Strike Force (rev 1 02/25/91) - MAME machine

Arcade Video game published 33 years ago:

Strikeforce © 1991 Midway.

Strike Force is a side-scrolling shoot-em-up and is the third game in Midway's seminal "Defender" series. Saurian lizard men have overrun all twenty-two planets that form the New Earth Solar System colonies, capturing and mutating the resident humans into reptiles to use as slave labour at their stronghold base, the Saurian 'Mega-Star Apocalypse'.

Players fly a spaceship over the surface of the of planets, destroying enemy waves and rescuing humans from the alien invaders, with rescued humans hanging from the underside of the player's ship. Once these tasks have been completed, the mothership arrives to pick up the player's ship, together with any humans they have rescued. Players can decide which planets to attack, when to purchase additional firepower and when to attack the Apocalypse.

Strike Force adds several new features to the series. Two players can now share the screen at one time and the surface of each planet is littered with various special weapons that can be picked up and deployed. Humans can be 'mutated' into small green creatures that will fight against the player (although players can still pick them up for points as, with the unmutated humans). The mutants can also use vehicles found on the planet's surface against the player.

TECHNICAL
Midway Y Unit hardware

Main CPU: TMS34010 (@ 6.25 Mhz)
Sound CPU: Motorola M6809 (@ 2 Mhz)
Sound Chips: Yamaha YM2151 (@ 3.57958 Mhz), DAC, HC55516 (@ 3.57958 Mhz)

Players: 2
Control: 8-way joystick
Buttons: 3

TRIVIA
Strikeforce was released in February 1991.

If you look at the Today's Victors part of the high score screen, you should see the initials DEF for rank 5, END in rank 6, and ER in rank 7; they spell out the word, 'DEFENDER' (as in the game, "Defender").

TIPS AND TRICKS

• To reach the ultimate bad guy without having to go through the entire enemy starship, you just play the LEFT player, and get yourself killed at the far LEFT end of the starship (the very beginning). When you reincarnate, you'll be at the far RIGHT end of the board, past the wall (or IN the wall if you weren't far enough left). The boss will not appear until you move to the left past where he should be (though things will start firing at you immediately). Kill the boss, get your free credit, start again. ;)
• Strategy Tip: kill dreadnaughts with one timewarp and one cluster bomb. You always get the time warp back, plus other goodies.
• Score Hogging Tip: clear out all the planets but one, and then fly around from starbase to starbase waiting for dreadnaughts to appear. Pick 'em off using the above method. This gets boring after a while, of course...

SERIES

• Defender (1980, ARC)
• Stargate (1981, ARC)
• Strikeforce (1991, ARC)
• Defender 2000 [Model J9041E] (1996, Jaguar)

STAFF
Programmers: Todd Allen (TRA), Eric Pribyl (ELP)
Artists: John Vogel (JCV), Jim Gentile (JPG)
Music and Sounds: Chris Granner (C G), Rich Karstens (R K)

Staff: Sheridan Oursler (S O), Mark Penacho (MDP), Tim Coman (TIM), John Tobias (JON), Jack E. Haeger (JEH), Eugene Jarvis (EPJ), Ray Czajka (RAY), George N. Petro (GNP), (BUN), (LOF), Al Lasko (A L), Cary Mednick (CMM), Steve Ritchie (SSR), Larry DeMar (LED), Mark Turmell (M T), (MTN), (NLN), (JTK)

CONTRIBUTE
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