Curse

From Sega Retro


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Curse MDTitleScreen.png

Curse
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Micronet
Developer:
Genre: Shoot-'em-Up

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega Drive
JP
¥6,8006,800 T-22013

Curse (カース) is a 1989 Sega Mega Drive shoot-'em-up, among the first on the systen, by Micronet released exclusively in Japan. You play as a ship that has to save an alien planet from destruction caused by a neighboring planet that had mysteriously changed from friend to enemy over the course of centuries.

Gameplay

The game plays like a standard shoot-'em-up: A shoots a special attack and B shoots a regular shot, with power-ups left by defeated enemies. One powerup is a subship which can either fire ahead of you, behind you, above you, or below you; use C to change its direction. Two of these can be carried simultaneosuly. The have the ability to absorb enemy bullets, a common design of the ear, also seen in e.g. R-Type or Whip Rush

A+ START  on the title screen opens the Options menu. The option screen features stage select (final stage is locked out) as well lives and continue manipulation. There is no difficulty level option.

The game has 5 stages and is thus rather short. Stage 5 is a bit of a curiosity as it returns the player to the start after losing a life. In all other stages, play can be resumed without being brought back to the start.

Curse is one of the few Sega Mega Drive titles that doesn't run at 60FPS but rather a significantly lower frame rate. The game runs smoother on overclocked systems.

There's a palette glitch in the first stage; a plant that rises up to the sky has non-blending colors.

Weapons

  • "V" is a spreadshot
  • "C" creates a circular spread on impact
  • "W" can penetrate walls

All weapons and the subships have three power levels

History

Curse was set to be released in North America by INTV Corporation, which had broken away from Mattel following the North American video game crash, and held the rights to the earlier Intellivision console. The game was one of the first non-Intellivision projects to be undertaken by the company (NES and Game Boy projects were also in development) and was announced in 1990, but despite being advertised, dated (for June 1990[1]) and even reviewed, the North American version did not materialise.

Production credits

  • Program: Shi, Shaka, J Kitayou, Tara
  • Design: Jiela, Oza
  • Music: Shaka
  • Special Thanks: Kitazawa, Takano


Magazine articles

Main article: Curse/Magazine articles.

Artwork

Promotional material

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
63 №1990-02, p68[2]
41 №, p85[3]
81 №2, p22
71 №4, p28[4]
85 №102, p102[5]
58 №91, [1]
4 №5, p91
70 №1, p77[6]
40 №23, p53
25 №2, p19[7]
0 №18, p64
Sega Mega Drive
49
Based on
11 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
80
[8]
Aktueller Software Markt (DE)
42
[9]
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
63
[10]
Complete Guide to Consoles (UK)
81
[11]
Complete Guide to Consoles (UK)
71
[4]
The Complete Guide to Sega (UK)
70
[12]
Console XS (UK) NTSC-J
28
[13]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
85
[5]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
73
[1]
Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU)
40
[14]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
58
[15]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) NTSC-J
4
[16]
Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J
62
[17]
Mega Play (US) NTSC-U
70
[18]
MegaTech (UK) NTSC-J
70
[6]
Mean Machines Sega (UK)
70
[19]
Power Play (DE)
23
[20]
Sega Power (UK) NTSC-J
25
[21]
Sega Pro (UK)
25
[7]
Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J
0
[22]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
41
[23]
Tricks 16 bit (RU)
62
[24]
User (GR)
62
[25]
Sega Mega Drive
52
Based on
23 reviews

Curse

Mega Drive, JP
Curse MD JP Box.jpg
Cover
Curse MD JP CartTop.jpg
Curse MD JP Cart Back.jpgCurse MD JP Cart.jpg
Cart

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Mega Drive
CRC32 a4fbf9a9
MD5 513c1a3f2ddd5b8bf705215f820ada72
SHA-1 978780d9575022450d415591f32e1118c7fac5ad
512kB 1989-09 Cartridge (JP)

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 File:EGM US 012.pdf, page 16 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:EGM US 012.pdf_p16" defined multiple times with different content
  2. File:BeepMD_JP_1990-02.pdf, page 70
  3. File:SSM_JP_19950901_1995-09.pdf, page 87
  4. 4.0 4.1 File:CGtC UK 04.pdf, page 28 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:CGtC UK 04.pdf_p28" defined multiple times with different content
  5. 5.0 5.1 File:CVG UK 102.pdf, page 102 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:CVG UK 102.pdf_p102" defined multiple times with different content
  6. 6.0 6.1 File:MegaTech UK 01.pdf, page 77 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MegaTech UK 01.pdf_p77" defined multiple times with different content
  7. 7.0 7.1 File:SegaPro UK 02.pdf, page 21 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:SegaPro UK 02.pdf_p21" defined multiple times with different content
  8. 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 53
  9. Aktueller Software Markt, "Avril 1990" (DE; 1990-03-30), page 77
  10. Beep! MegaDrive, "February 1990" (JP; 1990-01-08), page 70
  11. Complete Guide to Consoles, "Volume Two" (UK; 1990-04-xx), page 22
  12. The Complete Guide to Sega, "" (UK; 1991-05-xx), page 45
  13. Console XS, "June/July 1992" (UK; 1992-04-23), page 128
  14. Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1, "" (RU; 1999-xx-xx), page 303
  15. Famitsu, "1990-01-05,19" (JP; 19xx-xx-xx), page 20
  16. Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "January 1993" (UK; 199x-xx-xx), page 91
  17. Mega Drive Fan, "December 1990" (JP; 1990-11-08), page 79
  18. Mega Play, "November/December 1990" (US; 1990-xx-xx), page 29
  19. Mean Machines Sega, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-xx), page 138
  20. Power Play, "3/90" (DE; 1990-02-19), page 103
  21. Sega Power, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-05), page 53
  22. Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 64
  23. Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 87
  24. Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 12
  25. User, "Ioúlios-Ávgoustos 1991" (GR; 1991-0x-xx), page 87