Update: November 15, 2007
«©NCSX» 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 View the back cover and screenshots on the main NCSX website.
NCS Game Notes
» 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.
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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