Checkpoints OFF
4 Difficulty levels
6 Stages
Ship speed fixed, selectable at start
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Developed by Masaya
Published by Big West in 1992
Immensely popular ever since its creation in 1982, the Macross anime spawned so many related products that keeping track of all of them is certainly a daunting task. Video games based on the series are one such example, yet for natural reasons most of them are shooters. When speaking about home consoles, I believe that The Super Dimension Fortress Macross 2036, or just Macross 2036, is the second release after the rudimentary but surprisingly fun Macross game on the Famicom. It came before Macross - Scrambled Valkyrie for the Super Nintendo and serves as a good preamble for that game in particular. It's not as accomplished, but it's quite decent in its own right.
With the advent of the CD format, it's clear that the story turns into an extremely important part of the game if you're a fan of the show and would somehow want to know how the cut scenes unfold, after all they're supposed to take place after the Macross: Do You Remember Love? movie released in 1984. If you're like me, however, it's good to know that it's possible to turn off all animated cut scenes at the first selection screen before starting the game, along with the difficulty and the desired ship speed. All you'll see then are quick images of bosses prior to the beginning of the level and, of course, the ending animation and final credits.
Another differential of Macross 2036 is the soundtrack, now boasting the unmistakeable franchise motif and a collection of equally fitting tunes. In essence, we're talking about decent fan service here. But what about gameplay?
Macross 2036 - Stage 1
(courtesy of YouTube user dfw1234)
(courtesy of YouTube user dfw1234)
As a sidescroller, the gameplay in Macross 2036 is competent. One button shoots, and while the other one seems to do nothing, it finds its purpose in the second stage since in-between levels you can choose a special weapon based on the amount of points you have scored so far. Then this secondary weapon is fired with the second button. Its use is limited though, as indicated by the overheat meter in the lower left corner of the screen. If it goes into the red zone the efficiency of the special weapon is severely reduced, to which you must wait for it to cool down. Different weapons have different heat and cooldown times. They also can't be used twice in a row, i.e., in successive stages.
In order to upgrade the main weapon power-ups are released from specific enemies, most of them with different colors from the others in any particular wave. Orange items upgrade the main shot, whereas blue items power up the missiles. Invisible items can also be uncovered by shooting at their locations, consisting of a Minmei face (extra life) and the shadow of the Valkyrie ship (quite a long invincibility period). It's very handy to know the location of invincibility items since they are an invaluable help in getting through some of the most intense sections in certain levels. As for extra lives, you also earn extends by scoring at the 100, 200 and 400 thousand point marks.
Intensity, by the way, appears in sparse doses. Most of the time enemies will come from the front, with quicker hazards being signalled by a crosshair that pops up over the ship, followed by an attack that can come from any direction (left or right). There are certain areas, however, where enemy attacks will overlap all of a sudden and push you into unwanted collisions and deaths. That's why standing in the middle of the screen is always the best approach. The fighter jet is powerful enough to handle pretty much anything despite the relatively slow upgrading process.
Even though Macross 2036 is a horizontal shooter, the game changes a bit during boss fights. The fighter jet assumes the battroid form, which fires continuously while both buttons are then used to turn the mecha around. The overheat meter becomes a health gauge, allowing you to take two hits before losing a life. It's an interesting concept that isn't that hard to grasp especially because bosses aren't really that menacing, most of them with easily readable attack patterns. The gerwalk form, that intermediate transition that acts as a VTOL unit or "chicken walker" mecha, appears in stage 5 as you navigate through maze-like walls.
Beware, jumping mechanical aliens ahead
With the exception of the 5th stage, all other levels are open areas with tiled backgrounds that in general scroll by really fast. The 4th stage is really short and has no boss, with the ship crashing against something whose nature is certainly explained in the cut scene that follows. As for the 5th stage, there's no harm in touching walls there, but it's important to select a secondary weapon that gives you some ability to protect yourself or to cover the screen while hitting enemies through walls.
Regarding the effectiveness of the assortment of special weapons, it was nice to notice that they're all useful somehow, even the ones that don't seem that effective in the beginning. I tried pretty much all of them, and the only one that felt weak was the one that fires a salvo of needle bullets. Unfortunately I didn't get to the point of using the last one, the guided laser. It's not easy to achieve sufficient points to be able to select it prior to the final stage, but since the game does not reset your score when you continue one way to at least get to see it is dying on purpose at the end of the levels to replay them after continuing (3 continues available).
I beat the game in the Normal difficulty (normal speed) with the result below. Unfortunately there's no score buffering anywhere and the final extra points you get by defeating the last boss will stay on screen for approximately one second only, so take that into consideration if you want to get a snapshot of your 1CC score when playing on a real console. As for the two extra options during the start screen (unrivaled and player), they're actually cheats and can only be accessed by means of a secret code.
