Curse

Curse
Developer(s)	Micronet
Publisher(s)	Micronet
Platform(s)	Sega Mega Drive
Release date(s)	JP 1989-12-23
Genre(s)	Scrolling shooter
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	CERO: n/a (not rated)
Media	Cartridge
Input methods	Sega Mega Drive controller

Curse (カース) is a 1989 Japanese shoot 'em up Sega Mega Drive game developed by Micronet. It was a sideways scrolling shoot 'em up spread across five levels. Although an American release was planned, it was never officially released outside of Japan.

Plot

Somewhere in another universe, in a spiral galaxy, there were once two lively planets whose inhabitants lived in harmony together: planet Parceria and planet Seneca. However, something happened on Parceria: something caused the Parcerians to shut off all forms of communication, visitation and activity with Seneca. Over time, Parceria's environment died out, leaving only a planet-wide barren terrain. Hundreds of years passed and the inhabitants of Seneca saw Parceria as nothing but a dead husk with the concept of life and companionship on it being mere, long forgotten legends.

One day, an enormous attack force flew from Parceria and attacked Seneca without warning. Confirmed to be the Parcerian Military, the invaders crippled Seneca's defense forces. Using an unknown power, the Parceria Military was also able to manipulate the wildlife to do its bidding, ensuring no possible escape to safety. However, the desperate people of Seneca eventually discovered an ancient star fighter abandoned by the Parcerians called The Baldanders. Using its super-technology, the people of Seneca use the Baldanders in a counter-attack against the Parcerian invasion to destroy their main battleship: a large, mysterious warship known only as 'Mother.'

Gameplay

Curse was similar to many other sideways/horizontal scrolling shooters, most notably R-Type. Various power-ups could be collected to boost weapons and speed. The object of the game is to shoot all other enemies that appear on screen and avoid crashing into bullets, enemies, or foreground scenery. There are end-of-level boss enemies that stay with the player until they are defeated. There were no difficulty settings and extends (aka: 1ups) were awarded every 1 million points.

The Baldanders star fighter had a unique advantage over most scrolling shooter ships in that it was equipped with a shield. When players were hit by bullets or missiles, the shield would take a hit for the ship. The shield could take three hits total before the player's ship was destroyed.

Weapons and Items

Players were equipped with a standard laser shot that could be upgraded when certain power-ups were collected. The player had access to three different upgradable weapons:

V - V-Laser: A blue shot weapon that fires in three directions once powered up.

W - Wide Beam: A yellow stream of rapid-fire shots that form a double-helix firing pattern. It possessed the ability to fire through every foreground object (except for the flying orange iron rock objects).

C - Crash: A slow firing cluster of gray, explosive crystals that scatter shrapnel in the opposite direction of its impact.

M - Missiles: These could be upgraded to fire two-three homing missiles at a time. With upgrades, the missiles would scan over terrain in order to seek out enemies.

E - Energy pick-ups: Symbolized by a singular E, the Energy pick-ups replenished the space fighter's shield.

S - Speed-ups: Symbolized by a singular S, the Speed-Ups increased the space fighter's speed. However, increasing the ship's speed would often make the ship dangerous to maneuver in tight areas.

Bombs: The Baldanders was equipped with the iconic shmup Smart Bomb weapon which destroyed all enemies and/or enemy shots on the screen using the A button. The Bomb however did not have its own pick-up icon: in order to supply the ship with more bombs, the player had to upgrade either one of the three items available to them completely by picking up the same icon three times in a row. Once the weapon was upgraded, the next icon of the same weapon the player uses would add to the bomb supply.

Options: Circular gray spheres that increased the number of the player's standard laser shots and allowed the player to fire standard shots upwards, backwards and downwards depending on each option's direction. Two could be collected at one time. The player could rotate them to two fixed directions: horizontal and vertical using the C button. The player could also use each sphere as a shield against most enemy fire.

Levels and Bosses

Level 1: Jungles - The player starts in the Senecan wilderness filled with Parcerian ships, monsters and organic alien plant-life, some of which have been manipulated and even mutated by the Parcerian Military.

Boss: Big - Large birds unfamiliar to the Senecan wildlife which emerge from an enormous tree. The lead Big has a flashing, multi-color plumage that it uses as its main weapon.

Level 2: Clouds - The player must combat the Parcerian invaders away from a Senecan city high in the clouds.

Boss: Azo Naga - Large armored serpentine dragons that had previously existed on the planet as creatures of myth. The leading Azo Naga is the only one that attacks with a spread shot weapon.

Level 3: Caves - Taking place in an ancient underground ruin that the Parcerian military use as their Headquarters on Seneca, the player must combat the remaining Parcerian ships while avoiding hazardous lava flows.

Boss: Zozo - Described as a living fortification, Zozo is a large, lava dwelling mutant that can launch fireballs from its eye.

Level 4: Space - The player must fight their way towards the Parcerian warship by fighting fleets of back-up spaceships, golden imitations of itself and barriers made of rock.

Boss: Mivonov Mk.IV - A giant robot that transforms from a bulky spaceship. It is armed with two Options of its own as well as the Surge Gun, one of few weapons that can destroy the Baldanders with one hit.

Level 5: Warship Mother - The player must make it to the warship's core and inevitably the source of the invasion which is heavily guarded by deadly laser weapons, electronic barriers and a strange checkpoint system.

Boss: Mother-Oz

Reception

The game utilized full parallax scrolling through most of the game, however, the graphics were not considered as anything special by the reviewers of the time. The game's audio received better reviews and a sound test was available by holding down buttons A and Start on the title screen (various other options were available here for adjusting the game difficulty and other standard features).

External links

• Micronet