Arrow Flash

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Arrow Flash
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Sega (JP/EU), Renovation Products (US)
Developer: I.T.L
Sound driver: SMPS Z80
Genre: Shooting
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1990-10-20 ¥6,0006,000 G-4039 US 1991-01 $49.9549.95 49046 EU 1991-05 PT 199x MDJ1081 UK 1991-05 £34.9934.99 AU 199x BR 199x KR 199x GM4019JG UK 199x £? ?

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Arrow Flash (アローフラッシュ) is a shoot-'em-up game created by Sega as a Sega Mega Drive exclusive title in 1990, with Renovation Products publishing it in the US. I.T.L was contracted to do the development of the game for Sega. The game is very common and has been re-released numerous times through various compilations. It was one of the first in it's genre for the Sega Mega Drive.

This game may be part of a series that started with Orguss and Astro Flash (aka Transbot/Transformer), due to the similar names and themes of gameplay.

Players will take control of Anna Schwinn (European Manual) / Zana Keene (US Manual) a pilot for United Government Space Force and attempt to a stop powerful alien empire named Zorgon V (Europe) / Viking Terrorists led by Great Hilagi (US) using a transformable mecha-space fighter named Arrow Flash (Europe) / ERX-75 "Chameleon" developed by Anna's father Herbert Schwinn / Zana's grand father Zerrek Keene.

Gameplay

The player can transform to either a ship or as a mech by pressing . fires a regular shot in both forms. As a ship, shoots a barrage of large laser bullets in all directions; as a mech, thrusts the player forward, making the player invincible for several seconds. This is the so called Arrow Flash. Depending on the options settings, these Button attacks must be collected or charged up.

In mech shape, movement is faster and options (as in Gradius style options) stay in fixed position above and below the ship. In ship shape, the options follow the ship the same way they do in Konami's Gradius series. Options are indestructable, can fire shots and absorb small enemy bullets. The ships firing rate is rather high and the game is fast paced. Dying once removes all collected equipment, but the player can resume gameplay where they died.

The game borrows a lot of elements from other games in the genre, e.g. the background of the second half of stage 2 shows a Darius like hyperspace pattern, while the floating islands look like they belong to Gradius. Stage 4's jungle looks like it was inspired by Thunder Force III. Stage 5 has a wire network in the background, as also seen in R-Type.

Weapons & Pickups

• "A" adds one arrow flash. It doesn't appear when the Arrow Flash is set to charge mode.
• "E" adds an energy barrier that can sustain 3 hits, very similar to the barrier seen in Thunder Force III
• "S" speeds up movement
• "F" adds an option, up to two can be held at the same time

Weapons are described by roman numbers:

• "I" is a straight forward moving laser, an update of the standard shot
• "II" is an arrow shaped shot that covers a wider area, it goes diagonally in robot shape. It's a bit slower than "I"
• "III" is a shot very similar to the wavey shot as seen in R-Type. It's the slowest of all shots

Production credits

• Producer: RMS-106 (This is the model number of Hi-Zack from Z-Gundam anime series)
• Opening: Ichiban
• Program: CBR---RR, Daddy, Goshikisen
• Graphic: Yanto, DT---R, Sod, Noise-Maker, Hana no Oedo
• Sound: Hanauri-Musume
• Special Thanks: Toru.K, T.A.K

Source:

In-game credits

• Japanese Cover Artist: Takashi Akaishizawa

Source:

Japanese cover art

Magazine articles

Main article: Arrow Flash/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

SE advert

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1990-11: "November 1990" (1990-10-XX)

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

• Game Players (US) #0304: "Vol. 3 No. 4 April 1991" (1991-0x-xx)

Physical scans

Mega Drive version

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) 40 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 58 Console XS (UK) PAL 59 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 63 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU) 50 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 55 Games-X (UK) PAL 60 Hobby Consolas (ES) 85 Joystick (FR) 70 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) NTSC 52 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 64 Mega (UK) PAL 24 MegaTech (UK) 46 Micromanía (segunda época) (ES) 60 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 46 Player One (FR) 90 Power Play (DE) 58 Raze (UK) PAL 73 Sega Power (UK) PAL 60 Sega Power (UK) NTSC 50 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 39 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 29 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 57 Top Secret (PL) 100 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 65 User (GR) NTSC 93 VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US) NTSC-U 80 Video Games (DE) 58 Zero (UK) 69

	60
Based on 29 reviews

Arrow Flash

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Mega Drive, PT
Cover

Mega Drive, AU

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, KR
Cover
Cart

Mega-Tech version

Mega-Tech,

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 4d89e66b MD5 7f8f0a581158a00b6799204c9afe646b SHA-1 916524d2b403a633108cf457eec13b4df7384d95	1MB	1990-07	Cartridge (US/EU)
✔	CRC32 d49f8444 MD5 cc6c03def1e6ca137ee4814d4920fa7d SHA-1 5d2ca55704b7fe8d83fa7564fb1efc62834d3148	1MB	1990-07	Cartridge (JP)