Crisis Force

About Crisis Force

Crisis Force (1991) is Konami's Japan-only Famicom shooter in which twin descendants of Mu fly transforming ships against artificial monsters from Atlantis, and can merge them into one.

Crisis Force in Depth

Asuka and Maya are ordinary high-school twins in Tokyo, children of archaeologists, until an ominous dream they have both been having becomes reality. Descended from the ancient civilisation of Mu, they pilot fighter ships to save the world from a breed of artificial monsters created by the lost civilisation of Atlantis. The overhead scrolling shooter supports two-player co-operative play and a choice of four ships.

Its key feature is the Aurawing's three forms: Front Offense Type for shooting ahead, Side Offense Type for attacking left and right together, and Rear Offense Type for firing behind. Each has blue "normal" and red "special" power-ups that change its shot and upgrade up to three levels, carried across forms; each hit drops a level until the ship is destroyed. Collecting "combination parts" transforms the ship or, with two players, merges both into a combined form for a limited time, the player with more parts controlling the main shot and the other the secondary weapon, until time runs out or it takes enough damage. Containers also hold up to nine bombs, which vary with the ship's form, and speed-ups and speed-downs across five levels.

Making Crisis Force

Konami developed and published it for the Family Computer in Japan in 1991. It received mostly positive reviews and a popular following among Famicom owners, though Famitsu noted flickering when too many objects appear on screen.