Dangerous Seed

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Dangerous Seed
multiplayer
(alternating turns)

Dangerous Seed

Namco System 1
hardware.

The game was designed by Yuichiro Shinozaki, a character artist for Namco's own

Sega Mega Drive
was released a year later in 1990, which included new features such as additional stages and an arranged soundtrack. Dangerous Seed was met with mixed reviews from critics — although the game was praised for its graphics, fast-paced gameplay and soundtrack, it was criticized for lacking originality and for being unable to stand out among other similar games. Some reviewers stated it was one of the better shoot'em ups released for the Mega Drive.

Gameplay

Arcade version screenshot.

Dangerous Seed is a vertically scrolling shooter video game. The player controls a fleet of ships — Alpha, Beta and Gamma — as they must wipe out the alien race known as Danger Seed before they destroy all of mankind.[1] Each ship features different attack types; Alpha has a standard shot, Beta has a V-shaped laser weapon, and Gamma has the ability to shoot forwards and backwards.[1] All three also have a health meter that will deplete when they are inflicted with enemy fire, and having one of the ships destroyed will cause the player to take control of the next ship.[1] If all three ships are destroyed, the game will be over.[1] The three ships can also find power capsules by destroying large "Turtle" enemies that upgrade their abilities, such as homing missiles, "ring lasers" that track enemies, and a melt-missile that dissolves enemies when they are hit.[1]

The game spans twelve stages, known as "tubes" in-game, each taking place in planets found in the Solar System.[1] The fifth tube combines the player's ships into a single craft named the Moon Diver, which features all of the weapons and abilities of the three ships and a large health bar.[1] Each tube features a boss fight at the end, which must be destroyed in a certain amount of time before it flees and deducts points from the player's score.[1] Bosses have weak points which must be destroyed before completely defeating it.[1]

Development

Dangerous Seed was released by Namco in December 1989, making it the company's final arcade game of the 1980s.

Sega Mega Drive conversion was released exclusively in Japan on December 18, 1990, adding new features such as additional stages and an arranged soundtrack.[7]

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Dangerous Seed on their January 15, 1990 issue as being the seventeenth most-successful table arcade game of the year.[15] The Mega Drive version in particular was met with mixed reviews, being praised for its colorful graphics, fast-paced gameplay and soundtrack yet criticized for its lack of originality and being unable to stand out among other shooters in the market.

Japanese publication

Raze liked the game's later background designs and fast-paced action.[11] French publication Génération 4 praised the game's "beautiful" graphics, energetic music and realistic sound effects.[13] Japanese magazine Gamest awarded the arcade version the "37th Annual Hit Game" award, praising its intense action and detailed graphics.[14]

Raze criticized the game for being frustrating to play, as well as disliking many of the game's earlier backgrounds for being unappealing and ugly,

Computer + Video Games magazine thought that the game was too easy, saying that only "extremely inexperienced" gamers would find the game to be a challenge.[8] They also found the power-up items to be "nothing new" and disliked its gameplay for being tedious and uninteresting.[8] Power Play soured towards the gameplay for not adding anything particularly new to the genre, saying that it only stuck to the bare basic mechanics established in previous vertically scrolling shooters.[12]

Notes

  1. ^ Japanese: デンジャラスシード, Hepburn: Denjarasu Shīdo

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Dangerous Seed Mega Drive instruction manual (in Japanese). Namco. 18 December 1990.
  2. ISBN 978-4990251215. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help
    )
  3. ^ Sanaezuki (4 April 2016). "レトロゲームのシンポジウム「RETRO GAME A LA CARTE」が4月16，17日に開催。西角友宏氏や遠藤雅伸氏などが登壇". 4Gamer.net. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  4. ^ Namco (December 1989). Dangerous Seed (Arcade). Scene: Staff credits. STAFF OF "KRISTALLKERN"
  5. ^ Namco (December 1989). Dangerous Seed (Arcade). Scene: Staff credits. BUT, PEACE IS NOT ALWAYS KEPT LONG. TO BE CONTINUED...
  6. ISBN 978-4-7966-0102-3
    .
  7. ISBN 9784865118704
    .
  8. ^
    Computer + Video Games
    . March 1991. p. 72. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  9. ^ a b c "デンジャラスシード (メガドライブ)". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Archived from the original on 21 September 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  10. ^ a b c "Dangerous Seed" (in German). Aktueller Software Markt. May 1991. p. 124. Archived from the original on 21 September 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  11. ^
    Raze
    . May 1991. p. 66. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  12. ^ a b c "Arachnophobia: Dangerous Seed" (in German). Power Play. April 1991. p. 124. Archived from the original on 18 June 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  13. ^ a b "Dangerous Seed". No. 30. Génération 4. February 1991. p. 92. Archived from the original on 21 September 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  14. ^
    ISBN 9784881994290
    .
  15. ^ "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 372. Amusement Press, Inc. 15 January 1990. p. 25.
  16. ^ "Dangerous Seed". No. 1. Super Gaming. July 1991. p. 128. Retrieved 21 September 2019.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dangerous_Seed&oldid=1189659234"