Game:

Heavy Unit (1988)

Duration: 0:00

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8

A 1-credit clear of the arcade game Heavy Unit [hvyunitj], the Japan release. Played with WolfMAME 0.270 - score 631,000. Blasting through a horizontal shmup to save the world!

Your starting speed and power are very low, which means powering up feels good - but also means recovering from death is very hard and aggravating. (It's a minor miracle that I managed a recovery on this run!) You can transform into a mech by collecting a rare "T" item - then once you're a mech, the "T" items are a PENALTY ITEM to avoid. (Games like Hyper Duel, where you can transform at will and both forms are useful, make better use of a transformation game mechanic). Some of the obstacles here are neat ideas, but the difficulty curve is very uneven with some parts you can snooze through and some parts (like the MAZE OF BLUE ORBS) that feel unreasonably difficult. You can pick up some shields (the "B" item), which is just as well given some of the terrifying obstacles in the final stage. This game's not bad for its time, but it's not one of the greats - comparing it to some of the best releases around that time like R-Type or Truxton or Gradius II, you can see what made them so extraordinary.