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Gaplus

Gaplus

Namco Limited, Namco, Carry Lab, Mastertronic

Gaplus is a fixed shooter arcade game that was released by Namco in 1984. It was the only other game to run on Namco Phozon hardware, and in the US, a modification kit was later released to change the name to Galaga 3, possibly to increase recognition among fans of the games even though there was no "Galaga 2". Since Gaplus is a sequel to Galaga, it has similar gameplay. The player controls a spaceship, that can now move vertically (limited to halfway up the screen, much like Atari's Centipede) as well as horizontally, and shoots at swarms of incoming insect-like aliens which fly in formation above it and swoop down to attack it in akamikaze-like dive. In this sequel, the level starts over if the player gets killed before all the enemies have come in. When all enemies are killed, the player moves on to the next level. By obtaining certain powerups, it is possible to shoot sixty bullets per screen, the most any Galaxian-related game has.

ArcadeShooter
Super Pac-Man

Super Pac-Man

Beam Software, Namco, Bally Midway

Super Pac-Man is a game in Namco's Pac-Man family, but instead of gobbling up dots, Pac is required to eat fruit and prizes, such as apples, bunches of bananas, doughnuts, hamburgers, fried eggs, ears of corn, sneakers, pieces of cakes, raspberries, limes, cups of coffee, mushrooms, Galaxians, bells, and shamrocks. Most of these items are hidden in passages that have locked doors at either entrance, and in order to unlock the doors, Pac needs to eat the key that is closest to the passage that he wishes to unlock. As usual, ghosts will keep chasing Pac around the maze until he has lost all his lives. However, Pac can enter the warp tunnels at either side of the maze to lose the ghosts quickly. There are two types of power pellets in the maze: green and yellow. Yellow power pellets cause ghosts to turn blue, allowing Pac to eat them for points, whereas green ones cause Pac to enlarge and will also cause the ghosts to become much thinner and wider, allowing him to fly over them. He can also break open the doors without the need of keys. The effects of the pellets, unfortunately, only last for a number of seconds. During the time that he is enlarged, a flashing star will appear besides two boxes that are located in the middle of the maze. The first box will display the current fruit or prize, and the other will display a rotating selection of them. If Pac manages to eat the star when they match there will be a large bonus score. Occasionally, after three or more stages, there will be a bonus stage where Pac automatically gets enlarged. The object of these stages is to eat everything in the maze before the time runs out and, during these stages, there will be no ghosts to pursue him.

ArcadePuzzleStrategy
King & Balloon

King & Balloon

Namco, GamePlan

Released by Namco in the summer of 1980, King & Balloon is a shoot em up in the vein of Galaxian, but trades the outer space theme for pseudo-medieval setting. In the game, the player controls two green men who carry a cannon, as they defend the king below them from getting abducted by the balloons above, which keep invading the lower part of the screen while also shooting projectiles. Once all the balloons are shot down, the game moves on to the next level. One thing that makes King & Balloon unique is that you don't lose a life when hit. Rather, you respawn and keep on playing. The only way to lose a life is letting the king get abducted. Another interesting mechanic of note is that the balloons stop attacking and descending when one grabs ahold of the king, and they will keep still until the king is back on the ground. This creates a risk versus reward mechanic and entices you to let the balloon carry the king high enough so you can take out more balloons, then rescuing the king just in time. King & Balloon was also one of the first games to have speech, and it still holds up better than most contemporary or even later examples. The king says "Help!" when abducted, "Thank You!" when rescued, and "Bye bye!" when he leaves the screen. There are actually different voices for the game in Japan and the US version, with the Japan version having a slight Japanese accent.

Shooter
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