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ラビオレプス スペシャル
©1990 Video System
Release: 1990-10-19 (¥6800)
HuCard (3 Mbits) VS-90003
Shooter / Horizontal
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Rabio Lepus Special is an horizontal shooter and a remixed
version of the arcade game Rabio Lepus originally released by
V-System in 1987. In a faraway Kingdom, the king and his two daughters
are happy and there is peace and harmony in the land. That is until one
fateful day when an unknown spaceship appears like a bolt out of the blue
and kidnaps the king and the two girls, all dressed in their bunny suits.
The player assumes control of Usagi, a flying robotic-rabbit and his mission is to
rescue the captives and eliminate their unknown captors. The rocket-powered
rabbit comes equipped with a Vulcan gun and a set of homing missiles. Missiles
are supplied in limited quantities and must be refilled frequently.
Interestingly, Rabio Lepus Special doesn't reward the player with
power-ups. Large carrot-cans are scattered around the levels and drop various
items when destroyed such as carrots (life), money jars (points),
missiles, raccoons (short invincibility) or a cute
yellow hair bow (increases the missiles destruction power) - but
nothing is available to boost up the main weapon. However, the rabbit's
ultimate weapon are his fists and boxing gloves - when in close range,
he can land a punch and inflict a lot more damage to the enemy.
Rabio Lepus Special features six stages and three main
locations - space station, asteroid and finally the
planet surface where the enemy leader hides.
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Rabio Lepus Special is based on the arcade game Rabio lepus
(aka Rabbit Punch in the west) originally released by V-System in 1987 (pictures on the right).
However, the version tested here is quite different and it can be regarded as a remixed
version of the original game (hence the "special" title). The animated introduction
sequence was removed as well as the world map, and the soundtrack is completely different.
The original game also features twelve stages whereas the PC Engine version only
six - however, these stages remix a lot of the enemies and layout elements from the
arcade game. Some bosses were moved to different levels (such as the flying monk),
some had their attack patterns changed (such as the guardian protecting the last boss)
and others, such as the metal panthers were removed. The PC Engine version
also features a mini-boss not seen in the original game - the large spaceship located
at the beginning of the fist level is exclusive to this version. Finally, the arcade game
featured a two-player mode (removed from the PC Engine port) and an interesting
second difficulty mode where players could play the game with a completely different
enemy layout. As a side note, the American version of Rabio lepus
(renamed Rabbit Punch) was censored - the images of the bunny girls were
removed as well as the introduction sequence. Finally, Rabio lepus was
released for the Japanese Playstation 2 in 2006 as part of the
Oretachi Game Center series.
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The original Rabio Lepus was the debut title for game designer Shinsuke Nakamura.
He is today highly respected among shooter fans for designing milestone games such as
Sonic Wings (aka Aero Fighters in the west), Gunbird, Strikers 1945,
Sengoku Ace (aka Samurai Aces) and Zero Gunner. The short-range attack
(or vicinity attack) found in Rabio Lepus is a gameplay mechanic that will be
later reused in other of his shooters such as Gunbird. Interestingly, the mechanical
rabbit from Rabio Lepus also appears as a hidden character in Sonic Wings,
as well as the large ghost boss (called Tenukī Chaudo, is he in reality
a giant teru teru bozu ?) which appears also in
Sonic Wings 2 and Sonic Wings 3 (picture on the left).
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Game Staff (Copied from the end credits) :
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Rabio Lepus Special
STAFF
Programmer
K. Youzi
W. Hiroshi
Kin. Chan
K. Murata
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Debug
Hinasan
Akisama
Toru
N. Masaru
Designer
Shinsuke Nakamura
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Music and S.E.
Naoki Itamura
Director
Shinsuke Nakamura
Presented by
Video System co.,Ltd.
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G
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Japanese Toy
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Click on picture to enlarge |
S
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Enter the following codes at the title screen. A name corresponding to
the activated cheat should appear at the top/right corner of the screen,
right above the game's title.
White bow (shadow gun):
Hold select and press Ix4, IIx6, Ix4, IIx6,
Ix4, IIx6, Ix4 and IIx6.
Green bow (3-ways gun):
Hold select and press Ix3, IIx3, Ix4 and IIx4.
Yellow bow (powerful missiles):
Hold select and press Ix3, IIx3, Ix3 and IIx3.
Blue bow (Large gun):
Hold select and press Ix4, IIx4, Ix4 and IIx4.
5 life-containers:
Hold select and press Ix9, IIx8, Ix7, IIx6,
Ix5, IIx4, Ix3, IIx2 and I.
5 lives:
Hold select and press Ix5, II, Ix5 and II.
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LK
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Add your Pov here !
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P
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In its first minute, Rabio Lepus Special throws enemies
and lethal homing missiles at you without mercy, leaving you little
time to breathe. All of them are easily wiped out by a barrage of homing missiles,
but the insane difficulty level is definitively a reason for concern.
Rabio Lepus Special is hard, and not many players will see the end of
it. Also, although the controls feel great, the weapon system is somewhat
hamstrung by a lack of adequate power-ups. The punch is also a wasted
opportunity and can only be used on rare occasions. But if you hang in
there, the game will reveal its charm and uniqueness. The enemies are
really strange, wacky and the graphics are overall fairly solid. All
in all, Rabio Lepus Special is a fun little game as long as you
can tolerate its frustrating and unfair difficulty level.
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