Turrican
From Sega Retro
| Turrican | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| System(s): Sega Mega Drive | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publisher: Ballistic | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Developer: Rainbow Arts, Factor 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Genre: Action | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of players: 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turrican is a run-and-gun game originally developed by Rainbow Arts for the Commodore 64. Rainbow Arts licensed Accolade to make console ports, one of them being an unlicensed Sega Mega Drive port released 1991.
Contents
Story
The lost colony of Alterra is a completely man-made world in a nearby galaxy, abandoned long ago. Alterra consists of five self-contained habitats, separately bio-engineered by a powerful ecosystem generation network known as the Multiple Organism Unit Link (MORGUL). However, a cataclysmic earthquake severed all system interface functions and caused MORGUL to violently rebel. Few colonists survived.
Mankind has sought to return to Alterra for generations. Turrican, a genetically engineered mutant warrior, was created for the purpose of reclaiming the planet. Turrican must eliminate the hostile organisms created by MORGUL from Alterra's life forms and finally destroy the three faces of MORGUL.
Gameplay
The game is a side-scrolling run-and-gun. Levels are large and non-linear. Turrican moves with 
and 
and kneels with 
. He jumps with 
or 
; he jumps higher if the button is held for longer. He can transform into a "buzzsaw" form where he curls into a ball and rolls along the ground with +. This can be used to attack enemies or fit into small spaces, but it can only be done three times per level or life. He exits the rolling form by jumping.
Turrican is equipped with multiple weapons. He fires his main weapon, a laser rifle, with 
. This weapon does not have rapid-fire. The weapon can be upgraded by finding power-ups. Turrican can fire his weapon while kneeling, jumping, or rolling. He has a special "lightning whip" weapon, a long energy beam that damages enemies continuously, that is activated by holding . The lightning whip can be rotated around Turrican with and . He can also drop mines by holding +. Mines explode on the ground after a moment and do area damage but are limited in supply. Turrican has two additional weapons, grenades and the "power line"; pressing 
cycles between the rifle and these special weapons and fires them. The grenades shoot out horizontally until they hit a surface and then explode. The power line attacks all enemies on the screen with two pillars of energy that radiate out from the Turrican. The rifle is equipped again after using a special weapon.
Turrican has an energy meter that depletes as he takes damage from enemies. He loses a life if he runs out of energy and revives in place after a moment if the player has extra lives remaining. Since Turrican does not have a moment of invulnerability after taking damage (as is customary in platforming games), he can take a large amount of damage in a short span if the player is not cautious. Levels are timed, and the player loses a life if time runs out as well. The game ends if the player runs out of lives, but it can be continued if there are continues remaining. The player earns a continue for every 300 crystals collected in the levels.
Items
| Item Container | |
|---|---|
| Shoot to release an item. The item container damages Turrican if it touches him. | |
| P | |
| Fully restores Turrican's energy meter. | |
| Multiple Shot | |
| Equips the Multiple Shot weapon, a spreadshot. | |
| Laser Blast | |
| Equips the Laser Blast weapon, a penetrating laser. | |
| Force Field | |
| Makes Turrican temporarily invulnerable. | |
| Extra Mine | |
| Gives Turrican another mine. | |
| Grenade | |
| Gives Turrican another grenade. | |
| Power Line | |
| Gives Turrican another power line. | |
| Lightning Whip | |
| Increases the length of the lightning whip. | |
| Crystal | |
| Collect 300 to earn an extra continue. | |
| 1-Up | |
| Gives the player an extra life. |
Worlds
| World 1 | |
|---|---|
| World 2 | |
| World 3 | |
| World 4 | |
| World 5 | |
History
Legacy
Rainbow Arts allowed Accolade to hold its console license for Turrican II, but the game was actually rebranded and released as Universal Soldier, a tie-in to the Jean-Claude Van Damme 1992 movie. After that, Factor 5, the developers of the Amiga versions which the Mega Drive versions were based on, went on and produced Mega Turrican on the Mega Drive by themselves.
Versions
While the Mega Drive port is faithful in terms of content, health depletes at a faster rate (approximately four times faster), making the game considerably harder.
Chris Hülsbeck's famous musical score was not faithfully reproduced either, although this can be partially attributed to the hardware. He would personally program the music for Mega Turrican, which was highly praised.
In order to be played at the correct speed (using the Amiga version as a reference), the game needs to be played on 50Hz PAL setting.
The game is not region protected.
Production credits
- Produced by: Chris Bankston
- Programmed by: The Code Monkeys
- Programmers: Colin Hogg, Elliot Gay, Mark Kirkby
- Graphics by: Joe Lewis and Manfred Trenz
- Musicians: J.D. Rogers and Paul Kenny
- Game Testers: David M. Friedland, Robert V. Daly, James R. Kucera
- Game Design: Manfred Trenz
- Technical Advice: Chris Bankston, Tim Wilson, Russell Shiffer, Dave Rogers, Natalie Healy
- Designer: The Code Monkeys
- Producer: Chris Bankston
- Tester: David Friedland, Robert Daly, James Kucera
- Manual: Larry Hall
- Additional Thanks to: SoftGold GmbH, Rainbow Arts, Factor Five, Boris Vallejo, Al Miller, Peter Doctorow, Randy Oyler, Jeff Hoff, Shirley Sellers, and all others involved.
- Original Music and Sound Effects: Chris Hülsbeck
Magazine articles
- Main article: Turrican/Magazine articles.
Promotional material
also published in:
- Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #30: "January 1992" (199x-xx-xx)[6]
Physical scans
| Sega Retro Average | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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73 |
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| Based on 23 reviews | |
| Mega Drive, US/EU |
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   Cover
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 Cart  Manual  PCB |
| Mega Drive, EU |
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 Cover
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Cart |
| Mega Drive, FR |
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 Cover
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Cart |
| Mega Drive, DE |
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Technical information
- Main article: Turrican/Technical information.
References
 NEC Retro has more information related to Turrican
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- ↑ GamePro, "June 1991" (US; 1991-xx-xx), page 42
- ↑ Computer Trade Weekly, "" (UK; 1991-10-07), page 19
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Sega Power, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-05), page 36
- ↑ File:Turrican MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Turrican md us manual.pdf, page 3
- ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "January 1992" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 76
- ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 252
- ↑ Console XS, "June/July 1992" (UK; 1992-04-23), page 135
- ↑ Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1, "" (RU; 1999-xx-xx), page 365
- ↑ Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide, "" (UK; 1993-11-18), page 111
- ↑ Game Power, "Gennaio 1992" (IT; 199x-xx-xx), page 52
- ↑ Games-X, "17th-23rd October 1991" (UK; 1991-10-17), page 35
- ↑ Game Zone, "November 1991" (UK; 1991-10-08), page 28
- ↑ Hobby Consolas, "Enero 1992" (ES; 199x-xx-xx), page 54
- ↑ Joypad, "Octobre 1991" (FR; 1991-09-17), page 46
- ↑ Joystick, "Septembre 1991" (FR; 1991-0x-xx), page 172
- ↑ Mega, "January 1994" (UK; 1993-12-16), page 87
- ↑ Mega Play, "July/August 1991" (US; 1991-0x-xx), page 64
- ↑ MegaTech, "Xmas 1991" (UK; 1991-12-06), page 81
- ↑ Micromanía (segunda época), "Marzo 1992" (ES; 1992-0x-xx), page 33
- ↑ Mean Machines, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-27), page 74
- ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-xx), page 142
- ↑ Player One, "Novembre 1991" (FR; 1991-xx-xx), page 84
- ↑ Power Play, "11/91" (DE; 1991-10-11), page 168
- ↑ Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 68
- ↑ Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 27
- ↑ User, "Septémvrios 1992" (GR; 1992-0x-xx), page 85
- ↑ Video Games, "4/91" (DE; 1991-12-06), page 29
| Turrican | |
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Main page | Comparisons | Maps | Hidden content | Magazine articles | Reception | Region coding | Technical information | Bootlegs | |
| Turrican games for Sega systems | |
|---|---|
| Turrican (1991) | Universal Soldier (1992) | Mega Turrican (Director's Cut) (1994) |