Mars Matrix

Mars Matrix: Hyper Solid Shooting

Mars Matrix: Hyper Solid Shooting (マーズマトリックス) is a vertical shooting game developed by Takumi and published by Capcom in the year 2000 for the CPS-2 arcade platform. It was additionally ported to the Sega Dreamcast console in 2001. The defining aspects of Mars Matrix are its innovative one-button gameplay, extremely high bullet counts, experience system, excellent soundtrack, and savage difficulty, ramping up very noticeably from Stage 2 onward. It takes place in a future involving a colonized Mars revolting against Earth, where the player in their Mosquito (01 or 02) is sent off to fight against Mars's attack.

GO PLAY MARS MATRIX.

Gameplay Overview

Mars Matrix takes advantage of four different gameplay mechanics that are all controlled with a single button (The Button). This element of design alone gives the game a very unique pace of play, and requires very methodical play in order to succeed.

The game is a single-loop fight through six stages, each with a challenging Boss awaiting at the end.

The Button (Rapid)

• Fires the ship's Rapid Shot, which functions how you'd expect
  • Damage and volley sizes increase with each time that you Level Up your ship

The Button (Press)

• Fires the ship's Piercing Cannon, dealing massive damage to anything caught in its path
  • Range is short, only reaching to about just under half of the screen

The Button (Hold)

• Activates the ship's Mosquito Barrier, which grabs enemy bullets while draining the GHB Meter
  • While holding enemy bullets, the player can move their ship around to drift bullets around them
  • Release the button to fling the absorbed bullets in the direction they are facing, which turn into EXP Cubes upon striking enemies, and starts recharging the GHB Meter

The Button (Hold until GHB Meter is empty)

• Fires off a Gravity Hole Bomb, dealing massive damage to all enemies on screen and canceling all enemy bullets

References

1. Primary info provided by CHA-STG