Battle Shark (バトルシャーク) is a first-person shoot 'em up released as an arcade video game by

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. It b ...

in 1989. The player looks through a

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

periscope A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position. In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...

to destroy enemies while avoiding

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...

es and

missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket i ...

s. The player starts with a limited amount of torpedoes, which slowly replenishes itself. Power-up targets appear throughout the games, which can increase the supply of torpedoes, repair damage, or add extra firepower. At the end of each stage, the player faces off against a boss character. The Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) nominated ''Battle Shark'' for the "Most Inventive" award in 1990. The game was released for ''

Taito Legends ''Taito Legends'' is a compilation of 29 arcade games released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Microsoft Windows. The games were originally developed by Taito. The European release was published by Empire Interactive, who had licensed the games f ...

'' in 2005.

Plot

The story in Battle Shark involves a third world war (World War 3 or WWIII). According to the description in the game's attract mode introduction, "extremely brutal fighting has been taking place on land, and now the battlefield is expanding into the oceans." Peace negotiations, the fictional allies then discover, are an enemy trap, and that the enemy has actually been buying time to create an underwater fortress at the bottom of the sea. ''Battle Shark'', with its driver, a navy soldier, must fight its way through hordes of enemy submarines, boats, and vehicles to track down the fortress, and ultimately destroy it.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Battle Shark'' on their May 1, 1990 issue as being the sixth most-successful upright arcade unit of the month. The game was well-received by critics. ''RePlay'' gave it a positive review upon its North American debut at

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's American Coin Machine Exposition (ACME) in March 1990. ''

Your Sinclair ''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. History The ...

'' reviewed the arcade game in 1990, giving it an 87% score. At the 1990 AMOA Games Awards held by the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA), ''Battle Shark'' was nominated for the "Most Inventive" award.

References

1989 video games Arcade video games Naval video games Rail shooters Submarine simulation video games Taito arcade games Taito Z System games World War III video games Video games developed in Japan Single-player video games {{rail-shooter-videogame-stub