RAF WORLD / rʌf WORLD
( Journey To Silius )
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ラフ ワールド
©1990 Sunsoft
©Tokai Engineering 1990
Release: 1990-08-10 (¥5500)
Cartdridge TEC-RF
Platform/Action
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Released in America as
JOURNEY TO SILIUS
( NES-4S-USA )
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Released in Europe as
JOURNEY TO SILIUS
( NES-4S-XXX )
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Raf World (known as Journey to Silius in the west) is a
side scrolling action game developed and published by Sunsoft. In the
year 0373 of the new space calendar, on a distant colony in the Silius
solar system, Jay Mc.Cray learns that his dad, an engineer involved in the
colony research team, has perished in a devastating explosion. He only left behind
a floppy disk that contains plans of the colony and a letter, which reveals that
terrorists are plotting to destroy it. He also adds that Jay should complete his father's
work if anything bad would happen to him. Jay now embarks on a long mission to fight
the terrorists and avenge his father's death. He comes equipped with two
weapons - a Hand Gun and a three-direction Shot Gun. Four more weapons
are available throughout the game (dropped by defeated bosses) and range from a
Machine Gun (M), Homing Missiles (H), a
Laser Rifle (L) and a Grenade Launcher (G). Although the Hand Gun
can be used at will, all the other weapons consume Jay's limited energy
(G energy meter) which must be replenished by collecting special blue
capsules. Red capsules are also available and can give Jay some of
his life power back (P power meter). Raf World features five stages
that prepare Jay to eventually confront the terrorist's leader - the powerful
Skeletal Android and his flying fortress.
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The American version of the game was curiously edited. Although the
Japanese and European versions feature the same character sprite,
the American port has a totally different main character with a
large chibi-head (picture on the right).
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At first sight, Raf World is quite an enigmatic name - however, the sound test menu screen
(see the Secrets section) reveals that the name of the game is in reality
"Rough World". 'Raf' is actually formed with the three phonetic symbols
rʌf from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) which indeed
represents the English word 'Rough'.
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Interestingly, Raf World was initially supposed to be based on
James Cameron's Terminator (which becomes obvious as you
progress through the game, and the final boss definitively looks like a
T-800 cyborg). The game, called "The Terminator" (picture on the left), was
announced in Nintendo Power volume 7 (July/August 1989) - "Cast
your peepers on the cool screen shots we managed to get hold of. Sun Corp
is preparing to unveil Terminator and we'll keep you posted as we learn
more".
The two screen shots in the magazine show a different character
sprite and altered stage backgrounds, but the enemy biped-robot (picture on the right) was later
used in Raf World and can be seen at the end of the third level.
However, and for whatever reason, Sun Soft lost the license and had
to heavily edit the game before release.
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Raf World was included (along with Hebereke) in the Memorial
Series Sunsoft Volume 5 released for the Playstation in 2002.
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Game's story (copied from the game's introduction sequence):
After many years of space
colony development,
Jay's father has passed
away.
The evening news reported
that Jay's father's death
was an accident.
Several days later Jay
finds a floppy disk left
in his father's room.
"I hear the terrorist are
planning against the
colony development.
You must complete my
mission if I cannot."
"They will pay the price
for the death of my
father."
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Teaser text copied from the American version:
We dare you to make
the journey to silius
In the ruin of Silius, intergalactic
terrorists - and their deadly
arsenal of weapons - are
waiting for you.
Are you prepared
to face an endless
onslaught of flying
war robots, humanoid
laser cannons, bone crushing traps,
and the seemingly invincible
Master Ship?
Still want to
make the
journey?
If you do, it
will take all your
skills to reach the final battle. With the
terrorist's supreme leader... the merciless
all-powerful Skeletal Android.
Journey to Silius. It's level upon level
of gigantic supercharged graphics,
thundering sound effects
and danger at
every turn.
Go ahead. We dare you !
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Game Staff (Copied from the end credits) :
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Directer
Vegas
Chow-Mu-Sow
Programmer
Nom
Hiro-Kun
North-River
Sleepy. H
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Graphic Designer
You-Ri
Idaten
Hebereke
N. Habari
Masashi
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Music Staff
Nobuyuki
About. SS
Marumo
N. Kodaka
Mabochan
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Special Thanks
Hero
Asshi
Dagawa-R
J. Moon
Kitachin
Ring Ring
Mac
Right Hand
Nori
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and
Players
Presented by
Sunsoft
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O
M
A
K
E
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Click on picture to enlarge |
S
E
C
R
E
T
S
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Sound test and extra continue screen:
On the title screen, press B 33 times and press start to
access the sound test menu (picture on the right). There,
you can play any tunes from the game or to increase the
stock of continues (up to 9).
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LK
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Add your Pov here !
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P
O
V
s
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Rockman (aka Megaman) may be the first thing that comes to
mind when playing Raf World (quickly followed by Contra). And
this goes beyond the main's character color palette - the new weapons you are
rewarded with at the end of each stage and the weapon energy bar both have an
air of 'déjà-vu'. But this run and gun
definitively brings tons of ideas of
its own. The graphics are sharp and detailed, the gameplay is solid, the
full-screen bosses are breathtaking and the soundtrack is definitively
one of the best I have heard for the system. Difficulty is on the hard side
though and it is sometimes impossible to avoid getting hit. I also wished it
was easier to switch weapons during the course of action (which can be fairly
intense at times), and the weapon energy meter just drains way too quickly.
It is unfortunate that some excellent games have grown obscure, and Raf World
is definitively one of them. It is an awesome and underrated game that shouldn't
be missed by fans of the genre.
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