''Beast Busters'' is a rail shooter horror game released by SNK for arcades in 1989. It was the first three-player light gun shooter video game. Ports were released for the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

and

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

in 1990.

Gameplay

In the game, players control one of three militiamen named Johnny Justice, Paul Patriot and Sammy Stately, who must shoot their way out of a city that has been invaded by the undead. The original arcade machine allows for up to three players to play the game at the same time. Guns are mounted to the machine and look like machine guns. Players can earn a number of

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 through the course of each stage to aid them in battle such as rockets,

grenade A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...

s, armor, health packs, and ammo. The game has seven sections for players to shoot their way through. In between stages players are shown cutscenes explaining the events of the zombie infestation that has overtaken the city. Each stage has a sub boss as well as an end boss to defeat, all of which have 2 forms to defeat. The game was known for having unusual bosses, such as a zombie punk who mutates into a dog, or a

jeep Jeep is an American automobile marque, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with remaining assets, from its previous owner American Moto ...

which starts coming to life. One stage ends with the militiamen having to rescue a female CIA agent from that stage's boss.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Beast Busters'' on their January 15, 1990 issue as being the most-successful upright arcade unit of the month. It went on to become Japan's fifth highest-grossing dedicated arcade game of 1990 and ninth highest-grossing dedicated arcade game of 1991. In North America, the game became the second top-earning arcade game in early 1990, below '' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles''. The game drew comparisons to '' Operation Thunderbolt'', '' Line of Fire'' and SNK's own ''

Mechanized Attack is a shooter game developed and published by SNK. It was released in North America for the arcade in 1989, and it was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990. It can be played with either the NES controller or the NES Zapper light gun ...

''. '' ACE'' rated it 4 out of 5 and reacted positively to the game's horror theme and story, calling it ''

Operation Wolf is a light gun shooter arcade game developed by Taito and released in 1987. It was ported to many home systems. The game was critically and commercially successful, becoming one of the highest-grossing arcade games of 1988 and winning the Go ...

'' meets ''

Splatterhouse is a beat 'em up arcade game developed and published by Namco. It was the first in a series of games released in home console and personal computer formats. This cult classic would later spawn the parody '' Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti'', the ...

''. According to

Paul Theroux Paul Edward Theroux (born April 10, 1941) is an American novelist and travel writer who has written numerous books, including the travelogue, '' The Great Railway Bazaar'' (1975). Some of his works of fiction have been adapted as feature films. He ...

, Michael Jackson owned a ''Beast Busters'' arcade machine and frequently took it with him on tour via cargo plane.

Legacy

A sequel entitled ''Beast Busters: Second Nightmare'' was released in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

on the

Hyper Neo Geo 64 The Hyper Neo Geo 64 is an arcade system created by SNK, and released in September 1997, as the successor of the Neo Geo MVS, within the Neo Geo family. It is the first and only SNK hardware set capable of rendering in 3D, and was meant to ...

. A handheld spin-off called '' Dark Arms: Beast Buster'' was released in 1999 for the Neo Geo Pocket Color in the form of an

Action RPG An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

. ''Beast Busters featuring KOF'' was released in December 2014 for iOS and Android devices, but it ended its service in August 2015.

References

External links

''Beast Busters''
at Hall of Light Amiga database *{{moby game, id=/beast-busters, name=''Beast Busters'' 1989 video games Activision games Amiga games Arcade video games Atari ST games Light gun games SNK franchises SNK games Video games about zombies Video games scored by Masahiko Hataya Video games scored by Matthew Simmonds U.S. Gold games Cooperative video games Video games developed in Japan

Gameplay

Reception

Legacy

See also

References

External links