Mars Matrix: Hyper Solid Shooting
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| Mars Matrix: Hyper Solid Shooting | |
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| Developer(s) | Takumi |
| Publisher(s) | Capcom |
| Release date(s) | April 2000 |
| Genre(s) | Vertical scrolling shooter, Manic shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, 2 player Co-op |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Dreamcast |
| Input | 8-way joystick, 1 button |
| Arcade cabinet | Upright |
| Arcade system(s) | CPS-2 |
| Arcade display | Horizontally oriented, 384 × 224, 4096 palette colors |
Mars Matrix: Hyper Solid Shooting is a vertical scrolling shooter arcade game developed by Takumi in 2000. The game was published by Capcom and run on their CPS-2 arcade system board. Mars Matrix was later ported to the Dreamcast video game console in 2001. The arcade version is notable for using a horizontally aligned monitor (much like Giga Wing), something that is considered rare for a vertical shooter.
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[edit] Story
In the 25th century, Mars is home to millions of immigrants. This is because Earth was going to be overcrowded, and thus the colonization of a terraformed Mars was the only solution. The problem is, at some point, an unknown source of energy, located in the south pole, is discovered by the local government. All of a sudden, a declaration of independence arrives on Earth. What's going on? The Earth fleet goes to reveal it, with the new 'Mosquito fighters' acting as intruders...
[edit] Gameplay
The game only uses one button, as the actions which it will be triggered differ according to the timing how the button is pressed:
- The normal rapid-fire, light-damage shooting is carried out by tapping the button.
- the load (or beam): By pausing between attacks, and then shooting, the beam-weapon will fire. This attack is relatively powerful, can hit multiple targets, but has a much shorter range.
- The absorption of enemy shots is performed by holding the attack button down. The player can choose the duration of absorption, and if they leave it pressed until the maximum, an explosion will result which destroys all enemies and shots displayed on the screen. On the other hand, absorbing only partially acts as a reflection attack: enemy projectiles are thrown back at the enemy.
[edit] Experience system
In Mars Matrix, there is a system which makes it possible to improve the protagonist vessel(s) by collecting gold cubes. The cubes, which come from the destruction or damage to every object in the game, add to an "experience bar" at near the top of the screen when collected in a continuous combo. A greater amount of these gold cubes will be unleashed if the player uses reflection attacks. Once the experience bar is filled, the player's weapons will become more powerful, and then the meter zeroes out for the next experience level. A small bar located in top of the screen indicates the amount of remaining time until the combo runs out; if this happens the meter zeroes out for the current level. The meter will also reset if the player's ship is destroyed while a combo is active.
[edit] Dreamcast version
The Dreamcast version has extra features including two new modes of play, a score attack mode, and a several options which can be unlocked by attaining enough gold bricks.
