Forgotten Worlds A CPS-1 ARCADE GAME RETROSPECTIVE
ABOUT THE CPS-1
The CP System or CPS-1 is an arcade system board developed by Capcom that ran game software stored on removable ROM cartridges. More than two dozen arcade titles were released for the CPS-1 between 1988 and 1995 before Capcom shifted game development over to its successor, the CPS-2.
The first game released for this new hardware was "Lost Worlds" in Japan, a title lost in the translation to the West, and renamed to Forgotten Worlds.
Forgotten Worlds is a side-scrolling shoot-'em-up game released as a coin-operated video game in 1988. The game took two years to develop, with a production budget of $5 million.
This game is the third and final of Capcom's 'Jet-Pack Hero' shooters. Other games that fall into this catergory are Section Z and Side Arms: Hyper Dyne.
Set in a distant future, an evil god known as Emperor Bios has destroyed most of the Earth, turning it into a desolated wasteland known as the "Dust World". Two nameless super-soldiers are created by the people to defeat Bios and the eight evil gods who serve him.
Forgotten Worlds can be played by up to two players simultaneously. The player controls a flying muscle-bound soldier armed with a rifle with unlimited ammo. The Player 1 character is equipped with a long-range automatic rifle, while Player 2 has a short-range wide shot.
The controls in the original coin-op version consists of an eight-way joystick for moving the character in the air while flying and a unique rotatable button known as the "roll switch". Rotating the switch left or right allows the player to adjust their character's aim in one of sixteen directions, while pressing it causes the player character to shoot his gun. This allows for the player to move their character anywhere while keeping their aim in one direction. Pressing the switch rapidly will cause the character to perform a "megacrush" attack which will destroy all on-screen enemies, but at the expense of a portion of their vitality gauge.
The player character is accompanied by a satellite module orbiting near him that will provide backup firepower every time the player fires their gun. Like the main character, the satellite can also be rotated with the roll switch. Rotating the character while firing will only rotate the aim of the satellite, while rotating the character without firing will not only rotate the satellite's aim, it will also move its relative position around the player.
The player can obtain blue-colored coins known as "zennies" from defeating enemies throughout the game. The zennies are used as currency to obtain new power-up items from shops located at certain points in each stage. When the player enters an item shop, they are given a choice of the items available and a limited time to make any purchase they wish. These items consists primarily of new weapons for the satellite module, but also includes a health kit to restore lost vitality, an armor that allows the player to sustain additional damage, and even tips on how to defeat the boss awaiting at the end of the current stage.
Forgotten Worlds consists of three worlds, nine stages and nine bosses. Dust World stages conclude with Magnetic Paramecium, Dust Dragon and War God. Pyramid World has Rah, Centipede and Tutankhamen. Sky World finishes with Iceman, twin warriors Whodin & Laidin and Bios. The player will lose if their vitality gauge runs out, but will be given a chance to continue.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE GAME
The content in this 'slate' is from various internet sources including:
Slate created by Hayden Yale, 2015
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