Burning Force

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Burning Force
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Namco (JP) Namco Hometek (US) Sega (EU) Tec Toy (BR)
Developer: Nova
Distributor: Hent Gruppen (SE rental), Tec Toy (BR)
Licensor: Namco (EU)
Original system(s): Namco System II
Developer(s) of original games: Namco
Genre: Shooting
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1990-10-19 ¥5,8005,800 T-14023 US 1990-11 $54.9554.95 T-14026 EU 1991-12 1029 UK 1992-02-05 £34.9934.99 1029 SE (Rental) 199x BR 1991-10
Non-Sega versions Arcade

Burning Force (バーニングフォース) is a Sega Mega Drive third-person vertical shoot-'em-up developed by Nova. A port of the titular 1989 Namco arcade game Burning Force, it was first published in Japan in October 1990 by Namco themselves, and was later brought to the United States, Europe, and Brazil in the following months.

The game is notable for its extensive use of line scrolling to create the illusion of a three-dimensional playfield (in a similar manner to OutRun) and for its lighthearted tone and synth-rock soundtrack. Burning Force was well-received by the gaming public, and is one of the more fondly remembered of Namco's early Sega Mega Drive games.

Story

Hiromi Tengenji, a 21-year-old cadet at Earth University (or an ensign in the United Galaxy Space Force, UGSF, in the Japanese version), must pass a six-day final examination of fighting enemies over water to become a Space Fighter Pilot. She pilots a futuristic hover bike called the Sign Duck, which can transform into a small fighter craft.

Gameplay

Miss Kyoko

The game is a third-person shooter similar to Space Harrier but with more limited control. The player controls Hiromi on an hover bike that can move with and . It cannot normally move vertically, but stages contain ramps that can launch the Sign Duck upward (usually to collect power-ups). Holding speeds up, holding slows down, and letting go returns to normal speed. Hiromi shoots her normal weapon with , which has unlimited ammunition and can be held for continuous fire, or missiles with , which are limited in supply. Hiromi can find power-ups in the stages that upgrade her standard weapon and missiles.

Though Hiromi can only sustain one hit before being destroyed in the arcade version, she has three hit points in this version and loses one each time she takes damage from an enemy. Running into obstacles generally knocks her back or slows her down rather than damaging her. If she loses all of her hit points, she loses a life (as well as any weapon upgrades she may have); the game ends if she runs out of lives. The player can continue the game from any stage up to the most recent one played as long as there are credits remaining. Extra lives are given at certain score thresholds. If Hiromi collects green orbs in the stages, she can exchange five of them for temporary invincibility by pressing . Hit points and green orbs are retained between stages.

Each stage represents one day in Hiromi's final examination. Each day is divided into four areas. Areas 1 and 2 are normal shooting areas on an airbike that can only move left and right. Area 3 is a boss area in which the airbike is transformed into a plane with the same controls but with added vertical mobility with and . This area is preceded by an interlude where Miss Kyoko, Hiromi's instructor, identifies the weak points of the boss. Area 4 is a bonus round in the plane where the goal is to collect as many points and power-ups as possible.

Items

Bullets

	Laser
	Changes the player's primary weapon into a high-damage laser.
	Wide Range
	Changes the player's primary weapon into a wide row of pellets.
	Cross Laser
	Changes the player's primary weapon into a helical beam that is wider and more powerful than the standard shot.

Missiles

	Homing Missile
	Changes the player's missile weapon to a volley of homing missiles that seek out enemy targets.
	Max Missile
	Changes the player's missile weapon to a single devastating missile that explodes into a ring of expanding fireballs.

Other

	Invincibility
	After collecting five green spheres, the player can exchange them for temporary invincibility by pressing . Green spheres are sometimes found by destroying obstacles in the playfield. The amount of spheres that the player has is retained from area to area.

Stages

	1st Day: Bay Yard
	2nd Day: Sahara Sands
	3rd Day: Aero Space
	4th Day: Meadow
	5th Day: Another World
	6th Day: Lunar Spaceport
	The final day is a single segment played solely in the plane with a boss fight at the end.

History

In the time of its release, an unfortunately common misconception among video game marketers was that games which star women sell more poorly than those which star men. When brought to the United States by Namco Hometek, the company made a number of attempts to conceal the game's female protagonist from the game's packaging and manual. American artist Greg Winters was commissioned to create new cover artwork, this time showing Burning Force being viewed from the perspective of another character entirely, and the game's manual was carefully reworded to avoid references to the player's actual gender. Instead, Burning Force now puts players in control of a separate, nameless protagonist who is training alongside Hiromi and directly "guiding" her through the tests during gameplay.

Production credits

• Game Program: Ogawann
• Sub Program: Kobakun
• Sound Program: Kwaeru
• Story by: Makotomas
• Charactor Designers: Kuma, 7852
• Sound Designers: Noririn
• Constructive Manager: Koh
• Total Coordinate: Gen
• Special Thanks: Big Gan, Kero, Udauda
• Directed by: Makotomas

Source:

In-game credits

---

• Cover artist: Takashi Akaishizawa

Source:

Uncredited

Magazine articles

Main article: Burning Force/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

JP print advert

PDF

US flyer

Print advert in GamePro (US) #18: "January 1991" (199x-xx-xx)

Artwork

Preliminary US cover art by Greg Winters

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) 30 ACE (UK) 69 Ação Games (BR) 75 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 68 Complete Guide to Consoles (UK) 76 The Complete Guide to Sega (UK) 76 Cool Gamer (RU) 30 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU) 30 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 63 Famicom Hisshoubon (JP) NTSC-J 50 Hobby Consolas (ES) 75 Joypad (FR) PAL 71 Joystick (FR) 71 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) PAL 38 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 71 Mega (UK) NTSC 41 Mega Force (FR) PAL 75 Mega Play (US) NTSC-U 63 MegaTech (UK) 76 Micromanía (segunda época) (ES) 60 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 76 Player One (FR) 62 Play Time (DE) 63 Power Play (DE) 51 Raze (UK) NTSC-J 77 Sega Power (UK) NTSC 50 Sega Power (UK) PAL 40 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC 28 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 59 Top Secret (PL) 75 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 42 VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US) NTSC-U 70

	59
Based on 32 reviews

Burning Force

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, SE rental (HENT Black)
Cover

Mega Drive, SE rental (HENT Black) ALT
Cover

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart

Technical information

Main article: Burning Force/Technical information.