Crisis Force

Nintendo exclusive

The denizens of Atlantis have arisen after a slumber of 10,000 years, and only Asuka and Maya can save the world from destruction in their Aurawing aircraft! Crisis Force was Konami's last shoot-'em-up game for the Famicom, and it pushes the hardware to its absolute limits.

Released: 27 August 1991
Platforms: NES
Genres: Shoot 'em up Shooter
Developers: Konami
Publishers: Konami
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Themes: Science fiction
Country: Japan
Languages: Japanese

About

Crisis Force is a 1991 vertically scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Konami for the Family Computer. It was only released in Japan. The player controls one of two fighter ships piloted by Asuka and Maya, a pair of twin siblings descended from the ancient civilizations of Mu, who must save the world from a breed of artificial monsters from the lost civilization of Atlantis. The main feature of the game system is the player's ability to transform its ship in one of three different forms, each with its unique attack method.

Keywords

shoot 'em up
fan translation - english
nes game pak - vrc4

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Crisis Force is an overhead scrolling shooting game. The game allows for two player co-operative play, and to choose from four different ships.

Crisis Force features a power up system built around your craft being able to transform into one of three configurations.

Story

Asuka and Maya are typical high-school students living in Tokyo. Even though their parents were archaeologists, they lived a rather mundane life.

But then one day, the same ominous dream that the two siblings were having lately suddenly became a reality. The seven monsters that sunk down the land of Atlantis and destroyed most of the ancient civilizations 10,000 years ago has suddenly revived.

Development

The late 1980s and early 1990s was the peak of popularity for the shooting game genre, and Crisis Force was released around the same time as titles like Gunhed, Seirei Senshi Spriggan, Soldier Blade, and Axelay.

The three composers for the game were part of Konami Kukeiha Club, and were also working on music for the arcade game Lightning Fighters.

Reception

Crisis Force received mostly positive reception from critics. 3 out of 30 score, indicating a popular following among the Famicom userbase. Famitsu's four reviewers regarded the game to be "amazing" but criticized the flickering when too many objects are present on-screen and controls. Retro Gamer's John Szczepaniak praised the game's use of parallax scrolling, lush visuals, soundtrack, weapons system and fast-pacing.

Likewise, Neil Salvemini of SHMUPS! (a classic network of GameSpy) complemented the frantic gameplay, co-op play, graphics and fast-paced soundtrack.