Air Buster: Trouble Specialty Raid Unit

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NTSC-U NTSC-J
Air Buster: Trouble Specialty Raid Unit
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Kaneko (JP) Kaneko USA (US)
Developer: Inter State, T's Music
Original system(s): Arcade boards
Developer(s) of original games: Kaneko
Sound driver: SMPS Z80
Genre: Shooting
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code JP 1991-01-31 ¥6,000 (6,180)6,000e T-33013 US 1991-02 33026
Non-Sega versions Arcade PC Engine

Air Buster: Trouble Specialty Raid Unit is a 1990 arcade shoot-'em-up by Kaneko which was subsequently ported to the PC Engine in 1990 and to the Sega Mega Drive in 1991. The PC Engine and Mega Drive ports were renamed Aero Blasters: Trouble Specialty Raid Unit (エアロブラスターズ) in Japan.

Story

In the year 2030, Earth is suddenly attacked by the Mega Load Masters. Charles K. Takeda had foreseen this event and prepared for it by moving his family to an island in the Pacific and developing a futuristic weapon called the "Buster System," which is capable of deconstructing matter by amplifying human mind waves. He created two aircraft armed with Buster Systems, Buster 1 and Buster 2, and trained his children, Holly and Mike, to pilot them.

Gameplay

The game is a horizontally scrolling shoot-'em-up where players take control of Buster Fighter starships in their efforts to destroy a mysterious mechanical fortress orbiting the planet. The fighters can equip one of seven supplementary weapons in addition to their normal shot. Two players can play simultaneously by choosing the Twin Set Up option from the title screen.

The ship moves in any direction with the D-Pad. In the outer space stages, the ship continues to drift in the direction it was last moved because of the lack of gravity. The ship fires its normal shot with , which can be held for rapid-fire. The power of the normal shot can be upgraded by collecting power-ups. It has a screen-clearing special weapon called the Buster Flash, which is used by holding to charge a bar and then releasing when the bar is full. The player must then wait for the charge bar to empty (it will display a black bar indicating how much time is remaining) before it can be charged again. The player can also charge the bar by holding , which also fires the normal shot.

The ship is downed when it is hit by enemy fire or collides with an enemy or terrain. It respawns in place as long as the player has an extra life remaining, at baseline weapon strength and without any supplementary weapon. The game ends if the player runs out of lives but can be continued as long as there are credits remaining. In two-player games, both players have separate lives but share credits. The game has four difficulty levels (Easy, Normal, Hard, and Hardest). Players can choose the number of initial lives and credits from the options before starting the game.

Items

	Normal Shot Power-Up
	Upgrades the power of the Buster's normal shot, up to 8 times.
	Side Fighter
	Equips the Side Fighter weapon, which furnishes the ship with two options that follow it and provide support fire.
	Bumper
	Equips the Bumper weapon, which is a pair of shields above and below the ship that protect it from damage from both enemies and colliding with terrain. Bumpers can destroy enemies on contact.
	6-Direction Shot
	Equips the 6-Direction Shot weapon, which fires in six directions in a circle out from the ship.
	Guided Missile 1 (Red)
	Equips the Guided Missile 1 (Red) weapon, which shoots red homing missiles straight ahead.
	Guided Missile 2 (Green)
	Equips the Guided Missile 2 (Green) weapon, which shoots green homing missiles that scatter.
	Rear Shot
	Equips the Rear Shot weapon, which fires two diagonal shots from behind the ship.
	Revolving Gun Turret
	Equips the Revolving Gun Turret weapon,
	Bonus
	Awards bonus points.
	1-Up
	Gives the player an extra life.

Stages

	Seaside Front
	Mechanized Cave
	Scramble!
	Out of Gravity
	The Borderline
	Death Circus

Versions

Both home ports are pretty faithful, with the Mega Drive one being closer to the original game than the PC Engine version. The Mega Drive port runs full-screen, features more detailed graphics, keeps most of the arcade version's parallax, and has better sound effects. The PC Engine port features a slightly expanded ending.

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English (US)	Air Buster	Air Buster
Japanese	エアロブラスターズ	Aero Blasters

Production credits

Crew of "Air Buster" ("Crue" in the Japanese version)

• Software: K.Matsumoto, M.Yoshida
• Graphics: H.Yokoyama, M.Taguchi
• Music Compose: T.Watanabe
• Sound Operate: K.Komatsu, T.Ohkuma
• Test Game: Inter State Staff
• Special Thanks: Kaneko Arcade Staff
• Total Coordinate: Y.Hojo
• General Producer: A.Uto

"Air Buster" ("Aero Blasters" in the Japanese version)

©1991 Kaneko Co., Ltd.

All Rights Reserved

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Air Buster: Trouble Specialty Raid Unit/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Air Buster: Trouble Specialty Raid Unit/Promotional material.

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) 80 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 50 ACE (UK) 79 Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 70 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 73 The Complete Guide to Sega (UK) NTSC-J 90 Console XS (UK) NTSC-J 62 Computer & Video Games (UK) 80 Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK) 74 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 20 Joystick (FR) NTSC-J 80 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) NTSC-J 60 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 74 Mega (UK) PAL 85 MegaTech (UK) NTSC-J 78 Mean Machines (UK) NTSC-J 80 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 78 Power Play (DE) 79 Power Play (DE) 80 Raze (UK) NTSC-J 74 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-J 100 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J 62 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J 62 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 69 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 75

	73
Based on 25 reviews

Air Buster: Trouble Specialty Raid Unit

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 f3d65baa MD5 972f4f683356e33b1a4a832f41a34b87 SHA-1 239636cc38a865359b2deeb5f8dc3fd68da41209	512kB	1991-01	Cartridge (US)
✔	CRC32 a00da987 MD5 401a31b3db4f14820e639c7a3efbb3e6 SHA-1 64d1964c3b6293f521427d3d83e4defe363cc129	512kB	1989-01	Cartridge (JP)

References

NEC Retro has more information related to Aero Blasters