This one I got back in 1983 or 1984. This is Algas, a pretty cool looking transforming robot that is also a video game.
No backstory known for this one; was this based on some manga/anime? No idea!
The robot could split in 3 parts; the upper 2 parts becoming tanks and the robot's "spine", hip and legs functioning as a weird looking gun turret thing. Kind of disturbing in more than one way, but anyway...
The central torso part contains the actual game, which is what you start with.
In the game you play the robot, who is under constant attack from bomb-dropping UFO's. The game has three phases, and that is where the different toy parts play a role.
When the game starts, you're in phase 1, where all you can do is stay alive by dodging the bombs being dropped on you. After a while, when you reach a certain score, the game pause and you go to phase 2, which you activate by attaching the upper part of the robot to the torso.
In phase 2 you finally get to fire back at the UFO's. You can't shoot the bombs so you have to keep dodging while at the same time firing back at your enemies.
If you perform well, enough, you get to phase 3, where you attach the legs, and you gain a shield. To be honest I don't remember exactly how this affected game play; IIRC you still had to dodge bombs, but you could withstand more damage, I think. OR maybe you WERE protected from the bombs, I can't say for sure.
If you performed poorly in either phase 2 or 3, after a while you would have to "downgrade", going back a phase and removing one of the robot parts.
I still have Algas - in fact, it's standing on a shelf right on my left, watching my every move! But the batteries need replacing, so I can't play it at this time.
Check these links for more pictures:
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Bandai/Algas.htm
http://www.handhelden.com/bandai/Algas.html
No comments:
Post a Comment