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Scrap Heap Scramble -
Star Trigon JAMMA |
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ALLSOLD |
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Multiple units of this item are available for sale.
Quite possibly, one of the most addictive games on a
System 10 pcb. The gameplay is fairly simple and
goes a little like this:
The universe is in dire need of heroes and there are few as mighty
as the one known as Susumu. As in Mr. Driller. Susumu
hurtles into space (two other playable characters are
available) to rescue little yellow-hued marshmallow
creatures which are too helpless to save themselves. For
some reason, these creatures have been stranded between
little worlds where they await salvation. Enter Susumu,
who orbits these little worlds like a satellite of
sorts. To rescue the beasts, one must launch Susumu from
world to world to contain the creatures in triangle
formations. It's a little like Qix except the game is
played entirely with one button.
Let that sink in. One button. No joystick. No paddle. No kidding.
When we first played the game back in 2002, we figured we'd have a
hard time accepting it since a joystick is required for
any real fun... right? Namco says no. A button is all
that is required when a game is designed well enough to
strip out any extraneous chaff and sole player control
relies on a mere button. It works.
As Susumu rotates clockwise around a world, his momentum at any one
time goes towards the direction that he is facing. For
example, when he hits the 12 o' clock position on a
world, pressing the launch button sends Susumu flying
off directly to the right. When Susumu is between the 9
'o clock and 12 'o clock position, a launch will push
him off diagonally towards the upper-right of the
screen. Thus, the game provides all the movement and all
that is required from the player is opportune button
pushes to send Susumu on his way.
Any launches should be aimed at neighboring worlds so as to create
triangles, which means a single triangle requires three
launches. Should your aim be off and Susumu is sent
flying off into space with no world's gravity close
enough to catch him, a barrier around the edge of the
screen will send him bouncing back. However, the barrier
breaks down with each hit from Susumu and too many
errant launches will eventually leave Susumu without any
safety net. The levels in the beginning are fairly
simple but later levels are devious... in a wonderful
sort of way, especially when the strength of the gravity
changes. Star Trigon's presentation is very polished,
the game is quite refined, and the simplicity of the
objective is refreshing.
Similar to the Mr Driller games, air supply is a tedious
requirement and players will have to be mindful of the
ticking down of Susumu's oxygen tank. Namco will
probably never release this game on a home console but
perhaps they'll do a System-10 Perfect Pack one of these
days.
$100 which includes shipping with UPS Ground within the USA. Please ignore the
shipping quote during checkout on our old shop. |
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