Gaplus
- Type ： Arcade Game
- Hardware ： Namco Circuit Board
- Release ： 1984
In 1984, the third space shooter to follow Galaga was released. The Gaplus forces featured a greater line-up of alien enemies. The player controlled spacefighter also made its return with an upgrade to its arsenal. This shooter soon became a masterpiece that featured a game play of techniques with added hidden features within the game.
How to Play (Controls)
The player uses the 8-way control stick to move the spacefighter vertically and horizontally, and presses the button to shoot.By equipping the spacefighter with power-up parts called Blaster Heads, the player could conduct various forms of attacks to defeat the enemies.
Game System
The player shoots at the enemy Gaplus forces to defeat them and to clear the stage (aka PARSEC). At the beginning of the stage, the Gaplus units flies into the screen to create a formation. The enemies are comprised of the following 5 types of enemies, and as the stage progresses, the enemies evolve into each subsequent forms.ZAKO (Idle 100 pts, Attacking 100 pts)
LUTE (Idle 100 pts, Attacking 200 pts)
CAP (Idle 100 pts, Attacking 300 pts)
ADO (Idle 100 pts, Attacking 400 pts)
QUEEN (Idle 100 pts, Attacking 400 pts)
The spacefighter that the player controls can equip an upgrade part called a Blaster Head that increases the spacefighter’s firepower.
The Blaster Head is equipped when the player defeats a Queen that holds a Blaster Head. There are 6 different types of Blaster Heads as noted below:
Phalanx (Red)
Fires a phalanx beam which captures the enemy unit, making it act as a guard to the player spacefighter.
Hyper (Blue)
The spacefighter’s movement speed increases and can fire faster repeatedly.
Cyclone (Green)
Fires a cyclone beam which captures enemies to be shot.
Elephant (Pink)
Slows enemy movements.
Sidewinder (Blue-Green)
The beams shot can be directed.
Stardust (Yellow)
Makes all enemy fired shots, Bean Curds(*) , and Star Flash disappear.
Note that the Queen sometimes carries a spacefighter part. Players are awarded 1 spacefighter by defeating these Queens and collecting all 3 parts.
Fun Facts
- Defeating enemies on the map in a particular pattern will spawn a Special Flag. Collecting this flag will add 1 spacefighter. Also, if a particular criteria is cleared, the player can then transform the spacefighter into Abnoship Mode . This power-up stayed until the end of the game, so it became an integral part of clearing the game for hardcore players.- The game challenged players, not only from a gameplay aspect, but also with its many hidden secrets for the players to discover.
- *Bean Curds:
- The "Bean Curd" name originated based on 2 interesting concepts. First, the enemy had a white, tofu-like design, thus bringing about the word "bean curd" which is used in making tofu. Second, there's a Japanese saying where the literal wording says to "bash your head against the corner of a block of tofu and die." This is an equivalent to the saying "take a long walk off a short pier," or in layman's terms, "get out." Being that the enemy was very difficult to fight, this Japanese term was applied to it, leading it back to the word "tofu" to where the enemy name was derived.
