Trouble Shooter

n/a

NTSC-U NTSC-J
Battle Mania/Trouble Shooter
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: VIC Tokai
Developer: VIC Tokai, Graphic Research (sound)
Genre: Shooting
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1992-03-06 ¥6,8006,800 T-23013 US 1991-11 $40.5040.50 23016

Trouble Shooter, called Battle Mania (バトルマニア) in Japan, is a shoot-'em-up developed and published by VIC Tokai for the Sega Mega Drive in 1991 in the US and in Japan in 1992. An Asia-only sequel, Battle Mania Daiginjou, was also developed.

The main characters were influenced by the novel Dirty Pair.

Story

Mania and Maria

Madison (Mania Ohtorii, 大鳥居マニア, in the Japanese version) and Crystal (Maria Haneda, 羽田マリア, in the Japanese version), a sister team called the "Trouble Shooters," are called to rescue the King's son, who has been kidnapped by the evil Blackball (Morgstein in the Japanese version) and his minions.

Gameplay

Power booster selection

The game is a side-scrolling shooter. Mania and Maria wear jetpacks and can fly. The player controls Mania and can move her in any direction using the D-pad. She shoots her primary weapon with , which can be held for rapid-fire. Maria follows Mania and fires when she fires. Though their weapons cannot be aimed, they do deflect slightly upward or downward, each in an opposite direction, as the characters move up or down. While Mania always faces to the right, Maria can be turned around with , allowing her to fire in either direction. The player can thus choose whether to use Maria to provide additional strength to Mania's fire or to cover the opposite flank. Maria's weapon starts fairly strong but cannot be upgraded, whereas Mania's weapon is initially comparatively weak but can be upgraded by finding power-up items. Both characters can neutralize enemy projectiles with their own. Some stages contain barriers that the player can use to separate the pair and move them more independently.

Before the first four stages, the player is given a choice of power booster. This is a drone that follows the pair and provides a Super Weapon. After collecting two Power Up items, the drone also provides additional support fire. Super Weapons are powerful special abilities that can be used with when the player's charge bar is full. The bar charges automatically; it charges quickly, so Super Weapons can be used multiple times per stage. Mania admonishes the player for pressing before the charge bar is ready, causing the bar to reset.

Maria is invulnerable, but if Mania dies once, the game is over and the player must use a continue. There is no way to earn additional continues. Mania dies if she loses all of her health points or gets caught between a surface and the screen as it scrolls. Mania gains an extra health point every 30,000 points earned and by finding heart items. There is no limit to the number of health points that she can gain.

The game's story is conveyed through cutscenes before and after stages. The game employs humor throughout, including a fourth wall-breaking false ending.

Super Weapons

	Lightning Storm
	Two lightning bolts sweep out to the sides of the screen.
	Tidal Wave
	A powerful moving laser that follows the player's horizontal directional controls.
	Blizzard
	Large energy balls that swirl around in a progressively larger radius.
	Avalanche
	Multiple volleys of missiles in a stacked vertical formation.

Items

	Cargo Drone
	Shoot down to release an item, then fly over to collect.
	Speed Up
	Increases Mania's movement speed.
	Speed Down
	Decreases Mania's movement speed.
	Power Up
	Increases the power of Mania's weapon. The power of her weapon is maintained from stage to stage unless Mania dies.
	Life Up
	Gives Mania another health point. There is no limit to the number of health points that Mania can have.
	Bonus Points
	Awards the player with 100 bonus points.

Stages

	Stage 1
	Stage 2
	Stage 3
	Stage 4
	Stage 5
	The Prince accompanies Mania and Maria on this stage and inverts the player's directional controls while providing additional support fire.
	Stage 6
	Mania plays the majority of this stage by herself. Maria joins her for the final phase of the last boss.

History

Legacy

Mania and Maria make a cameo appearance in Segagaga, released for the Dreamcast in 2001.

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English (US)	Trouble Shooter	Trouble Shooter
Japanese	バトルマニア	Battle Mania

Production credits

• Graphics - Enemies, Scroll, Opening: Doro-P
• Graphics - Enemies, Scroll, Title: Porten
• Sound Created by: Team Hyakuman-Goku
• B G M: Raika Papa
• S.E.: Bakkin! Tama
• Voice: Yuki Chan
• Program - Enemies, Scroll, Tools: Propeller Wado
• Program - Boss, Title: Saboten Cuctus
• Program - My Chara, System: Takayan
• Special Thanks to: Sho-chan, Yamachan, Simpson, Kamo-san
• English Text by: Jimee D & MC Ikeya
• And My Friendly Neighborhood: Tonboo, Jorum, & Fellows of the Lance

Developed for Video Game Studio Space Iron Men

• Directed by: Takayan the Barbarian in Studio Space Iron Men

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Trouble Shooter/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

US print advert

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 50 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 40 Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 67 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 70 Consoles + (FR) 50 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 55 Game Power (IT) 85 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 100 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 70 Joypad (FR) NTSC-U 78 Joystick (FR) NTSC-J 90 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) NTSC-U 61 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 70 Mega (UK) 81 MegaTech (UK) NTSC 71 Power Play (DE) 68 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-J 86 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-U 73 Sega Pro (UK) 78 Sega Opisaniy i sekretov (RU) 76 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 81 Tricks 16 bit (RU) NTSC-U 66

	71
Based on 22 reviews

Trouble Shooter

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 becfc39b MD5 f29c5049a48f37a37b811a22dc731e3c SHA-1 3fc9ffa49ece5e9cbba1f2a5ba1dfd068b86c65d	512kB	1991-03	Cartridge (US)
✔	CRC32 a76c4a29 MD5 2857b7730fb7dbc5f7c1ec1a4ba1b0ee SHA-1 9886dd39cfd8fe505860fc4d0119aacec7484a4e	512kB	1992-02	Cartridge (JP)
?	CRC32 bf0a017f MD5 4ed295fa55e62ded8333981ccb7a31a6 SHA-1 5d707ba8dbbfa8ad7a6ec20735e41b2b84941efe	512kB	1991-05-28	CD-R disc				Page
?	CRC32 4ab3033c MD5 a2d9f8c669a59fe39acb8e23d24e6344 SHA-1 e60aef86ed80283e3f03af581931b57c5487a519	512kB	1991-09-12	CD-R disc				Page

References

Battle Mania games for Sega systems
Battle Mania/Trouble Shooter (1991/1992) | Battle Mania Daiginjou (1993)