Griffin (グリフォン) is a Sega Game Gear vertical shoot-'em-up game developed by Telenet Japan and published by Renovation Game. It was released exclusively in Japan in July 1991.
Gameplay
The game is a shooter in which players pilot a futuristic tank. The tank is moved in eight directions with the D-pad. The screen does not scroll automatically but follows the tank if it moves up. The screen does not scroll back down, so the player cannot backtrack. Rough terrain affects the movement of the tank by slowing it down. The tank fires its weapon with 
, which can be held for continuous fire. It is equipped with three different weapons, which can be switched by pausing the game with START . Weapons can be upgraded by collecting power-up items. The player can also call a bomber strike that does large area damage with 
, but these strikes are limited. Bomber strikes destroy enemy projectiles as well. The pause menu shows the number of lives and bomber strikes remaining.
The tank has an energy gauge on the right side of the screen that decreases as it takes damage from enemies, but it can be replenished by collecting items. Both the tank and enemies are damaged by collisions. The tank is destroyed if the energy gauge is depleted and the player loses a life. The player's weapon strength is reset to its baseline after losing a life. If the player runs out of lives, the game ends. The tank's health and weapon strength are carried over to the next stage.
The player is rewarded with a picture of the protagonist after completing each of the first three stages. After all four stages are completed, the player can replay higher difficulty versions of the three tank stages to view a final ending picture.
Weapons
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Main
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| The main weapon. Fires an energy bullet that travels to the end of the screen or until it hits a target. The weapon is fired in whichever direction the tank is facing. It is the longest-ranged weapon and the only one that can be fired in any direction, but it is also the weakest weapon. Up to four bullets can be fired in succession before a cooldown delay.
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Sub
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| Launches a missile a medium distance that damages anything at the end of its trajectory. The missile is capable of passing over targets harmlessly if they are too close. However, it can also fire over barriers such as walls or trees while the tank is behind cover. The tank's turret rotates so that missiles are always launched forwards, which makes it useful for strafing.
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Sp. Wp
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| Shoots an energy bolt a medium distance that explodes and does area damage when it hits. Unlike the missile, it intercepts and hits enemies and barriers that are closer than its full range. Like the missile, the weapon is always fired forwards. Only one shot can be out at a time.
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Items
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Item Carrier
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| Destroy to release an item.
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Power
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| Upgrades the tank's weapons by one level.
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Energy
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| Restores part of the tank's energy.
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Bomber
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| Gives the player an extra bomber strike.
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Credit
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| Gives the player an extra life.
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Stages
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Stage 1
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Stage 2
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Stage 3
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| This stage is an autoscrolling flying mission where the player controls a jet fighter rather than a tank. The stage is skipped in the second playthrough. Only the main weapon and the secondary bombs are available.
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Stage 4
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| The picture for this stage is shown after completing it a second time.
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Versions
Localised names
Also known as
| Language
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Localised Name
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English Translation
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| Japanese
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グリフォン
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Griffin
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Magazine articles
- Main article: Griffin/Magazine articles.
Promotional material
Print advert in (JP) #1991-05: "May 1991" (1991-04-08)
Print advert in (JP) #1991-06: "June 1991" (1991-05-08)
Print advert in (JP) #1991-07: "July 1991" (1991-06-08)
Print advert in (JP) #1991-08: "August 1991" (1991-07-08)
Physical scans
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Division by zero.
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Based on
0 review
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| Game Gear, JP
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 Cart |
Technical information
ROM dump status
| System |
Hash |
Size |
Build Date |
Source |
Comments |
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| ?
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| CRC32
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a93e8b0f
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| MD5
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00299a180a9edef575a228a1cef65318
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| SHA-1
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b479d977533398cef21ef9ff7cd8fc81bdbfa488
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128kB
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Cartridge (JP)
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External links
References
- ↑ File:Griffin JP cover.jpg
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://sega.jp/fb/segahard/gg/soft_licensee.html (Wayback Machine: 2013-01-01 20:24)
- ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "June 1991" (JP; 1991-05-08), page 21
- ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "August 1991" (JP; 1991-07-08), page 37
- ↑ Consoles +, "Novembre 1991" (FR; 1991-11-07), page 116
- ↑ Console XS, "June/July 1992" (UK; 1992-04-23), page 148
- ↑ Games-X, "5th-11th September 1991" (UK; 1991-09-05), page 37
- ↑ Game Zone, "December 1991" (UK; 1991-11-22), page 59
- ↑ Hippon Super, "July 1991" (JP; 1991-06-04), page 115
- ↑ Joystick, "Septembre 1991" (FR; 1991-0x-xx), page 149
- ↑ Power Play, "12/91" (DE; 1991-11-13), page 179
- ↑ Sega Pro, "Christmas 1991" (UK; 1991-12-12), page 43
- ↑ Sega Pro, "July 1992" (UK; 1992-06-18), page 32
- ↑ Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 74
- ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 88
, which can be held for continuous fire. It is equipped with three different weapons, which can be switched by pausing the game with START . Weapons can be upgraded by collecting power-up items. The player can also call a bomber strike that does large area damage with 
, but these strikes are limited. Bomber strikes destroy enemy projectiles as well. The pause menu shows the number of lives and bomber strikes remaining.
