ImageFight & XMultiply: Arcade Gears

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Main title Image Fight X Multiply
ImageFight & XMultiply: Arcade Gears
System(s): Sega Saturn
Publisher: Xing Entertainment
Developer: Xing Entertainment
Licensor: Irem
Original system(s): Irem M72 Hardware
Developer(s) of original games: Irem
Game total: 2
Sound driver: SCSP/CD-DA (35 tracks)
Genre: Compilation, Shooting
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code JP 1998-08-20 ¥4,800 (5,040)4,800e T-26110G
Non-Sega versions PlayStation

ImageFight & XMultiply: Arcade Gears (イメージファイト＆Ｘ-マルチプライ アーケードギアーズ) is a Sega Saturn compilation of two shoot-'em-up games, Image Fight and X Multiply, originally released by Irem into the arcades in 1988 and 1989 respectively. It was released as part of Xing's Arcade Gears range exclusively in Japan.

Games included

• Image Fight
• X Multiply

Story

Image Fight

In the year 20XX, Earth's moon has been destroyed by an alien force. They have taken over the moon's main computer, Mariko, which is still intact after the explosion, and used it to produce ships for their invasion. Leading scientists from Earth have produced the Orbit Fighter-1 (OF-1) Daedalus ship to fight off the invaders.

X Multiply

In the year 2249, microscopic aliens have invaded a colony planet, infecting and killing the colonists. Scientists have deployed the microscopic fighter X-002 into the body of a person who has been invaded by the alien queen.

Gameplay

Image Fight

The game is a vertically scrolling shoot-'em-up where the player pilots a futuristic fighter craft fending off an alien invasion. The first five stages are "practice" stages that take place inside a combat simulation meant to test the pilot. The player's performance is graded after finishing each simulation stage, and an average score of 90% or better in the simulation stages is necessary to progress to real combat in the final three stages. Otherwise, the player must play an additional simulation stage before proceeding to the final stages.

The fighter moves in any direction using the D-Pad. The player can cycle between four movement speeds with . The structure of the fighter transforms during a speed change, with the wings angling down and back at higher speeds. The fighter's thrusters emit a blue flame whenever the ship changes speed, which can damage enemies. The fighter shoots its main weapon, dual parallel bullets, with (which has no rapid-fire). Special weapons can be found that attach to the front of the fighter and replace the main weapon. These attachments also protect against a hit to the front of the fighter, but only one time as they are destroyed afterwards. The fighter cannot equip a different special weapon while one is already attached, and the only way to remove an attachment is to have it destroyed.

The fighter can also acquire up to three colored pods, which follow the fighter and provide additional fire. Red pods fire in the opposite direction that the fighter was last moved, so they can be aimed, while blue pods always fire forwards. Up to three pods can be equipped at a time: one to the left, one to the right, and one behind the fighter. The pods are indestructible and can be used to destroy enemies. Colors can be mixed and matched, though collecting another pod after already having three equipped changes them all to the same color. The left and right pods can be launched forward at high speed with , acting as a projectile attack before circling back and returning to the ship.

The fighter is destroyed if it touches an enemy, enemy fire, or terrain. It respawns at a predetermined checkpoint, without any pods or special weapons, if the player has lives remaining. The game ends if the player runs out of lives but can be continued. Extra lives are given at 100,000 and 250,000 points. Special weapons and pods are retained going into the next stage, except when moving from the simulation stages into real combat. The game loops at a higher difficulty after it is completed.

There are three difficulty levels (Easy, Normal, and Hard), and the player can change the number of starting lives (between 1 and 5). There are three display modes: Normal, which uses a conventional horizontal aspect ratio; Arcade, which rotates the screen by 90 degrees to replicate the original arcade version's vertical presentation; and Extra, which rotates the screen without also rotating the controls, so that the game can be played in a vertical aspect ratio without rotating the screen (essentially turning it into a horizontal shooter). High scores can be saved to the Saturn's internal memory.

Items

	Item Container
	Destroy to release an item.
	Red Pod
	Equips a red pod, which follows the ship and fires alongside it. Red pods fire in the opposite direction that the ship was last moved.
	Blue Pod
	Equips a blue pod, which follows the ship and fires alongside it. Blue pods always fire forwards.
	Rippling Laser
	Equips a special weapon that shoots ring-shaped projectiles in a wide spread. The rings grow larger as they move away from the fighter.
	Drilling Laser
	Equips a special weapon that shoots two parallel beams forward.
	V-Cannon
	Equips a special weapon that shoots fireballs in a V-shaped pattern.
	Seeking Missiles
	Equips a special weapon that shoots homing missiles.
	Side Shooter
	Equips a special weapon that shoots beams to the left and to the right of the fighter.
	Reflecting Ball
	Equips a special weapon that shoots small energy balls that bounce repeatedly off enemies and surfaces.
	Shields
	Equips a special weapon that creates two ring-shaped energy barriers in front of the fighter that damage anything they touch. This effect must be activated by pressing ; otherwise; the standard weapon is fired.
	5-Way Gun
	Equips a special weapon that shoots a segmented energy wave in a large arc forward.
	Seeking Laser
	Equips a special weapon that shoots two parallel laser beams that can each bend one time at a 90-degree angle to seek enemies.

Stages

	Simulation 1
	Simulation 2
	Simulation 3
	Simulation 4
	Simulation 5
	Penalty Area
	This stage is only played if the player fails to attain an average score of 90% or higher in the previous stages.
	Area 1
	Area 2
	Area 3

X Multiply

The game is a horizontally scrolling shoot-'em-up where the player controls a microscopic fighter craft flying through the body of a human to destroy alien parasites. The fighter moves in any direction using the D-Pad. It shoots its weapon, a single stream of bullets, with , , or (which can be held for rapid-fire). More powerful special weapons can be found that replace the standard weapon. The first weapon power-up obtained causes the fighter to grow two mechanical tentacles, one above and one below it, which replicate its fire with two additional guns. The tentacles are invulnerable and can be used to attack enemies or neutralize enemy projectiles. They close behind the fighter when it moves forward or close in front of the fighter when it moves back, so they can be moved to protect the fore or aft of the fighter or to spread or concentrate its fire. When the fighter is not moving, the tentacles separate.

The fighter is destroyed if it touches an enemy, enemy fire, or terrain. It respawns at a predetermined checkpoint, without special weapons or tentacles, if the player has lives remaining. The game ends if the player runs out of lives but can be continued. Extra lives can be picked up as items. Special weapons and tentacles are retained going into the next stage. The game loops at a higher difficulty after it is completed.

There are three difficulty levels (Easy, Normal, and Hard), and the player can change the number of starting lives (between 1 and 5). During gameplay, the status area on the bottom of the screen can be moved up or down slightly with or (to compensate for the different screen size between the arcade version and the Saturn port). High scores can be saved to the Saturn's internal memory.

Items

The first weapon upgrade acquired gives the fighter its tentacles rather than changing its weapon.

	Speed Up
	Increases the fighter's movement speed.
	Speed Down
	Decreases the fighter's movement speed.
	Bombs
	Adds bombs to the fighter's attack, which drop downward in an arc as the main weapon is fired.
	Homing Missiles
	Changes the weapon to a volley of homing missiles.
	Lasers
	Changes the weapon to a long, piercing laser beam.
	Directional Shot
	Changes the weapon to energy balls that fire in the direction opposite direction that the fighter was last moved.
	1-Up
	Gives the player an extra life.

Stages

	Stage 1
	Boss: Hostur
	Stage 2
	Boss: Rokusu
	Stage 3
	Boss: Zarikasu
	Stage 4
	Boss: Ghoums
	Stage 5
	Boss: Hidra
	Stage 6
	Boss: Darya
	Stage 7
	Boss: Bykhee

Magazine articles

Main article: ImageFight & XMultiply: Arcade Gears/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) #1998-11: "1998-11 (1998-04-10,17)" (1998-03-27)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 53 Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J 50 Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J 68 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 63

	58
Based on 4 reviews

ImageFight & XMultiply: Arcade Gears

Saturn, JP
Cover
Spinecard Disc

Technical information

Main article: ImageFight & XMultiply: Arcade Gears/Technical information.

References

NEC Retro has more information related to Image Fight