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バンゲリング ベイ
Hudson Soft ©1985
Underlicense from Brøderbund Soft.
Release: 1985-02-22 (¥4900)
Cartdridge HFC-RB
Shooter/multi
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Released in America as
RAID ON BUNGELING BAY
( NES-BU-USA )
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Raid on Bungeling Bay is a multi-scrolling shooter by Hudson Soft
and conversion of a game originally released in 1984 by Brøderbund for the
Commodore 64. The Bungeling Empire is underhandedly plotting to conquer
the world by developing a powerful war machine and six secret factories supplying
the deadly weapon must be destroyed in order to thwart the Empire's evil plans.
The player pilots an helicopter deep within enemy territory to launch an attack on
the highly guarded Bungeling Bay. The helicopter takes off from a plane carrier
which is the crux of the gameplay - the ship navigates along a south/north path and
landing back on it replenishes the helicopter stock of bombs (to a maximum of 9) and
fixes it up. The screen display also shows important information about the status of the
aircraft, such as Score (S), Damage (D), Remaining Factories (F)
or the current direction to the plane carrier. This last arrow pointer is especially
important since the aircraft carrier can be attacked at any time by the forces of the
Empire. Although the helicopter can sustain a fair amount of damage from enemy fire,
it will start to tail spin when the damage rating exceeds 100 and will eventually
crash. Also, factories are able to defend themselves and get stronger the longer they
stay in operation. They produce Gun Turrets, Tanks, Radars,
Fighters and Boats. Later in the game, they even start producing two
other types of vehicles (the Bomber and the Battleship) that can both
sink the plane carrier if left unchecked. Finally, Raid on Bungeling Bay
features two play-modes ("Game B" being more difficult than "Game A")
and a two simultaneous player option where a second player controls the
Bungeling Empire. Interestingly, shouting into the second player controller's microphone
calls for fighter planes (an urban legend even says
that Japanese kids would commonly scream "Hudson!").
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Raid on Bungeling Bay was originally released for the Commodore 64 in 1984 (picture on the right).
It was published by Brøderbund and was the first game designed by Will Wright
(made famous by SimCity and his Sim series). Raid on Bungeling Bay
definitively shows the premise of Will's future work and the 'simulated gameplay mechanics'
featured in all of his games. Raid on Bungeling Bay was then ported to the MSX
(1985, Japan only) by Sony Computer Entertainment and to the Famicom (1985) by
Hudson Soft (version tested here). Hudson Soft has managed to keep most of the
gameplay mechanics from the original game. However, the Commodore 64 version had a
lot more detail on screen (smoke would come out of the factories and city maps were a lot more
detailed). Interestingly, a NES hack called Raid on bungeling bay c64 seems to exists
with modified graphics that look a lot closer to the original Commodore 64 game.
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Interestingly, the Bungeling Empire was the main antagonist in several
games released by Brøderbund in the 1980s. The first game was
Lode Runner where the player
had to collect all the gold stolen by the power-hungry Bungeling people.
Raid on Bungeling Bay required the player to directly face the Bungeling
Empire on a remote planet. Finally, in Choplifter, players were on a rescue mission
to free hostages kidnaped by the evil Empire.
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Teaser text from the American version:
On a tiny remote planet, the evil Bungeling
Empire is creating an awesome war
machine. Civilization as we know it seems
doomed. One faint hopes remains.
A single highly mobile raider might be
able to carry out a surgical strike to the
heart of The War Machine. Only a fighter
pilot of enormous skill and courage could
hope to neutralize all six Bungeling islands.
Even as you strike at one island,
robots repair the damage you've done,
attacking again and again with a savage
arsenal of destruction.
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G
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Japanese Guidebook
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Japanese Guidebook
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Click on picture to enlarge |
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LK
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Add your Pov here !
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P
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Raid on Bungeling Bay looks like a really straightforward
and simple shooter at first, but the more you play, the more you
discover the complex and unique gameplay mechanics hidden beneath
the surface. Every moment feels like it's been lavished with attention.
That's it, everything in the game seems to be happening in real time with
an incredible amount of detail, which gives it an unique and realistic
credibility. Your plane carrier doesn't get attacked at random, you can
actually see the bombers leaving the enemy's runways and flying to their
target. Then, even when the game loops (as it does for each round), it
still has a couple of surprises under its sleeves that keep you surprised
and challenged. Having said that, Raid on Bungeling Bay is an early
Famicom game and it shows its age - graphics are relatively crude,
the music is inexistent and the game is overall repetitive. But despite its
relative age, I think Raid on Bungeling Bay is an unusual game that
still works excellently.
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