Gaiapolis (Arcade/1993) (Longplay)
1Gaiapolis is a 1993 action role-playing beat 'em up arcade game developed and published by Konami. Taking place in a fantasy world, the game follows prince Gerard Himerce, joined by the half-human fairy Elaine Shee and the exiled dragon duke Galahad, seeking vengeance for destruction of his homeland against the Zar Harc empire led by the King of Darkness and prevent him from resurrecting an ancient demon. Through the journey, players explore and search for items to progress and power-ups, fighting enemies and bosses, and gaining experience points to increase their character's maximum health and level.
Gaiapolis was directed by Hiroyuki Ashida, who previously worked on Gradius II and Detana!! TwinBee. Japanese animator Shūjirō Hamakawa, who also worked on Detana!! TwinBee, acted as game and character designer. Konami Kukeiha Club members Satoko Miyawaki, Seiichi Fukami and Yuji Takenouchi produced the music and sound respectively. The game was supplemented by an album from King Records, and a manga adaptation written and illustrated by Hamakawa. It never received an official home conversion, although an unlicensed port for Famicom was developed and published by Sachen in 1994.
Gaiapolis proved popular among Japanese arcade players, earning several awards from Gamest magazine, but garnered middling response from gaming publications that regarded it as a strange game due to the mixture of action and adventure genres, feeling that its playstyle was more reserved for consoles and not suitable for arcades, with criticism being geared towards its direction and story as well as the monotonous fighting actions, but commended its multiplayer and found the addition of a password system innovative within the arcade scene. The character of Elaine Shee would later make appearances in other Konami titles. Retrospective commentary has been more positive, with some expressing disappointment and questioning for the lack of a console release.
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