Viper Phase 1

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Viper Phase 1
Developer(s)	Seibu Kaihatsu
Publisher(s)	Fabtek
Release date(s)	1995
Genre(s)	Vertical scrolling shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, 2 player Co-op
Platform(s)
Input	8-way Joystick, 2 Buttons
Arcade cabinet	Upright
Arcade system(s)	Seibu SPI
Arcade display	Raster, 256 x 224 pixels (Vertical), 2048 colors

Viper Phase 1 is a 1995 scrolling shooter arcade game by Seibu Kaihatsu, and is the spin-off in the Raiden series. There was a second version of Viper Phase 1, called "New Version," which was released in the same year with minor gameplay changes, one of which that the special weapons will last until the player's death.

1 Description
2 Judge Spear
3 Types of Powerups
4 Conversion
5 External links

[edit] Description

The graphics in Viper Phase 1 are impressive. There is a great amount of detail. In stage 1, for example, you can see personnel flagging ships for take off and many ships in port (which you can destroy!). Destroying enemies creates shrapnel and residual explosions. There are some impressive looking space battleships you encounter in Stage 2 and in Stage 6. They explode in a satisfying way, where flaming sections of the battleships break off from each other, and then finish off with a giant explosion.

[edit] Judge Spear

In Viper Phase 1, you play as the Judge Spear or Blue Javelin, if you play using the player 1 side, you play as Judge Spear, if player 2, then you play as the Blue Javelin. However, these player ships are unnamed in Viper Phase 1, and their names will only appear in the Raiden Fighters series.

[edit] Types of Powerups

There are 6 types of powerups in "Viper Phase 1", they are marked as P, B, L, M, N, and W. You start with a primary vulcan cannon, but you can upgrade your weapon stock by picking up the following powerups.

P(Power Up)-If you did not pick up L, M, N, or W powerups, this upgrades your primary vulcan cannon instead.

B(Bomb)-This adds one extra bomb to your bomb stock, you can carry up to seven bombs, in the Raiden series, if you picked up seven bombs of the same type and attempted to pick up an eighth bomb of the same type, a bonus would be awarded.

L(Laser)-The laser upgrade equips the Judge Spear with a powerful laser which has a similarity to the Raiden mk-II's laser, the weapon gives you no defensive spread, but the laser itself can charge through enemies and bosses easily. Ship's weapon module flashes blue.

M(Burst Missile)-This upgrade equips the Judge Spear with dead-on missiles that can be fired in a burst pattern, the missle starts slow but then boosts straight at fast speed, the missile also has an explosion radius which damages enemies as well, Ship's weapon module flashes yellow.

N(Napalm Missile)-This missile upgrade is similar to the burst missiles, but the napalm missile explodes with secondary explosions when fully upgraded and is more powerful than the burst missiles, the only problem is that you can't see the enemy bullets sometimes, Ship's weapon module flashes green.

W(Wide Vulcan)-This weapon upgrade equips the Judge Spear with a secondary wide-spread vulcan cannon, this weapon gives the Judge Spear a lot of defensive spread, which is useful for enemy crowd control, but the downside is that the bullets themselves are weak, when fully powered, the wide vulcan can be powerful when going at bosses at point-blank range. Ship's weapon module flashes red.

[edit] Conversion

Raiden Fighters, Raiden Fighters 2 and Senkyu use the same motherboard as this game. The Japanese ROM cartridges are not compatible with the European motherboard and vice versa.