2 model), but it was so damned expensive that I can't buy it. I am dying for one! It has so many cool games, specially shmups! And not only the great arcade ports, but original games like this one here...

Why oh why you left us sad westerners without the X68000, Sharp? I'm never going to buy any of your stuff because of that!

- Akira



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