Battle Bakraid - Unlimited Version (USA) (Tue Jun 8 1999)

Arcade Video game published 25 years ago:

Battle Bakraid (c) 1999 Eighting.

The sequel to "Battle Garegga", an equally excellent vertically scrolling shoot 'em up game.

- TECHNICAL -

Game ID : ET68-V99

Main CPU : Motorola 68000 (@ 16 Mhz), Zilog Z80 (@ 8 Mhz)
Sound Chips : Yamaha YMZ280B (@ 16.9344 Mhz)

Screen orientation : Vertical
Video resolution : 240 x 320 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz
Palette colors : 2048

Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 3

- TRIVIA -

Released in April 1999.

The game forbids the initials 'SEX' on the high score table. If you try, it gets changed to 'H!?'.

Pony Canyon / Scitron released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Battle Bakraid Original Soundtrack - SGCD-0008) on 19/06/1999.

- UPDATES -

The 'Unlimited Version' (06/1999) has unlocking codes to gain access to five secret fighters and the special course.

- SCORING -

Medals System : As long as you catch all medals of a wave, the increasing continues up to 10,000 points per medal. If you miss one, the next wave restarts at 100 point...
1 : 100 points.
2 : 200 points.
3 : 300 points.
4 : 400 points.
5 : 500 points.
6 : 600 points.
7 : 700 points.
8 : 800 points.
9 : 900 points.
10 : 1000 points.
11 : 2000 points.
12 : 3000 points.
13 : 4000 points.
14 : 5000 points.
15 : 6000 points.
16 : 7000 points.
17 : 8000 points.
18 : 9000 points.
19 : 10,000 points.
20 : 100,000 points - You can only trigger the 100k points medals when you have a multiplier active, and you can only continue to release 100k points medals if you continue to keep a multiplier going. Once you lose a multiplier, your medals revert back to 10k points medals.

* Multiplier System : Bakraid features another scoring system that alters the amount of points gained from enemy destruction by modifying the base point gain from enemy destruction with a specially acquired incremental multiplier. The multiplier system is the more important of the two scoring systems as it is the system that can contribute to almost 80% of your total score, and is centric to the release of the special 100,000 points medals. However, the multiplier system is also the most difficult to get to grips with and exploit, as it requires a lot of pre-planning on the player's part with regards to stage and boss strategies in order to maximize potential point gains. The multiplier system in essence features an incremental multiplier that is gained by destroying LARGE enemies. You can continue to increment the multiplier up to a max of 64x, via this simple table (the number in brackets refers to the amount of large enemies destroyed to reach that multiplier stage) :
2x (destroy 2)
4x (3)
8x (4)
16x (5)
32x (6)
64x (7 and more)

- TIPS AND TRICKS -

* Ship Selection : at the ship select screen...
1) To select a 'main shot power type' fighter, select your ship with A button.
2) To select a 'Bomber power type', select your ship with B button.
3) To select a 'Side shot power type', select your ship with C button.
4) To select a 'Speed up type', select your ship with Start button.

* Phase 2 : to unlock 3 more fighter planes, insert a coin and press Up(x2), Down(x2), Left, Right, Left, Right, A, B, Start.

* Phase 3 : to unlock 2 more fighter planes, insert a coin and press Up(x2), Down(x2), Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start (the entering of this code has to be finished before the counter passes 10).

* Special Course : hold C button, insert a coin and press Up, Down, Up, Down Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start and release C button.

* Team Edit : insert a coin and press Up, Down, Up, Down Left, Right, Left, Right, A, B, Start (the entering of this code has to be started after the counter passes 10).

* Stage Edit : start from the game mode selection screen, highlight the game mode of your choice and press A+B simultaneously.

* Score Mode : to show up score calculations, start from anywhere in the game, hold C button and tap Joystick Up (to leave the score mode, re-enter the code).

- SERIES -

1. Battle Garegga (1996)
2. Battle Bakraid (1999)

- STAFF -

Program 68000 Side : Shinobu Yagawa
Program Z80 Side : Tatsuya Uemura
Music composed by : Atsuhiro Motoyama