Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Supercharged Robot Vulkaiser


It's the year 1977 and the evil Gogoh Army from space is attacking Earth! Japan (and the entire planet)'s only hope comes from the Supercharged Research Center, who developed the Combining Mecha Vulkaiser to fight against the invaders. Go, Vulkaiser! Restore peace to the Earth!
Supercharged Robot Vulkaiser, also spelled VULKAISER in all caps, is a Horizontal Scrolling Shooter developed by Astro Port (the makers of SATAZIUS) and released on Steam in Summer 2015. The game is made to be a huge pastiche of 70s and 80s Super Robots, especially Mazinger Z, Voltron and Voltes V (but there could be dozens of examples), complete with episode titles and big yellow English subtitles, in the form of a Bullet Hell shooter.
The basis of the gameplay is that at fixed points the Vulkaiser can combine with one of the other four Kaiser modules and gain new special attacks. You only have one life, and when one of the Kaisers is destroyed it is gone forever, but the robots are repaired in between levels, replenishing a bit of life.

Now is the time to combine the strength of five:


  • Adjective Noun Fred: Supercharged Robot VULKAISER. Because that's how you name a giant robot anime.
  • Anime Theme Song: You can listen to it on the official site. And you can sing along, too!
  • Bigger Bad: As it usually happens in this kind of anime, Roz is the leader of the Gogoh Army, but the real enemy and Final Boss is Gogoh himself/itself, a planet-sized monstrosity.
  • Bishōnen / Dude Looks Like a Lady: Roz, the leader of the Gogoh Army.
  • Bullet Hell: Especially noticeable in higher difficulty levels.
  • Cliché Storm: That's exactly the point.
  • Cyber Cyclops: Several enemy vessels and robots, most notably the first boss.
  • Destructive Savior: The skyscrapers in the first level will be damaged and destroyed by your bullets. You can't avoid it, but it wouldn't have changed anything anyway.
  • Five-Man Band: The VulFighters are one like in most mecha anime series, only here the fat guy is replaced by an old veteran, and the brooding cool guy by a brooding cool woman.
  • Foreshadowing: Level four is set in space, being Vulkaiser's travel from Earth to the Moon where the Gogoh base is located. At one point a fish-like shape appears in the background. It's Gogoh, the real Bigger Bad.
  • Human Aliens / Horned Humanoid: Prince Roz, possibly as a homage to Voltes V's Boazanian people.
  • Lighter and Softer: The game is much more colorful, campy and light-hearted than every other Astro Port shooter before or since.
  • Make My Monster Grow: A curious example. You always fight Roz on his mecha, but for the final showdown with him you fight... Roz himself, grown to Vulkaiser's size and shooting energy blades and other stuff.
  • Planet Eater: Vulkaiser destroys the Gogoh base on the Moon, but then Gogoh appears and swallows the Earth whole!
  • Recurring Boss: Roz usually shows up mid-level, piloting a different mechanical creature every time.
  • Rocket Punch: Vulkaiser's Missile Fist.
  • Smart Bomb: Every Kaiser module has a different Omega Weapon (not that one) to cancel the enemy bullets.
  • Spiritual Successor: Of sorts, to Geppy X. They both pretend to be an adaptation of a fictional old-school robot anime.
  • This Is a Drill: Drill Kaiser's weapon, and also the first boss' giant drill. Defeating him nets an achievement called "The drill that will pierce the heavens".
  • Two Girls to a Team: Kimiko Usui (pilot of the Needle Kaiser module and Professor Amamori's assistant) and Suzuna Jujo (pilot of the Drill Kaiser).
  • Unobtainium: Vulkanium, the material Vulkaiser is made of. Probably a nod to Mazinger Z's Japanium.
  • Womb Level: The sixth and last level is set inside Gogoh itself, and the enemies there are organic in nature.
  • You Killed My Father: Suzuna Jujo fights to avenge her parents killed by the Gogoh Army.
http://tvtropes.org


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