Gaiares

For the 2022 aftermarket re-release, see Gaiares (Retro-Bit).

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Gaiares
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Renovation Game (Japan), Renovation Products (US) Edia
Developer: Telenet Japan D4 Enterprise
Licensor: Edia
Genre: Shooting
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1990-12-26 ¥8,400 (8,652)8,400e T-49013 US 1991-03 $69.9569.95 49066 DE 199x DM 100100 FR 199x T-49013 JP ▼ 2011-12-20 ¥880880 TEL0045 JP ▼ 2023-12-07 US ▼ 2023-12-07 DE ▼ 2023-12-07 UK ▼ 2023-12-07 AU ▼ 2023-12-08 KR ▼ 2023-12-07

Gaiares (ガイアレス) is a Sega Mega Drive horizontal shoot-'em-up developed by Telenet Japan. First published in Japan by Renovation Game in December 1990, it was later brought to the United States by Renovation Products the following March, and eventually brought to Europe later that year. One of the first Mega Drive games to utilize an 8 Megabit cartridge over the standard size of 4 Megabit, Gaiares (alongside Technosoft's Thunder Force III) was one of the earliest shoot-'em-ups to demonstrate the technical strengths of the 16-bit hardware.

The title combines "Gaia" (for Earth) and the suffix "-less," as the Earth has been lost to pollution in the far future according to the plot of the game (making mankind "Earthless").

Story

Alexis

In the year 3000, Earth has become an uninhabitable, polluted wasteland and the human race is almost extinct. A group of alien space pirates called Gulfer, led by the evil Queen Zz Badnusty, plans to use the pollution to fuel weapons of mass destruction. The United Star Cluster of Leezaluth sends a warning to Earth about their plans, stating that if they cannot stop them, Leezaluth will be forced to supernova Earth's sun to avoid war with Gulfer; but if the humans succeed, Leezaluth will use their technology to restore Earth to its former beauty.

Legendary space hero Dan Dare (Diaz in the Japanese original), a brave and skilled pilot from Earth, is chosen to be the pilot of a new starfighter to combat Gulfer. The ship is armed with a powerful experimental weapon from Leezaluth called the TOZ system, run by Leezaluth emissary Alexis, which can steal powers from the space pirates' own ships.

Gameplay

The game is a side-scrolling shoot-'em-up. Stages have a miniboss and a boss; some stages feature branching paths that can be selected by flying high or low on the screen. The player's starfighter is moved in any direction with the D-Pad; its movement speed can be cycled between three settings with . The ship fires its weapon with , which can be held for rapid-fire. The ship also shoots a missile diagonally downward when its main weapon is fired. The TOZ module follows the ship and augments the ship's fire with its own.

Instead of collecting power-up capsules to gain new weapons, as in most shooters, the TOZ device can be shot out with (in a manner similar to the Force in R-Type) to "steal" the weapon of an enemy that it contacts (destroying the enemy in the process). This weapon replaces the standard armament. Stealing the same weapon again increases the weapon level, up to three levels. Each weapon has a separate level, which the game remembers when it is equipped again. Weapons cannot be stolen from bosses. The player's ship cannot fire while the TOZ is deployed; it returns after a moment after it steals a weapon or if it cannot find an enemy to target. The TOZ module is invulnerable to damage and can protect the ship from enemy fire and destroy enemies it touches when deployed.

The ship is destroyed if it takes damage from an enemy or runs into terrain. The player starts over at a checkpoint with a new ship if the player has lives remaining, with the starting weapon and without any of the weapon levels acquired. If the player runs out of lives, the game ends, but it can be continued as long as there are credits remaining.

The configuration menu can be accessed by holding , or when pressing  START  on the title screen. There are two difficulty levels (Normal and Very Hard).

Weapons

	I-Vulcan
	The starting weapon. Some weaker enemies are equipped with this weapon, so it can be upgraded in the same way as the other weapons. Shoots a single stream of bullets, which can be upgraded up to three parallel streams.
	P-Cannon
	Fires plasma balls in a cone. When fully upgraded, it also fires behind the ship.
	T-Missile
	Fires multidirectional missiles that scatter and explode. It initially fires only a single missile, but it fires in every direction when fully leveled up.
	H-Laser
	Fires a long horizontal laser, which grows longer as it is upgraded.
	S-Laser
	Fires volleys of homing lasers. It fires one laser initially but three lasers at once when fully upgraded.
	V-Laser
	Fires tall, wave-shaped lasers, which grow taller as the weapon is upgraded.
	G-Beam
	Fires a thick laser beam that passes through enemies and terrain. The beam grows in size as it is leveled up.
	R-Collider
	Fires lasers in cardinal and intermediate directions alternately. It initially shoots two lasers at a time, but it fires in four directions simultaneously when fully upgraded.
	E-Smash
	Generates plasma balls that rotate around the ship. Holding charges them, which also acts as a shield that guards the ship against enemy projectiles. Releasing the button shoots them.
	Quark Missiles
	The ship initially shoots missiles diagonally downwards when it fires its main weapon, but it can also shoot missiles diagonally upwards if the ability is stolen from an enemy (such as a ground-based turret).

Hidden

These weapons can only be obtained through unconventional means. They only have one level.

	A-Bullet
	Fires high-damage rockets. This weapon is obtained by quickly pausing and unpausing the game eight times at the beginning of the game.
	F-Formation
	Creates a formation of five TOZ modules that orbit the ship and each fire a fiery projectile. This weapon can be obtained by deploying the TOZ onto an enemy when the score is a multiple of 10,000 points.
	T-Blaster
	Fires homing plasma balls. This weapon can be obtained by firing the TOZ six times in a row, missing an enemy each time, and then capturing an enemy on the seventh attempt.
	T-Vulcan
	Fires bullets in a conical spread. This weapon is obtained by using the TOZ to steal a weapon from an enemy 128 times, then attaching it to another enemy.

Items

	Break Defender
	Surrounds the ship in a barrier that protects it from three hits of damage. The screen flashes when the barrier takes damage. Attaching the TOZ to the power-up before collecting it upgrades it so that it can withstand five hits of damage.
	Dimension Quake
	Eliminates all of the enemies on screen.

Stages

	Floating Continent
	Glacial Planet
	Space Sanctuary
	Space Colony
	Stage 5
	Stage 6
	The stage reprises many of the minibosses from the previous stages.
	Stage 7
	The stage reprises all of the bosses from the previous stages.
	Stage 8

History

File:GPSG US 0205.pdf

Development

During development, Gaiares was known by the name Aztion (アズシオン).

According to developer Kouji Yokota, development began with a 4 Megabit ROM size. When it was doubled to 8 Megabit, the developers used the space for cutscene graphics.

American advertising campaign

Main article: Jamie Bunker.

In 1990, Renovation Products selected one of their game testers, Jamie Bunker, to be the spokesperson for the upcoming Sega Mega Drive game Gaiares' United States advertising campaign. Bunker posed with the game's United States release in a series of three advertisements, with each labeling the seventeen-year old spokesman a "professional gamer". Contrasting with the often juvenile and exaggerative statements of other game advertisements of the day, Renovation Products' advertisements simply featured a visibly genuine Bunker presenting the game with a recommendation of its quality, and has become one of the Mega Drive era's most fondly-remembered advertising campaigns.

Versions

The game's United States release shipped with a poster featuring the game's Western cover artwork.

A proper European release was planned by Ubisoft but ultimately did not materialize, and Europe instead received the Japanese version with an additional multi-language manual.

The game was re-released in 2022 by Retro-Bit. It was also re-released for Nintendo Switch in December 2023 as a stand-alone release from Telenet Shooting Collection, keeping the Sega logo at the startup.

Production credits

• Game Design: M.Yamamoto, K.Yokota
• Character Design: T.Iwata, K.Yokota
• Graphic Design: K.Yokota, T.Iwata, Y.Kuzumoto
• Program: M.Yamamoto
• Sound: S.Ogawa (Business Support Co., Ltd.)
• Special Thanks: K.Fukushima, Y.Fukushima, J.Fukushima, T.Fukushima, Y.Abe, T.Kinoshita, E.Kikuchi, T.Miura, T.Matsuzawa, A.Suzuki, Y.Shimizu, K.Ohta, Y.Yamauchi, T.Umezu

(C) Telenet Japan 1990

(C) Renovation Products 1990

Source:

In-game credits

Digital manuals

• 

  Project EGG manual

• 

  Retro-Bit manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Gaiares/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Gaiares/Promotional material.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 30 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 68 Computer + Video Giochi (IT) 91 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 88 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU) 50 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 60 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 100 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 60 Joystick (FR) NTSC-J 79 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 72 Mega Play (US) NTSC-U 90 MegaTech (UK) 83 MegaTech (UK) PAL 84 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 84 Player One (FR) 89 Power Play (DE) 78 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC 84 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 69 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 74 User (GR) NTSC 70 Video Games (DE) 76

	75
Based on 21 reviews

Gaiares

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual Poster PCB

Mega Drive, EU (JP Import)
Cover
Cart Manual JP Manual

Technical information

Main article: Gaiares/Technical information.

External links

• Gaiares Is Getting A Physical Re-Release With The Help Of The Kid Who Promoted It 31 Years Ago article by Damien McFerran at Nintendo Life
• Gaiares Is Back! Pre-Order the Best 16-Bit Shooter Ever Made! video essay by Defunct Games at YouTube