Sorcer Striker

Sorcer Striker[lower-alpha 2] is a 1993 vertically scrolling shooter arcade video game originally developed by Raizing (now known as Eighting) and published by Able Corporation in Japan and Europe. In the game, players assume the role from one of the four bounty hunters to overthrow the Goblin empire led by King Gobligan and reclaim the bounty placed by King Codwenna of Violent Kingdom over Gobligan's head. It is the first entry in the Mahō Daisakusen trilogy, which includes Kingdom Grand Prix and Dimahoo, and the first video game to be created by Raizing.

Sorcer Striker
Developer(s)Raizing[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s)
Designer(s)Kazuyuki Nakashima
Programmer(s)Yuichi Toyama
Artist(s)Kenichi Yokoo
Composer(s)Atsuhiro Motoyama
SeriesMahō Daisakusen
Platform(s)
Release
Genre(s)Vertically scrolling shooter
Mode(s)
CabinetUpright
Arcade systemToaplan-related hardware

Sorcer Striker served as the debut title of Raizing, a development company founded by former Compile staff who previously worked on the Aleste series. Though first released in arcades, the game was later ported to other platforms, each one featuring various changes compared to the original version and has since been re-released for PlayStation 4 as part of the M2 ShotTriggers label by M2. The title has been met with positive reception from players and critics since its initial release.

Gameplay
Arcade version screenshot.

Sorcer Striker is a science fantasy-themed vertically scrolling shoot 'em up game reminiscent of Seirei Senshi Spriggan, where players assume the role of one of the four playable characters through six increasingly difficult stages across Violent Kingdom in an effort to overthrow the Goblin empire led by King Gobligan and reclaim the bounty placed over his head by King Codwenna.[1]

The gameplay borrows elements from previous Compile shooters, as players control their ship over a scrolling background until a boss is reached. Each ship is equipped with two weapons; the main gun is powered-up by obtaining coins from "P" bags, while the subweapon can be swapped or power-up by acquiring one of the three magic books by destroying incoming carriers, ranging from homing shots to spread shots and a straight shot, however the use of each subweapon alternates between characters.[1] Players are also equipped with bombs capable of obliterating any enemy within its blast radius.[1]

Similar to MUSHA, players will occasionally fight against a miniboss on certain stages of the game.[1] The title uses a respawn system where players immediately starts at the location they died at. Getting hit by enemy fire or colliding against solid stage obstacles will result in losing a live, as well as a penalty of decreasing the ship's firepower to his original state and once all lives are lost, the game is over unless the players insert more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing.

Synopsis

Plot

The plot summary of Sorcer Striker is explained through supplementary materials.[2][3] A goblin movement successfully established an empire of their own, prompting King Codwenna of Violent Kingdom in gathering his knights to launch a disastrous attack against the Goblins. King Codwenna learned that the Goblins were ruled by a human leader and the mass production of mana-based magical weapons, which shocked Codwenna as nobody succeeded in reproducing them and their operation were limited and not fully understood. Foreshadowing the doom of his kingdom and the failure of his knight order, Codwenna placed a bounty on the head of King Gobligan, waiting for the arrival of a hero to save them.

Characters

Players choose from four characters at the start:[1][2][3]

  • Gain – Pilot of the Valhallyzer ship. A wandering warrior who, alongside his monkey companion Shain, seeks the ultimate weapon to become the strongest.
  • Chitta – Pilot of the Gun Dalf ship. A young magic user who receives training from his grandfather.
  • Miyamoto – A samurai dragon whose master was killed by his apprentice Tsumujimaru.
  • Bonum[lower-alpha 3] – A necromancer whose body becomes one with his dragon helm gear.

Development
Early conceptual artwork. Sorcer Striker was originally envisioned to be a shoot 'em up game with a Chinese martial arts thematic, before being ultimately reworked into a fantasy-themed shooter project instead.

Sorcer Striker was first project to be developed by Raizing (now Eighting), a Japanese video game developer founded by former Compile staff who previously worked on the Aleste series.[4][5][6][7][8] Its development was helmed by a crew of approximately four members with designer Kazuyuki Nakashima, Seirei Senshi Spriggan programmer Yuichi Toyama, artist Kenichi Yokoo and then-27 years old freelance composer Atsuhiro Motoyama, with the team recounting its creation process and history through various Japanese publications.[4][5][6][7]

Toyama wanted to develop an arcade project, as the team were discussing what to make when Raizing was first founded.[7] Due to his president's connection with Toaplan as a former employee, Toyama decided to work on an arcade game with Toaplan providing consultance and advising to the team, as well as licensing their arcade board for launch.[4][7] Sorcer Striker enterted development on March 1992 with the staff working on the bedroom of an apartment using development tools from Toaplan, initially envisionsed as a Chinese martial arts-themed shoot 'em up under the working title Haougekiden Saifuaa[lower-alpha 4], however Tatsuya Uemura and other members of Toaplan advised the team that shooter games need a worldwide appeal and the project was ultimately revised into a fantasy-themed shoot 'em up approachable for any skill level to attract RPG players on consoles.[4][5][7] The power-up system was modelled after MUSHA, as Yokoo was a fan of the game.[4][7] To portray the player's shots and explosions more flashier, the team mecha elements into their design and aimed for a steampunk-esque aesthetic.[4]

Ship designs were given hand-like extremities as the team wanted to give them character, however Yokoo stated said designs also served as an experiment to determine if they could merge the ship's operability and personality together to avoid gameplay interference with their hitbox, while the samurai dragon Miyamoto was used as a test to determine reaction towards a humanoid "ship" from players.[4] The team also wanted to emphasize a sense of story, making the playable characters speak at the beginning and end of stages.[4] Gain, whose name derivated from the character Gainshain in Shunji Enomoto's Golden Lucky manga, was designed with a tough and muscular look as the team thought of preferences from arcade players at the time, with Yokoo stating that adding his monkey companion gave him more character.[4] Chitta, whose name derivated from the "Cinechitta" movie theatre at Kawasaki near Raizing's then-offices at Kamada, was intended to be a "moe" magical girl and the team made her perform stuff such as idol concerts, however Yokoo stated that "it seemed it really didn’t have the effect we were hoping for."[4] Bonum was named after bones and his name is a reference to the character Bornnam from the first part of Hirohiko Araki's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.[4] Other characters were inspired by Wizardry.[4]

Dedicing on the game's final name prior to launch proved difficult for the team, as Sorcer Striker was first titled Mahou Daisensou[lower-alpha 5] in Japan, however the release of Irem's In the Hunt[lower-alpha 6] prompted a long brainstorming session that resulted with Mahou Daisakusen being chosen out of more than a hundred suggestions.[4][7] Nakashima claimed that due to their development environment at the time, the team was ultimately able to produce a "very strong, colorful game."[5]

Release

Sorcer Striker was first released in arcades by Able Corporation across Japan and Europe on May 1993, using a Toaplan-licensed arcade board.[1][7][9] In 1994, a CD music album containing was first published exclusively in Japan by Shinseisha.[10] An officially endorsed manga adaptation by Raizing was also published by Shinseisha on the same year.[2] The game was first ported to the X68000 and published by Electronic Arts Victor on 16 December 1994, featuring a number of options such as MIDI support.[1][11][12] The title was then ported to the FM Towns and published by Electronic Arts Victor on February 1995, with Redbook audio based on the X68000 version but featuring a lower frame rate and missing special effects.[1] In 2005, it was later ported to mobile phone platforms such as EZweb by Eighting.[13][14]

M2 ShotTriggers

On 2 November 2017, M2 released a new version of Sorcer Striker as part of their M2 ShotTriggers publishing label for PlayStation 4.[1][6][15][16] This version includes a number of exclusive additions such as an easier difficulty setting and the ability to play with two aircraft simultaneously in single-player.[1][16]

Reception
Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
Famitsu(PS4) 29/40[17]
Oh!X(X68K) [18]

According to Yuichi Toyama, Sorcer Striker did not perform poorly.[5] In Japan, Game Machine listed it on their 1 August 1993 issue as being the seventh most-successful table arcade unit of the year.[19] The Sharp X68000 version was met with positive reception.[12][18] GameSetWatch's Todd Ciolek noted that the game "didn’t quite stand out as much as the Aleste series had."[20] Hardcore Gaming 101's Kurt Kalata regaded it to be "an excellent game, though one that tends to be forgotten in favor of Raizing’s more innovative and ambitious titles."[1] Famitsu gave the PlayStation 4 version an overall 25 out of 40 score.[17]

Legacy

Sorcer Striker was the first entry in the Mahō Daisakusen trilogy.[1] A sequel, Kingdom Grand Prix, was first released for arcades in 1994 before being published on Sega Saturn in 1996 by GAGA Communications.[9][21] A third entry, Dimahoo, was only released for arcades by Capcom in 2000.[9] Gain, Chitta, Miyamoto and Bonum would re-appear as guest characters in both Battle Garegga and Armed Police Batrider.[4]

Notes
  1. Ported to PlayStation 4 by M2
  2. Also known as Mahou Daisakusen (Japanese: 魔法大作戦 (まほうだいさくせん), Hepburn: Mahō Daisakusen, lit. "Magic Armageddon") in Japan.
  3. Bōn'namu (ボーンナム)
  4. 覇王撃伝砕破 (Haōgekiden Saifuā, lit. "Dynasty Shooting Legend – Blast!")
  5. 魔法大戦争 (Mahō Daisensō, lit. "Great Magic War")
  6. Known in Japan as 海底大戦争 (Kaitei Daisensō, lit. "Undersea War")
gollark: Praise bezos, my phone is here.
gollark: Well, I can't actually visually imagine things. At all.
gollark: Ah.
gollark: Do you just listen to white noise or something?
gollark: I'll just listen to osmarks internet radio™.

References
  1. Kalata, Kurt (3 August 2017). "Mahou Daisakusen". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  2. 魔法大作戦. Gamest Comics (in Japanese). 1. Shinseisha. 10 November 1994. pp. 1–182. ISBN 978-4881991329. (Translation by Shmuplations. Archived 2019-12-24 at the Wayback Machine).
  3. "魔法大作戦：ストーリーとキャラクター" (in Japanese). Eighting. Archived from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020. (Translation by Shmuplations. Archived 2019-12-30 at the Wayback Machine).
  4. "Raizing/8ing (ライジング/エイティング) STGの輪舞 - 外山雄一氏/横尾憲一氏". Shooting Gameside (in Japanese). Vol. 1. Micro Magazine. 17 October 2010. pp. 96–128. ISBN 978-4896373486. (Translation by Shmuplations. Archived 2019-12-30 at the Wayback Machine).
  5. "WM-0701~2 | Mahou Daisakusen Original Soundtrack". vgmdb.net. VGMdb. Archived from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2020. (Translation by Shmuplations. Archived 2019-12-30 at the Wayback Machine).
  6. Imai, Shin (3 August 2017). "エイティングの名作STG「魔法大作戦」がPS4で2017年秋に配信！- M2ガジェットにも注目の新機能搭載！". IGN Japan (in Japanese). Sankei Shimbun. Archived from the original on 14 August 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  7. Manami, Rei (24 November 2017). ""エムツー ショット トリガーズ"第3弾『魔法大作戦』発売記念ロングインタビュー（エイティング編）　振り向けば仲間がいた。原作開発時の熱き情熱を当時のスタッフに聞く". Famitsu (in Japanese). Gzbrain. Archived from the original on 9 April 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  8. "Interface - Developer Profile / Toaplan". Wireframe. No. 13. Raspberry Pi Foundation. 9 May 2019. pp. 50–51.
  9. Akagi, Masumi (13 October 2006). エイティング（ライジング） Eighting; エイブルコーポレーション Able. アーケードTVゲームリスト 国内•海外編 (1971-2005) (in Japanese) (1st ed.). Amusement News Agency. pp. 17, 18. ISBN 978-4990251215.
  10. Fuentes, Edgar S. (8 May 2019). "Vandal Game Music: Raizing. El terror sonoro en los arcades - Hablamos de las bandas sonoras de la infalible cantera de la lucha y los shoot'em up". Vandal (in Spanish). El Español. Archived from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  11. "The Softouch - Software Information - 新作情報". Oh!X (in Japanese). No. 151. SoftBank Creative. November 1994. pp. 24–25.
  12. Nachi, Yaegaki (December 1994). "The Softouch - Game Review - 魔法大作戦". Oh!X (in Japanese). No. 152. SoftBank Creative. pp. 26–27.
  13. "魔法大作戦" (in Japanese). Eighting. 6 June 2005. Archived from the original on 26 March 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  14. "名作STG『魔法大作戦』EZwebに登場！『バトルガレッガ』、『蒼穹紅蓮隊』も移植予定". Dengeki Online (in Japanese). Kadokawa Game Linkage. 3 June 2005. Archived from the original on 30 June 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  15. Romano, Sal (3 October 2017). "Sorcer Striker for PS4 launches November 2 in Japan". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  16. Yamamura, Satomi (2 November 2017). "M2 Shot Triggers「魔法大作戦」インタビュー前編 - 2人プレイ要素を1人で楽しめる"DUALモード"など、原作の"芸細っ！"を引き出す工夫が満載！". GAME Watch (in Japanese). Impress Corporation. Archived from the original on 15 June 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  17. Uchisawa, Rōringu; Yoshida, Ranbu; Ashida, Jigoro; Urara, Honma (2 November 2017). "NEW GAMES CROSS REVIEW: 魔法大作戦 (PS4)". Famitsu (in Japanese). No. 1507. Gzbrain. Archived from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  18. Nachi, Yaegaki (January 1995). "The Softouch - Game Review - 魔法大作戦". Oh!X (in Japanese). No. 153. SoftBank Creative. pp. 30–31.
  19. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 454. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 August 1993. p. 29.
  20. Ciolek, Todd (8 July 2007). "'Might Have Been' - Kingdom Grandprix". GameSetWatch. UBM plc. Archived from the original on 11 January 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  21. "セガサターン対応ソフトウェア（ライセンシー発売）- 1996年発売". SEGA HARD Encyclopedia (in Japanese). Sega. 2020. Archived from the original on 20 March 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
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