Heavy Unit: Mega Drive Special

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Heavy Unit: Mega Drive Special
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Toho
Developer: Funari
Original system(s): Arcade boards
Developer(s) of original games: Kaneko
Genre: Shooting
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1990-12-26 ¥6,400 (6,592)6,400e T-27013

Heavy Unit: Mega Drive Special (ヘビーユニット メガドライブスペシャル) is a Sega Mega Drive horizontal shoot-'em-up developed by Funari and published by Toho. An enhanced port of the titular 1988 Kaneko arcade game Heavy Unit, it was released exclusively in Japan in December 1990.

Story

Humans have developed an artificial planet, "Le Tau," which under attack by genetically modified alien monsters. Only the Heavy Unit, a heavily armed, transforming mecha, can defeat the onslaught and protect the human colony.

Gameplay

The game is a side-scrolling shoot-'em-up played as the Heavy Unit, a spaceship that can transform into a giant robot. The Heavy Unit starts in its spaceship form initially but can transform between forms by collecting a power-up.

The Heavy Unit moves in any direction using the D-Pad. The ship's movement speed can be upgraded multiple times. While the game autoscrolls forward, some sections have more verticality and let the player fly the ship higher or lower. It fires its main weapon with or , which shoots straight ahead. The Heavy Unit uses its secondary weapon with , which is dropping bombs directly downward in the spaceship form or a homing attack in the mecha form. Both the main and secondary weapons can be fired simultaneously, and rapid-fire for both can be enabled in the options before starting the game. All weapons can be upgraded by collecting power-ups. The spaceship's main weapon turns into a tall spread that covers more area and its bombs are dropped both upwards and downwards, while the mecha's weapons increase in power.

The Heavy Unit is destroyed in a single hit from an enemy (though there is a shield item that allows it to withstand more hits). Stages are divided into multiple parts, and the ship restarts at a predetermined checkpoint if the player has extra lives remaining (or the game ends if the player has no lives left but can be continued for a credit). The ship uses all of its upgrades when it is destroyed. There are three difficulty levels (Easy, Normal, and Hard). Unusually, there is an option called "Control" that affects whether the Heavy Unit has inertia (Normal is default movement, while Organize activates inertia).

Items

Items are dropped by some enemies when they are destroyed.

	S
	Increases the speed of the ship, up to 7 times.
	P
	Increases the firepower of the ship, up to 3 times.
	B
	Grants the ship a shield that protects it from three hits before disappearing.
	T
	Transforms between the spaceship and mecha forms.
	E
	Gives the player an extra life, up to a maximum of 9.

Stages

	敵基地外縁部
	変成 植 物地帯
	旧地下開発プラント
	異常 生物地帯
	敵基地中 心部
	Last Stage

Versions

Heavy Unit: Mega Drive Special features the same amount of stages as its arcade counterpart but with partially modified enemies placements and behaviors. Stage 2 has now an underwater theme and an added raster scroll effect. Unlike the arcade release, the game also does not loop after finishing it.

Production credits

• Presented by: Toho
• Original Design by: Kaneko
• Programmed by: Funari
• Special Thanks to: Mr. Harada, Mr. Kasai, and Mr. Hasuya

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Heavy Unit: Mega Drive Special/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1989-11: "November 1989" (1989-XX-XX)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1990-11: "November 1990" (1990-10-XX)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1990-12: "December 1990" (1990-11-08)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1991-01: "January 1991" (1990-12-08)
also published in:

• Mega Drive Fan (JP) #12: "January 1991" (1990-12-08)

Print advert

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 Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 68 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 55 The Complete Guide to Sega (UK) NTSC-J 82 Console XS (UK) NTSC-J 78 Computer & Video Games (UK) 75 Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK) 75 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 63 Génération 4 (FR) 81 Game Zone (UK) NTSC-J 88 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 30 Joystick (FR) NTSC-J 75 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) NTSC-J 27 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 60 MegaTech (UK) NTSC-J 85 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 85 Power Play (DE) 46 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-J 50 Sega Pro (UK) 79 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J 78 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 44 Tilt (FR) 75

	65
Based on 22 reviews

Heavy Unit: Mega Drive Special

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

Main article: Heavy Unit: Mega Drive Special/Technical information.

References

NEC Retro has more information related to Heavy Unit