Phelios

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NTSC-U/PAL NTSC-J
Phelios
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Virtual Console
Publisher: Namco (Japan, US), Sega (Europe)
Developer: Namco M2
Original system(s): Namco System II
Sound driver: Namco sound driver
Genre: Shooting
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1990-07-20 ¥5,8005,800 T-14013 US 1990-10 14016 EU 1991-12 1131 UK 1991-12 £34.9934.99 1131 SE (Rental) 199x BR 1991-10 JP ▼ 2008-04-22 600pts600
Non-Sega versions Arcade

Phelios (フェリオス) is a Sega Mega Drive vertical shoot-'em-up game developed by Namco. A port of the developer's titular 1988 arcade shoot-'em-up Phelios, it was first published in Japan by Namco themselves in July 1990, with the company bringing the title to the United States the following October. Later in December 1991, the game also received a European release courtesy of Sega.

Story

Apollo, the god of the sun, sets off on the legendary winged horse Pegasus to rescue his lover Artemis, the goddess of the moon. Artemis has been turned to stone by the monstrous Medusa and imprisoned by the Titan Typhon.

The game is inspired by but diverges significantly from Greek mythology, where Artemis is goddess of the hunt and the twin sister of Apollo.

Gameplay

Artemis

The game is a vertically scrolling shooter played as Apollo, who is mounted upon the back of his winged horse Pegasus. At the end of every stage, Apollo enters a temple and must defeat a boss character from Greek myth. Once he has done so, he proceeds to an enchanted mirror at the back of the temple, where he receives a vision of Artemis, before the game segues into the next stage. Apollo fires light beams from his sword, Phelios, with , , or . Holding the fire button charges the sword; releasing it fires a larger and more powerful fireball depending on how long the weapon is charged. Apollo can obtain up to two options that augment his fire. Collecting the letters "PHELIOS" in the last stage empowers Apollo's charged attack for the final boss.

Apollo starts with three hit points and loses one when he takes damage from an enemy. He dies if he loses all of his hit points but respawns at predetermined checkpoint if the player has lives remaining. The game ends if the player runs out of lives. There are two selectable difficulty levels, Novice and Advanced. Only the first four stages are playable on Novice difficulty. The player gains an extra life every 20,000 points in Novice difficulty and every 50,000 points in Advanced difficulty. Completing the game unlocks an additional Expert difficulty level.

Items

Fully charged sword

	Golden Owl
	Destroy to release an item.
	Speed Up
	Increases the movement speed of Pegasus.
	Option
	Creates a diamond of light that follows Apollo and augments his fire. Apollo can have up to 2 options at a time.
	Beam
	Replaces Apollo's light beam with large, rapid-fire waves.
	Homing
	Makes Apollo's light beam home in on enemies.
	Across
	Augments Apollo's fire with triangular projectiles that bounce off obstacles.
	Life
	Restores one hit point to Apollo, up to a maximum of 4.
	Golden Medallion
	These appear on the last stage. Destroy to release either a blank item or one of the letters in PHELIOS.
	Blank
	No effect.
	PHELIOS
	Collect all seven letters to replace Apollo's charged attack with a larger and more powerful beam before facing Typhon.

Stages

	Devil in Delos
	The boss is Medusa.
	Death Dungeon
	The bosses are the Graeae.
	Blue Parboleos
	The boss is the Siren.
	Fire Devildom
	The boss is Antaeus.
	Icebound Soul
	The boss is Scylla.
	Watchdog in Hell
	The boss is Cerberus.
	The Temple of Typhon
	The boss is Typhon.

Versions

The arcade version uses plenty of zoom and rotation effects, which could mostly not be replicated in the Mega Drive version due to hardware limitations. Stage layouts, enemy, and boss behaviour are significantly different between the arcade version and the Mega Drive version. Namco's other shooting game, Dangerous Seed, was also subdued to such a remixing process.

For unknown reasons, the Mega Drive port shows only English text in all versions. However, the Japanese version has Japanese voice acting while the others have English.

Production credits

• Programmer: Hiroki.A
• Game Planner: Saturo.Y
• Graphic Designer: Nobuhiko.A, Hiroshi.K
• Sound Designer: Yoshinori.K
• Translator: Ritaro.O
• Programmer (Arcade): Masayoshi.T
• Special Thanks: Atsushi.W, Takatoshi.K

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Phelios/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

PDF

US flyer

Print advert in GamePro (US) #18: "January 1991" (199x-xx-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) 60 Ação Games (BR) 83 Complete Guide to Consoles (UK) 70 Complete Guide to Consoles (UK) 77 The Complete Guide to Sega (UK) 77 Consoles + (FR) 70 Console XS (UK) PAL 60 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 83 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU) 60 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 73 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 84 Famicom Hisshoubon (JP) NTSC-J 50 Hobby Consolas (ES) 82 Joypad (FR) 84 Joystick (FR) 79 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) 80 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) PAL 71 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 79 Mega Force (FR) NTSC 80 MegaTech (UK) 77 MegaTech (UK) PAL 70 Micromanía (segunda época) (ES) 73 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 77 Player One (FR) 84 Play Time (DE) 66 Power Play (DE) 74 Sega Power (UK) PAL 51 Sega Power (UK) NTSC 50 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 60 Sega Pro (UK) 56 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 64 Supersonic (FR) 86 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 64 User (GR) NTSC 91

	72
Based on 34 reviews

Phelios

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
50x50px Cart Manual Reg Card PCB

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, SE (Rental)

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart

Technical information

Main article: Phelios/Technical information.

External links

• Sega of Japan Virtual Console pages: Mega Drive