Gekirindan


is a 1995 vertically scrolling shooter arcade video game originally developed and published by Taito in Japan, America and Europe. Set in the year 3195, where a robot known as "Huge Boss" stole a newly-developed time machine to travel back in time and rewrite human history, players assume the role of one of the six fighter pilots taking control of their own space fighter craft in an effort to overthrow the evil entity from altering history.
Headed by Snow Bros. and Twin Hawk composer Osamu Ōta, Gekirindan was created by some members of Toaplan at Taito after the former company declared bankruptcy in 1994. Initially launched for the arcades, the game was later received a conversion for the Sega Saturn by Japan Media Programming and published exclusively in Japan by Virgin Interactive Entertainment on 18 April, 1997, featuring multiple changes compared with the original version. The title has since been re-released through compilations such as Taito Legends 2 across various platforms in 2006.
Gekirindan has been met with mixed critical reception from critics and reviewers alike since its release on the Saturn.

Gameplay

Gekirindan is a science fiction-themed vertically scrolling shoot 'em up game reminiscent of Truxton II and DonPachi, where players assume the role of one of the six pilots taking control of their respective space fighter craft through five increasingly difficult levels in an effort to effort to defeat Huge Boss and prevent his plan of rewriting human history as the main objective.
As far as vertical scrolling shooters go, the title initially appears to be very standard; Players control their craft over a constantly scrolling background and the scenery never stops moving until a boss is reached. Players also have three weapons at their disposal: the main weapon that travels a max distance of the screen's height, a sub-weapon and three bombs capable of obliterating any enemy caught within its blast radius.
A unique gameplay feature is the main weapon system; Similar to Out Zone, each ship is equipped with two main weapons at the beginning that can be upgraded by picking up "P" icons and switch between them by picking up a "C" icon that alters the player's shot pattern, while sub-weapons appear on certain occasions as colored letter icons. Various other items can also be picked up along the way such as 1UPs and additional bomb stocks. Similar to DonPachi, players also have the ability to choose between three fighter ship types, each having their own shot pattern: A, B and C.
There are multiple scoring methods for reaching high-scores to obtain extra lives in the game apart from destroying enemies. Points can be gained from collecting eagle-shaped gold medals and once the level is finished, 5000 points are awarded for every one collected. "Bonus" icons also grant extra points by grabbing them. The game employs a respawn system where in which a downed single player will start off immediately at the location they died at. Getting hit by enemy fire will result in losing a live, as well as a penalty of decreasing the ship's firepower to its original state and once all lives are lost, the game is over unless the player inserts more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing. Unlike previous shoot 'em ups titles released at the time, there are no additional loops after completing the last stage.

Synopsis

Plot

The plot summary of Gekirindan is explained through supplementary materials. In the year 3195, a time machine is created on Earth and is promptly stolen by an unidentified mechanized being known as "Huge Boss". This evil entity uses the device to travel back in time and rewrite 3000 years of human history. The only resistance Huge Boss faces is a group of six fighter pilots from multiple eras who aim to stop him, although some of them have their own motivations other than saving mankind.

Characters

Gekirindan was created by ex-Toaplan members at Taito after the former company declared bankruptcy in 1994. Snow Bros. and Twin Hawk composer Osamu Ōta acted as producer under the alias "Lee", while Hidetomo Ogino was the project's sole designer. Masaki Yagi and Takahito Naoi served as one of the game's programmers and system engineers respectively. Artists Miyabi Tashiro, Ryota Sasaki, Saori Hiratsuka and Yasunobu Kousokabe designed the characters, in addition of K. Kinoshita designing the computer graphics. The soundtrack was co-written by Zuntata members Kazuko Umino and Koji Sakurai.
Gekirindan was released in arcades on September 1995, using the Taito F3 System board. On 17 November 1995, an album featuring music from the game was co-published exclusively in Japan by Scitron and Pony Canyon. After its launch, the game was showcased at the JAMMA 95 along with Dangerous Curves and Puzzle Bobble 2. The title was later ported by Japan Media Programming to the Sega Saturn and published exclusively in Japan by Virgin Interactive Entertainment on April 1997, featuring various changes compared to the original version. In 2006, it was included in the compilation Taito Legends 2 for PlayStation 2, Windows and Xbox.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Gekirindan on their December 15, 1995 issue as being the ninth most-successful arcade game of the year, outperforming titles such as Tekken 2 and Marvel Super Heroes. Retro Gamers Phil Abel stated that "Gekirindan will probably never reach classic status. Even so, it still holds its own against many of its contemporaries. Out of all the arcade shooters released in 1995 Gekirindan is definitely above average; it’s no DonPachi but certainly worth a play".

Legacy

In a 2007 forum post at French website SHMUP, unused sprites from the unreleased Toaplan arcade game Dynamic Trial 7 were discovered to be hidden in Gekirindans code by a community member.