is a 2010

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by

Visco Corporation is a software company located in Japan. It was founded in 1982 by and later became corporate on August 8, 1983 while revealing itself as "Visco" in Japan. They originally developed video games for several platforms from the arcades and NES, ...

and originally published by Neo Conception International for the

Neo Geo AES The , stylised as NEO•GEO and also written as NEOGEO, is a cartridge-based arcade system board and the fourth generation home video game console released on April 26, 1990 by Japanese game company SNK Corporation. It was the first system in ...

(home). Taking place on the

fictional planet Planets in science fiction are fictional planets that appear in various media of the science fiction genre as story-settings or depicted locations. Planet lists For planets from specific fictional milieux, use the following lists: Literature ...

of Palua in the

future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...

, where an evil being known as Honey plots to have his own

galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...

, players assume the role of Lazy and Refia in order to prevent Honey and his followers from realizing their plan. Its

gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and pla ...

mainly consists of platforming mixed with

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

elements using a main two-button configuration. Headed by Visco founder Tetsuo Akiyama and '' Breakers''

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

Don Gabacho, ''Bang Bang Busters'' was created by most of the same team that previously worked on several projects at Visco. Though it was initially launched for the Neo Geo AES, the game was later released for both Neo Geo MVS (arcade) and

Neo Geo CD The is the second home video game console of SNK, SNK Corporation's Neo Geo family, released on September 9, 1994, four years after its Neo Geo (console), cartridge-based equivalent. This is the same platform, converted to the cheaper CD format ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

respectively, as well for the

Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, N ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Gameplay

''Bang Bang Busters'' is a platform game similar to ''

Snow Bros. is a 1990 platform arcade video game originally developed by Toaplan first published in Japan, then in North America by Romstar and later in Europe. Starring the eponymous snowmen twins Nick and Tom, players are tasked with travelling through 50 ...

'' and the Neo Geo's own ''

Nightmare in the Dark is a platform arcade video game developed by AM Factory, with the assistance of Paon, and released by Eleven/Gavaking on January 27, 2000. The game never received an official release for either the Neo Geo AES (home) or Neo Geo CD platforms. It ...

'' and ''

ZuPaPa! is a platform arcade video game developed by Face and originally published by SNK on September 1, 2001. Starring the eponymous creature, players are tasked with travelling through nine stages, throwing small creatures called Zooks, jumping on and ...

'', where the players assume control of Lazy (P1) and Refia (P2) across seven stages comprising multiple levels that take place on planet Palua, each with a

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...

at the end that must be fought before progressing any further, in order to stop an evil being known as Honey and his followers before the former has his own galaxy as the main objective.''Bang Bang Busters'' user's manual (Neo Geo AES, US)''Bang Bang Busters'' manual (Dreamcast, US) The players must throw energy projectiles at enemies to inflate them with air, which is reminiscent of ''

Dig Dug is a maze game, maze arcade game developed by Namco in 1981 and released in 1982, distributed in North America by Atari, Inc. The player controls Dig Dug to defeat all enemies per stage, by either inflating them to bursting or crushing them unde ...

''. From there, players can grab the inflated enemies to perform a variety of actions such as launching them against other enemies at any direction by holding the attack button, perform a dash throw by double-tapping the

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

left or right, as well as float above the ground by repeatedly tapping the jump button. Any enemy inflated with air cannot move until it shakes it off. Defeated enemies may spawn

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chosen ...

s and

item Item may refer to: Organizations * ''Instituto del Tercer Mundo'' (ITeM), the Third World Institute * ITEM club, an economic forecasting group based in the United Kingdom Newspapers * ''The Item'', an American independent, morning newspaper ...

s like a speed increaser, a

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

that obliterates any enemy caught in its

blast radius A blast radius is the distance from the source that will be affected when an explosion occurs. A blast radius is often associated with bombs, mines, explosive projectiles ( propelled grenades), and other weapons with an explosive charge. Use in ...

, among others. Players can sustain a number of enemy hits, at the expense of losing power as a penalty, but the game is over after taking one last hit unless the players decide to continue playing.

Development and release

''Bang Bang Busters'' was created by most of the same team that previously worked on several projects at Visco Corporation. Its development was helmed by Visco founder Tetsuo Akiyama and ''Breakers'' producer Don Gabacho, with Yasuhisa Itoi acting as

supervisor A supervisor, or lead, (also known as foreman, boss, overseer, facilitator, monitor, area coordinator, line-manager or sometimes gaffer) is the job title of a lower-level management position that is primarily based on authority over workers or ...

. Ebi Taisyo and Tel.Y served as

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

, with Taisyo also serving as

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

Artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

s Hirofumi Mawatari, Makoto Nobetani and Kaoru Ishizawa designed the characters, while Kentaro Masakane and Kenichi Imamatsu were the

programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

s. The music was composed by Kiyoshi Kusatsu, while other people also collaborated during development. It was initially slated to be co-published and distributed by

SNK is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. It is the successor to the company Shin Nihon Kikaku and presently owns the SNK video game brand and the Neo Geo video game platform. SNK's predecessor Shin Nihon Kikaku was founded in 1978 ...

. ''Bang Bang Busters'' was initially showcased at

trade show A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and cu ...

s and intended to be released in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, and again in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, but it was never released for unknown reasons until 2010, when independent developer and publisher Neo Conception International released the AES version as part of an acquisition deal with Visco in regards to the rights of their

intellectual properties Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

. Although its production number during development remained unknown, it was later revealed to be officially assigned with the number 71. The title was then launched for Neo Geo MVS in 2011 and later for Neo Geo CD by N.C.I. in 2012. Years later, an officially licensed port by Visco for the Dreamcast was also released by JoshProd worldwide in 2018.

Notes

References

External links

'' Bang Bang Busters''
at

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''Bang Bang Busters''
at

Giant Bomb ''Giant Bomb'' is an American video game website and wiki that includes personality-driven gaming videos, commentary, news, and reviews, created by former ''GameSpot'' editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis. The website was voted by ''Time'' mag ...

''Bang Bang Busters''
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bang Bang Busters 2010 video games Arcade video games Cooperative video games Dreamcast games Multiplayer and single-player video games Neo Geo games Neo Geo CD games Platform games Video games developed in Japan Video games featuring female protagonists Video games set in 1994 Video games set in the 1990s Video games set in the future Video games set on fictional planets Visco Corporation games