Alpha Mission II
Alpha Mission II | ||
---|---|---|
Composer(s) Kazuhiro Nishida | Toshikazu Tanaka Yoko Osaka | |
Series | Alpha Mission | |
Platform(s) | ||
Release | ||
Arcade system | Neo Geo MVS |
Alpha Mission II
The player controls a fighter spacecraft (Armored Scrum Object) and can shoot enemies in the air, bomb enemies on the ground, collect power-ups, and defeat bosses to advance levels.
Gameplay
The game controls uses 2 or 3 buttons used depending on the selected shuttle mode. The ship's armaments consist of air-to-air laser shots, air-to-ground missiles and any Power Weapons the player collects. The laser and missiles can be upgraded up to four times by collecting the powerups from drones that are shot. Power Weapons are available after the player collects three pieces of the same armour type or can be bought with credits acquired after each stage.[4][5]
The weapons have limited power indicated on an energy meter. Using the weapons or getting the ship damaged lowers the energy. The energy can be recharged by collecting E power ups. Once the energy expires, the ship returns to normal mode. Depending on which mode is selected varies whether Button C or B activates the Power Weapons. Various hidden items can do certain things like an R item can put the shuttle in Reverse for a certain distance. The shuttle is destroyed by one shot or by running into an enemy unit or hazard. Unless the player collects enough K power-ups beforehand, the missiles and laser shots will be lost to minimum power when the player loses a life.
There are seven stages in the game, with the last one consisting of a single boss battle. The player has to fight through them avoiding hazards in addition. Mid-bosses very occasionally appear in the game. When the player meets a mid-boss or end stage boss, the player must destroy weak points and various parts of the boss to destroy it.
Development and release
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Reception
Publication | Score |
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Nintendo Life | (NS) 7/10[13] |
Nintendo World Report | (NS) 6/10[14] |
Player One | (NG) 94%[15] |
Sinclair User | (AC) 83%[16] |
TouchArcade | (iOS) [17] |
Game Zone | (AC) [18] |
Pure Nintendo Magazine | (NS) 7.5/10[19] |
Zero | (AC) [20] |
In Japan, Game Machine listed Alpha Mission II on their May 1, 1991 issue as being the most-popular arcade game at the time.[21] Since its initial release in arcades, the game has been met with generally positive reception from critics.[22][23][24][25][26]
GameFan's four reviewers highlighted the visuals, soundtrack, bosses and weapon variety in a positive manner, deeming it to be better than Last Resort but not as good as Viewpoint.[10] Both Joypad's Seb and Joystick's Jean-Marc Demoly gave very high praise to the graphics, animations, controls and sound.[11][12] Likewise, Player One's Cyril Drevet commended the animated visuals, weapon system, sound difficulty and playability.[15] Sinclair User's John Cook stated that its weapon system required thought to build them at their maximum state and attack enemies.[16] Génération 4's Frank Ladoire and Consolemania's Piemarco Rosa highly praised the colorful and detailed graphics, anime-style soundtrack and playability.[27][28] Game Zone's David Wilson reviewed the arcade version, regarding it to be a fun game, noting its weapon system and ability to equip weapons between levels.[18] Zero's Doris Stokes also regarded the game to be fun but stated that the amount of action on-screen made it frenetic.[20]
Notes
References
- ^ "VG - ASO II:ラストガーディアン". Beep! Mega Drive (in Japanese). No. 17. SoftBank Creative. February 1991. p. 130.
- ^ "Oh! Neo Geo Vol. 7 - ASO II". Beep! Mega Drive (in Japanese). No. 42. SoftBank Creative. March 1993. p. 126.
- ^ "Neo•Geo CD: The Arcade In A Box - Alpha Mission II". GamePro. No. Premiere Supplement. IDG. Spring 1996. p. 104.
- ^ "VG - ASO II:ラストガーディアン". Beep! Mega Drive (in Japanese). No. 21. SoftBank Creative. June 1991. pp. 128–129.
- ^ Alpha Mission II user's manual (Neo Geo AES, US)
- ^ All Media Network. Archivedfrom the original on 14 November 2014. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
- ^ All Media Network. Archivedfrom the original on 15 November 2014. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
- ^ a b Kun, Kaneda; Hermelin, François (September 1991). "Neo Geo Review - Alpha Mission II". Consoles + (in French). No. 1. M.E.R.7. pp. 66–67.
- ^ a b Rand, Paul (October 1991). "Reviews - Neo Geo -- Alpha Mission II". Computer and Video Games. No. 119. Future Publishing. p. 61.
- ^ a b Halverson, Dave; Brody; Stratton, Tom; Cockburn, Andrew (January 1993). "Viewpoint - Neo Geo - Alpha Mission 2". GameFan. Vol. 1, no. 3. DieHard Gamers Club. p. 13.
- ^ a b Seb; Demoly, Jean-Marc (November 1991). "Test - Neo Geo - Alpha Mission II". Joypad (in French). No. 2. Yellow Media. pp. 126–127. Archived from the original on 2017-09-17. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
- ^ a b Demoly, Jean-Marc (November 1991). "Tests - Neo Geo - Alpha Mission II". Joystick (in French). No. 21. Sipress. p. 133.
- ^ Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Archivedfrom the original on 2021-01-06. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
- ^ a b Gibson, Casey (May 9, 2017). "Alpha Mission II (Switch) Review". Nintendo World Report. NINWR, LLC. Archived from the original on 2021-01-06. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
- ^ a b Drevet, Cyril (November 1991). "Dossier: La NÉO GÉO brille de tous ses feux - Alpha Mission II". Player One (in French). No. 14. Média Système Édition. p. 93.
- ^ EMAP. p. 43.
- ^ Musgrave, Shaun (2021-12-07). "'Alpha Mission II ACA NEOGEO' Review – Mission Improbable". TouchArcade. Retrieved 2021-12-08.
- ^ a b Wilson, David (November 1991). "Kill Zone - Alpha Mission II". Game Zone. Vol. 1, no. 1. Dennis Publishing. p. 82.
- ^ a b Daugherty, Kaelyn (June 19, 2017). "Review: ACA NEOGEO ALPHA MISSION II (Nintendo Switch)". Pure Nintendo Magazine. Pure Media, LLC. Archived from the original on 2021-01-06. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
- ^ a b Stokes, Doris (November 1991). "Dosh Eaters: Alpha Mission II". Zero. No. 25. Dennis Publishing. p. 85.
- ^ "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 402. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 May 1991. p. 29.
- ^ Knauf, Andreas (January 1992). "News - Neo Geo - ASO 2". Video Games (in German). No. 5. Future-Verlag. pp. 10–12. Archived from the original on 2021-01-06. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
- ^ Yanma; Itabashi (July 1992). "Super Soft 大特集 - 今、『NEO・GEO』がおもしろい!: ASO II~ラスト ガーディアン~". Micom BASIC Magazine (in Japanese). No. 121. The Dempa Shimbunsha Corporation. p. 209.
- ^ Noak, Philipp; Hellert, Stefan (August 1993). "Special - Neo Geo - Alpha Mission 2". Mega Fun (in German). No. 11. Computec. pp. 28–30. Archived from the original on 2018-10-21. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
- Hobby Hi-Tech(in Spanish). No. 1. Hobby Press. March 1995. p. 28.
- ^ "NF編集部にまる - ネオジオゲームㇱインレビュー: ASO II~ラスト ガーディアン~". Neo Geo Freak (in Japanese). No. 25. Geibunsha. June 1997. pp. 124–128.
- ^ Ladoire, Frank (November 1991). "Console Test – Alpha Mission II – Neo-Geo". Génération 4 (in French). No. 38. Computec Media France. pp. 218–219. Archived from the original on 2021-01-06. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
- ^ Rosa, Piemarco (December 1992). "Alpha Mission II (Neo Geo)". Consolemania (in Italian). No. 14. Xenia Edizioni. pp. 54–55.
External links
- Alpha Mission II at Giant Bomb
- Alpha Mission II at Killer List of Videogames
- Alpha Mission II at MobyGames