Final Soldier
Title screen
| Developer: | Now Production |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Hudson Soft |
| Music: | T.S. Kiyoshi |
| Program: | Papa Tomohide |
| Release date: | JP: July 5, 1991 |
| Previous game: | Super Star Soldier |
| Next game: | Soldier Blade |
Contents
General Information
Final Soldier is the second game in the Super Star Soldier Series on PC Engine. It was developed by Now Production and published by Hudson Soft in 1991. Final Soldier was released on July 5,1991 in Japan for PC Engine
Story
Earth is attacked by a time travelling, biomechanical alien race, called the “Gader’el”. The player takes control over the time travelling spaceship “The Dryad” to fight back and destroy the alien hivemind.
Gameplay Overview
Final soldier is a vertical scrolling shoot-em-up with 7 stages. Each stage has a boss and a midboss, except stage 7 which is just a single bossfight with different phases and enemy attack waves in between.
The players ship starts with a vulcan shot as default. By picking up different power-up items the shot type can be changed. By picking up multiple items of the same weapon type, the shot can be upgraded up to 2 levels. By picking up an “M”-Item the ship gets a secondary missile weapon. There are also red containers that can be collected and then serve as an option weapon that follows the players ship. The options can be sacrificed to release a screen clearing bomb attack. Options can only be stacked up to 2. The shot layout of the different weapons can be customized in the set-up menu.
The players ship has 3 speed levels, that can be chosen as desired.
The game has 3 difficulty settings, which can be chosen in the set-up menu.
Caravan mode can be accessed from the start menu. Final Soldier has a 2 minute and a 5 minute caravan stage.
Items
- Red (V): Vulcan shot
- Blue (L): Laser
- Green (E): Spiral beam
- Yellow (F): Flame shot
- Red Container: Bomb/Option
Controls
- I: Bomb
- II: Shot
- Run: Pause game
- Select: Change ship speed
Strategy/Scoring
In normal mode scoring is pretty basic. The play player earns points for shooting enemy formations and destroying bosses. The best strategy for survival is to make maximum use of the bomb attack by always using a bomb, as soon a new option-item appears on screen and can be collected. By “chaining” the bomb attack, the player can benefit from invincibility for the time period of the bomb attacks.
In caravan mode the player can earn bonuses by shooting certain enemies simultaneously with the multidirection vulcan weapon. There are also many destroyable blocks throughout the caravan stages that can be shot for points. The caravan stages also have hidden bonuses, that can be discovered by shooting certain spots in the stage or specific enemies.
Ports/Releases
- Wii Virtual Console: 2007 (JP), 2008 (NA/EU)
- Playstation Portable: 2008 as part of the Soldier Collection (JP)
- Virtual Console Wii U: 2014 (JP), 2017 (NA)
Gallery
References & Contributors
- PC Engine Software Bible (https://www.pcengine.co.uk/HTML_Games/Final_Soldier.htm)
- Star Soldier wiki (https://star-soldier.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Soldier)
