Gunbird

From Sega Retro

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Gunbird title.png

Gunbird
System(s): Sega Saturn
Publisher: Atlus
Developer:
Licensor: Psikyo
Original system(s): Psikyo arcade hardware
Sound driver: SCSP/CD-DA (24 tracks)
Genre: Shooting[1][2]

















Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Saturn
JP
¥5,800 (5,974)5,800e[3] T-14402G
Sega Rating: All Ages
Non-Sega versions

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Gunbird (ガンバード) is a vertical shoot-'em-up game to the Sega Saturn. It was followed by Gunbird 2, which saw a release on the Sega Dreamcast.

Gameplay

Playable Characters

Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer1-1.png

Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer1-2.png

  • Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer1-1.png

  • Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer1-2.png

Ash, The Famous Adventurer
27 years old German Engineer and Scientist, currently living in London. Flies around using a jetpack he himself built. If paired with Marion, he develops a rather "disturbing" interest on the little girl.
  • Main Weapon: Concentrated
  • Secondary Weapon: Sonic Waves
  • Charge Weapon: Plasma Cluster Shot
  • Super Weapon: Large Bomb

Focuses firepower towards the front with limited coverage. Charge weapon fires an energy blast causes good damage then splits into smaller balls, spreading around. Super weapon drops a large bomb that has a short range but causes great damage and block enemy projectiles.

Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer2-1.png

Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer2-2.png

  • Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer2-1.png

  • Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer2-2.png

Marion Sorin, The Witch Girl
13 year old witch from England. She is accompanied by Pomme-Pomme, a talking rabbit who is dressed in a Victorian era suit. Generally likeable and curious, she also has a selfish personality and can occasionally reveal her mean side, which poor Pomme-Pomme often becomes a victim of.
  • Main Weapon: Spread
  • Secondary Weapon: Homing Stars
  • Charge Weapon: Rabbit Blast
  • Super Weapon: Crescent Spray

Focuses on coverage with low firepower. Secondary weapons fire star shaped projectiles that will home on enemies with good accuracy. Charge attack fires a rabbit shaped large projectile, similar to the one fired by Ash without spread effect. Special weapon fires crescent shaped projectiles in eight directions with low damage but screen clearing effect.

Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer3-1.png

Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer3-2.png

  • Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer3-1.png

  • Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer3-2.png

Valnus, The Robot Soldier
A clockwork robot built in Imperial Russia. His CPU stops working if his body is not manually cranked every six hours. Fight for the glory of his homeland but secretly wishes to be a human.
  • Main Weapon: Concentrated
  • Secondary Weapon: Side Shot Lasers
  • Charge Weapon: Wire Punch
  • Super Weapon: Laser Spray

Secondary weapon fires several lasers towards the front in an L shaped pattern. Charge weapon throws his punches with short range but high damage. Super weapon fires multiple small lasers in a cross pattern.

Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer4-1.png

Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer4-2.png

  • Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer4-1.png

  • Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer4-2.png

Yuan Nang, The Oriental Fighter
A brave, beautiful but also somewhat rowdy warrior from China. She joins the fight to become strongest person in the world. She seems to have based on the "Monkey King" from the famous Chinese novel "The Journey to West", right down to flying around with a cloud and having an extendable staff.
  • Main Weapon: Concentrated
  • Secondary Weapon: Side launched swords
  • Charge Weapon: Extendable Staff
  • Super Weapon: Mirage Wing Attack

Secondary weapons give slightly better area coverage. Charge weapon hits with her staff for good damage but low range. Super weapon creates several mirages of Yuan Nang and charges them forwards, drilling through enemies and causing great damage.

Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer5-1.png

Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer5-2.png

  • Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer5-1.png

  • Gunbird Saturn JP SSPlayer5-2.png

Tetsu, The Stubborn Old Carpenter
A 60 year old Japanese carpenter who joins the adventure to revive his dead "wife". He flies around with a pedal-operated helicopter made of wood. He is rather "open" about his sexual orientation.
  • Main Weapon: Spread
  • Secondary Weapon: Rockets
  • Charge Weapon: Rocket Barrage
  • Super Weapon: Firecracker Bombs

Secondary weapons fire a large number of rockets after a very short delay but has somewhat low fire rate. Charge weapon fires multiple rockets in a short barrage for better firepower. Super weapon drops 4 fire waves that move towards the edge of the screen, causing great damage and blocking enemy shots.


Versions

The Saturn version of Gunbird was only released in Japan, however a version for the PlayStation did surface in the West under the name Mobile Light Force (complete with entirely unrelated packaging and removal of cutscenes) some years later.

For the most part, both the Saturn and PlayStation games are broadly similar, however the PlayStation has more intrusive loading sequences during gameplay, and lacks the "tate mode" option of the Saturn conversion, which rotates the game by 90 degrees to benefit from vertical monitors (which the arcade game was designed for). The PlayStation version also lacks the ability to save progress, and while some sound effects (most noticably speech) is seemingly played back at a higher quality, the artwork can appear darker and less saturated than its Saturn counterpart.

There are also very minor aesthetic differences between menus and the positioning of elements in the HUD.

Production credits

  • プロデューサー: 丹羽 潤一
  • ゲームプロデューサー: 中村 普介
  • キャラクターデザイン: 中村 博文
キャスト


  • 挿入歌: 「ガンバード -大空の冒険者-」
    • : 片桐 真衣
  • 「マリオンのテーマ」
    • : 田中 千晴


  • ゲストイラストレーター: 桜 玉吉, 寺田 克也, 司 淳, 夏元 雅人, 菅野 博士, 中村 博文
スタッフ
  • デザイン: 小川 兵衛, 山崎 渉, 小田 秀之, 塚越 陽子, 吉田 育也, 武森 則和, 谷口 絵美, 上岡 秀都
  • プログラム: 杉田 敏典, 佐藤 成希, 斎藤 詩織, 高木 慶介
  • サウンドデザイン: 泉谷 雅樹
  • スクリプト: 山田 啓史
  • テストプレイ: 村田 明美, 原田 大一郎, 鵜飼 基史, 蒲 正広, 下島 有子, 千代 晃裕, 市田 琢也, 天川 浩, 作本 直貴, 一谷 こず恵, 高嶋 伸枝, 大伴 舞, 本永 智子, 近藤 昌浩, 奈良 政経
  • 協力: 由佐 伸一, Design-Studio, Tomas
  • イラストコンテスト協力: ゲーム遊II, ゲーメスト, 月刊コミックゲーメスト, セガサターンマガジン, 電撃王, 電撃プレイステーション, 週間ファミコン通信, Playstation Magazine, マイコンBASIC Magazine
  • ディレクター: 頼近 直純
  • 総販売元: アトラス
  • 制作・著作: 彩京
(C)1995 Psikyo All Right Reserved
Source:
In-game credits
Gunbird Saturn JP SSEnding.pdf
[4]


  • Jun-ichi Niwa, Shin. Nakamura, Hirofumi Nakamura, Artmic, Rick Johnson, Hyoue Ogawa, Wataru Yamazaki, Hideyuki Oda, Youko Tsukagoshi, Ikuya Yosida, Hiromi Tanegasima, Norikazu Takemori, Hideto Kamioka, Emi Taniguchi, Masaki Izutani, Toshinori Sugita, Seiki Sato, Shiori Saito, Yusa Tarou
Source:
In-game credits (Note:Probably Arcade version credits.)
Gunbird Saturn JP SSOpening.pdf
[5]


Magazine articles

Main article: Gunbird/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Gunbird Saturn JP Flyer.pdf

PDF
Flyer
Gunbird Saturn JP Flyer.pdf

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
{{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
Based on
0 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Consoles + (FR) NTSC-J
82
[6]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
73
[7]
Fun Generation (DE) NTSC-J
60
[8]
GameFan (US)
72
[9]
Joypad (FR) NTSC-J
83
[10]
MAN!AC (DE) NTSC-J
70
[11]
Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J
71
[12]
Sega Power (UK) NTSC-J
71
[13]
Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J
58
[14]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
77
[15]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
82
[16]
Última Generación (ES)
58
[17]
Video Games (DE) NTSC-J
69
[18]
Sega Saturn
71
Based on
13 reviews

Gunbird

Saturn, JP
Gunbird Saturn JP Box Back.jpgGunbird Saturn JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
Gunbird Saturn JP Spinecard.jpg
Spinecard
Gunbird Saturn JP Disc.jpg
Disc
Gunbird Saturn JP Manual.pdf
Manual

Technical information

Main article: Gunbird/Technical information.

References


Gunbird

Gunbird title.png

Main page | Comparisons | Development | Magazine articles | Reception | Technical information


Sega Saturn
Demos: Gunbird Sample (1995)

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