Spikeout: Digital Battle Online

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Spikeout: Digital Battle Online
System(s): Sega Model 3 Step 2.1[1]
Publisher: Sega
Developer:
Distributor: Deith Leisure (UK)[2]
Genre: Action

















Number of players: 1-4
Release Date RRP Code

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Spikeout: Digital Battle Online (スパイクアウト デジタルバトルオンライン) is a Sega Model 3 Step 2.1 arcade beat-'em-up game, and the first game in the Spikeout series. It has never been ported to home consoles. Spikeout is notable for being the first arcade beat-'em-up whose cabinets could be linked, resulting in a maximum of four players competing on the same level with different screens.

During development the game was known as Spike. It was followed by an update, Spikeout: Final Edition, in 1999.

Story

Gameplay

In-game screenshot of the first level, Diesel Town.
Note: This section uses Spikeout-specific gameplay terms that were revealed/properly named in later installments of the series.

Spikeout is a fully-3D beat 'em up which takes place in huge and sprawling stages -- split into sections called Areas, further divided into little segments. Progressing through these "segments" are quite simple; beat up every enemy that appears within one of them. Once enough enemies have been defeated, the player then has to quickly "Break the Gate" -- locate a flashing barrier/barricade of some sort (i.e. a door), with the help of a red directional arrow (ala Crazy Taxi), to punch through to progress to the next segment/Area -- within 30 seconds (in which doing so quickly enough will give you bonus points). Due to the non-linear nature of the levels, and the inclusion of multiple Gates in certain stages, it very much acts as a "choose-your-path" system.

Each Area usually ends in a face-off with the "Bosses" -- signified by the brief, flashing "Here Comes the Boss" overlay -- whom, for the most part, act as mini-bosses. You may face up to three of these bosses at the same time; along with the current enemies in the Area. (Note that once one or many boss(es) appear, you will only need to defeat them in order to clear a segment, and not any remaining enemies.) After successfully clearing an Area, the score results will appear, giving you extra bonus points (and health) for the amount of enemies you've defeated in the Area, and how fast you cleared the last 30-second "Break the Gate" in the Area.

Downed enemies can sometimes drop items such as "Life Up" health kits (which replenish your health) and "Special Attack" items; the latter represented as floating thunderbolt symbols (see in Controls/Mechanics for more info on "Special Attacks"). Many commonplace objects found within each stage can be picked-up and used as weapons -- from baseball bats and swords, to chairs and car tires, to name a few. There's a constant time limit which can be replenished, seemingly depending on how you finish an enemy -- once the timer reaches zero, you get an instant game over. The KO counter on the bottom-left corner shows how many enemies you've defeated within each Area.  START  changes the view of the mini-map on the bottom-right corner.

In addition, Spikeout is also a co-operative multiplayer game; up to four players can join a game, and can do so at anytime. One distinction against other 3D beat 'em up games is that any player in a co-op session can go anywhere within the boundaries of an Area's segment, thereby making it possible for players to stick close to one another and fight together, or to split up and take care of a multitude of foes elsewhere. Friendly fire can also be performed among players if so chosen, and there are also a variety of taunts and commands one can use as means of limited communication with other players.

Controls/Mechanics

The control scheme to Spikeout. The four buttons are (from left to right) Shift, Beat, Charge and Jump.

Spikeout prides itself in being "easy to learn, difficult to master" -- beginners can pick up and play from the get-go, while more of the intricacies hidden deep within the game's fighting engine can only be discovered via experimentation and hours of investment. Furthermore, although all of the selectable characters have their different styles, they all share these universal controls, essentially making them all behave the same -- even if certain properties, such as their style-varying attacks' hitboxes and animations, do not.

The joystick controls basic movement -- double tapping

The Shift button/mechanic (Shift) is a rather peculiar gimmick, and may very well be the staple of the Spikeout series: It was presumably introduced in an attempt to resolve the issue of crowd control in a third dimensional plane, and is a feature never before seen in any 3D beat-'em-up preceding it, and would not be replicated in any game after it.

By holding down the Shift button, you are put in "Shift mode", allowing you to constantly strafe -- letting go of Shift puts you out of it. This mode of movement not only makes for precise movement, but it also makes avoiding any incoming attacks from any direction easy; thereby making Shift the main method of defense in the game. However, whilst in Shift mode, your character is also able to automatically "target" a single or group of enemies once you get close enough to them -- though your movement isn't at all restricted when "locked-on". Because of this, the Shift mechanic essentially acts as a hybrid between "strafing" and "locking-on".

Attacking is accomplished by two distinct methods that can be strung together: The Beat button (Beat), and the Charge button (Charge), with an additional "third" button, Jump (Jump), which, in addition to it's prime self-explanatory function, can be used to produce jumping attacks (see below).

The first method of attacking, the Beat button, is the usual "punching" mechanic -- hitting any enemy in close proximity to "your" fists (or feet, depending on the selected character). Tapping the button repeatedly will result in a small, strung "combo"-ish move that ends in a concentrated blow.

On the top center of the screen is the Charge bar, tying into the Charge button/mechanic -- the secondary method of attacking in the game. Charge attacks can be performed at any time, given that any other move/attack (Beat or otherwise) isn't already in motion once the Charge button is released. However, you cannot indefinitely hold Charge -- after reaching Level 4, the Charge bar will quickly count down to 5 before the Charge is neutered. There are four different "levels" of Charge attacks you can perform, and the selection is dependent on which point the "Charge bar" lands on/overlaps over from the "Charge Gauge" at the top-center corner. The four levels of Charge attacks are as follows:

  • Normal Attack (Level 1) - A weaker version of the regular Beat move that cannot be "strung" into a move. Performed by simply tapping Charge.
  • Knockdown Attack/Lift Attack (Level 2) - Knocks the opponent vertically up in the air. Good for mid-air followups on ground.
  • Groggy Attack/Stun Attack (Level 3) - A jab at the opponent's abdomen, briefly making them "stunned" and open for any further attacks. This can also work on bosses.
  • Supercharge Attack (Level 4) - A "finisher move" of sorts, it initiates a somewhat slow, yet highly-powerful and concentrated blow which sends the opponent hurling.

You are also able to perform button combinations with the three main buttons:

  • Sweep Attack (Beat+Charge)
  • Jump Attack (Charge+Jump)
  • Homing Attack Beat+Jump

Playable Characters (Team Spike)

120px Spike
Nationality: American
Age: 27
Height: 185 cm
120px White
Nationality: American
Age: 25
Height: 185 cm
120px Linda
Nationality: American
Age: 23
Height: 172 cm
120px Tenshin
Nationality: Japanese
Age: 28
Height: 193 cm

Stages

Diesel Town (Stage 1)
Astro Mall (Stage 2)
Imperial Opera (Stage 3)

History

Development

Spikeout was envisioned by director Toshihiro Nagoshi, while he was still a part of AM2 and sometime after the release of Virtua Fighter 3tb, during which point that arcade games in Japan were slowly beginning to stagnate.


“ [Spikeout] was my personal rebellion. [laughs] I wanted to develop a game where you could play for a long time on just one coin. It was great for the players, but profits suffered because you have to take the arcade operators into consideration. At that time there was a drought of arcade games and I virtually wanted our new game to “Spike-Out” and reinvigorate the market. The fact that it was a character based action game emphasized that. „

— Toshihiro Nagoshi, 2003 interview with n1ntendo.nl


Development began on April 1998[4], with the development team consisting of AM2 team members that worked on Virtua Fighter 3 and Scud Race, with a few from the Fighting Vipers team as well[4]. Special difficulty was reserved for the implementation of the multiplayer network; although the team was already familiar with networking due to their experience with most of AM2's numerous driving games, as Spikeout was a game that featured more "character data" than cars, they endured numerous trials and errors getting it to function properly.

Officially revealed under the working title of "Spike" during a private Japan-only Sega arcade show on May 19th 1998[5], under the AM2 banner, the announced title had two peculiarly ambitious features that were dropped in the final product:

  • The game was originally meant to be a 16-player multiplayer game, with the players split into four seperate teams in-game -- as opposed to the finalized 4-player-only game. Presumably, the number of allowed players was cut down to four due to both the enormous and difficult task of creating sixteen separate, playable characters, as well as performance issues having so many players (and enemies) on-screen.
  • Spikeout was meant to have linked machines "self-play" in the absence of other human players -- AI-controlled allies would've automatically joined the battle to assist the single human player.[6]

The game was shown again in playable form at the Amusement Machine Show 1998, still under the AM2 banner.[7][8]

Legacy

A Dreamcast port of the game was being developed, but never saw the light of day outside of a few copies[9]; with Nagoshi himself stating that the main reason the port was never completed was due to the Dreamcast having insufficient hardware capabilities at the time for such a port[10]. (It would take a full seven years before a consumer-based Spikeout title would be released on a console.)

The engine for Spikeout was later utilized in the Dreamcast game Rent-A-Hero No. 1.[11][12]

Magazine articles

Main article: Spikeout: Digital Battle Online/Magazine articles.

Production credits

Programmers
Designers

Physical scans

Model 3 Step 2.1, World
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
100 №1, p148[13]
Arcade
 100
Based on
1 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Arcade
 N/A
Based on
0 reviews

Spikeout: Digital Battle Online


External links

References

  1. ↑ https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/model3.cpp
  2. ↑ File:CVG UK 201.pdf, page 76
  3. ↑ http://mamedb.com/game/spikeout
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://archive.org/stream/ng_unedited/ng_47_unedited#page/n19/mode/2up
  5. ↑ File:GamersRepublic US 03.pdf, page 8
  6. ↑ File:CVG_UK_200.pdf, page 11
  7. ↑ File:Edge UK 061.pdf, page 35
  8. ↑ File:Edge UK 064.pdf, page 9
  9. ↑ http://archive.videogamesdaily.com/news/200401/021.asp
  10. ↑ http://archive.videogamesdaily.com/features/sega_av_interview_july04.asp
  11. ↑ File:DCM_JP 19991001 1999-30.pdf, page 52
  12. ↑ File:DCM JP 20000609 2000-20.pdf, page 58
  13. ↑ File:Arcade UK 01.pdf, page 150



Games in the Spikeout series
Arcade
 Spikeout: Digital Battle Online (1998) | Spikeout: Final Edition (1999) | Slashout (2000) | Spikers Battle (2001)
Xbox
 Spikeout: Battle Street (2005)
Spikeout related media
Music
 Spikeout Original Soundtrack (1998) | Fantasyscape Slashout: Original Soundtrack (2000) | Spikeout: Battle Street Original Sound Track (2005)
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