Difference between revisions of "StarBlade"

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| publisher={{company|[[Namco]]|region=Japan, US}}, {{company|[[Sega]]|region=Europe}}
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| publisher={{company|[[Namco]]|region=Japan}}, {{company|[[Namco Hometek]]|region=US}}, {{company|[[Sega Europe]]|region=Europe}}
 
| developer=[[Technosoft]]{{ref|https://web.archive.org/web/20180803202340/https://twitter.com/ummo_chan/status/924644482892554240}}
 
| developer=[[Technosoft]]{{ref|https://web.archive.org/web/20180803202340/https://twitter.com/ummo_chan/status/924644482892554240}}
 
| system=[[Sega Mega-CD]]
 
| system=[[Sega Mega-CD]]
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| otherformats={{NonSega|Arcade|3DO|PS}}
 
| otherformats={{NonSega|Arcade|3DO|PS}}
 
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'''''{{PAGENAME}}''''' (スターブレード) is a [[Sega Mega-CD]] rail shooter developed by [[Technosoft]] and published by [[Namco]]. A port of the publisher's titular 1991 arcade game ''[[wikipedia:StarBlade|StarBlade]]'', it was first released in Japan and the United States in October 1994{{ref|https://web.archive.org/web/20190610175627/https://sega.jp/fb/segahard/mcd/soft_licensee.html}}, and was later brought to Europe by [[Sega]] the following December.{{magref|segamaguk|13|92}}
+
'''''{{PAGENAME}}''''' (スターブレード) is a [[Sega Mega-CD]] rail shooter developed by [[Technosoft]] and published by [[Namco]]. A port of the publisher's titular 1991 arcade game ''[[wikipedia:StarBlade|StarBlade]]'', it was first released in Japan and the United States in October 1994{{ref|https://web.archive.org/web/20190610175627/https://sega.jp/fb/segahard/mcd/soft_licensee.html}}, and was later brought to Europe by Sega the following December.{{magref|segamaguk|13|92}}
  
 
The original arcade game was notable for its use of real-time rendered 3D polygon graphics. The Mega-CD port has a reduced screen size and draws its backgrounds in real-time using pre-calculated coordinates. Since the game is on rails, each element appears in the same spot on every playthrough, which significantly alleviates the processing load.{{ref|https://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Blog:Starblade:_The_Home_Ports}}{{ref|https://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?20809-So-like-is-Star-Blade-does-use-teh-FMV-for-its-polygons-or-not-yo}} Enemies are rendered as wireframe graphics. This is in contrast to the other ports of the game for the [[3DO]] and [[PlayStation]] (as well as similar-looking games for the Mega-CD, such as ''[[Silpheed]]''), which display the background as pre-rendered [[full-motion video]] but have fully polygonal enemies.
 
The original arcade game was notable for its use of real-time rendered 3D polygon graphics. The Mega-CD port has a reduced screen size and draws its backgrounds in real-time using pre-calculated coordinates. Since the game is on rails, each element appears in the same spot on every playthrough, which significantly alleviates the processing load.{{ref|https://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Blog:Starblade:_The_Home_Ports}}{{ref|https://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?20809-So-like-is-Star-Blade-does-use-teh-FMV-for-its-polygons-or-not-yo}} Enemies are rendered as wireframe graphics. This is in contrast to the other ports of the game for the [[3DO]] and [[PlayStation]] (as well as similar-looking games for the Mega-CD, such as ''[[Silpheed]]''), which display the background as pre-rendered [[full-motion video]] but have fully polygonal enemies.
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==Gameplay==
 
==Gameplay==
−
''StarBlade'' is played from a first-person perspective. The Geosword flies itself, and the player acts as its gunner. The D-pad moves the targeting crosshair in all directions, and {{A}}, {{B}}, and {{C}} all fire the ship's lasers and can be held for continuous fire. There are many different types of enemies with different characteristics (such as attack speed, damage, and durability), and the player must decide which enemies to prioritize in order to minimize the damage taken by the Geosword.
+
''StarBlade'' is played from a first-person perspective. The Geosword flies itself, and the player acts as its gunner. The D-Pad moves the targeting crosshair in all directions, and {{A}}, {{B}}, and {{C}} all fire the ship's lasers and can be held for continuous fire. There is an option to invert the vertical controls. There are many different types of enemies with different characteristics (such as attack speed, damage, and durability), and the player must decide which enemies to prioritize in order to minimize the damage taken by the Geosword.
  
 
As the original arcade version featured an advanced analog [[wikipedia:Yoke (aeronautics)|yoke]] built into the cabinet, the home version of ''StarBlade'' is fittingly compatible with some of the [[Mega Drive]]'s more popular analog peripherals: both the first-party [[Sega Mouse]] for direct on-screen mouse control, and the third-party [[XE-1 AP]] for control with an analog stick.
 
As the original arcade version featured an advanced analog [[wikipedia:Yoke (aeronautics)|yoke]] built into the cabinet, the home version of ''StarBlade'' is fittingly compatible with some of the [[Mega Drive]]'s more popular analog peripherals: both the first-party [[Sega Mouse]] for direct on-screen mouse control, and the third-party [[XE-1 AP]] for control with an analog stick.
  
−
The Geosword is destroyed when its shields are depleted by enemy attacks. The player has three credits and can continue from checkpoints. There is no way to replenish shields or gain more credits. There are two difficulty levels, Normal and Hard, which take different paths through the levels.
+
The Geosword is destroyed when its shields are depleted by enemy attacks. The player has three credits and can continue from checkpoints. There is no way to replenish shields or gain more credits. There are two difficulty levels, Normal and Hard, which take different paths through the levels. The European version of the game only gives the player two credits and only allows the player to take the Hard route rather than offering a difficulty setting.
  
 
The enemy flagship ''Commander'' pursues and harasses the player throughout the game. The final mission culminates in a battle with it. This is the only part of the game that has music, though battles have voice clips from other squadron members.
 
The enemy flagship ''Commander'' pursues and harasses the player throughout the game. The final mission culminates in a battle with it. This is the only part of the game that has music, though battles have voice clips from other squadron members.
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===Development===
 
===Development===
 
{{mainArticle|{{PAGENAME}}/Development}}
 
{{mainArticle|{{PAGENAME}}/Development}}
 +
===Legacy===
 +
The game was included in the Japanese version of the [[Mega Drive Mini 2]] in 2022.
  
 
==Production credits==
 
==Production credits==
 +
The staff roll shown at the end of the game is that of the arcade version; a staff list for the port is not available.
 
{{multicol|
 
{{multicol|
 
{{creditstable|
 
{{creditstable|
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*'''Producer:''' K.Sawano, M.Yamada
 
*'''Producer:''' K.Sawano, M.Yamada
 
| source=In-game credits (JP)
 
| source=In-game credits (JP)
−
| pdf=StarBlade_MCD_JP_SSCredits.pdf
+
| pdf=StarBlade MCD JP SSCredits.pdf
 
| console=MCD
 
| console=MCD
 
}}
 
}}
 
}}
 
}}
−
Note: The staff roll shown at the end of the game is that of the arcade version; a staff list for the port is not available.
 
  
 
==Digital manuals==
 
==Digital manuals==
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| spinecard=StarBlade_MCD_JP_Spinecard.JPG
 
| spinecard=StarBlade_MCD_JP_Spinecard.JPG
 
| disc=StarBlade MCD JP Disc.jpg
 
| disc=StarBlade MCD JP Disc.jpg
 +
| manual=Starblade MCD JP manual.pdf
 
}}{{Scanbox
 
}}{{Scanbox
 
| console=Mega-CD
 
| console=Mega-CD

Latest revision as of 02:01, 20 November 2024

n/a

  • NTSC-U
  • NTSC-J
  • PAL

StarBlade title.png

StarBlade MCD JP Title.png

StarBlade MCD EU Title.png

StarBlade
System(s): Sega Mega-CD
Publisher: Namco (Japan), Namco Hometek (US), Sega Europe (Europe)
Developer:
Original system(s): Arcade boards
Developer(s) of original games: Namco
Peripherals supported: CD BackUp RAM Cart, Sega Mouse, XE-1 AP
Genre: Shooting[2][3]

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega-CD
JP 		¥7,8007,800 T-14014
Sega Mega-CD
US 		$49.9549.95[4] T-14025
Videogame Rating Council: GA
Sega Mega-CD
EU 		4284-50
ELSPA: 3+ OK
Sega Mega-CD
UK 		£44.9944.99[6][5] 4284-50
ELSPA: 3+ OK
Non-Sega versions

StarBlade (スターブレード) is a Sega Mega-CD rail shooter developed by Technosoft and published by Namco. A port of the publisher's titular 1991 arcade game StarBlade, it was first released in Japan and the United States in October 1994[3], and was later brought to Europe by Sega the following December.[5]

The original arcade game was notable for its use of real-time rendered 3D polygon graphics. The Mega-CD port has a reduced screen size and draws its backgrounds in real-time using pre-calculated coordinates. Since the game is on rails, each element appears in the same spot on every playthrough, which significantly alleviates the processing load.[7][8] Enemies are rendered as wireframe graphics. This is in contrast to the other ports of the game for the 3DO and PlayStation (as well as similar-looking games for the Mega-CD, such as Silpheed), which display the background as pre-rendered full-motion video but have fully polygonal enemies.

Story

The starship FX-01 "Geosword" is fighting for the Federation of Planets to defend the Mother Planet from a robotic alien species that seeks to annihilate it. Operation StarBlade is a mission to travel to the mechanized planet Red Eye and destroy its power source, the Octopus reactor, before the planet is in range and can obliterate the Federation with its Wave Cannon.

Gameplay

StarBlade is played from a first-person perspective. The Geosword flies itself, and the player acts as its gunner. The D-Pad moves the targeting crosshair in all directions, and A, B, and C all fire the ship's lasers and can be held for continuous fire. There is an option to invert the vertical controls. There are many different types of enemies with different characteristics (such as attack speed, damage, and durability), and the player must decide which enemies to prioritize in order to minimize the damage taken by the Geosword.

As the original arcade version featured an advanced analog yoke built into the cabinet, the home version of StarBlade is fittingly compatible with some of the Mega Drive's more popular analog peripherals: both the first-party Sega Mouse for direct on-screen mouse control, and the third-party XE-1 AP for control with an analog stick.

The Geosword is destroyed when its shields are depleted by enemy attacks. The player has three credits and can continue from checkpoints. There is no way to replenish shields or gain more credits. There are two difficulty levels, Normal and Hard, which take different paths through the levels. The European version of the game only gives the player two credits and only allows the player to take the Hard route rather than offering a difficulty setting.

The enemy flagship Commander pursues and harasses the player throughout the game. The final mission culminates in a battle with it. This is the only part of the game that has music, though battles have voice clips from other squadron members.

Stages

Starblade, Stage 1-1.png

Starblade, Stage 1-2.png

Starblade, Stage 1-3.png

Starblade, Stage 1-4.png

  • Starblade, Stage 1-1.png

  • Starblade, Stage 1-2.png

  • Starblade, Stage 1-3.png

  • Starblade, Stage 1-4.png

Red Eye
Travel to Red Eye and penetrate its defense shield.

Starblade, Stage 2-1.png

Starblade, Stage 2-2.png

Starblade, Stage 2-3.png

Starblade, Stage 2-4.png

  • Starblade, Stage 2-1.png

  • Starblade, Stage 2-2.png

  • Starblade, Stage 2-3.png

  • Starblade, Stage 2-4.png

Octopus
Destroy the Octopus power source located deep inside Red Eye.

Starblade, Stage 3-1.png

Starblade, Stage 3-2.png

Starblade, Stage 3-3.png

Starblade, Stage 3-4.png

  • Starblade, Stage 3-1.png

  • Starblade, Stage 3-2.png

  • Starblade, Stage 3-3.png

  • Starblade, Stage 3-4.png

Iceberg and Commander
Return to the Mother Ship. The aliens have retaliated by sending the giant battleship Iceberg. After it is destroyed, only the flagship Commander remains.

History

Development

Main article: StarBlade/Development.

Legacy

The game was included in the Japanese version of the Mega Drive Mini 2 in 2022.

Production credits

The staff roll shown at the end of the game is that of the arcade version; a staff list for the port is not available.

  • Chief Director: H.Nakatani
  • Assistant Director: K.Kobayashi
  • Programmer: N.Matsuura, Y.Saitoh, Y.Ohmori
  • Music and Sound Effects: S.Hosoe
  • Visual Director: W.Yanagawa
  • Visual Design: N.Kumagai, M.Tejima, M.Kimura
  • Industrial Design: N.Yoshimatsu
  • Mechanical Design: S.Kanebako, H.Igarashi, T.Wakayama, J.Uchida
  • Electrical Design: M.Yamada, O.Morita, M.Ito
  • Special thanks to: A.Ohsugi, H.Kikuchi, H.Takeshima, K.Mizuno, M.Takeda, S.Touyama, T.Ishikawa, T.Natsui, T.Sano, K.Teraoka, M.Inoue, M.Cooper-Hart (Namco America Inc)
  • Producer: K.Sawano, M.Yamada
Source:
In-game credits (JP)
StarBlade MCD JP SSCredits.pdf
[9]

Digital manuals

  • Mega Drive Mini 2 JP manual

Magazine articles

Main article: StarBlade/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Sega Visions (US) #21: "October/November 1994" (1994-xx-xx)
also published in:
Logo-pdf.svg

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
{{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
Based on
0 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
68
[11]
Consoles + (FR)
74
[12]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
70
[13]
Game Players (US) NTSC-U
70
[4]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
70
[14]
GamesMaster (UK) PAL
71
[15]
Games World: The Magazine (UK) PAL
82
[16]
MAN!AC (DE) PAL
69
[17]
Mega (UK) PAL
75
[6]
Mega Force (FR) PAL
61
[18]
Mega Fun (DE) PAL
63
[19]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL
75
[20]
Play Time (DE) PAL
55
[21]
Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J
72
[22]
Sega Magazine (UK) PAL
68
[23]
Sega Power (UK) PAL
87
[24]
Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-U
53
[25]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
80
[26]
Todo Sega (ES)
89
[27]
Video Games (DE) PAL
68
[28]
VideoGames (US) NTSC-U
80
[29]
Sega Mega-CD
 71
Based on
21 reviews

StarBlade

Mega-CD, JP
StarBlade MCD JP Box Back.jpgStarBlade MCD JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
StarBlade MCD JP Spinecard.JPG
Spinecard
StarBlade MCD JP Disc.jpg
Disc
Mega-CD, US
StarBlade MCD US Box Back.jpgStarBlade MCD US Box Front.jpg
Cover
Starblade mcd us disc.png
Disc
Starblade mcd us manual.pdf
Manual
Mega-CD, EU
StarBlade MCD EU Box Back.jpgStarBlade MCD EU Box Front.jpg
Cover
Starblade MCD EU spinecard.jpg
Spinecard
StarBlade MCD EU Disc.png
Disc
Starblade MCD EU Manual.jpg
Manual

Technical information

Main article: StarBlade/Technical information.

References

  1. ↑ @ummo_chan on Twitter (Wayback Machine: 2018-08-03 20:23)
  2. ↑ File:StarBlade MCD JP Box Back.jpg
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 https://sega.jp/fb/segahard/mcd/soft_licensee.html (Wayback Machine: 2019-06-10 17:56)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Game Players, "Vol. 7 No. 9 September 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 92
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Sega Magazine, "January 1995" (UK; 1994-12-15), page 92
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Mega, "December 1994" (UK; 1994-11-30), page 44
  7. ↑ https://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Blog:Starblade:_The_Home_Ports
  8. ↑ https://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?20809-So-like-is-Star-Blade-does-use-teh-FMV-for-its-polygons-or-not-yo
  9. ↑ File:StarBlade MCD JP SSCredits.pdf
  10. ↑ GamePro, "November 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 175
  11. ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "October 1994" (JP; 1994-09-08), page 21
  12. ↑ Consoles +, "Février 1995" (FR; 1995-0x-xx), page 110
  13. ↑ Famitsu, "1994-11-04" (JP; 1994-10-21), page 40
  14. ↑ GamePro, "November 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 118
  15. ↑ GamesMaster, "November 1994" (UK; 1994-10-20), page 72
  16. ↑ Games World: The Magazine, "February 1995" (UK; 1994-12-xx), page 21
  17. ↑ MAN!AC, "01/95" (DE; 1994-12-07), page 84
  18. ↑ Mega Force, "Février 1995" (FR; 1995-0x-xx), page 80
  19. ↑ Mega Fun, "12/94" (DE; 1994-11-23), page 118
  20. ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "December 1994" (UK; 1994-10-28), page 110
  21. ↑ Play Time, "1/95" (DE; 1994-12-07), page 108
  22. ↑ Saturn Fan, "1995 January" (JP; 1994-12-xx), page 63
  23. ↑ Sega Magazine, "January 1995" (UK; 1994-12-15), page 91
  24. ↑ Sega Power, "December 1994" (UK; 1994-10-20), page 68
  25. ↑ Sega Pro, "January 1995" (UK; 1994-12-01), page 56
  26. ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 85
  27. ↑ Todo Sega, "Febrero 1995" (ES; 1995-0x-xx), page 36
  28. ↑ Video Games, "2/95" (DE; 1995-01-18), page 96
  29. ↑ VideoGames, "November 1994" (US; 1994-1x-xx), page 101


StarBlade

StarBlade title.png

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