Choujikuu Yousai Macross II

Macross II

Title screen

Developer:	NMK
Planning:	Morio Kishimoto "Mug"
Music:	Hideya Kazunori Akira Hirokami Manabu Namiki Ryu Takami
Program:	Youichi Koyama Tamio Nakasato
Art:	Gaku Arita Akemi Tsunoda Hiromi Seki Eisaku Origami Kenji Yokoyama "Midori"
Release date:	JP: 1993
Previous game:	Gunnail
Next game:	Thunder Dragon 2

Choujikuu Yousai Macross II (超時空要塞マクロスII, Super Dimensional Fortress Macross II) is an arcade game developed by NMK and published by Banpresto in 1993. It is based on the OVA and movie compilation of Super Dimensional Fortress Macross II: Lovers Again. It is notable for having Japanese gaming magazine Gamest involved in its creation, as well as for being one of the last caravan-style shmups released in Japanese arcades and for being one of the few horizontally-scrolling caravan shmups.

For replay videos, visit the Video Index.

Gameplay Overview

Macross II is a 2-button game. There are 3 different courses to choose from, and a full playthrough spans 4 stages. Each stage has a time limit of 2 minutes.

As a caravan shmup, the player has unlimited lives, with the focus being placed on scoring instead of survival. Each stage has a par score the player must achieve, or else they will game over. As the player progresses through a course, the par score becomes increasingly difficult to meet.

Controls

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• A: Shot
• B: Bomb

Interface

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Characters

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• Player 1: Silvie Gena (translated as Serbee in-game)
• Player 2: Nexx Gilbert (translated as Necks in-game)

The only difference between them is the movement speed; Nexx is a little faster than Silvie.

Weapons

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Main Shot

The player's ship has 2 modes. Power ups allow the player to change between these modes.

Mode	Description
Fighter	Higher movement speed, shoots straight ahead. Power ups increase the number of shots fired at once. The player starts the game in Fighter mode and respawns as Fighter if they get hit with minimum power. Power level 0: 1 bullet per shot Power level 1: 2 bullets per shot Power level 2: 3 bullets per shot Power level 3: 5 bullets per shot
Gerwalk	Slower movement speed, shoots straight ahead and diagonally down. Power ups increase the size and damage of the bullets. At pointblank range, deals more damage than Fighter.

When the player is hit, two different outcomes can happen based on their power level.

1. At minimum power, the player is shot down. They will respawn on the left as Fighter, regardless of which mode they were in before they were hit. It takes about 82 to 113 frames before the player can act again, depending on how far the player ship has to fall before it leaves the screen.
2. Above minimum power, the player staggers in place and remains on-screen. They will remain in the mode they were originally in (e.g. getting hit as Gerwalk still leaves you in Gerwalk). It takes about 65 frames before the player can act again.

Missiles

The player does not start with any missiles, but they can be acquired by picking up a missile item. Similarly, missile items also allow the player to switch between missile types. Both missile types follow the progression below:

• Missile level 0: no missiles
• Missile level 1: 1 missile, below the ship
• Missile level 2: 2 missiles, one above and the other below the ship

When the player is hit, they return to missile level 0.

Missile Type	Description
Missile	Missiles are deployed slightly above and below the ship, then quickly move forward, spreading out a little as they go.
Homing	Missiles are fired diagonally forward, going towards the nearest enemy.

Bomb

The player also starts with 3 UN-bombs. These bombs do damage to the entire screen and makes the player invulnerable for the duration of the bomb. Bomb items spawn whenever 3 Minmay dolls are collected.

Items

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Item	Description
Power Up	Increases the power level by 1, up to 3 times. Changes between F and G at regular intervals (around 192 frames). If it is collected as F, switches the player's ship to Fighter. If it is collected as G, switches the player's ship to Gerwalk. Worth 500 points when collected at power level 0 or 1, and 3,000 points otherwise (even when switching modes).
Missile Item	Increases the missile level by 1, up to 2 times. Changes between M and H at regular intervals. If it is collected as M, switches the player's missile type to Missile. If it is collected as H, switches the player's missile type to Homing. Worth 500 points when collected at missile level 0 or 1, and 3,000 points at missile level 2 (even when switching modes).
Minmay Doll	Hidden item, revealed when shot a few times or bombed. For every 3 Minmay dolls collected, a UN-bomb item is spawned. Worth 5,000 points.
UN-Bomb	Gives the player 1 bomb. Worth 500 points.
Emblem	Usually hidden and revealed when shot or bombed. Increases in value as more emblems are collected, up to 10000 from the 12th emblem in the chain. If the player gets hit, the value of the emblems will be fully reset. Progression: 100 > 500 > 1,000 > 2,000 > 3,000 > 4,000 > 5,000 > 6,000 > 7,000 > 8,000 > 9,000 > 10,000
Medal	Usually hidden and revealed when shot or bombed. Worth a fixed amount of points depending on its size. Small: 1,000 Large: 3,000
Coin	Spawned by defeating certain enemies. Worth a fixed amount of points depending on its size. Small: 500 Medium: 1,000 Large: 2,000

Courses

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There are 3 courses: Beginner, Medium and Expert. Each course is 4 stages long, but they only differ in the first 3 stages. Stage 4 is the same, no matter which course is chosen.

Being a caravan shmup, each stage has a par score. Failing to reach the par score results in a game over. The par scores are listed below:

Course	Par Scores
Beginner	Stage 1: 150,000 Stage 2: 250,000 Stage 3: 500,000
Medium	Stage 1: 250,000 Stage 2: 300,000 Stage 3: 700,000
Expert	Stage 1: 300,000 Stage 2: 600,000 Stage 3: 750,000
All courses	Stage 4: 999,990

Scoring

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This section is simply an overview of the scoring system in Macross II.
For more details on each stage, please see Choujikuu Yousai Macross II/Strategy.

Enemies

Being a caravan shmup, enemies are spawned as soon as the current wave of enemies have been killed. Since points are awarded for killing enemies, it is ideal to kill enemies as efficiently as possible, so that the player can encounter more waves of enemies.

It is also worth noting that some enemies are spawned at specific times, regardless of how efficient the player is. The most notable enemies that spawn in this way are the stage bosses, as the stage has to scroll to a certain point before they can appear.

Items

As stated in the items section, there are several types of items that are worth a considerable amount of points. The most notable one is the emblems, which can be worth up to 10,000 points each. While the player has unlimited lives, it is still ideal to avoid taking hits in order to preserve the value of the emblems.

Hidden Bonuses

A huge source of points is a number of secret bonuses that are awarded for meeting certain conditions. For example, destroying all of the bullets an enemy shoots, before killing the enemy itself. Many of the enemies that award secret bonuses appear red.

Bomb Bonus

At the end of every stage, 10,000 points are awarded for every remaining bomb in stock. However, since this is awarded only if you have successfully cleared the stage, it does not help you to reach the par score for the stage. As such, the bomb bonus is only useful for those going for high scores. Those who are just starting out should use the bombs more liberally to help them survive or get tricky bonuses instead.

Strategy

See Choujikuu Yousai Macross II/Strategy for a list of bonuses, item locations, and enemy spawns.

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Version Differences

Only one version of the game exists, but the language can be toggled between English and Japanese using the dip switch. The differences between languages are purely cosmetic, namely:

1. On Japanese, each stage has a unique name. However, on English, the stages are simply named Stage 1, Stage 2 etc.
2. A message appears on the continue screen only on Japanese. It tells the player how many points short of the par score they were, and that emblems increase in value if they are collected without dying.

References & Contributors

1. Basic information provided by 1ccsDontMatter.
2. Sprites and information on gameplay mechanics provided by Lunaria