Difference between revisions of "Uchuu Senkan Gomora"

From Sega Retro

Line 71: Line 71:
 
| carttop=UchuuSenkanGomora_MD_JP_CartTop.jpg
 
| carttop=UchuuSenkanGomora_MD_JP_CartTop.jpg
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 +
==References==
 +
<references />

Revision as of 13:42, 1 July 2016


This short article is in need of work. You can help Sega Retro by adding to it.


n/a

UchuuSenkanGomora MDTitleScreen.png

Uchuu Senkan Gomora
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: UPL
Developer:
Genre: Shoot-'em-Up

















Release Date RRP Code

Uchuu Senkan Gomora (宇宙戦艦ゴモラ), is a shoot-em-up by UPL, originally released in 1990 for the arcade, and then ported to the Sega Mega Drive in 1991. While the arcade version was released overseas (in the US under license from American Sammy under the name Bio-Ship Paladin), the MD version was only released in Japan — however an American title screen is present in the ROM and displayable if the region is set to US, which may mean a US release was planned (this is unconfirmed).

It is UPL's only Mega Drive game — they would go bankrupt shortly after publishing it (the later Task Force Harrier EX was ported and published by Treco).

Considering the hardware it was ported to and small rom sizes of that time, the game can be considered a faithful port. All stages and bosses are present, the ending is identical. The game displays an unusual high amount of objects on screen.

Gameplay

Unlike most shooting games you controll a heavy battleship instead of a small efficient glider, resulting in slow paced gameplay unusual for the genre. A shoots your weapons; the laser weapon from your main ship can be charged by holding A. B allows you to take control of a beam shot. While B is held down, the D-pad will move a box-shaped target on the screen and A will shoot beam shots toward the target. This beam is multiple times stronger than the regular shot and can hit any position on the screen, for the cost of losing controly over the ship.C is listed as "PAD MODE", when this is activated, the score counter turns gray to indicate itÄs activated. In this mode, pressing -not holding- B switches between moving the ship and the box shaped target. In each level, you can get orbs which give you either subships that shoot weapons diagonally or certain powerups (such as an automatically moving beam target or doubling the size of your ship).

Pressing  START  at the title screen gives you a configuration menu where you can, among other things, choose to play one of two 2-player modes. Normal 2-player mode is 2-player cooperative (two ships on screen at once), while another option allows the second player to take control of the beam laser while you take control of the main ship.

Version differences

The Megadrive version's main differences are:

  • The game has a hard coded autofire limit, making autofire generally slower.
  • Bosses appear after a short phase (3-5 seconds) that allows one background layer to scroll out, not instantly.
  • All Graphics are a tad vertically compressed, likely to compensate for the arcade versions wide screen type resolution.
  • Some different colors for bosses, enemies and backgrounds.
  • More slowdown, although the arcade version isn't slowdown free either
  • Additional scrolling background layers in some stages.
  • Background music in the bio station and submarine base have been swapped for an unknown reason.

Trivia

  • The game uses 3 fixed 16 color palettes for Player ships, objects and all enemies, only the background color palette is swapped each stage. This is the reason why most bosses have different colors compared to the arcade version
  • The game has become a collector's item and is among the more expensive titles


Production credits

  • Program Design: Mutaka Ai, Daikoku Hisaya
  • Character Design: Masayuki Suzuki, Shigeki Maeda, Ryuji Watamabe
  • Background Design: Aiko Hirosawa, Ryuji Watanabe
  • Sound Effect: Masato Takahashi
  • Director: Tsutomu Fuzisawa
  • Special Thanks: Toshio Arai, Isamu Yanagida, ...and UPL all staff
Source:
In-game credits

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
75 №3, p90/91
86 №121, p62[1]
30 №28
71 №2, p64[2]
51 №18, p64
Sega Mega Drive
63
Based on
5 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
40
[3]
Aktueller Software Markt (DE)
37
[4]
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
68
[5]
Consoles + (FR)
75
[6]
Console XS (UK) NTSC-J
71
[7]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
86
[1]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
50
[8]
Games-X (UK)
30
[9]
Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J
40
[10]
Joypad (FR) NTSC-J
56
[11]
Joystick (FR) NTSC-J
70
[12]
Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J
59
[13]
Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J
71
[2]
Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J
51
[14]
Sega Opisaniy i sekretov (RU)
55
[15]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
70
[16]
Sega Mega Drive
58
Based on
16 reviews

Uchuu Senkan Gomora

Mega Drive, JP
BSP MD JP Box.jpg
Cover
UchuuSenkanGomora MD JP CartTop.jpg
USG MD JP Cart.jpg
Cart

References