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NDS
Game Center CX
- New Import, In Stock |
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NCS
Game Synopsis
©NCS»
Shinya
Arino is a buster. A comedian turned retro video
game show host who can't play worth a cowlick.
Despite his failings as a player, his television
show Game Center CX is a pop phenomenon in Japan
where viewers tune in to watch Shinya play old
school video games, falter, and occasionally rise
above his weaknesses with the help of the television
crew. It's very entertaining and
it's only fitting that a video game about the retro
television show and its unconventional host become a reality.
In Game Center CX, players get to play retro
video games which aren't really retro games from the
historical record but the very vision of what retro
games would be if they were made after the fact. In
other words, these are fictional retro videogames
that never existed before GCCX...
The pseudo-retro wares
featured in Game Center CX are as follows:
Cosmic Gate - Galaga clonage
Guadia Quest - Action Adventure
Karakuri Ninja
Haguruman - Platform action
Karakuri Ninja
Haguruman 2 - Platform action redux
Rally King - Micro Machines clone with
drifting mechanics
Star Prince - Vertical scrolling shooter with
power-ups
Jan Code: 4582224491872
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NCS
Game Notes
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At the outset of the game, you'll be able to select
a male or female character and enter a name in
Katakana, Hiragana, or English. An introduction with
Star Wars style lettering scrolls up the screens and
explains the significance of Arino and some
background on the Game Center CX show is offered. In
the next scene, a disembodied head which floats
above a large D-pad which represents Arino soars onto the screen. He's wearing a crown
atop his shabby hair and grins in a goofy manner
while lines of green-tinted binary code scroll in
the background in an homage to the Matrix. He's the host for
the game
»
The protagonist you chose at the start of the game
and a friend dawdle into the room from opposite
sides of the screen and sit themselves in front of a
television and Famicom console. After a bit of dialogue
and user input, Arino introduces the first game
dubbed Cosmic Gate from November 8, 1984 and
copyrighted by Tomato. The action appears on the top NDS screen while little Arino and his friend appear
on the touch screen seated in front of the
television and rarin' to play. Start the Cosmic Gate
game and echoes of Galaga flash across the screen as
waves of enemies stream from the side
and assemble in regimented rows above the player's
ship. You can elect to shoot the waves as they
flow out or wait until they're all settled and ready
to attack. When playing the game, short commentary
and grunts from Arino will sound out. An objective
is also outlined by Arino-host when the game starts
and you'll have to fill that condition before
receiving another objective to fulfill. The
objectives are the keys to unlocking games in Game
Center CX.
» Cosmic Gate
Stage 3 features an asteroid zone where rocks must be
destroyed or avoided as they rain downwards. Small
asteroids score 100 points but the larger ones are
worth 400 points and higher. If you destroy the
massive asteroid that looks like it's 10X the mass
of the smaller asteroids, you'll earn 15000 points. After the stage, the
game shows the following text "You Shooted xx
Asteroids" as Arino
chortles and exhorts.
»
A weapon power-up may be jettisoned
from blinking enemies when destroyed which turns every
third shot into a missile that's a score multiplier
when it hits a line of enemies. It also provides a
cheap thrill when a queue of enemies is
streaming straight down and shooting the entire stream
with the missile will destroy them all in one fell
swoop and grant you a nice little bonus to boot.
»
Once one of Arino's objectives for Cosmic Gate is
completed, a magazine titled "Game Magazine" dated
12/1984 (which features a blue-colored bird on its
cover) is unlocked and placed on the protagonist's
shelf. The magazine spans 11 pages and is filled
with information and hints on playing Cosmic Gate.
Meet another of Arino's objectives and another issue
of the magazine is unlocked which is dated 03/1985
and includes even more secrets about Cosmic Gate and
includes a preview for a game called Karakuri Ninja
Haguruman which is the next game once all four
Cosmic Gate objectives are met. One of the
objectives is to Warp to another level and another
objective is to destroy a very large asteroid.
»
Occasionally, you'll hit an enemy which unleashes a
blue vortex that moves to the top portion of
the screen. Keep shooting it and it'll grow in size
until it sucks your ship and warps you to a higher
stage. For example, we shot the vortex in level 5
and warped to level 8. The next asteroid level is on
Stage 7 and then again on Stage 11 and 15. In later
asteroid levels, the speed of the rocks increases.
On stage 29, the enemies stream downwards something
fierce and fire off a barrage of bullets. There are
enemies that shine a little and then split into
three enemies as well as other surprises that show
the added challenge as the game ramps ever higher.
»
Once Arino's four conditions are met in Cosmic Gate,
the aforementioned Haguruman is
unlocked which has a supposed original store date of
September 13, 1985. Before playing the game, you can
check out the 22-page digital instruction manual for
the game which is added to your shelf of games. The
action takes place in the fictional Neo KichiJoji City (Karakuri Yashiki)
where an evil rascal has kidnapped a kimono-garbed
Princess who serves as the damsel in distress.
» Haguruman
features side scrolling platform action where a squat ninja
jumps on top of enemies to dispatch them and shoots
stars to dizzy them. Colored doors marked with kana
characters may be flipped over by entering them
which in turn flips other like-colored doors in the
local area. When the doors are flipped, they may
reveal items such as scrolls which are picked up. If
an enemy is standing in front of a door when it is
flipped, it'll be destroyed.
»
The ultimate goal in each level of
Haguruman is to
defeat an enemy who appears by flipping a door at it
and then exiting through the blinking door that
appears afterwards to advance to the next level.
The key to drawing out each end-level boss is
destroying underlings. Before each level, the silhouette of the end-level
boss is shown. Only 99 seconds are
allowed for each level.
»
Similar to Cosmic Gate, there are
four goals to be met when playing Haguruman
in order to unlock the next game. The first condition to
complete is destroying multiple enemies by hopping
on top of them. Once met, the 10/1985 issue of
Game Magazine is unlocked and added to the
protagonist's shelf.
»
After the fourth level of Haguruman, the bosses repeat themselves
but the stages get progressively more difficult and
new elements are introduced such as impassable
barriers.
»
The Famicom console that the boys play is an
elongated version of the original game machine of
yesteryear. Other than the lengthier dimension, it's
the red and white console that made Nintendo king of
the gaming scene back in the day.
»
Game Center CX is a treasure of a game for fans
of the olden days of gaming. Sadly, much of the
population outside of Japan will never know about it
or find out about it until the game has long sold
out.
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This document is ©NCSX 2007. All rights
reserved. No reproduction in whole or in part of
this document may be made without express written
consent of National Console Support, Inc. |
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