Armed Police Batrider

Armed Police Batrider (アームドポリス バトライダー) is a vertically scrolling manic shooter arcade game developed and published by Raizing/Eighting in 1998. The player controls teams of flying jet bikes (Batriders) each with their own pilot; players can choose up to three of nine standard characters plus another nine unlockable characters from the previous Raizing games Mahou Daisakusen and Battle Garegga. Batrider contains up to seven stages along with a large number of secrets, which are either unlockable with codes or DIP switch settings, or hidden within the game itself.

Plot

In the year 2014, Manhattan was plagued with unprecedented levels of crime. No measure of law enforcement seemed able to combat the strife and violence, and so a desperate plan was brought forth by GiganTech Cybertronics Corporation. This plan was the artificial island Zenovia, two kilometers south of Manhattan, which would be patrolled by GiganTech's own robotic creations. A rapid exodus from Manhattan to Zenovia resulted.

However, by 2019, the promise of tranquility has not been fulfilled. Even with all the expansions to Zenovia the population influx called for, it has become something of a slum, except for the massive GiganTech headquarters. There have been quarrels over whether or not Zenovia should be regarded as being the jurisdiction of the United States, or just GiganTech. Crime, amazingly, has grown even more rapidly than Manhattan ever knew—partly because the GiganTech machines have been promoting everything EXCEPT law and order. The most horrific aspect, though, is the result of an intelligence investigation from the government...

GiganTech's own executives, both then and now, are actually among the most dangerous criminals the country has ever known. Zenovia, far from being planned as a refuge from violence, was actually a trap and a testing ground for the weapons GiganTech plans to use to become the sole power of the underworld.

Neither police nor armies are willing to commit against the mechanical forces that GiganTech commands and invade Zenovia. Therefore, nine fighters—three police, three convicts, and three psychics—have been drafted as "Zero-Cops", riding the BatRider airbikes against the forces invading Manhattan and charging into Zenovia to take down GiganTech's CEO and his ultimate weapon, known only as "Discharge".

Characters

The nine standard characters are D.D, Shorty and Jyuji, the Police Team; Maria, Golden and Strawman, the Psychic Team; and Birthday, Tag-T and Adam, the Criminal Team.

The nine secret characters are Silver Sword, Grasshopper, Flying Baron and Wild Snail from Battle Garegga, and Gain, Chitta, Miyamoto, Bornnam and Car-Pet from the Mahou Daisakusen series.

The game's secret bosses will only appear if (in addition to some other criteria) a particular type of character is alive at the point the boss spawns. Six bosses are from the Mahou Daisakusen series, and three from Battle Garegga; these bosses require a character from their respective game. The other two secret bosses are unique to Batrider, and require a Batrider character.

Gameplay

Screenshot of Armed Police Batrider

Gameplay takes place across up to seven stages, with a varying number of bosses depending upon the player selection and whether certain hidden tasks have been performed during gameplay. During Advanced course, it is possible to fight as few as seven or as many as all eighteen of the game's bosses. Small and Large Shot powerups, Option powerups and medals drop frequently from popcorn enemies, and fall down off the screen from where they spawn. Extra lives are granted every 1,500,000 points.

Pressing A fires the main Shot and, if the requisite powerups have been collected, the player's Options. Pressing B fires the Bomb, and pressing nothing powers up the Aura, a small energy field at the front of the player which causes damage.

Game modes

In addition to selectable difficulty levels via dipswitch, there are also four player-selectable variants of the game:

• Training course lasts for three stages; Manhattan City, one of the three Stage Edit stages below (unless left or right is held while selecting the course), and Highway. The game will automatically use any remaining bombs if the player takes a hit.
• Normal course lasts for five stages; Manhattan City, Sky High/Airport/Sewage System in random order unless Stage Edit is enabled, and finally Highway, as well as Bashinet II's secret boss stage, Colosseum.
• Advanced course is the full game of seven stages; the above, Zenovia City, and Building, as well as more secret boss stages, Black Heart II's Airport, Bashinet R's Night Flight and Glow Squid's Night View.
• Special course is a boss rush mode using the Advanced course versions of the bosses, with the same criteria determining which bosses are fought as the other modes. On Japanese versions, it must be enabled via dipswitch.

Versions and regions

There are two different Japanese versions of Batrider. The first A version has a bug that allows the players to fight with Bashinet indefinitely. The later B version fixes the bug, and adds the ability to control the options of the Battle Garegga planes with the C button (as in the original), and allows for the region to be changed.

If the game's region is set outside Japan, some minor gameplay alterations occur:

• Menus and endings are shown in English (except for Korea, where menus are in Korean and endings in English).
• Player Select, Guest Players (hidden characters) and Stage Edit are automatically enabled without the need for the respective dip settings or codes.
• Extends are collected automatically every 1,500,000 points, rather than being dropped as items.
• The ability to change bullet colours (with Start+any direction) and firing rate (Start+A/C), and enable score display (Start+B) is no longer present.

There is also a so-called "Special Version", which can be enabled on any version of Batrider by holding down A, B and C while booting. Amongst other things, Special Version shows some additional information on the title screen, allows the player to pause or slow the game with the Start button, and allows the selection of individual Normal course stages and bosses to practice by moving left or right while selecting Special course.

External links

• Eighting page
• Armed Police BatRider at Arcade History
• Armed Police Batrider at the Killer List of Videogames