Turrican

n/a

Turrican
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Ballistic
Developer: Rainbow Arts, Factor 5 The Code Monkeys
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code US 1991-07 ACLD004 EU 1991-09 ACLD004 UK 1991-10-15 £39.9939.99 ACLD004 AU 199x
Non-Sega versions Amiga Amstrad CPC Atari ST CDTV Commodore 64 Game Boy PC Engine ZX Spectrum

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.

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

Source:

In-game credits

---

• 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.

Source:

US manual

---

• Original Music and Sound Effects: Chris Hülsbeck

Source:

Uncredited

Magazine articles

Main article: Turrican/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Computer & Video Games (UK) #118: "September 1991" (1991-08-15)

Print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #27: "October 1991" (1991-xx-xx)
also published in:

• Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #30: "January 1992" (199x-xx-xx)

Print advert in GamePro (US) #29: "December 1991" (1991-xx-xx)

Print advert in Game Players Sega Guide! (US) #0203: "Vol. 2, No. 3: June/July 1991" (1991-0x-xx)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 60 Console XS (UK) PAL 86 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU) 60 Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK) 48 Game Power (IT) 89 Games-X (UK) 70 Game Zone (UK) PAL 87 Hobby Consolas (ES) 86 Joypad (FR) PAL 76 Joystick (FR) PAL 81 Mega (UK) PAL 59 Mega Play (US) NTSC-U 85 MegaTech (UK) PAL 73 Micromanía (segunda época) (ES) 70 Mean Machines (UK) PAL 73 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 73 Player One (FR) 78 Power Play (DE) 72 Sega Power (UK) PAL 67 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 86 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 67 User (GR) PAL 66 Video Games (DE) 69

	73
Based on 23 reviews

Turrican

Mega Drive, US/EU
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, FR
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, DE

Technical information

Main article: Turrican/Technical information.

References

NEC Retro has more information related to Turrican