Battle Circuit / バトルサーキット / Batoru Saakitto
1Battle Circuit / バトルサーキット / Batoru Saakitto
Battle Circuit (Japanese: バトルサーキット, Hepburn: Batoru Saakitto) is an action beat 'em up game developed and published by Capcom for the CPS-2 arcade hardware for Japan and Europe in 1997. Taking place in an alternate future earth, the game revolves around a group of bounty hunters who must capture the mad scientist Dr. Saturn and secure a sophisticated computer disc carrying a program known as the "Shiva System". The game contains comic-like characters in a futuristic science fiction setting. Battle Circuit was Capcom's last beat 'em up game developed for the arcades. The game made its home console (and North American) debut in Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle on September 18, 2018 digitally for the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows.
Gameplay
Battle Circuit's arcade cabinet provided support for up to four simultaneous players who can each assume the role of five possible characters. Players must progress through a number of levels made up of horizontally scrolling screens filled with enemy characters that must be defeated using a combination of attacks and movement abilities each character utilizes. Every character is given a selection of these abilities that can be expanded as gameplay progress by purchasing special "upgrade discs" after the completion of each level using coins obtained by defeating enemies. These techniques are often a combination of either of the two action buttons and the joystick, and can add additional varieties to a given character's arsenal. A player must attack enemies until their health (indicated by a bar under the player's when the enemy is attacked) is reduced to zero and they are thus knocked out. If a player's health bar is depleted, they will also become knocked out and must use up one life to continue. If all of a player's lives are depleted in this fashion, the game will end unless more credits are purchased.
Pressing both action buttons while on the ground executes a super move that drains life on contact. But when two players perform their super moves at the same time, they will form a team-up attack that provides greater crowd control. There are also special techniques called "Battle Downloads", which can be used by pressing both action buttons while jumping, resulting in the player and his allies (if any are present) gaining a certain attribute, the effect of which is unique to each character. Cyber Blue, for example, can use his Battle Download "Power Up" to increase the amount of damage dealt by attacks, while Yellow Iris' "Speed Up" increases attack speed. A character will start with a stock of two of these techniques to use per life, and can obtain more from capsules scattered throughout the levels, up to a maximum of five.
Various items can be found inside destructible objects such as barrels and crates, and can provide the player with additional health or add points to their total score. Once a player's score reaches a set amount, they are rewarded with an extra life that will give them another chance to continue from where they were knocked out by an enemy.
Plot
Taking place in the future year 20XX, Battle Circuit follows the exploits of a group of super-powered bounty hunters as they apprehend wanted criminals (identified by special serial numbers) in the city of Neo Koba. The game begins with the player attempting to apprehend criminal 9696X, a scientist named Doctor Saturn and his blob-like sidekick aboard his spacecraft orbiting Earth. After the battle, the character selected by the player returns to his employer, Harry, and is promptly given another assignment to capture a member of the "Delete Gang", Johnny, who holds a valuable floppy disk in his possession. The bounty hunter then confronts Johnny at his disco hideout and learns that the disc contains a malicious computer program known as the "Shiva (Tentei) System", which is capable of controlling all computerized systems in the world. After selecting one of the available characters, players must travel through various levels- fighting through a variety of enemies from the Delete Gang- to obtain the disc and claim their bounty.
Characters
Battle Circuit contains five possible characters for the player to choose from, each with their own attacks and Battle Download ability. Though each of the character's real names are mentioned in their individual character profiles during the opening demo, they are mostly referred to by their codenames, each indicating a physical attribute and corresponding color.
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Developer(s) Capcom
Publisher(s) Capcom
Producer(s) Noritaka Funamizu
Yoshiki Okamoto
Designer(s) Ken Kun
Tomoshi Sadamoto
Composer(s) Syun Nishigaki
Platform(s) Arcade
Release
JP: March 19, 1997
NA: March 19, 1997
EU: March 19, 1997
Genre(s) Beat 'em up
Mode(s) Single-player, 4-player multiplayer
Arcade system CP System II
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