Bio-Hazard Battle
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| Developer(s) | Sega |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Platform(s) | Mega Drive/Genesis, Virtual Console |
| Release date | 1992 |
| Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | One or two player |
| Rating(s) | VRC: GA, ESRB: E |
Bio-hazard Battle, titled Crying in Japan, is a 1992 2D side-scrolling shoot 'em up released for the Mega Drive/Genesis and for the Sega Mega Play arcade platform. On February 26th, 2007, it was also made available on the Wii's Virtual Console. It shares similar gameplay to the cult-classic Zero Wing, also on the Mega Drive.
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[edit] Story
During G-Biowar I (the first global biowar), a powerful new form of retrovirus was released as a deadly reprisal from the enemy. The viruses unleashed biological forces which couldn't be stopped, leaving the planet filled with new and deadly forms of life.
Only a few survivors remain in suspended animation in O.P. Odysseus, an orbiting platform circling Avaron. The space station's purpose is to keep the surviving humans alive until Avaron is habitable again. The crew of the Odysseus have been frozen in cryogenic tanks for hundreds of years, and now the onboard computer has awakened them.
Computer probes show that conditions on Avaron are hostile but livable. The question is; where can the crew of Odysseus set up a colony? The gameplay involves piloting a Bioship to Avaron, flying over areas which the probes have designated least hostile, ascertaining planetary conditions and, ultimately, finding a new home for the remaining survivors.
[edit] Gameplay
The game features a 2D side-scrolling shoot 'em up style of gameplay and the character chosen by the player can be moved in 8 directions by the D-Pad. The player can move, shoot, dodge, and block. To block an enemy projectile, the player must place the power star in the path of the projectile. There is also an array of different weapons at the ships' disposal.
The player will begin with a pre-set number of lives, from 1 to 5, 3 being the default. When a player is hit by a hostile creature or environment, their ship is destroyed and will reappear with one less life. Extra lives are attainable by absorbing 1-UP icons in the various stages, or being awarded 20,000 points without getting Game Over.
The game also features strong usage of deep, bass-heavy music tracks, creative and colorful artwork and foreground and background elements. Despite the many obstacles in the scenery and landscape, the player cannot be harmed or die by bumping into anything other than an enemy or enemy fire. You can die however by being stuck between the screen's edge and a wall. The player travels through eight levels, each one increasing in difficulty, with the last three only being available on the harder difficulties. The game ends showing all four characters flying back into the mothership. A short paragraph explains that the planet Avaron has, for the moment, been saved. "A moment of peace, but who is to say a similar crises will not occur in the future?"
Like so many 16-bit classics, it went widely unrecognized and fell to the wayside, becoming increasingly rare shortly after its 1992 release and, similar to other 16-bit era games, features credits only when the final boss has been defeated.
[edit] Bioships
Both machine and living being, the Bioship is a fantastic creation. It is you and your crew's only chance to return to Avaron and find a safe place to live. You have a choice between four types of ships: They include the bird-like blue and red ship Orestes, the reptile-like red and green ship Electra, the bug-like green ship Hecuba, and the fish-like yellow and purple ship Polyxena. These ships all have organic shells, making them look like actual creatures.
[edit] Specifications
| Ship | Speed | Yellow | Orange | Blue | Green |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orestes | Fast | Fire Petal | Plasma Ring | Nova | Pods |
| Electra | Slow | Fire Petal | Seeker Laser | Bond | Pods |
| Hecuba | Fast | Spin Laser | Plasma Ring | Bond | Pods |
| Polyxena | Slow | Spin Laser | Seeker Laser | Nova | Pods |
[edit] Weapons
There are five different types of weapons in the game- one primary and four secondary.
[edit] Primary Weapon
The front of the Bioship is equipped with a weapon which can be used in two ways. The Bioship normally fires a plasma beam at the same time as the Power Star, but by holding down the fire button for a few moments, the Bioship pulls plasma energy into its power core and releases it in one massive burst, called the Plasma Wall. This wall of energy is powerful enough to destroy almost anything with one burst.
[edit] Secondary Weapons
[edit] The Power Star
The Power Star is your secondary weapon. The Power Star, both a shield and a weapon, floats near the Bioship. As a shield, it stops most creatures from hitting your Bioship. More importantly, it uses power from the Energy Seeds to generate weapons. Your Bioship ingests Seeds by passing over them and the energy is transferred to your ship's Power Star.
[edit] The Energy Seeds
There are four types of Energy Seeds: Yellow, Orange, Blue and Green. Each Seed changes the Bioship's genetic structure, enabling the ship to generate a different type of weapon. The Energy Seeds are incremental in effect, that is, as the ship ingests the Seeds, the weapon's power increases. Remember that this power increase only happens when you pick up Seeds of the same color. Maximum power capability is reached when the Bioship ingests three Seeds of the same color. If the player loses a life, the Power Star, if upgraded, will downgrade one level. Energy Seeds are scattered by the space station along the flight path your Bioship will take. Near the beginning of each stage, there are usually four seeds available, one for each color.
As stated before, there are four different types of Energy Seeds.
- The green seed is the same for all ships. This weapon shoots Implosion Pods which create a vacuum upon impact causing damage. When upgraded, it shoots more pods at a time, and has a wider field of range. It is a good all-around weapon, although it is somewhat weaker than most other weapons.
- The blue seed has two different types. First, the bond type, is a strong, concentrated sphere of energy which will home in on enemies at a close range, attach to the creature, and explode. It is one of the strongest weapons, and can also destroy enemy bullets. It can be used by Electra and Hecuba. The other type, called nova, is an 8-point range weapon, meaning that it shoots 8 units in 8 directions at once. When upgraded, the projectiles become larger and more powerful. This can be used by Orestes and Polyxena. The blue colored spheres are good against large, armored enemies, but since the bubble has a slow fire rate and the 8-point range has holes in its field, they are not good against swarms of small enemies.
- The orange seed has two types. One type is the plasma ring, available to Orestes ship and Hecuba. Plasma rings are spinning rings of energy which bounce off of inert matter and detonate upon contact with living matter. The other type is a seeker laser, which will head straight for any enemies in its vicinity. Converse to the blue spheres, they are weak, meaning they are not as effective against large enemies, but given their nearly universal field of range, the orange spheres are very effective against hordes of small enemies. When upgraded, units of fire will increase in size.
- The yellow seed also has two types. The first is the fire petal, which is a stream of white-hot fireballs that can deal a decent amount of damage. The second is a spinning twin laser beam that always shoots forward, even though the port will still rotate around the ship. Yellow weapons can destroy enemy bullets. The yellow weapons are suitable for dealing rapid, decent damage, although they are more difficult to control. At times, it may be impossible for the player to maneuver the port towards an enemy without running into a hostile creature.
[edit] Stages
There are, in all, 8 stages of gameplay. Each stage features a unique theme, unique enemies, and a boss at the end. Since there is very little storyline, the stages have no background story and thus is mostly speculated.
[edit] Stage 1: Reentry
In this stage, the player is launched from the mothership and descends onto planet Avaron. It takes place first in outer space, and as the level progresses, the background becomes gradually lighter, eventually turning into a blue sky. Stage 1 is the only to not feature a boss at the end.
[edit] Stage 2: City Ruins
This stage is the ruins of a city. The background initially appears to be some sort of industrial zone, and as the player progresses, turns into the ruins of what seems to be a sort of transit system, which leads into what appears to be the heart of the city, where there are destroyed skyscrapers and massive piles of rubble.
The boss at the end is a green, plant-like creature that is, at first, concealed inside a destroyed building. Once the building is destroyed, it is in the open, but can only swim in the wreckage, throwing debris into the air.
[edit] Stage 3: Forest
Stage 3 is a dense jungle that is home to many small and quick, but deadly, creatures, including titanic centipedes and leech-like creatures that multiply very quickly.
The boss is the snake featured on the front of the game case. It lies dormant in a nest at the base of a tree until the player approaches, in which is springs to life and attacks. It has no projectile weapons, but will flail violently and is aided by an endless amount of small blue flying creatures.
[edit] Stage 4: Bauxite Mine
This stage takes place in a cavern. The environment can be sometimes as deadly as the inhabitants, especially in a certain part where the player is bombarded by large crystals, which, if given a reason, would probably be because they were attracted to the player's ship, magnetically or otherwise.
The boss is a large, shrimp-like creature with a vulnerable head and a tail. It uses its tail to block attacks, attack the player, or to pick up sludge from the cave floor which the boss will spread over its body like armor, which the player must destroy before causing damage.
[edit] Stage 5: Oceania
This stage is completely underwater. It is one of the harder levels because there are many small, quick sea-faring creatures that attack from all sides, including some that resemble jellyfish.
This boss looks like a mix of a shark and an angler fish. It is fought in the middle of a school of demonic-looking fish. This boss can maneuver up and down, and sometimes as far as the extreme left of the screen, where the player is. At timed intervals, it will open its mouth to shoot a set of three laser-like projectiles.
[edit] Stage 6: Flying Destroyer
This is the first stage that is not available in Practice mode. It takes place, again, in the sky. In this stage, instead of warding off hostile creatures on the way to the boss, there is one enemy: an unfathomably large airship that the player must shoot down piece by piece. Though it has a metal shell, when shot open, it is revealed to have many biological components, including what appears to be a rib cage.
The boss is the "cockpit", which will eject and become a ship of its own when the rest of the entire thing is destroyed. It simply flies in a gradual pattern of vertical zigzags. When it becomes critically damaged, red and white slug-like creatures will shoot out of it, attacking the player.
[edit] Stage 7: Biowar Lab Grounds
This stage seems to be an industrial area, possibly the place where the "bio-hazard" originated. The sky in the background is orange, and after a minute or so a futuristic structure that appears to be a factory appears. By this part of the stage, there are pipes that block parts of the screen, leaving only a narrow path riddled with many creatures that shoot projectiles, that sometimes shoot smaller projectiles themselves.
The boss in this stage is not a single visible enemy, but rather, as the player descends into the factory at the end of the stage, their ship is bombarded from all sides by blobs and tiny wiry creatures.
[edit] Stage 8: Biowar Lab Core
The final stage of the game. This stage looks like a laboratory or factory, and is probably the inside of the building seen in the background of the previous level. Enemies include mechanical turrets, worm-like creatures that shoot debri when destroyed, and large eyeballs that appear from nowhere. About halfway through the level there is a large door that must be destroyed. Behind it is a strange looking cavern filled with many small bug-like creatures.
At the end of the cave is the final boss.
