Target Earth

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Target Earth
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Virtual Console, Nintendo Switch Online
Publisher: Masaya (Japan) DreamWorks (US) NCS Extreme
Developer: NCS M2
Supporting companies: Goblin Sound (audio)
Licensor: Extreme
Genre: Shooting
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1990-03-16 ¥6,200 (6,386)6,200e T-25013 US 1990-06 $49.9549.95 T-25046 JP ▼ 2007-10-30 600pts600 MBVJ JP ▼ 2015-09-08 ¥880880 NCS0023 JP ▼ 2022-07-01 SUBsub M-1654 US ▼ 2022-06-30 SUBsub M-1654 EU ▼ 2022-07-01 SUBsub M-1654 UK ▼ 2022-07-01 SUBsub M-1654 AU ▼ 2022-07-01 SUBsub M-1654

Target Earth, known in Japan as Assault Suit Leynos (重装騎兵レイノス) is a Sega Mega Drive run-and-gun game developed by NCS. The first game in the Assault Suit series, it was originally published in Japan by Masaya in March 1990, and was brought to the United States three months later by DreamWorks.

Story

Introduction

In 2201, expanding technologies have given man the power to live anywhere in space. Earth and its colonies are fighting a war against a cyborg army returning from deep space. The nature and purpose of these cybernetic adversaries, named Chron, is initially unknown. However, it is later revealed that Chron are the survivors of a failed space expedition (Outer Space Expeditionary Party) sent by Earth a hundred years earlier.

The Earth Defense League fights to defend Earth. Its core is the Assault Suit, a twelve-foot-tall armored battle machine with powerful fighting capabilities. The player is Rex, an Assault Suit Wing commander and master at Assault Suit combat. The battle begins on Ganymede and shifts to battles in space, on the Earth, and inside enemy outposts.

Gameplay

Weapon select

The game is a run-and-gun platformer played as the Assault Suit Wing commander Rex inside a large armored mecha. Allied forces appear within the stages and fight alongside Rex. There is no friendly fire. Fellow Assault Suit Wing troopers wear brown armor and fly white or brown spacecraft. The Chron enemy forces wear green or blue armor. Characters occasionally send transmissions during stages to state the current objectives or progress the story. The goal of each stage varies and can involve defending a friendly ship or destroying an enemy target.

In gravity stages, Rex moves with and and jumps with . He jumps higher if the button is held for longer. When equipped with a B-Pack, Rex can fly for short durations by holding . In space stages, Rex can move freely in any direction with the D-Pad.

Rex fires his weapon with , which can be held for rapid-fire. Weapons are aimed in eight directions using the D-Pad. There are multiple weapons, and the player can switch between the equipped weapons with or by pausing the game with  START  and using and . The LG-Gun and HG-Gun weapons reload after their ammunition runs out, but the other weapons are unavailable for the rest of the stage when they are depleted.

At the start of each stage, the player can choose which weapons and other items to equip. An item is selected with the D-Pad and equipped with ; the last item is unequipped with . Up to six different items can be equipped at a time. The player's performance in a stage determines which additional weapons and items are rewarded at the end of the stage. The player can acquire and equip the same weapon multiple times to carry additional ammunition. If a weapon runs out of ammunition in one stage, it is still available to be equipped in the next stage with full ammunition.

Rex has a health meter that empties as he takes damage from enemy fire or contact. It starts with 16 bars, but it can be extended as long as 32 bars by equipping Armor items. The health meter replenishes over time if he avoids taking damage. The game ends if he loses all of his health. There are three selectable difficulty levels (Normal, Hard, and Hyper). There is also an option to enable resetting the game with + START .

Items

Weapons

	LG-Gun
	The standard armament. A stream of bullets that fires quickly but does light damage. This weapon reloads whenever it runs out of ammunition. Contains 20 rounds.
	HG-Gun
	A more powerful version of the LG-Gun. It also reloads whenever it runs out of ammunition. Contains 20 rounds.
	25-SC
	A conical spreadshot. Contains 60 rounds.
	40-SC
	A more powerful version of the 25-SC. Contains 50 rounds.
	GL
	Launches grenades toward the ground. Fires slowly but does high damage in a small area. Contains 50 rounds.
	MGL
	A more powerful version of the GL. It has a larger blast radius. Contains 45 rounds.
	Burst
	Fires projectiles that spin in the air before shooting upwards. Contains 10 rounds.
	D-D
	Shoots an energy ball that explodes into a cloud, which floats in the air for a time and damages any enemies that enter it. Contains 30 rounds.
	150BZ
	Fires high-speed, high-damage projectiles. Contains 50 rounds.
	203BZ
	A more powerful version of the 150BZ. Contains 40 rounds.
	Missile
	Slowly fires homing missiles. Contains 50 rounds.
	M.Pod
	Quickly fires less powerful homing missiles. Contains 50 rounds.
	E-AS
	Fires a laser that pierces through targets but can only be fired horizontally. Contains 70 rounds.
	E-CN
	A more powerful version of the E-AS. Contains 55 rounds.

Other

These item effects are always active when equipped.

	Armor
	Extends the health meter by 4 bars. Its effect stacks if it is equipped multiple times.
	B-Pack
	Gives the ability to fly for a duration in gravity stages by holding .
	Shield
	Reduces the damage taken from enemies by half.

Stages

	Raid on Ganymede
	Escape
	Orbital Attack
	Front Line Assault
	Surprise Attack
	Headquarter Blitz
	Space Colony Smash
	The Final Conflict

History

Legacy

The game was included on the Japanese and Asian releases of the Mega Drive Mini in 2019. The US version is accessible if the system is set to English.

A sequel, Assault Suit Leynos 2, was released for the Sega Saturn in 1997. It was only released in Japan.

A prequel, named Assault Suit Valken (重装機兵ヴァルケン) in Japan and Cybernator in the West, was released for the Super NES in 1992. The game takes place a century before the events of Assault Suit Leynos. It received a sequel, Assault Suit Valken 2, for the PlayStation in 1999, only in Japan.

A remake of the game was developed by Dracue Software and published by Rising Star Games. It was released for the PlayStation 4 in Japan in December 2015 and in North America and Europe in July 2016. It was ported to Windows PCs and released in August 2016. All versions of the remake use the original Japanese title, Assault Suit Leynos.

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English (US)	Target Earth	Target Earth
Japanese	重装騎兵レイノス	Jusou Kihei Leynos

Production credits

• Program: H.Suzuki, M.Takasugi, T.Ohya, H.Tsuda
• Graphic: M.Suzuki
• Music: T.Suzuki
• Manual Art: Naccai
• Produce: Y.Sirakura

Source:

In-game credits

Digital manuals

• 

  Project EGG manual

• 

  Mega Drive Mini JP manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Target Earth/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Target Earth/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) 40 Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 53 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 58 Complete Guide to Consoles (UK) 73 The Complete Guide to Sega (UK) 73 Console XS (UK) NTSC-J 69 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 60 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 65 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 78 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 70 Mega (UK) NTSC 46 Mega Byte (Teletext) (UK) NTSC-U 80 Mega Play (US) NTSC-U 60 MegaTech (UK) NTSC-J 73 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 73 Power Play (DE) 54 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-J 50 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J 66 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J 42 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 81 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 58 User (GR) NTSC-J 92 VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US) 60

	64
Based on 23 reviews

Target Earth

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

Main article: Target Earth/Technical information.

External links

• Sega of Japan Virtual Console pages: Mega Drive

References

Assault Suit Leynos games for Sega systems
Target Earth (1990) | Assault Suit Leynos 2 (1997)