Burning Force
| Burning Force | |
|---|---|
 Arcade flyer | |
| Developer(s) | Namco |
| Publisher(s) | Namco |
| Designer(s) | Takinoue[1] |
| Composer(s) | Yoshinori Kawamoto |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Sega Mega Drive, Virtual Console |
| Release date(s) | Arcade
|
| Genre(s) | 3D shooter |
| Mode(s) | Up to 2 players, alternating turns |
| Cabinet | Upright, cabaret, and cocktail |
| 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 | Horizontal orientation, Raster, 288 x 224 resolution |
Burning Force (バーニングフォース Bāningu Fōsu) is a 3D shooter arcade game, which was released by Namco in 1989 only in Japan; it runs on Namco System 2 hardware and was later ported to the Sega Mega Drive in 1990. It was also later rereleased on the Wii Virtual Console on July 14, 2009 - and the player controls a 21-year-old space cadet named Hiromi Tengenji (天元時ひろみ Tengenji Hiromi) (born 1968), who as part of her final training must battle high-tech enemies through five worlds of four areas, on a futuristic airbike named "Signduck" (although its name is never mentioned in the game).
Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to that of Sega's Space Harrier (which was released four years earlier and the first game from that company to use a Yamaha YM2203), but the worlds are divided into four areas and there is no vertical mobility making the game different in its own right; in the first two sections the player controls Hiromi on the airbike, which can move to the left and right, as well as braking and accelerating - and the airbike can also fire bullets and missiles at the enemies. The third area of every world is a boss area and the airbike will be transformed into a flying ship which can move in all directions; the fourth area of each world, however, is a bonus stage and the player has to collect as many spheres (which have numbers on them) as possible for bonus points.
Soundtrack
Namco Game Sound Express Vol. 02 - Burning Force, published by Victor Entertainment on February 7, 1990, contains the original soundtrack from Burning Force with compositions by Yoshinori Kawamoto.[2]
Legacy
Hiromi Tengenji went on to reappear in an advertisement on an airship in Mach Breakers (along with Pac-Man, Prince Gil and Princess Ki from The Tower of Druaga, Wonder Momo, Valkyrie from Valkyrie no Densetsu, and Pitto and Patti from Tinkle Pit); she also appeared in the Namco System 12-era World Stadium games as the Nikotama Gals' defensive half. She was also a playable character in the Japan-only SRPG Namco X Capcom where she is partnered with Toby "Kissy" Masuyo, the main character of the Baraduke games - and she also made an appearance in ShiftyLook's Namco dating sim, Namco High, as one of eighteen dateable characters.
References
External links
- Burning Force at the Killer List of Videogames
- Burning Force at the Arcade History database
- Burning Force guide at StrategyWiki
- Burning Force at The Arcade Flyer Archive