{"id":1454,"date":"2013-06-24T01:14:47","date_gmt":"2013-06-24T01:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/?p=1454"},"modified":"2025-11-14T17:30:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T01:30:25","slug":"432","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/432\/","title":{"rendered":"1985 Laserdisc Game, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Back up to Part 1<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Stage 4: Satellite City Uruk<\/h3>\n

This is the heaviest stage of the game with multiple events that pile up at breakneck speed and proceed through several environments all the way to Emperor Lugal’s inner sanctum. It begins with a scene from the movie; Uruk’s shield generators power up and Yamato<\/em> punches through toward the city.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As you charge forward in a long dive, you must shoot down incoming enemy fire from your station on the bridge. As before, this is done by moving a cursor and firing. These graphics were overlayed onto the animation shown above left. After this, Yamato<\/em> crash-lands and the Cosmo Tigers launch to begin the next phase of the attack.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Gameplay shifts to a first-person view inside the cockpit. You are hurtling through the maze of the Uruk city, in which quick moves are necessary to dodge irregular structures. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If you’re not quick enough, your fighter will smash into the buildings. Othrwise, you climb up out of the first maze and back down into another.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

You now have to dodge different terrain and fire at Denguil fighters that show up to make things harder.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The next stage is an open plain, but now you have to get past herds of robo-horses that are powerful enough to shoot you down with a single blast.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

After this, you shift back to Kodai in the Cosmo Zero. Your target is the control tower for the warp generator. You fly around it, firing steadily until you either knock it out or make a wrong move and crash into it. Once you take it out, Emperor Lugal ducks into his temple to activate Plan B.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The fighters land and the pilots jump out to continue their mission on foot with an invasion of the temple. It’s not as simple as it was in the movie; plenty of obstacles lie between you and the Emperor. They come up in random order, and though some might not come up at all, any combination of these events can stop you in your tracks. In all cases, there is some kind of visual cue (often a flash of light) to prompt you to keep moving in one direction or another.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The first obstacle is a rapidly opening and closing door that can crush you if you don’t leap through it with precise timing.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Next is a water-wheel-like contraption suspended over a deep chasm. You have to leap onto it and then the ledge above. One wrong move sends you plummeting into darkness.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The throne room is next, and lots of guards are waiting to gun you down if you don’t dash through it with your head down.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If you survive that, your next task is to guide the invasion force through a corridor maze. Four doors to choose from, three of which are booby-trapped with electric shocks.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It gets worse. Now you have to cross a thin cable hanging over a moat of fire. Precise movements side to side keep your guy from losing his balance. Get it wrong and you’re a crispy critter.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Kodai is now on his own, but he’s nowhere near the end of the road yet. First he has to wait until one of three doors open…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

…knock out the guard that emerges (or be flattened by a kick)…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

…and get a move on before being crushed by the door.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

More guards await in the next corridor, ready to shoot it out with you.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Now you have to hop across metal spheres in a river. Don’t wait too long to jump…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

…because when they flash they’re about to explode!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Almost there. The next step is to leap onto a rotating bridge, one of a series.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If you pick the wrong one, it collapses under you and you’ll join the others who fell to oblivion.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Finally, the Emperor’s inner sanctum. If you can outdraw and disarm him, you win…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

…but he’s no amateur in a shooting match!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Even if you successfully navigate all that and take out Lugal’s pistol, Aquarius still gets warped to Earth and he still launches in the Pre-Noah to escape the disintegration of Uruk. The story’s not over, after all.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Stage 5: Water Planet Aquarius<\/h3>\n

Aquarius is now bearing down on Earth and Yamato<\/em> warps in to stop it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ahead of Aquarius is the Pre-Noah and the remnants of the Denguil fleet. The smaller ships fly at Yamato<\/em> one by one, and any who get past your guns pick away at you with laser fire. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

While this is going on, Aquarius itself becomes an attacker, releasing huge masses of water. Both the enemy ships and the water globs must be hit from your vantage point on the bridge. If you miss the water globs, the ship gets swamped and takes heavy damage.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Finally, the Pre-Noah itself gets in your way as you count down to fire the Wave-Motion Gun. If the ship has enough armor left, you’ll survive long enough to build up energy and let it go at the right moment.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If you make it, you’ll take out Lugal and break the floodwaters in a single shot.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When this stage is cleared, Yamato<\/em> returns safely to Earth without self-destructing. The game ends and goes to staff credits. The controversial Final Yamato<\/em> love scene epilogue is nowhere to be seen.<\/p>\n

Game Over<\/h3>\n
\n
\n

And now for some very welcome news. In the time since this article was originally posted, the footage for the game finally surfaced again and found its way to Youtube. It can now be viewed in full at these links:<\/p>\n

\n

Part 1<\/a> | Part 2<\/a> | Part 3<\/a> | Part 4<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

(I probably should have changed the opening sentences of this article to reflect the news, but then you wouldn’t be nearly as delighted right now, would you? – Editor<\/em>)<\/p>\n

\n
\n

One other source of documentation for this game also survived the 1980s. Issue 47 of the Yamato<\/em> Fan Club magazine published a short feature on the game that included some insight on its production. Here it is, translated to English for the first time anywhere…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Aiming for a Better Product<\/h2>\n

A Yamato<\/em> game has appeared from Taito, the company with the largest and most popular game center in Tokyo. Taito will manufacture and sell the game, and we wanted to hear about their development efforts. We met in October (1984) with Taito’s planners, Mr. Tachibana and Mr. Togashi, and the programmer Mr. Hirose.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em> I’d like to hear the characteristics of the Yamato<\/em> game.<\/p>\n

Tachibana:<\/em> I wanted to participate in the making of a lasergame that best used the distinctive look and music of Space Battleship Yamato<\/em>. The difficult part in making a good game is finding the best balance between music and images.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em> Did you have a tough time with this product?<\/p>\n

Tachibana:<\/em> Because it’s necessary to make it playable as a lasergame, it’s a little different from the movie. It takes time for the people involved to understand what the game actually is. Also, I worried a lot about creating the finished program.<\/p>\n

Togashi:<\/em> The original plan was to base it on the first Yamato<\/em> series. The purpose becomes clear when you think of the game as a voyage to Iscandar and back. In our planning, the first concern was how to fight through the different levels and the second goal was to create a meaningful story.<\/p>\n

Image processing is very different today than it was ten years ago, so we wondered if we should develop a different proposal. But by chance Final Yamato<\/em> came out just at the time we were thinking about it, so that became our scenario. There is plenty of material in that story to make into a fine game. Even if we just extracted Kodai and the Cosmo Zero for our premise, there would still be plenty to work with.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em> What was the hardest part from the programming standpoint?<\/p>\n

Hirose:<\/em> The two sides of the project are completely different worlds. It’s difficult just to understand each others’ questions. The intention was to capture the romance of Yamato<\/em> with video and music, but a game doesn’t really have a place for that. They had to drag me through it, and it took a long time for us to understand each others’ viewpoints.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em> How was it to hear the music in the game?<\/p>\n

Togashi:<\/em> I had thought arcade game sounds were inferior, just zip, zap, zoom, or some cheap music. I understood that we can put better sound in depending on how we use it, but my preconceived notion was that videogames naturally can’t play good sound.<\/p>\n

The animation was completed and we began the sound recording. I clearly remember it was January 5th of this year. I had a fever and a sore throat so that the inside of my mouth turned red. It was a cold day, but the work would be completed at last, so I attended the session. Usually our company would be out for the New Year’s holiday, but I went to Avaco Studio in Waseda (editor’s note: where the voice actors were recorded for the Yamato<\/em> movies).<\/p>\n

Mr. Nishizaki kept saying “no, no. This is not Yamato<\/em>.” We did our best, but…<\/p>\n

Tachibana:<\/em> He put importance on the sound as well as pictures. He cares about the music and the dialogue. It was a very hard job, I remember that. I guess Mr. Nishizaki’s way is to make the music first and then mix other elements into it.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/em> I think there are many patterns. I mean, making a movie is combining three different things–pictures, music, and sound–into one.<\/p>\n

Togashi:<\/em> Before this job…you know, when we had completed animation, we feel our work was maybe 70-80% finished. But a representative at West Cape told me, “we only have 50% now. We have to keep working.” I had to gatheer myself up when I heard that. There are many, many stories to tell in this job…<\/p>\n

\n

The End<\/h3>\n

Return to Yamato<\/em> Games main article<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more about Laserdisc games<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

2023 Addendum<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

December 2023: Taito LD Game Collection (for Nintendo Switch)<\/h3>\n

Against all odds, the Final Yamato<\/em> LD game was finally released again, sharing space on a tiny cartridge with two of its contemporaries: Time Gal<\/em> and Ninja Hayate<\/em>. It’s a definite measure of our times that games that once required a sitdown booth to play in 1985 can now fit on something no larger than a sim card.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For the truly hardcore, a deluxe version was also released with a book and a Blu-ray detailing what must have been an intricate making-of process.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Rather than requiring players to run through all of Final Yamato<\/em> in timeline order, all four stages of the game are accessible from the start. Scenes from the film are appended by a lot of new animation created specifically for gameplay. <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The website Famitsu<\/em> had this to say about it:<\/p>\n

The game begins, of course, with the scene of Yamato<\/em>‘s launch. Of course, since this is a game, you have to avoid obstacles or you will end up wrecking the ship before it leaves on its journey, which is a rather uninteresting outcome. After the launch, the player has four scenes to choose from. All of the scenes have many highlights, but the scene with the Cosmo Tiger (fighter plane) is particularly interesting.<\/span><\/p>\n

One element that is not present in the other two games is a 3D shooting element. The directional buttons (or analog stick) are used to aim and shoot enemy aircraft and bullets, but the judgment is not very strict, so it is very exhilarating.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Cosmo Tiger scene is a mixture of QT and 3D shooting, where the player follows the arrows displayed on the radar screen. The sense of speed of the images experienced from the pilot’s viewpoint matches the music titled FIGHT Cosmo Tiger II<\/em> played in the background, which is very good! I can assure you that it is worth buying the Taito LD Game Collection just to play this scene.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike some game systems, the Japanese version is 100% compatible with US-based Switch consoles and there’s plenty of English text to ease you through it. Order it today from Amazon.co.jp here<\/a> or CD Japan here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To see the game in motion, here are clips players have posted on Twitter:<\/p>\n

\nGeneral overview<\/a><\/p>\n

Startup sequence<\/a><\/p>\n

Leaving dock<\/a><\/p>\n

Yamato<\/em> launch<\/a><\/p>\n

Yamato<\/em> failed launch<\/a><\/p>\n

Pluto battle stage<\/a><\/p>\n

Yamato<\/em> vs Dengil missiles<\/a><\/p>\n

Yamato<\/em> defeated<\/a><\/p>\n

Yamato<\/em> defeats Lugal II<\/a><\/p>\n

Yamato<\/em> launches from Icarus<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nYamato<\/em> vs Dengil fleet<\/a><\/p>\n

Yamato<\/em> vs Dengil fighters<\/a><\/p>\n

Cosmo Tiger in battle<\/a><\/p>\n

Main guns fire<\/a><\/p>\n

Main guns misfire<\/a><\/p>\n

Yamato<\/em> crashes on Uruk<\/a><\/p>\n

Battle on Uruk<\/a><\/p>\n

Cosmo Tigers at Uruk<\/a><\/p>\n

Obstacle course inside Uruk (1)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nObstacle course inside Uruk (2)<\/a><\/p>\n

Obstacle course inside Uruk (3)<\/a><\/p>\n

Uruk throne room<\/a><\/p>\n

End of Uruk<\/a><\/p>\n

Showdown with Lugal (1)<\/a><\/p>\n

Lugal defeats Yamato<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Yamato<\/em> defeats Lugal<\/a><\/p>\n

Yamato<\/em> vs Aquarius<\/a><\/p>\n

Last scene<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

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