Assault (1988 video game)

For the Onbase video game, see Assault (1983 video game).
Assault

Arcade flyer
Developer(s) Namco
Publisher(s)
Designer(s) Kunio Ogawara
Composer(s) Shinji Hosoe
Kazuo Noguchi
Platform(s) Arcade, Wii (Virtual Console)
Release date(s) Arcade
  • JP April 1988
  • NA 1988
Wii Virtual Console
  • JP June 9, 2009
Genre(s) Multi-directional shooter
Mode(s) Single player
Cabinet Standard upright
Arcade system Namco System 2
CPU 2x Motorola 68000 @ 12.288 MHz,
1x Motorola M6809 @ 3.072 MHz,
1x Hitachi HD63705 @ 2.048 MHz
Sound 1x Yamaha YM2151 @ 3.57958 MHz,
1x C140 @ 21.39 kHz
Display Vertical orientation, raster, 224 x 288 resolution

Assault (アサルト Asaruto) is a multi-directional shooter arcade game, which was released by Namco in 1988 and licensed to Atari Games for US manufacture and distribution; it is the last Namco game that was licensed to them, even though their logo still appears on the Mejā Stadium scoreboard in World Stadium '89 Kaimakuban and '90. It runs upon Namco System 2 hardware - and was the first game to use sprite scaling and massive sprite rotation, rather than Japan-only Ordyne which was released later in the year.

Description

The player controls a futuristic tank, attacking the surface forces of an alien environment. The game's main draw is its innovative controls and perspective. The tank is controlled by two four-way joysticks. The standard movements, such as "forward" and "turn left", are executed in the same manner as those of other tank driving games, like Battlezone. That is, the player pushes both joysticks away for "forward", pull the left joystick towards and push the right one away for "turn left". But since the joysticks are four-way, two other moves can be executed. Pushing both joysticks away from one another (i.e. the left to the left and the right to the right) causes the tank to rear up on its back end for a moment. When up in this position, the player can fire a lethal nuclear blast, instead of the standard shots when in the normal position. Afterwards, the tank returns to its standard stance. If both joysticks are pushed right or left, the tank shall roll (or "strafe") to that direction.

Another innovation with this game is the perspective. While the overhead perspective was not new, the game kept the player's tank centered in the screen while the playfield rotated about the player's tank. Presented this way, the tank was more maneuverable and lifelike.

One additional innovation is the way the tank enters and exits the battlefield. The tank is airdropped from above. But instead of the tank falling down from the sky, the battlefield appeared to come up towards the tank. When a stage was cleared, the tank would raise above the surface and then drop through a hatch in the ground. These methods of entering and leaving reinforce the player-tank-centric approach of the game.

The player battles eleven waves of enemy forces (if its "SELECT" setting is set to "ON", the player can begin on Stage 6). After the final stage, the player is rewarded with a list of schematics of his or her tank (much like the ending for Namco's own Blazer), and a final screen saying "Thanks for your play".

Assault Plus

Assault was followed by Assault Plus, an upgraded version with redesigned visuals and color palettes, and adding higher-ranked enemies to earlier stages; instead of a linear run through all 11 stages as in original Assault, the game is presented in episodic format, with each episode titled "Rehearsal for the Core" and "Battle for the Core" respectively. Rehearsal takes place in Stages 1, 3, 4, 5, and the first area of Stage 1 - and Battle contains all the stages except for Stage 1. Assault Plus was not given a release outside Japan; however, it was included as a bonus game in Namco Museum Volume 4 for the Sony PlayStation.

External links