Victory Road (video game)
Victory Road (怒号層圏 Dogō Sōken, lit. "Bellowing Atmosphere") is the sequel to Ikari Warriors.
The objective is to defeat the enemy aliens using grenades and other weapons. The story directly picks up at the ending of Ikari Warriors. Congratuled by General Kawasaki for rescuing him, Paul and Vince return home to their native country in a plane arranged by the general. Expecting a hero's welcome upon arriving home, a mysterious storm appears and they are hurtled thousands of years into the future. They are met by an alien creature who says that the villain Zang Zip has taken over the land.
Arcade version
| Victory Road | |
|---|---|
 English arcade poster | |
| Developer(s) |
SNK (arcade) |
| Publisher(s) |
Arcade version: |
| Composer(s) | Toshikazu Tanaka |
| Series | Ikari Warriors |
| Platform(s) | Amiga, Arcade, Commodore 64, NES, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, IBM PC |
| Release date(s) |
1986 (Arcade) |
| Genre(s) | Run and gun |
| Mode(s) | Up to two players simultaneously |
| Cabinet | Joystick (LS-30, 12-way rotary), 2 buttons |
| CPU | 2x Zilog Z80A @4MHz |
| Sound | Z80 @4MHz (APU), YM3526 @4MHz, Y8950 @4MHz |
| Display | Raster, Vertical orientation, standard resolution (216 x 288), 1024 colors |
The original arcade game featured an 8-way rotary joystick that could be twisted in place to rotate the onscreen character allowing the player to face in one of eight directions while moving in another.
It features sampled voiceovers from the main characters and the game's bosses.
English version
The voices are changed to speak English dialogue. For example, upon starting the game the player would be greeted by a giant floating head who would exclaim "Warriors! Show some guts! You can't escape me! Come get me if you can! Ha ha ha ha haa!" At this point the floating head would fly off screen and the gameplay commenced. Also, when the player loses a life, upon coming one would hear "Come on, let's fight!".
NES version
| Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Micronics |
| Publisher(s) |
K Amusement Leasing SNK |
| Series | Ikari Warriors |
| Platform(s) | NES |
| Release date(s) |
|
| Genre(s) | vertical shooter |
| Mode(s) | Up to two players simultaneously |
The NES version includes the added feature of collecting "zeny" as currency. This money was then spent at a store also unique to the NES port where the player could buy improved weaponry and armor. The NES version emulates the controls of the arcade version by locking the facing of the character in one direction for as long as the "fire" button was depressed.
Gameplay
Weapons no longer have limited ammunition.
Player begins with a flamethrower, but when player loses a life, it is changed to machine gun.
Weapon powerups are scattered throughout the levels often hidden under rocks destroyable by the bazooka weapon or grenades.
There are no vehicles in this game, but it was replaced by armour, which allows player to take limited number of hits without time expiration.
Weapons
- Flamethrower: Player's beginning weapon. It can destroy walls
- Machine gun: Player's weapon after losing a life
- Red machine gun: Similar to machine gun, but the bullet has longer range, and shoots through enemies
- Boomerang: Weapon shoots through enemies, and flies back to player.
- Sword: When spinning a sword, player can hit back enemy bullets. When pressing fire button, player fires shot using the last available machine gun type. The sword blade damages enemies upon contact.
Grenade
- Black: Smaller explosion.
- Red: When it detonates, an 8-way blast appears.
Stages
The game continued its single-stage design from its prequel, but added mini-stages where players fight a boss when entered through the green door.