Road Blaster

Road Blaster

Japanese flyer for the arcade version
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)
Director(s) Yoshihisa Kishimoto[1]
Programmer(s) Shintaro Kuma
Artist(s) Hideki Takayama
Yoshinobu Inano
Composer(s) Michael K. Nakamura
(intro theme by The Jaywalk)
Platform(s)

Release
Genre(s) Interactive movie
Vehicular combat
Mode(s) Single-player, two-player

Road Blaster (ロードブラスター) is a 1985 interactive movie video game produced by Data East for the arcades.

Gameplay

As with other laserdisc-based arcade games from the same time, the gameplay consists of on-screen instructions overlaid over pre-recorded full motion video animated footage of high-speed chases and vehicular combat. The player controls the cross-hair to steer their car toward the correct directions according to the green arrows flashing and beeping beside it, while controlling the gas pedal, brake and booster whenever they light up.

The game has nine stages. Upon successfully completing a level, the player is graded on the reaction time. Different difficulty levels can be selected. In Normal Mode, pop-up icons and audio tones signal when to turn left or right, brake, hit turbo, or hit other cars. In Hard Mode, there are no on-screen icons to guide the player.[9]

Plot

The story of Road Blaster is inspired by revenge thriller films such as Mad Max,[10] and takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland[10] in the late 1990s United States (in the future at the time of the game's release). The player assumes the role of a vigilante who drives a customized sports car in order to get revenge on a biker gang responsible for his wife's death on their honeymoon. After recovering from his own injuries, he upgrades his car and goes on a rampage through nine areas. His goal is to seek out the gang's female boss and complete his vengeance.

Development

Road Blaster uses animation provided by the anime studio Toei Animation.[11] It was animated under the guidance of Yoshinobu Inano, who also directed or key-animated such films such as Gundam: Char's Counter Attack, Macross: Do You Remember Love?, and The Transformers: The Movie.[12] It was animated using 15,000 hand-painted cels to produce over 30 minutes of animation.[9] Game director Yoshihisa Kishimoto, who previously worked on Cobra Command, later directed the arcade version of Double Dragon, where the car from Road Blaster can be seen inside the Lee brothers' garage at the start of the game.

Releases

Road Blaster was originally released in 1985 as a laserdisc-based arcade game. Various ports were released throughout, including versions for the MSX, X1 Mega CD/Sega CD, LaserActive (in Mega LD format), Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (prototyped as Turbo Blaster). However, only the Sega CD and Mega LD versions were released outside Japan, under the titles Road Avenger and Road Prosecutor, respectively. The titles were possibly changed to avoid confusion with the similarly titled arcade game RoadBlasters by Atari Games, which was ported to the Mega Drive around the same time.[13] Road Blaster was also released for the Sharp X68000[7] and for and Windows in 2011, exclusively in Japan.[14] Cobra Command and Road Blaster were ported to iOS by Revolutionary Concepts in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

Other variations included one-shot reproductions for VHS cassette players such as Takara's Video Challenger which was a limited interactive port of the Road Blaster arcade game. The Sega Saturn and PlayStation ports were compilations of Road Blaster and another laserdisc arcade game developed by the same team titled Thunder Storm (known outside Japan as Cobra Command). An unofficial Super NES port was also released in 2011. However, the game relies heavily on the MSU1 Media Enhancement Chip, a somewhat new chip which allows 4GB of additional storage space, full motion video playback and stereo PCM audio.[15]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankingsSega CD: 90%[16]
MetacriticiOS: 78%[8]
Review scores
PublicationScore
AllGameArcade: [17]
Sega CD: [18]
LaserActive: [19]
DragonSega CD: [20]
FamitsuMega CD: 32 / 40[3]
Saturn: 25 / 40[21]
PS1: 23 / 40[21]
GameFanSega CD: 383 / 400[4]
GameProSega CD: 5 / 5[9]
IGNiOS: 8 / 10[22]
Electronic GamesSega CD: 86%[23]
Pocket GameriOS: 7 / 10[24]
Award
PublicationAward
FamitsuGold Award[3]

Dragon reviewers gave the Sega CD version of the game 4 out of 5 stars in 1993.[20] GameFan noted it has greater interaction compared to Time Gal and Thunderstorm, and praised the "non-stop control of the vehicle," graphics, smooth animation, and "andrenaline rush" experience.[4] GamePro praised the highly detailed animation and stereo CD sound, and called it a "masterpiece" that is "like participating in an intense, action-packed, animated movie."[9]

On release, Famitsu gave the Mega CD version a score of 32 out of 40,[3] while MEGA rated it at 86%.[25] Famitsu later scored the Sega Saturn version a 25 out of 40, and the PlayStation version a 23 out of 40.[21] The iOS port was released to generally favourable reviews,[8] including the scores of 8 out of 10 from IGN[22] and 7 out of 10 from Pocket Gamer.[24]

Novelization

A novelization of the game was announced in 2009.[26][27] The project was officially authorized by G-Mode of Japan (the rights holder to most of Data East's catalog) to be written by Mary Margaret Park.

References

  1. ↑ "Yoshihisa Kishimoto's website (熱血硬派！)". Yoshihisa Kishimoto. Retrieved 2009-09-04.
  2. ↑ "ロードブラスター まとめ [MSX] / ファミ通.com". Famitsu.com. 2014-11-27. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "ロードブラスターFX まとめ [メガドライブ] / ファミ通.com". Famitsu.com. 2014-11-27. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
  4. 1 2 3 GameFan, volume 1, issue 3 (January 1993), pages 11 & 26-27
  5. ↑ "サンダーストーム＆ロードブラスター まとめ [セガサターン] / ファミ通.com". Famitsu.com. 2014-11-27. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
  6. ↑ "サンダーストーム＆ロードブラスター まとめ [PS] / ファミ通.com". Famitsu.com. 2014-11-27. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
  7. 1 2 "― X68対応ゲームが新発売？「ロードブラスター」（1985年発売）をWindows/X68kに移植した同梱版を5月4日発売". 4gamer.net. 2009-03-23. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  8. 1 2 3 "Road Blaster for iPhone/iPad Reviews". Metacritic.com. 2011-02-01. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  9. 1 2 3 4 GamePro, issue 45 (April 1993), pages 52-53
  10. 1 2 Buchanan, Levi (2010-08-12). "Laser Craze Alert - Road Blaster's Coming - IGN". IGN. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  11. ↑ "Modern Review: Road Blaster (Apple iOS Devices)". RetroCollect.com. 2012-07-04. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  12. ↑ "VIDEO: Toei Animated "Road Blaster" Offered on iOS". Crunchyroll.com. 2011-10-09. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  13. ↑ "Road Avenger – Now this is a special game". Planetarbitrary.com. 2013-02-01. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  14. ↑ "― Windows版「ロードブラスター」のアップデータ兼体験版を4GamerにUp。モンスターマシンを乗りこなし，復讐を遂げろ". 4gamer.net. 2011-07-01. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  15. ↑ "FMV Support Comes To The Super Nintendo With An Unofficial Playable Port Of Laserdisc's Road Blaster". RetroCollect.com. 2011-12-28. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  16. ↑ "Road Avenger for Sega CD". GameRankings. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
  17. ↑ "Road Blaster - Overview - allgame". Web.archive.org. 2014-12-11. Archived from the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
  18. ↑ "Road Avenger - Overview - allgame". Web.archive.org. 2014-12-11. Archived from the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
  19. ↑ "Road Prosecutor - Overview - allgame". Web.archive.org. 2014-12-10. Archived from the original on December 10, 2014. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
  20. 1 2 Lesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia & Lesser, Kirk (July 1993). "The Role of Computers". Dragon (195): 5764.
  21. 1 2 3 NEW GAMES CROSS REVIEW: サンダーストーム&ロードブラスター. Weekly Famicom TsNo.358. Pg.31. 27 October 1995.
  22. 1 2 "Road Blaster iPhone Review - IGN". Uk.ign.com. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  23. ↑ Electronic Games, volume 1, issue 9 (June 1993), page 84
  24. 1 2 "Road Blaster review - iPhone reviews". Pocketgamer.co.uk. 2011-01-18. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  25. ↑ "Out-of-Print Archive • Mega Drive reviews • Road Blasters FX (Mega CD)". Outofprintarchive.com. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
  26. ↑ "The Road Avenger Novel, First Public Demo Debut". Reuters.com. 2009-08-26. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  27. ↑ "Green-Light Received for 'The Road Avenger' Novel; 'Road Blaster' Roars Into 2009 in MMP Publishing's Novelization of". Reuters .com. 2009-01-13. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
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