Developer: Capcom Publisher: NEC Avenue Release: 12/15/89 Genre: Shooter
Side Arms is the second Turbo Grafx-16 game I ever owned. After suffering with Keith Courage for two months it was a massive relief to finally play something new. The fact the game was pretty good was a nice bonus on top. As a shooter Side Arms ranks in the middle of the system’s legendary library. But the special CD version of the game places it a notch higher in my opinion. Side Arms Special is more than just a port; it adds a whole new game on top that makes it more than worth a second purchase.
Side Arms Special is two games in one that allows you to pick between the two. Standard is the hucard game with a red book audio soundtrack. This is a special treat as the music in the home version was already significantly better than the arcade. For the most part Side Arms is an especially faithful port of the arcade game and a solid shooter. It is long by shooter standards and with its high difficulty you will not see the credits in one sitting. But let’s be honest the real reason you buy this game is for the Before Christ mode.
Despite the biblical name Before Christ mode has nothing to do with God. Calling it a remix is selling it short. You can almost view Before Christ mode as an unofficial sequel. The gameplay changes and structure are significant. You no longer collect weapons and switch between them at will. Whatever weapon you pick up is what you are stuck with. Weapon drops cycle automatically and are more frequent to facilitate this setup. All the weapons are the same however you can manually fire a charged shot like R-Type. This weapon is ideal for bosses but it also changes their design and behavior for the worse in my opinion. Standard Mode presented the game as one long journey with no set level breaks. Before Christ has ten distinct rounds with almost completely new art, enemies, and bosses.
The levels and their pacing are also different. You begin each level powering up from scratch. It is an odd choice and one that is not radically different at first. The first rounds always begin with a few weapon pods and few enemies. But soon enough the waves start almost immediately and it becomes a race to grab your power-ups to survive. The levels are shorter but densely packed with items and enemies to facilitate the greater scoring system. There are bonus items everywhere in the environment and collecting POW items grant point bonuses. Extra lives come regularly and you will need them as this is harder than the main game, from the stages themselves to the bosses.
The one area of the game I do not like is the bosses. The bosses themselves have excellent attack patterns that are easy to discern yet hard to avoid. The problem is their lone weak spot is vulnerable for a second. This is clearly to justify the addition of the charged shot which on its face is not bad. However this means you spend long periods of time dodging bullets, lasers, and missiles, in hopes of getting lucky to get off one shot. True you can shoot it normally. But unless you have a fully powered weapon you are looking at boss battles that can drag on for close to ten minutes. Outside of the grueling difficulty this is the one sore spot in that I wish were different in the game. You end up dreading the boss fights rather than looking forward to them.
Side Arms was a difficult game with its frantic action and limited credits. Before Christ is notably more challenging due to a few factors. You power-up from scratch at the beginning of every level. By the midpoint the difficulty curve is so high you will probably die within the opening moments of the level. Even worse rather than respawn on death you are sent back to a checkpoint. Because you do not keep weapons in reserve like standard mode you are at the mercy of what few power-ups you can find while progressing. You will more than likely die inevitably during a boss battle at which point the death spiral begins. Some of the checkpoints in later levels are cruel in their placement. To the game’s credit extra lives are generous through scoring and by scouring the environment. But this easily one of the harder shooters on the platform.
In Closing
Side Arms Special justifies its moniker as a fully featured package. If this were simply the hucard game on a disc it would be a waste no matter how good the music is. But with the inclusion of Before Christ mode this becomes a game worth seeking out even if you own the original. Two great games for the price of one is an excellent value. It’s a damn shame Side Arms Special never left Japan, it requires no localization and would have bolstered the library.
