Cruise Chaser Blassty

Cruise Chaser Blassty
Developer(s) Square
Publisher(s) Square
Designer(s) Hironobu Sakaguchi
Kazuhiko Aoki
Composer(s) Takashi Uno
Nobuo Uematsu
Platform(s) NEC PC-8801, NEC PC-9801, Sharp X1
Release date(s)
  • JP April 30, 1986
Genre(s) Role-playing game
Mode(s) Single player
Distribution CD

Cruise Chaser Blassty (Japanese: クルーズチェイサーブラスティー Hepburn: Kurūzu Cheisā Burasutī) is a science fiction role-playing video game developed by Square for various Japanese computers, including the NEC PC-8801, PC-9801, and Sharp X1. The game featured mecha originally designed by Nagano Mamoru and music by Nobuo Uematsu, being the very first video game score he contributed songs towards. The game had an unusual battle system, which involved the player controlling a customizable mecha robot from a first-person view. It followed a group of young people from Earth caught up in a war between a solar-system spanning government and a group of rebels.

Gameplay

The game is played through a first-person perspective, with a role-playing battle system and the ability to customize the player's mecha.[1]

Story

The game's story focuses on a group of young people from Earth caught up in a war between a group of rebels and a government controlling the solar system. The game is set in the future, where the majority of humanity is ruled by a group, called the Commune, that lives giant space station named Ondina orbiting the Earth, which oversees the development and expansion of humanity throughout the solar system. A group of rebels called the Inverse, based on Mars, are rebelling against what they see as an oppressive government. The primary weapons in the fight are space fighters called Cruise Chasers, which can transform into giant robots using the "Blassty" system; other types of space fighters are also used. The player may choose whether the Inverse or the Commune win, giving the game two different endings.

Development

The game was designed and written by Hironobu Sakaguchi and Kazuhiko Aoki. The graphics were made by Hiromi Nakata and Bruno Miki, and the original designs for the mecha were done by Nagano Mamoru. The programming for the game was done by Seasonal Saegusa for the PC-8801 version, Makoto Wakamatsu for the PC-9801 version, and Takashi Koyama for the X1 version.

Music

The game's music was composed by Nobuo Uematsu, which was his debut project, and Takashi Uno. A vinyl album for the game, titled Cruise Chaser Blassty, was released on Apr 26, 1986, containing six tracks from the game.[2]

Reception and Legacy

The game was the fifth game that Square had published, and the third that they had developed themselves. In 1987, the game's story was adapted into a manga and was serialized in Hobby Japan magazine from 1986 to1987.[3] The chapters were collected into two tankōbon volumes labeled "Part I" and "Part II" released in December 1990 and April 1991 respectively.[4][5] A sequel titled Cruise Chaser Blassty 2 was released on April 1992.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Retro Japanese Computers: Gaming's Final Frontier". Hardcore Gaming 101. p. 3. Retrieved 2011-03-29. Reprinted from Retro Gamer (67), 2009.
  2. ↑ "Cruise Chaser Blassty". Square Enix Music Online. Retrieved 2011-05-13.
  3. ↑ 第35回：クルーズチェイサー・ブラスティー（前編、後編） (in Japanese). Hobby Japan. Retrieved 2013-03-11.
  4. ↑ クルーズチェイサー・ ブラスティー〈前編〉 (ソノラマ文庫) [文庫] (in Japanese). Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved 2013-03-11.
  5. ↑ クルーズチェイサー・ブラスティー〈後編〉 (ソノラマ文庫) [文庫] (in Japanese). Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved 2013-03-11.
  6. ↑ クルーズチェイサー・ ブラスティー〈2〉 (ソ ノラマ文庫) [文庫] (in Japanese). Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved 2013-03-11.

External links