Night Slashers
| Night Slashers | |
|---|---|
 Japanese arcade flyer of Night Slashers | |
| Developer(s) | Data East |
| Publisher(s) | Data East |
| Composer(s) |
Tatsuya Kiuchi Tomoyoshi Sato |
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Release date(s) | 1993 |
| Genre(s) | Beat 'em up |
| Mode(s) |
Single player Multiplayer up to 3 players |
| CPU |
ARM (7.0805 Mhz) Z80 (3.58 Mhz) |
| Sound |
YM2151 (2.01375 Mhz) OKI6295 (7.627 Khz) OKI6295 (15.255 Khz) |
Night Slashers (ナイトスラッシャーズ) is a 1993 beat'em up arcade game developed and published by Data East.
Gameplay
Night Slashers is similar to Capcom's Final Fight series, which is an archetypal side scrolling beat'em-up game. One, two or three players/characters move from left to right through each level (most of which are split into three or more scenes), fighting with the enemy characters who appear, until they reach a confrontation with a stronger boss character at the end of the level. Once that boss is beaten, the players automatically move on to the next stage. Enemies appear from both sides of the screen and from out of doorways or entrances set into the background, and the player(s) must defeat all of them to progress. If the players try to simply travel through the levels without fighting, the screen will stop scrolling until all current enemies have been defeated, before allowing the players to continue progress. Enemies may move outside the confines of the screen, but players may not. There is a time limit to each stage.
Unlike Final Fight, Night Slashers features three characters with larger move sets (including "smart bomb" or "screen zapper" type moves) and a horror theme. During the course of the game, players fight through hordes of attacking zombies and mutants, as well as other enemies such as werewolves and elementals. Bosses also include stereotypical monsters such as a mummy, a golem, a mad scientist, and lookalikes of Count Dracula, Death the Grim Reaper and Frankenstein's monster. Players fight these enemies and bosses to stop the evil plans of King Zarutz from turning our planet into a world wide kingdom for the dead. What separates this game from other beat'em ups is that the enemies names are never listed on their health bars when fighting them.
In the Japanese version, the blood and gore is uncensored (red blood instead of green, but in the overseas version, there is an option to change blood color and violence level). At the end of a melee attack, Christopher holds out a cross instead of a blue crystal ball. The "Go" arrow flips over to read "To Hell!" in blood. There are extra pictures and dialogue in the cutscenes.
Characters
The player(s) play the role of one of three heroes. The game also has three different endings, one for each character.
- Jake Hunter (ジェーク・ハンター) - an American male monster hunter and street brawler with combatant cybernetic arms. Nicknamed the "Psychic Cyborg", he is the most powerful character. His element is lightning (yellowish-colored powers). Jake is seen with a red jacket and appears in two of the game's endings.
- Christopher Smith (クリストファー・スミス) - a European male vampire hunter and martial artist. He is the most balanced character with an average in speed and power. His elements are water and ice (blue-colored powers). Like Jake, he appears in two endings in the game, and is seen wearing a brown coat and hat.
- Hong Hua (趙.紅華) - an Asian female martial artist, proficient with mystic arts. Although small compared to the other characters, she is the most agile. Her element is fire (red-orange-colored powers). Hong Hua is seen wearing a yellow oriental robe, and she makes an appearance in all three endings.
Reception
It was ranked as the 20th top beat 'em up video game of all time by Heavy.com in 2013.[1]
References
External links
- Night Slashers at the Killer List of Videogames
- Night Slashers at arcade-history
- Night Slashers at VazComics