The most sincere porting of Capcom’s CPS arcade games, the experience with only 1MB cassette capacity is far superior to the original version

The solitary hero who entered Longtan alone will always live in the hearts of players.

In the early 1990s, Capcom was the industry leader in the arcade game field. The Capcom System Play board, which took two years to develop at a cost of 1 billion yen, was developed. With the powerful data computing capabilities of the Motorola X68000 processor, it was realized. The shocking performances such as the smooth moving super-sized characters, the multi-layered scrolls with full three-dimensional layering, and the maximum 4096-color brilliant effects have brought the screen operation experience of arcade games to a higher level, and also changed Capcom from a third-party developer to a first-party manufacturers.

On the CPS substrate, many classic works led by “Street Fighter 2” were born, including combat fighting, action clearance, flying shooting and other types, which are still loved by new and old players today. At the same time, some games have also been ported to home consoles. Due to the powerful performance of CPS, it was quite difficult to port 16-bit consoles back then. For example, the performance of the SFC version of “Fighting Whirlwind” was greatly reduced, which was criticized by players. However, there is also a work in On the basis of arcade gameplay, after a new design and production, the gameplay experience even surpasses the original arcade version. This is the “Wolf of Battlefield 2” (Mercs) widely popular among domestic players in the era of MD assembly cards.

First of all, we should start from the enlightenment period of arcade games in the 1980s. The earliest frame design originated from the Pachinko vertical screen. Various manufacturers have also designed games for this feature. Capcom producer Fujiwara Takuro 》After the success, he also began to plan new ways to play. Taito’s “Front Line” (Front Line) gave him creative inspiration. In this work, players operate soldiers in a bird’s-eye view. They can move, shoot, throw grenades in eight directions, and ride vehicles. There are also many types of enemies. It is no longer mandatory to scroll like a flying shooting game, and the player’s operation is more flexible. Later, it was transplanted to FC, and it appeared in many assembled cards and was well known by domestic players.

Fujiwara Takuro decided to continue to improve the gameplay of “Frontline”, and combined it with the popular action movie style at the time, allowing players to play a lone hero in the game. The arcade version of “Commando” was released in 1986. The name of the game was directly copied from the 1985 American film of the same name. The film starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Watched in the form of videotape, the plot of the movie is that the daughter of a retired special forces colonel was kidnapped, so the protagonist was covered with assault rifles, shotguns, pistols, bazookas, grenades, and daggers. One person destroyed the entire army and finally rescued the daughter. This simple and refreshing “Divine Drama” was the audience’s favorite back then, and Capcom’s arcade games also inherited this style.

In the game “Wolf of Battlefield”, players will go deep into the enemy base to rescue hostages, using a vertical screen from a bird’s-eye view, a joystick to control the movement and shooting direction of the characters, unlimited ammunition for the main weapon, and a grenade thrown upward is equivalent to insurance. In the level, enemies are constantly coming from all directions. You have to use obstacles such as trees, bunkers, and brick walls to calmly find a moving route to avoid bullets and grenades. There are 8 levels in the game, and there will be a base at the bottom of each level. You can pass the level after eliminating it.

This work allows players to experience the feeling of a lone hero in the game. Although the difficulty is high, it has a strong sense of substitution. Then the first generation was transplanted to the FC host. Although the picture effect is difficult to reach the arcade level, Capcom has redesigned the level content. The FC version not only adds levels 9-16, which are more difficult, but also adds new functions such as breaking through obstacles with guns to enter hidden locations and obtaining power-ups. .

In March 1990, Capcom launched the familiar “Wolf of Battlefield 2” on the CPS substrate. This time there is still no complicated plot. The president of a certain African country was kidnapped by armed men, and the mercenary played by the player went to rescue, Finally stopped the plane at the airport to rescue the president. The basic gameplay of this work has not changed much. It is still shooting in eight directions from the top view + full-screen bomb insurance. The screen performance is greatly improved, and the special effects of weapon launch and hit are more refreshing. Players can eat treasures and change weapons like Contra. There are machine guns, There are four kinds of flame guns, grenade guns and shotguns. Especially the flame gun can rotate 360 ​​degrees like a big whip, and the enemy will be instantly turned into ashes when it encounters it, which left a deep impression on people back then. Players no longer have multiple lives, but lose HP according to the type of damage, and can obtain a variety of treasures to recover, as well as props to increase the firepower and HP limit. The level content has added vehicles such as jeeps, tanks, turrets, speedboats, etc. At the same time, there is a real BOSS battle at the end of each level.

“Wolf of Battlefield 2” has a hot and exciting scene, and supports up to three-person cooperative games at the same time. However, the game process is not long, only 6 levels plus the final BOSS battle. Experts can clear the level in 20 minutes alone, but the difficulty is also high. It has persuaded a lot of players, and it is not like the first level of other games in the same period is basically free. Such a game rhythm is obviously not suitable for home consoles, so Capcom decided to cooperate with Sega to port this game on a 16-bit console MD. Retrofit.

The MD version of “Wolf of Battlefield 2” includes two modes. The first is Arcade Mode, which is transplanted to arcade machines. The level content is basically the same. The screen is adjusted for the horizontal screen of the home machine. The vertical screen display of the original version is changed to a near square, and the UI displays all Moved to the black border on the right, a more concise style makes it easier for players to immerse themselves in the game scene. However, limited by the function and the capacity of the cassette, the details of the picture have shrunk significantly, and the number of enemies on the same screen will slow down. More importantly, the multi-player cooperation function has been removed and it has become a single-player game only.

If you only look at the arcade mode, this work is just a mediocre ported work, but the new Original Mode has subversively improved the player’s experience. Sega used the basics of arcade gameplay to almost completely recreate a new work. In this mode, the player has a total of five team members who can switch at any time. The weapons used by each player are fixed, namely machine guns, fire-breathing, grenades, lasers, and tracking. The latter two are not available in the arcade version. In addition, each team member has its own independent The weapon firepower, HP upper limit, movement speed, insurance quantity and other upgrade growth system.

There are 8 new levels in the original mode. Players can see their progress on the big island map. There are shops on the way to buy props. At the same time, each level has hidden routes that are not easy to find. You need to break through certain obstacles to enter. Finally, There is even a hidden store in one level, and some levels have branch routes. Players need to clear the level multiple times to experience all the content, such as bulletproof vests that reduce damage and masks that are immune to poison gas. These two rare enhancements are even hidden in treasure chests. Finding them is very rewarding.

It takes about 45 minutes for players to clear the original mode. This rhythm is very suitable for leisure and entertainment at home. More importantly, the capacity of the cassette is only 1MB. Compared with those large-capacity games, the price of the assembled card for this game is very low. At that time, domestic players almost had one game.

In 1998, Capcom launched 5 classic arcade collections on PS and SS consoles, the fourth of which is called “The Lonely Hero”, which includes two works in the “Wolf of the Battlefield” series. This name is a very vivid summary. Game Features. It should be noted that the MD original mode is actually developed by Sega, and the copyright does not belong to Capcom. The subsequent re-enactments of the fried rice are only the arcade mode, and the MD version of “Wolf of Battlefield 2” has become an original exclusive game.

In 2008, Capcom launched “Wolf of Battlefield 3” on the PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles. The storyline is that three special forces with different abilities go to destroy the evil army. The basic operation has been changed to double joystick shooting, and the style of painting has also changed. The 3D style of the Q version is partial. Although the mobile shooting is smooth and refreshing, it lacks the hard-core feeling of the arcade games of the last century. At this point, the “Wolf of Battlefield” series has come to an end.

Now looking at the many games of Capcom CPS, the MD version of “Wolf of Battlefield 2” can be said to be the most sincere transplanted work. Through the new content of creative design, it makes up for the shortcomings of not being able to fully restore the arcade, and it is still today. There are many players who have experienced this game in the form of simulators, and its popularity has even surpassed the original arcade version. The lonely hero who entered the Longtan alone will always live in the hearts of players.

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