Rapid Reload / Gunners Heaven - PlayStation 1 - Intro & 1CC playthrough as Ruka [UHD 4K50]

Channel:

Randomised Gaming

Subscribers:

6,860

Published on January 30, 2020 9:30:13 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LplDBUAo5E

Game:

Rapid Reload (1995)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 1:02:39

1,521 views

30

One credit clear longplay / playthrough / walkthrough & trueplay of Rapid Reload / ガンナーズヘヴン on the PS1 as Ruka Hetfield. The translation of her name may not be correct she was called Luka in Wild Arms 2 and some suggest she should be Rita Hatfield. This is a follow on video from our Axel playthrough, this time around we have edited the video to full screen to correct the PAL aspect problem, as the the true PAL aspect was shown in the Axel playthrough video. Ruka is the slightly harder of the two characters to finish the game with.

A very early title on the PlayStation, it was a launch title in Europe and one of the few run & guns released on the system. Also the best and most original it has to be said, Gunners Heaven was clearly a homage and love letter to Gunstar Heroes on the Sega Mega Drive. As far as we can tell, no one who's credited on the latter worked on Gunners Heaven, but there are so many similarity between the two games we find it hard not to believe there was some cross over, uncredited staff?

Known as Rapid Reload in the PAL market, we suspect the name changes may have been due to either legal issues or concerns over Germany's strict laws. The game was not released in North America, due to the no 2D policy most likely put in place by Bernie Stolar. It was a launch title on the PS1 in Europe and the hidden gem amongst them, that was given a rather hard time on release, likely due to the 3D mania affecting press reviews at the time.

As a run & gun shooter it's a superbly put together game with some top notch gameplay. There are two characters to choose from Axel Sonics and Ruka Hetfield (Also translated as Rita/Luka Hatfield) both characters having their own set of of four different weapons with Axel being the easier of the two due to his stronger weapons.

Stages are fairly short and divided between running sections and boss fights, with most stages having two or more guardians. Whiles stages 1, 2, 4 & 6 are platforming and running based, stage three sees you on roller blades running alongside a giant train. Stage five is a shmup style stage that has you flying through the skies. It's great fun and well balanced and once you learn the end of level guardian attack patterns, they are easy to over come with little damage. There's some great music to listen to and the game features an A and B track selection in the options that changes some of the music. Both characters also have their own music tracks as well.

The story is largely throw away with are heroes battling a rival set of treasure hunters known as the Pumpkin Heads in search of the treasure Valkiry (Likely a badly translated Valkyrie). The PAL version is was very rushed and the translation is terrible, with half the Japanese text cut out, along with the voice acting. The Gunner Heaven background removed for the character talks scenes and replaced with different coloured backgrounds. It's raw 50Hz at its very worse, the music even ends early on the credits as they are going to slow and the credit are all in Japanese, but this is the only English version available. A must have for genre fans this PAL version is rather expensive these days where as the Japanese version is quite a bit cheaper.

Now all we need is a sequel or a remake to this classic title. On the trivia front this game is now part of the Wild Arms series or indeed Wild Arms could be seen as a spin off of Gunners Heaven. Axel and Ruka (Luka in WA2) even cameo in Wild Arms 2 running the Gunners Heaven saloon.

Also known as: Gunners Heaven (Japanese name) ガンナーズヘヴン (Katakana)

Release: 1995
Developer: Media.Vision / メディア・ビジョン
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Format: Sony PlayStation 1 (PS1) / プレイステーション1

Only the Japanese PS1 version Gunners Heaven is available to buy on PS3, PSP & PS Vita if you have a Japanese PSN account: https://www.jp.playstation.com/software/title/jp9000npji00015_00combine000000001.html
The game remains unreleased in North America and is long overdue a PAL re-release.

Intro and outros included in this video, let us know what you think. Template from Panzoid by Magnus DZN, edited by Riven, intro music is Chipper Doodle and outro music is Grasshopper by Quincas Moreira.

Chipper Doodle - Electronic Light by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100854
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Randomised Gaming blog: http://randomisedgaming.tumblr.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rdmdgaming

Footage is captured directly from original hardware in this case a PAL PlayStation 2, via Component, captured using Elgato Game Capture HD60 Pro with a open source scan convertor (OSSC). Upscaled to 4K to improve the video bit rate.

#PS1 #GunnersHeaven #RapidReload