We Have a Little "Mission" for You!
The latest game in my TurboGrafx journey is Cyber-Core.
I'm trying a slightly different format this month. I'm going to start playing the game knowing very little about it, other than reading through the manual, and write about my first impressions before reading anything else about it.
Then I will look up reviews on the game and any other feedback I can find before continuing to play it, and report on any differences in my experience between playing it for the first time and replaying it after knowing more about it.
This might extend the time it takes to play each game and write each article, but in the end I think it will be a more interesting and fulfilling way to approach it, both for myself, and for you.
So... let's jump in.
To start, let's review the info in the manual, which is graciously hosted at tg-16.com
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| VIEW MANUAL |
FROM THE MANUAL
Story
Welcome Back, Rad Ralph! We Have a Little "Mission" for You! After a hundred years in space, your expeditionary party returns to a horrible sight. Giant hyper-insects have taken control of the Earth! The United Force elects you, "Rad Ralph!' to face them. Fighting these bio-monsters with human strength alone would mean certain defeat. Your only chance to recapture the Earth is to merge with the ultra-life form "Chimeral' Half man, half insect, now you have the strength to fight back. But you also have another incredible power. Like the insects themselves, you have the ability to transform yourself-"metamorphose" into an ever more powerful creature. Use your powers wisely, Rad Ralph, for this may be the final battle of all mankind.
Objective of the game
Defeat the hyper-insects by fighting your way through all 8 stages of the game. Begin your journey as a "Cyber Core" the lowest level of half man, half insect. Obtain further metamorphosis by acquiring the correct "powerup" items along the way. Earn extra lives by scoring points and collecting 1 UP's. Defeat gruesome enemy bosses and finally arrive at the underground tunnels. Then face the final challenge of the game-the giant 4-legged tarantula!
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
After reading the story and objective in the manual I decided to jump right into the game. I did see a bit about how your "ship" evolves and the scan of the manual online has a bunch of handwritten notes in it with various tips. I didn't want to spoil too much of that for myself just yet, so I didn't read it in depth.
Like many of the games on the TurboGrafx I've played previously I was immediately impressed with the music in Cyber-Core. You can tell they really put effort into it and it's great overall. The graphics look really good too.
I like the whole bug theme and it makes it seem a bit different than other shoot 'em ups. The way your "ship" or insect (or maybe it's you? hard to tell) evolve is also interesting.
I saw briefly in the manual, in the handwritten notes, that there is an ideal way to collect the various power-ups to evolve your ship into a super insect or something. I'll have to give that a try when I go back to play the game again.
I like the idea of having to collect items and evolve in a certain ideal order, but like many games back in the day, I don't know how anyone would be able to figure that out without some sort of reference.
During my first few attempts I was able to make it up to Stage 4, and at first I thought there might be unlimited continues (which would have been nice, but generally unrealistic for games back in the day) but it seems the game gives you three chances to continue before making you start over again from Stage 1. Honestly that's not terrible considering how brutal some old school games were.
Overall my first impressions of Cyber-Core are very positive and I'm eager to play more once I study the manual a bit more and learn how the power-ups work. I'm also interested to see if there are any cheat codes.
You can see my very first time playing Cyber-Core in the video below:
REVIEWS AND COVERAGE
Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine reviewed Cyber-Core in their June 1990 issue (number 11) and generally gave it good scores. The biggest criticism came from Sushi-X that the game is "too easy". LOL. I certainly didn't have that experience.
PRICING
According to the review in VG&CE, Cyber-Core retailed for $61.99 when it first launched, and according to the latest from PriceCharting.com a complete-in-box (CIB) version of Cyber-Core is going for about $80, while a loose TurboChip will cost about $40.
CHEAT CODES
Luckily the same issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly that had the review of Cyber-Core also published a bunch of cheats:
I can't wait to try some of these out.
REPLAY
After learning a bit more about the game, and reading about the proper order to power-up your bug ship, I was ready to jump back in.
So, after a few attempts I found that the bug that gives you the power-ups actually gives you all the power-ups in the right order to get the ultimate weapon right at the beginning of Stage 1, provided you shoot it enough to get three power-ups each time it passes, and you pick up the power-ups in the order it drops them.
The first time it passes, given you shoot it enough, it drops power-up orbs in the following order: Red, Blue, Green. Then the second time it passes, which is right after the first, it drops power-up orbs in the following order: Green, Yellow, Red. If you get the power-up orbs in this order, then get hit enough to go back to the first stage metamorphosis, you will have a combined ultimate weapon. If you pick up any additional power-up orbs you will lose it, and if you get hit then you die. Kind of a risk/reward setup. If you want the best weapon in the game, then you're essentially a glass cannon, able to do lots of damage, but not take any.
Even though I thought it was cool to have the combined ultimate weapon, I actually found it difficult to see the enemy projectiles with so much happening on the screen at once. I think I much prefer having a fully upgraded single color power-up than the ultimate combined one. That way you can carry up to three shields as well, and you can continue picking up power-up orbs, given you pick up the same color as the one you've been using.
I also tried out a bunch of different cheat codes, including the "narrow screen" arcade-type view, warping straight to the end stage (which resulted in my very quick death - oh man that stage is crazy), starting with a fully upgraded bug (there is a code for each type), invincibility, and warping straight to the end credits. I also tried a code that EGM said was "hard mode" but it just seemed to drop more of the special orbs that clear all enemies on the screen, grant temporary invincibility, or grant extra lives. Didn't seem any harder.
Overall, I think Cyber-Core might be one of my favorite games on the TurboGrafx so far. Music is great and the action is very well designed and just frantic enough to be fun, but not so overwhelming that it feels pointless to play. Even if I never beat the game, I can see playing it over and over to see how far I can get. Kind of like how I used to play Sky Shark on the NES back in the day. I sucked at it, but I didn't mind starting over and over again and seeing how far I could get. It's the journey that's the point, and having fun along the way.
You can see some of my Replay gameplay, along with trying out various cheat codes, in the video below:
Overall Cyber-Core was a lot of fun, and I'm very glad I discovered it. I'll certainly keep playing it, but I'm ready to move onto the next game in my journey.
The next game I'll be playing is... Bloody Wolf!
Seems like this is an Ikari Warriors-style top down run and gun game. I tend to REALLY suck at these, but we'll see how it goes.
Until next time!
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