Battle Circuit

About Battle Circuit

Battle Circuit (1997) is Capcom's last arcade beat 'em up, a manga-styled science fiction brawler for up to four players in which super-powered bounty hunters chase a world-controlling computer program.

Battle Circuit in Depth

In the future year 20XX, super-powered bounty hunters capture wanted criminals, identified by serial numbers, in the city of Neo Koba. The game opens with the player arresting criminal 9696X, the scientist Doctor Saturn, and his blob-like sidekick aboard their spacecraft orbiting Earth. Back with their employer Harry, the hunters are sent after Johnny of the Delete Gang, who holds a floppy disk carrying the Shiva System, a malicious program able to control every computerised system in the world, and must fight through the gang to recover it and claim the bounty. Five characters are available, including Cyber Blue and Yellow Iris, each with their own attacks.

Up to four players fight through horizontally scrolling levels using two action buttons and the joystick. Coins collected from defeated enemies buy upgrade discs between levels that add new techniques to each character's arsenal. Pressing both buttons on the ground performs a life-draining super move, and when two players do so together they form a team-up attack. Pressing both in the air triggers a Battle Download, which grants the player and any allies a character-specific boost, such as Cyber Blue's Power Up for more damage or Yellow Iris's Speed Up for faster attacks; characters start each life with two and can collect up to five from capsules. Barrels and crates hide health and points, and reaching set scores earns extra lives.

Making Battle Circuit

Battle Circuit began life as a racing game for up to eight players with artwork by Haruki Suetsugu, which was finished but shelved. In 1997 Capcom's arcade production team, led by Noritaka Funamizu and Yoshiki Okamoto, made a new version. Structurally it resembles Capcom's earlier scrolling action games such as Final Fight and Alien vs. Predator, but it stands apart through a manga-style science fiction approach; Ikeno Metaka, overseen by Ohnishi Hiroki and Yamamoto Kouji, designed characters reminiscent of older Capcom heroes with comic-book flourishes. A speedy translation let it launch in Japan and parts of Europe simultaneously, with a few lines of Japanese dialogue omitted. It was Capcom's last beat 'em up made for arcades, and it later appeared in Capcom Arcade Stadium.