Baraduke , renamed Alien Sector in some regions, is a run and gun video game released for arcades by Namco in 1985. A home version was published for the X68000 .
35-445: The player takes control of a spacewoman in a biohazard suit. Player 1 is Kissy and Player 2 is Takky. They must clear eight worlds of increasing difficulty (each one is composed of five regular floors and one boss floor) by using their wave guns to destroy all the enemies populating them. They must also save the one-eyed Paccets for extra points and the chance to earn another shield in the end-of-floor bonus games. On each floor there are
70-414: A "reasonably fast, mildly addictive" game, but said it "hasn't got the qualities to take it into the top ten arcade games." In a 2016 retrospective, Federico Tiraboschi of Hardcore Gaming 101 compared the game to Nintendo 's Metroid (1986), noting that Baraduke anticipated several elements of Metroid . He said "in both you play as a faceless space soldier in a bright-colored suit who travels inside
105-402: A being similar to Xiaomu. It is eventually revealed that Ouma wishes to resurrect a dark deity dubbed "99" through the merging of multiple realities. Reiji's father Shougo fought Saya to prevent this ten years before and was forced to sacrifice himself with Xiaomu's aid to succeed. While initially defeated, Ouma succeeds in merging the worlds, and 99 is resurrected using Saya as a host. While Reiji
140-536: A boy. A Paccet (which is a small, round yellow alien with only one eye) appears in the background as a painting in Tales of Destiny . Elle Mel Marta 's backpack in Tales of Xillia 2 is also a Paccet, with a small charm shaped like Kissy attached to it. Paccet makes a cameo in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U as part of Pac-Man's taunt, "Namco Roulette". Namco Pac-Land Namco
175-679: A certain number of enemies known as Octy, which will leave power-up capsules behind when defeated. Defeating all the Octy on the current floor will open up a pipe at the bottom of the floor, and the player will have to find and enter it in order to proceed to the next one. The boss floors feature a giant enemy (a Blue Worm in Worlds 1, 3, 5 and 7, a Turning Eye in Worlds 2, 4 and 6, and the Octy King himself in World 8) who must be killed in order to proceed to
210-656: A character's fatigue level, which when maxed out will prevent them from moving for several turns. Successful attacks build up special meters which allow for both a unit-specific special attack and a Multi-Assault attack where another character is called in to deal extra damage. The player party can also engage in a defensive battle when attacked, with successful defending decreasing or nullifying damage and regaining AP. The player can also directly counterattack, which drains AP. With each battle, player characters gain experience levels based on earned EXP. The story opens with Reiji Arisu and his kitsune mentor Xiaomu, operatives for
245-539: A free-range spaceman with a jetpack traversing a number of sectors scrolling both horizontally and vertically," but "in Baraduke the player characters are affected by gravity and their gun's recoil." A sequel titled Bakutotsu Kijūtei was released in 1988, but only in Japan. It was the second game from the company to allow scores not ending in "0" (the first was Hopping Mappy , which was released in 1986). Baraduke
280-407: A lack of worldwide recognition for many of the represented characters as potential reasons for this. A fan translation was created by a group called TransGen, made up of ten development team members and thirty beta testers. The translation was completed over two years, releasing in 2008. The soundtrack consists mainly of arrangements of themes from represented series. The only credited arranger
315-478: A maze filled with alien enemies, and a "surprise" reveal of their female protagonists at the end. In the Mr. Driller series of games, Kissy Masuyo is a supporting character under the name Toby Masuyo (they refer to "Kissy" as being her nickname). She has married and divorced Taizo Hori (better known as Dig Dug , the protagonist of the 1982 arcade game of the same name) and they have three children, Susumu Hori (who
350-800: A number of Atari arcade titles in Japan. Namco has ventured onto other platforms, either itself or through licensing agreements with other publishers. Namco x Capcom Namco × Capcom (pronounced as "Namco Cross Capcom") is a tactical role-playing (RPG) crossover video game developed by Monolith Soft for the PlayStation 2 and published by Namco in 2005. The gameplay combines tactical RPG and action sequences during battles, featuring characters from video game series owned by Namco and Capcom . The narrative sees original characters Reiji Arisu and Xiaomu, operatives for paranormal investigative group Shinra, confront distortions bringing characters from other realities into their own. The project
385-403: A sprawling complex of caves full of weird alien creatures" and both later reveal the player character to be female. However, he said Baraduke "focuses more on the shooting than the exploration, which is there, but to a minimal extent" compared to Metroid . He also compared Baraduke to Capcom 's Section Z (1985), released later the same year, noting that in "both games the players control
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#1732797587473420-445: A woman with a big sister persona. This forced multiple rewrites to the script. While he remembered it fondly in later years, Morizumi found the project exhausting. Shinichiro Okamoto, one of the game's executive producers, described the project as difficult for him and credited the rest of the staff with helping the game reach completion. The character redesigns for Namco and Capcom characters were done by Takuji Kawano, an artist from
455-502: Is Yasunori Mitsuda , who worked on his own tracks for Xenosaga Episode I . The opening and ending themes were composed by Yuzo Koshiro . The game was Koshiro's first time writing vocal themes. Koshiro was brought in to work on Namco × Capcom due to Ishitani being a fan of his work, with the vocal themes being the composer's only contribution to the soundtrack. The lyrics were written by Morizumi and both songs were performed by Flair. A special soundtrack album containing selected tracks
490-681: Is assigned to each character at the beginning of a battle. The game's turn-based battles play out in a grid-based arena from an overhead perspective; each unit on both sides has their turn placed according to their current AP. Any character with ten AP can move and perform actions, with AP being recovered by doing little or nothing for each turn. Movement distance varies between characters, with some walking or flying and others being able to pass over obstacles. Playable characters appear in both pairs and as solo units, with different characters specializing in short or long-range attacks based on their abilities in their native series. When units engage in battle,
525-454: Is noted as an early example of a female game protagonist, with her gender being revealed in a "twist" ending. Although the game's primary protagonist, Toby "Kissy" Masuyo, is a woman, the player is led to believe she is a man until her face is revealed in the ending. This predated by one year Samus Aran from Metroid as a human female playable character. The game has been further compared to Metroid for its similarities, as both games feature
560-485: Is prepared to sacrifice himself as Shougo did, his and Xiaomu's allies return from their realities and combine their powers to cripple 99. Saya allows herself to be killed by Reiji to destroy 99 permanently. At a celebratory party which all their allies attend, Reiji and Xiaomu mutually declare their love for each other. Namco × Capcom was developed by Monolith Soft , then a subsidiary of Namco consisting of former Square employees who had gained fame through their work on
595-564: Is the main character of Mr. Driller ), Ataru Hori, and Taiyo Toby. Kissy is also a playable character in the Japan-only tactical role-playing video game Namco x Capcom , where she is teamed up with Hiromi Tengenji from Burning Force . Due to her divorce, she seems to have a grudge against Taizo Hori , who also appears in this game (a reference to the Mr. Driller series). Tron Bonne , from Capcom 's Mega Man Legends game, mistakes her for
630-468: The SNK vs. Capcom series. Namco × Capcom was Morizumi's first project for Monolith Soft, and he was in charge of writing the game's scenario. The main theme of the story was "Love", a theme common to Morizumi's later writing. The antagonistic Saya was originally written as "brutal and irritating", but the character's interactions with Xiaomu and the input of her voice actress Ai Orikasa changed Saya into
665-559: The Soulcalibur series. The original characters were designed by Kazue Saito, who like Morizumi had worked on the Super Robot Wars franchise. Saito also designed the sprite graphics, and cut-in graphics for battles. The conversation portraits for characters were designed by veteran artist Kazunori Haruyama. The design of main protagonist Reiji was based on the builds of professional wrestlers. The game's opening animation
700-576: The Xenosaga series and Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean . The game was directed and written by Soichiro Morizumi, a former employee of Banpresto and veteran of their Super Robot Wars franchise. The producer was Kouji Ishitani, who had served as an assistant director for Xenosaga Episode I and Baten Kaitos . Development began in 2003, and was initially proposed by Monolith Soft as an internal crossover of Namco characters for
735-616: The Xbox 360 , and most recently, as one of the games available in Pac-Man's Pixel Bash . In Japan, Game Machine listed Baraduke on their September 1, 1985 issue as being the fifteenth most-successful table arcade unit of the month. Clare Edgeley of Computer and Video Games reviewed the arcade game in October 1985. She said there's "not much in the way of graphics" or "a story line", but "there's plenty of blasting material." She called it
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#1732797587473770-431: The company's 50th anniversary. This led to a roster of around 100 characters, but the team wanted a larger roster. To achieve this and create a "more exciting" experience, Namco reached out to Capcom to collaborate on the project. Capcom agreed, breaking the accepted reality of the time for large rival companies not to cooperate on a project. The game was Capcom's second major collaboration with another publisher following
805-402: The end of the year, the game was among the top 100 best-selling games in Japan, with total sales of 131,600. Japanese magazine Famitsu positively noted the use of kyōgen comedy routines in dialogue, but found other characters lacking development. One reviewer enjoyed the combination-based battles, but another faulted the game's balance. Gaming website Hardcore Gaming 101 said the game
840-411: The field of enemies. In addition to normal story missions, the player can engage in training levels using training dummies to practice moves. They can also purchase items for healing or character boosts at shops using currency won during battles and through a gambling minigame activated between certain story chapters. Character moves and actions are dictated by Ability Points (AP), of which a set amount
875-467: The game transitions into a horizontal view. Timed button presses trigger different attacks. Each unit's attack number is dictated by a counter labelled "Branch". When the Branch counter is depleted, the battle ends, and if the enemy unit is defeated, they disappear from the map. Successful attacks begin a combination , which increase a character's experience point (EXP) reward. Continual attacks also raise
910-464: The interactions between characters. He also noted the simplicity of the gameplay, attributed to the need for broad appeal. Anoop Gantayat, writing for IGN , found the visuals lacking despite the game's hardware, and called the story structure "pretty plain". He was also disappointed by the shallow RPG elements. Following the release of Namco × Capcom , the two companies would collaborate on future projects, particularly Street Fighter X Tekken and
945-697: The next world. Baraduke runs on Namco Pac-Land hardware, but with a video system that was also used in Metro-Cross and Dragon Buster (modified to support vertical scrolling and a 2048-color palette). In 1995, ten years after its original arcade release, it was ported to the X68000 , and was also included in the fifth volume of the Namco Museum series on the PlayStation . It also appeared in Namco Museum Virtual Arcade on
980-480: The represented series, with original themes composed by Yuzo Koshiro . First announced in January 2005, the game was never released outside Japan, a fact attributed to the obscurity of some characters and the scale of its script. Releasing to strong sales, the game was given mixed reviews by Japanese and English journalists. Following Namco × Capcom , Monolith Soft would work on some other crossover titles, including
1015-582: The successor Project X Zone in 2012 for the Nintendo 3DS . Namco × Capcom is a tactical role-playing game which puts players in control of teams of characters drawn from the video game properties of Namco and Capcom . Gameplay is divided into levels, which are unlocked as the player progresses through the narrative. These levels are split between story segments told through character interactions and gameplay where party members face off against enemy parties, with victory conditions which include clearing
1050-422: The supernatural investigative task force Shinra, being called to deal with interdimensional rifts opening in their world. These rifts pull in beings from alternate realities, many of which ally with Reiji and Xiaomu to fight both the forces behind the rifts and opponents drawn from their native universes. The group is opposed by Ouma, a group dedicated to causing chaos, with their main rival being Ouma operative Saya,
1085-402: Was "all about fan service", enjoying the character interactions but finding the gameplay itself very shallow. Siliconera similarly noted shallow and repetitive gameplay, but said that fans of both Namco and Capcom would enjoy the crossover elements. Hirohiko Niizumi of GameSpot felt that players needed extensive background knowledge of the represented series to enjoy the game, but enjoyed
Baraduke - Misplaced Pages Continue
1120-678: Was a video game developer and publisher , originally from Japan. Bandai Namco Entertainment is the successor to Namco and continues manufacturing and distributing video games worldwide. For Namco games released following the 2006 merger with Bandai 's video game division, see List of Bandai Namco video games . For a list of franchises owned by Bandai Namco, see List of Bandai Namco video game franchises . Namco initially distributed its games in Japan, while relying on third-party companies, such as Atari and Midway Manufacturing to publish them internationally under their own brands. Later, it would handle its own publishing worldwide. Namco released
1155-448: Was produced by Production I.G , famous for their work on anime and video game series. Namco × Capcom was announced in January 2005; at this point, the game was 70% complete. When first announced, Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune praised the initiative behind the project. Namco × Capcom was released in Japan on May 26, 2005. The game was never released internationally, with several outlets citing both its large amount of text and
1190-448: Was proposed by Monolith Soft to celebrate Namco's 50th anniversary, and Capcom was contacted as a partner due to their large character roster. Development began in 2003, directed and written by former Banpresto staff member Soichiro Morizumi. The artwork was cooperatively designed by Soulcalibur artist Takuji Kawano, Kazue Saito of Super Robot Wars , and veteran artist Kazunori Haruyama. The soundtrack uses arrangements of themes from
1225-405: Was released as a first-print bonus with early buyers of the game. A full soundtrack album, which included an extended version of "Brave New World" and karaoke versions of both songs, was released by Capcom's music label Suleputer on August 31, 2005. During the weeks following its release, the game came among the top ten best-selling games, reaching sales of nearly 117,000 units by late June. By
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