Star Force - MAME machine

Arcade Video game published 40 years ago:

Star Force © 1984 Tehkan.

Star Force is a single-player, vertically-scrolling shoot-em-up in which the player pilots a spaceship called the 'Final Star' over series series of islands floating in outer-space space and must destroy waves of enemy spacecraft and ground-based targets.

Special symbols appear at regular intervals that can be shot or collected for bonuses and power-ups. The Final Star is only equipped with forward-firing guns but these can be upgraded occasionally by collecting the relevant power-up. This resembles a small space ship and doubles the length of the Final Star, while also increasing its fire-power.

The stages in Star Force are designated by letters of the Greek alphabet and each has an end-of-level guardian in the form of a Greek letter that must be defeated to progress to the next level. The guardian moves down the screen and if the player fails to destroy it before it disappears from view, they will have a play a little more of the level in order to reach the guardian again.

TECHNICAL
Main CPU: Zilog Z80 (@ 4 Mhz)
Sound CPU: Zilog Z80 (@ 2 Mhz)
Sound Chips: (3x) Texas Instruments SN76496 (@ 2 Mhz), Custom (@ 2 Mhz)

Players: 2
Control: 8-way joystick
Buttons: 1

TRIVIA
Released in September 1984 in Japan.

This game is known outside Japan as "Megaforce".

TIPS AND TRICKS

• A Trick:

You can determine which direction the end of level boss will move before it even appears by looking at your score. If the hundreds digit is odd, the boss will move to the left. If it is even, it'll move right (the tens and units digits are always zero).

• One Million Points Bonus:

On the violet continent, if you see a coelacanth fossil on the left side, go to the -right- side and shoot. Cleopatra appears - shoot her and you'll get a million-point bonus. The coelacanth may only appear on the third violet continent.

• 80,000 Points Bonus:

At some points in the game you will see two columns of green arrows down the center of the screen. Concentrate on either the left or right column of these arrows, and try to shoot 16 in a row. You will be awarded an 80,000 bonus for doing this. The first time these appear, it is possible to get two such bonuses in a row (if there are not many enemies around!), and sometimes more if the level ends before the column has finished appearing. Later on there is a short column of only 16, so only one bonus is possible here.

• 50,000 Point Bonus:

You've seen a big enemy that combines into parts. When you hear the tune it is about to appear, STOP SHOOTING (You don't actually have to stop shooting altogether, but if you hit part of the enemy before the center part flashes white the bonus will not work). Position your ship so that you are just underneath the center part of the enemy and wait for it to flash white. Once this has happened, shoot the center part several times: the enemy will be destroyed and you will be awarded the 50,000 point special bonus.

SERIES

• Star Force (1984, Arcade)
• Super Star Force [Model TCF-ST] (1986, Famicom)
• Final Star Force (1992, Arcade)

STAFF
Music and Sound FX: Shinichi Sakamoto (Cheabow), Tsukasa Masuko (Matsu)

PORTS

• CONSOLES:

[JP] Sega SG-1000 (1985) "Star Force [Model G-1043]"
[JP] Nintendo Famicom (june.25, 1987) "Star Force [Model HFC-SF]"
[JP] Nintendo Super Famicom (jul.7, 1995) "Caravan Shooting Collection [Model SHVC-AS8J-JPN]"
[JP] Sony PS2 (nov.25, 2004) "Tecmo Hit Parade [Model SLPS-20401]"
[JP]Microsoft XBOX (oct.27, 2005) "Tecmo Classic Arcade [Model C6E-00001]"
[JP]Nintendo Wii [Virtual Console Arcade] (mar.26, 2009)
[JP]Sony PlayStation 4 [PSN] (sept.4, 2015) "Arcade Archives - Star Force [Model CUSA-03213]"

• COMPUTERS:

[JP] MSX (1985)
[JP] Sharp X68000 (mar.26, 1993)

CONTRIBUTE
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