Gun Beat
Gun Beat | ||
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Arcade system Sega NAOMI | |
Gun Beat's new arcade board. Gun Beat was not playable, but a gameplay video was on display. The demo reel was well received by critics who felt the game carried the same quirky characteristics and quality artwork of previous Treasure offerings. Development on the game was ceased indefinitely in May 2000 with little explanation.
Treasure hatched the initial idea for Gun Beat when the NAOMI arcade board was revealed. The team looked to Wacky Races for inspiration to develop a disjointed and slapstick action-racing game. The game features players racing against each other while also having the ability to fire shots capable of slowing down rival players and destroying traps and enemies littered across the race course. It supports up to four players competing across locally connected cabinets.
Gameplay
Gun Beat was billed as an "
Player can use various shot types to destroy enemies and traps obstructing the course, and slow down rival players.
History
Development
Gun Beat was to be Treasure's second arcade game after
Music was being composed by Norio Hanzawa, who had written music for some of Treasure's previous games.[5] The characters and artwork were designed by staff artist Kiyotaka Ohashi.[5] The team decided on four characters because any more would cause frame rate slowdown, and any less was deemed too lonely.[5] The characters were designed to appear from different works, wearing different clothes and using different vehicles. The character Carmine was designed as an ideal Treasure hero, a stark contrast from the other more fantastical characters. Mirabelle was given a long skirt because they felt a short skirt would appear too shameless. Squad-Man's design was based on "Treasure Man", a character that appeared in Mega Drive Magazine comics.[5]
Promotion
Gun Beat was revealed on 17 February 1999 at the AOU (Arcade Operators Union) Amusement Expo at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Tokyo.[1][2][7][9] It was not playable at the trade show, but a gameplay video could be seen at one of Sega's booths.[1][7] Sega was demonstrating it alongside several other games to promote their NAOMI arcade board including Crazy Taxi (1999), Zombie Revenge (1999), and F355 Challenge (1999) among others.[9][10] The game was only 10% complete at the time, and no release date was revealed.[3][5] Treasure did not confirm whether a Dreamcast port was in development or not, but with the track record of NAOMI games commonly being ported to the Dreamcast, critics expected Gun Beat to follow in kind.[1][2][4][6]
Critics shared their thoughts based on the gameplay video shown at the 1999 AOU trade event.[1][7] IGN wrote that it looked "brilliant",[1] and described it as "bizarre" and "very silly".[9] They compared the gameplay to Bomberman Fantasy Race (1998), but believed Gun Beat would surpass it with better graphics, larger characters, faster speed, and quirky qualities characteristic of Treasure. They compared the flashy explosion effects to the Virtual On series.[1] French publication Consoles + felt the game held testament to Treasure's ability in developing intense and original action titles.[4] Chris Johnston of GameSpot advised readers to not write off the game as "cartoony" like Pen Pen TriIcelon (1998), but a more mature game with high quality Treasure artwork.[6] Gamers' Republic believed the game showed promise.[7]
Cancellation
In May 2000, Treasure announced they had ceased development of Gun Beat indefinitely until "conditions are satisfactory".[11][12][13] The announcement was posted on their website along with a notice asking fans to look forward to another project they were still developing and had yet announced.[12] The cancellation did not come as a surprise to IGN.[12] According to GameSpot, the lead producer of the game had left Treasure a few months previously. They suspected his absence had placed a damper on the project.[14]
Notes
- ^ In Japanese: Gan Bīto (ガンビート)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h IGN Staff (17 February 1999). "Treasure Beats a New Path". IGN. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018.
- ^ a b c IGN Staff (3 February 1999). "News Bytes". IGN. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Gun Beat" (PDF). ドリームキャストマガジン (in Japanese). Japan. 5 March 1999. p. 97. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 April 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f "Treasure: le podium à tout prix" [Treasure: the podium at all costs] (JPG). Consoles + (in French). No. 87. EMAP France . April 1999. p. 20. Archived from the original on 8 May 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Gun Beat" (PDF). ドリームキャストマガジン (in Japanese). Japan. 26 February 1999. pp. 139, 144–149. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 April 2018.
- ^ a b c d e Johnston, Chris (27 April 2000). "Treasure on the Beat". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Treasure: We went digging for Treasure and here's what we got!". Gamers' Republic. No. 12. May 1999. p. 31.
- ^ IGN Staff (22 February 1999). "More Naomi Movies". IGN. Archived from the original on 9 June 2000. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
- ^ a b c IGN Staff (17 February 1999). "Naomi Rocks AOU – A Full Report". IGN. Archived from the original on 15 February 2018.
- ^ Ohbuchi, Yutaka (27 April 2000). "Sega Goes Naomi Crazy". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018.
- ^ Sato, Ike (May 2000). "Gunbeat Development Halts". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018.
- ^ a b c IGN Staff (22 May 2000). "Treasure Issues a Statement on Gunbeat". IGN. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018.
- ^ "Sunken Treasure" (PDF). Dreamcast Magazine. No. 11. UK. p. 8. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 April 2018.
- ^ GameSpot Staff (27 April 2000). "TGS: We Chat With Treasure". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018.