Difference between revisions of "Grind Stormer"

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(https://retro-bit.com/toaplan-shooters-2/#grindstormer)
m (→‎Gameplay: category link)
 
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In either mode, the player's starfighter is moved with the D-Pad. It fires its weapon with {{A}} or {{C}}, which can be held for rapid-fire. The starfighter fires two parallel streams of bullets, and it is accompanied by two side pods that augment its fire with their own. There are three different weapons that can be equipped for the pods, which also change how they move. The starfighter's movement speed can be upgraded four times, and its weapon power can be upgraded three times. The weapon level is retained if the weapon is changed. The second weapon power upgrade adds two more pods.
 
In either mode, the player's starfighter is moved with the D-Pad. It fires its weapon with {{A}} or {{C}}, which can be held for rapid-fire. The starfighter fires two parallel streams of bullets, and it is accompanied by two side pods that augment its fire with their own. There are three different weapons that can be equipped for the pods, which also change how they move. The starfighter's movement speed can be upgraded four times, and its weapon power can be upgraded three times. The weapon level is retained if the weapon is changed. The second weapon power upgrade adds two more pods.
 +
 +
Atypically, the game has a "Left-Handed" control mode where the D-Pad is inverted, so that left-handed players can use the controller flipped upside down.{{ref|https://web.archive.org/web/20221217074232/https://twitter.com/onda_to/status/1016173184985358336}}{{ref|https://mdshock.com/2018/07/08/the-sega-mega-drive-is-here/}}
  
 
In ''Grind Stormer'', items are dropped by some enemies when they are destroyed, and the player collects them by flying over them. Items are always dropped in the same order. The starfighter is armed with screen-clearing bombs, which are detonated with {{B}}. The starfighter can hold up to six bombs at a time, but more are found by collecting diamonds.
 
In ''Grind Stormer'', items are dropped by some enemies when they are destroyed, and the player collects them by flying over them. Items are always dropped in the same order. The starfighter is armed with screen-clearing bombs, which are detonated with {{B}}. The starfighter can hold up to six bombs at a time, but more are found by collecting diamonds.
  
−
In ''V-Five'', diamonds are the only item dropped by destroyed enemies. Similar to ''[[Gradius]]'' or ''[[Slap Fight]]'', collecting a diamond selects the next item in the sidebar; the player can choose the selected item by pressing {{B}}. The next diamond collected starts over from the beginning of the item list. There are no bombs in this mode, but there is a shield item that temporarily protects the starfighter from damage.
+
In ''V-Five'', diamonds are the only item dropped by destroyed enemies. Similar to ''[[:Category:Gradius|Gradius]]'' or ''[[Slap Fight]]'', collecting a diamond selects the next item in the sidebar; the player can choose the selected item by pressing {{B}}. The next diamond collected starts over from the beginning of the item list. There are no bombs in this mode, but there is a shield item that temporarily protects the starfighter from damage.
  
 
If the starfighter collides with an enemy or an enemy projectile, it is destroyed, and the player must restart the stage from the beginning at the cost of a life and any acquired upgrades. The game ends if the player runs out of lives. There are no continues. The player earns an extra life at 300,000 and 800,000 points and then every 800,000 points after that. There are multiple selectable difficulty levels (Easy, Moderate, Hard, and Very Hard).
 
If the starfighter collides with an enemy or an enemy projectile, it is destroyed, and the player must restart the stage from the beginning at the cost of a life and any acquired upgrades. The game ends if the player runs out of lives. There are no continues. The player earns an extra life at 300,000 and 800,000 points and then every 800,000 points after that. There are multiple selectable difficulty levels (Easy, Moderate, Hard, and Very Hard).
  
−
Atypically, the game has a "Left-Handed" control mode where the D-Pad is inverted, so that left-handed players can use the controller flipped upside down.{{ref|https://web.archive.org/web/20221217074232/https://twitter.com/onda_to/status/1016173184985358336}}{{ref|https://mdshock.com/2018/07/08/the-sega-mega-drive-is-here/}}
 
  
 
As with other [[Toaplan]] shooters, the game loops over again from the beginning, with the difficulty increasing, after it is completed.
 
As with other [[Toaplan]] shooters, the game loops over again from the beginning, with the difficulty increasing, after it is completed.
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In ''V-Five'', the speed and weapon items are chosen by pressing {{B}} when the desired item is selected in the sidebar, and collecting a diamond selects the next item in the sidebar. If a weapon is already equipped, it is blanked out in the sidebar and skipped when a diamond is collected. The Power item is also blanked out and skipped once the weapon power is at maximum level.
 
In ''V-Five'', the speed and weapon items are chosen by pressing {{B}} when the desired item is selected in the sidebar, and collecting a diamond selects the next item in the sidebar. If a weapon is already equipped, it is blanked out in the sidebar and skipped when a diamond is collected. The Power item is also blanked out and skipped once the weapon power is at maximum level.
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====''Grind Stormer''====
 
====''Grind Stormer''====
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Latest revision as of 11:17, 11 November 2024

For the 2024 re-release by Retro-bit, see Grind Stormer Collector's Edition.

n/a

  • NTSC-U
  • NTSC-J

GrindStormer MDTitleScreen.png

V-V MD JP TitleScreen.png

Grind Stormer
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Tengen
Developer:
Licensor: Toaplan
Original system(s): Arcade boards
Genre: Shooting[1]

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega Drive
JP 		¥7,800 (8,034)7,800e[2] T-48173
Sega Mega Drive
US 		$39.9539.95[3] T-48256
Videogame Rating Council: GA
Non-Sega versions

Grind Stormer, called V-Five or V-V (ヴイ・ファイヴ) in Japan, is a 1992 arcade shoot-'em-up developed by Toaplan. It was ported to the Sega Mega Drive in 1994 and released by Tengen exclusively in the US and Japan.

Story

Players assume the role of the last surviving Terran Defense Force fighter pilot taking control of the Grind Stormer fighter craft in order repel an alien race known as the Zeta Reticulli from invading Earth.

Gameplay

V-Five, Stage 1.png

V-Five

The game is a vertically scrolling shoot-'em-up. There are two game modes, Grind Stormer and V-Five, corresponding to the North American and original Japanese releases of the arcade game respectively. Both modes play through the same stages but vary in how items are acquired. The game mode is selected from the options menu, which is accessed by pressing A, B, or C at the title screen.

In either mode, the player's starfighter is moved with the D-Pad. It fires its weapon with A or C, which can be held for rapid-fire. The starfighter fires two parallel streams of bullets, and it is accompanied by two side pods that augment its fire with their own. There are three different weapons that can be equipped for the pods, which also change how they move. The starfighter's movement speed can be upgraded four times, and its weapon power can be upgraded three times. The weapon level is retained if the weapon is changed. The second weapon power upgrade adds two more pods.

Atypically, the game has a "Left-Handed" control mode where the D-Pad is inverted, so that left-handed players can use the controller flipped upside down.[4][5]

In Grind Stormer, items are dropped by some enemies when they are destroyed, and the player collects them by flying over them. Items are always dropped in the same order. The starfighter is armed with screen-clearing bombs, which are detonated with B. The starfighter can hold up to six bombs at a time, but more are found by collecting diamonds.

In V-Five, diamonds are the only item dropped by destroyed enemies. Similar to Gradius or Slap Fight, collecting a diamond selects the next item in the sidebar; the player can choose the selected item by pressing B. The next diamond collected starts over from the beginning of the item list. There are no bombs in this mode, but there is a shield item that temporarily protects the starfighter from damage.

If the starfighter collides with an enemy or an enemy projectile, it is destroyed, and the player must restart the stage from the beginning at the cost of a life and any acquired upgrades. The game ends if the player runs out of lives. There are no continues. The player earns an extra life at 300,000 and 800,000 points and then every 800,000 points after that. There are multiple selectable difficulty levels (Easy, Moderate, Hard, and Very Hard).


As with other Toaplan shooters, the game loops over again from the beginning, with the difficulty increasing, after it is completed.

Items

In Grind Stormer, the speed and weapon items are dropped by destroyed enemies in order. Collecting the item for an already equipped weapon or collecting a Power item when already at maximum weapon power awards 10,000 bonus points.

In V-Five, the speed and weapon items are chosen by pressing B when the desired item is selected in the sidebar, and collecting a diamond selects the next item in the sidebar. If a weapon is already equipped, it is blanked out in the sidebar and skipped when a diamond is collected. The Power item is also blanked out and skipped once the weapon power is at maximum level.

Grind Stormer, Items.png
 S-Up
Increases the movement speed of the starfighter, up to 4 times.
Grind Stormer, Items.png
 S-Down
Decreases the movement speed of the starfighter. This item only becomes available when the starfighter is at maximum speed.
Grind Stormer, Items.png
Grind Stormer, Items.png
 Shot
Equips the pods with the Shot weapon, which fires a stream of bullets similar to the starfighter's main weapon. The pods stay fixed next to the starfighter and can be positioned to aim at diagonal angles to cover a larger area or directly ahead. Similar to Sol-Feace, moving Up without firing closes the position of the pods relative to each other and moving Down without firing opens them. This is the initially equipped weapon.
Grind Stormer, Items.png
Grind Stormer, Items.png
 Search
Equips the pods with the Search weapon, which shoot long laser beams. The pods orbit around the starfighter; when an enemy comes near, a pod breaks away and attaches itself to the enemy until it is destroyed.
Grind Stormer, Items.png
Grind Stormer, Items.png
 Missile
Equips the pods with the Missile weapon, which fires missiles. The pods spread out to cover a larger area without overlapping but follow the movement of the starfighter around the screen.
Grind Stormer, Items.png
Grind Stormer, Items.png
 Power
Increases the weapon power, up to 3 times. The second upgrade increases the number of pods by 2 (for a total of 4).
Grind Stormer, Items.png
 Max-Pow
Upgrades the weapon power to maximum level (or awards 100,000 bonus points if already at maximum level). Appears in the last stage before the final boss fight.
Grind Stormer, Items.png
Grind Stormer, Items.png
Grind Stormer, Items.png
Grind Stormer, Items.png
 Bonus Points
Awards bonus points.
Grind Stormer, Items.png
 1-Up
Gives the player an extra life.

Grind Stormer

Grind Stormer, Items.png
 Diamond
Arms the starfighter with another bomb, up to 6 (or awards 10,000 bonus points if already carrying the maximum number of bombs).

V-Five

Grind Stormer, Items.png
 Diamond
Selects the next item in the sidebar. The selected item can be chosen by the player by pressing B.
Grind Stormer, Items.png
 Shield
Temporarily ensconces the starfighter in a protective barrier that can absorb several hits before it dissipates.

Stages

Grind Stormer, Stage 1.png

Grind Stormer, Stage 1 Boss.png

  • Grind Stormer, Stage 1.png

  • Grind Stormer, Stage 1 Boss.png

Stage 1

Grind Stormer, Stage 2.png

Grind Stormer, Stage 2 Boss.png

  • Grind Stormer, Stage 2.png

  • Grind Stormer, Stage 2 Boss.png

Stage 2

Grind Stormer, Stage 3.png

Grind Stormer, Stage 3 Boss.png

  • Grind Stormer, Stage 3.png

  • Grind Stormer, Stage 3 Boss.png

Stage 3

Grind Stormer, Stage 4.png

Grind Stormer, Stage 4 Boss.png

  • Grind Stormer, Stage 4.png

  • Grind Stormer, Stage 4 Boss.png

Stage 4

Grind Stormer, Stage 5.png

Grind Stormer, Stage 5 Subboss.png

Grind Stormer, Stage 5 Boss.png

  • Grind Stormer, Stage 5.png

  • Grind Stormer, Stage 5 Subboss.png

  • Grind Stormer, Stage 5 Boss.png

Stage 5

Grind Stormer, Stage 6.png

Grind Stormer, Stage 6 Subboss.png

Grind Stormer, Stage 6 Boss.png

  • Grind Stormer, Stage 6.png

  • Grind Stormer, Stage 6 Subboss.png

  • Grind Stormer, Stage 6 Boss.png

Stage 6

History

Release

American copies of the game were reportedly afflicted with a manufacturing defect (supposedly poor quality PCBs) that reduced the lifespan of many cartridges.[6]

Versions

Localised names

Also known as
Language Localised Name English Translation
English (US) Grind Stormer Grind Stormer
Japanese ヴイ・ファイヴ V-Five / V-V

Production credits

  • Project Leader: Jun Amanai
  • Main Programmer: Jun Amanai
  • Programmer: Takayuki Muraoka
  • Assistant Programmer: Osamu Yamamoto
  • Graphics: Ken-ichi Nemoto
  • Audio: Kenji Yokoyama
  • Test Players: Ken-ichi Nemoto, John Arvay, Mike Kruse, Rob Boone, Kenji Yokoyama, Jim Hernandez
  • Special Thanks: Bill Hindorff, Mitzi McGilvray, Tatsuya Uemura
  • Presented by: Tengen
Source:
In-game credits
V-V MD credits.pdf
[7]


Magazine articles

Main article: Grind Stormer/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Game Players (US) #0705: "Vol. 7 No. 5 May 1994" (1994-0x-xx)
also published in:
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1994-02: "February 1994" (1994-01-08)
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1994-03: "March 1994" (1994-02-08)
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1994-04: "April 1994" (1994-03-08)
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
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
40
[9]
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
70
[10]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
68
[11]
Game Players (US) NTSC-U
58
[3]
Game Informer (US) NTSC-U
56
[12]
Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J
65
[13]
Joypad (FR) NTSC-J
68
[14]
MAN!AC (DE) PAL
67
[15]
Mega (UK) NTSC-U
39
[16]
Mega Fun (DE) NTSC-U
61
[17]
MegaTech (UK) NTSC-U
54
[18]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) NTSC-U
82
[19]
Power Unlimited (NL)
80
[20]
Sega Power (UK) NTSC-U
27
[21]
Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-U
57
[22]
Sega Zone (UK) NTSC-U
78
[23]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
83
[24]
Tricks 16 bit (RU)
57
[25]
Video Games (DE) NTSC-U
65
[26]
Sega Mega Drive
 62
Based on
19 reviews

Grind Stormer

Mega Drive, JP
V5 MD JP Box.jpg
Cover
VV MD JP CartTop.jpg
V5 MD JP Cart.jpg
Cart
V5 md jp manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, US
GrindStormer MD US Box.jpg
Cover
GrindStormer MD US Cart.jpg
Cart
Grindstormer md us manual.pdf
Manual

Technical information

Main article: Grind Stormer/Technical information.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://sega.jp/history/hard/megadrive/software_l.html (Wayback Machine: 2020-07-02 23:21)
  2. ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "March 1994" (JP; 1994-02-08), page 139
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Game Players, "Vol. 7 No. 5 May 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 56
  4. ↑ @onda_to on Twitter (Wayback Machine: 2022-12-17 07:42)
  5. ↑ https://mdshock.com/2018/07/08/the-sega-mega-drive-is-here/
  6. ↑ http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/v-five-grind-stormer/
  7. ↑ File:V-V MD credits.pdf
  8. ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "May 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 73
  9. ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 93
  10. ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "April 1994" (JP; 1994-03-08), page 20
  11. ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "May 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 34
  12. ↑ Game Informer, "May/June 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 20
  13. ↑ Hippon Super, "April 1994" (JP; 1994-03-03), page 62
  14. ↑ Joypad, "Septembre 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 31
  15. ↑ MAN!AC, "07/94" (DE; 1994-06-08), page 67
  16. ↑ Mega, "June 1994" (UK; 1994-05-19), page 44
  17. ↑ Mega Fun, "06/94" (DE; 1994-05-18), page 103
  18. ↑ MegaTech, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-04-21), page 24
  19. ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "June 1994" (UK; 1994-04-30), page 46
  20. ↑ Power Unlimited, "Jaargang 2, Nummer 6, Juni 1994" (NL; 1994-05-25), page 50
  21. ↑ Sega Power, "June 1994" (UK; 1994-04-28), page 36
  22. ↑ Sega Pro, "June 1994" (UK; 1994-05-24), page 60
  23. ↑ Sega Zone, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-04-xx), page 20
  24. ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 85
  25. ↑ Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 83
  26. ↑ Video Games, "7/94" (DE; 1994-06-29), page 90
Grind Stormer

GrindStormer MDTitleScreen.png

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