is a two-player 3D vehicle combat

shooter game Shooter video games or shooters are a subgenre of action video games where the focus is almost entirely on the defeat of the character's enemies using the weapons given to the player. Usually these weapons are firearms or some other long-range ...

released by

Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...

for arcades in 1993. The game's perspective is third-person by default, but can be switched to a first-person perspective. The game was nominated for Most Innovative New Technology at the 1994 AMOA Awards. It later received a sequel in 1994, ''Cyber Commando''.

Gameplay

''Cyber Sled'' involves maneuvering a

hovercraft A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious Craft (vehicle), craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull ...

style

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

through a futuristic

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

and fighting to eliminate an opponent (either another player or the

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

). Various

power-ups In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a Game mechanics, game mechanic. This is in contrast to an Item (game), item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that ca ...

are available throughout the game, which feature improved

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

, extra

missiles 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 ...

, and

shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...

re-charging. There are walls and other obstacles in the arena, which can be useful for hiding as well as a hindrance, and some of which can be destroyed. Each player can choose from among eight different tanks, which vary from slow but heavily shielded, to quick but vulnerable. Player's viewpoint can be either from the

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

, or from behind the vehicle. Each player has two tank-style analog joysticks, each with a finger and thumb

trigger Trigger may refer to: Notable animals and people ;Mononym * Trigger (horse), owned by cowboy star Roy Rogers ;Nickname * Trigger Alpert (1916–2013), American jazz bassist * "Trigger Mike" Coppola (1900–1966), American gangster ;Surname * Bru ...

. The finger trigger releases a steady stream of bullets, but if held down will overheat and stop working for a short period of time. The thumb trigger releases a limited number of missiles. The game is rendered in 3D polygons and is viewed from a

third-person perspective Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

by default. There is a viewpoint button that allows the player to switch to an alternative

first-person perspective A first-person narrative is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from their own point of view using the first person It may be narrated by a first-person protagonist (or other focal character), first-person re-teller ...

Release

Arcade

The arcade game was first published by Namco in Japan on March 27, 1993 and later in North America by Namco America in October. The game was also released in Europe during 1993.

PlayStation

A console version of ''Cyber Sled'' was released for

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

in 1995. It was originally slated as a

launch game This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players. 0–9 A ...

for the PlayStation. It features more characters than the arcade version, and a choice between the original arcade graphics, or a more realistic texture mapped mode. The original arcade version was released for the

Wii Virtual Console A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, BSD, illumos, Un ...

in Japan on May 19, 2009. The PlayStation version was released through the

PlayStation Store The PlayStation Store (PS Store) is a digital media store available to users of Sony's PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The store offers a range of downloadable content ...

in Japan on June 26, 2013, and in North America on January 28, 2014.

Reception

Arcade

''Game Machine'' listed ''Cyber Sled'' as being the second most popular arcade game in Japan during October 1993. ''

Play Meter ''Play Meter'' (initially ''Coin Industry Play Meter'') was an American trade magazine focusing on the coin-op amusement arcade industry, including jukebox and arcade game machines. It was founded in December 1974 by publisher and editor Ralph C. ...

'' listed it to be the twenty-second most-popular arcade game at the time in North America during December 1993. Upon release in arcades, Rick Skews of ''

Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...

'' magazine gave the arcade game a positive review in early 1994. He compared the game favorably with

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

's classic arcade

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...

tank game '' Battlezone'' (1980), considering ''Cyber Sled'' to be a multiplayer 3D polygon successor to ''Battlezone''. He called ''Cyber Sled'' "an enjoyable coin-op" that is "most fun when played with a friend". He scored it 82% for graphics, 76% for sound, and 84% for gameplay, for an overall 82% score. At the 1994 AMOA Awards, the game was nominated for Most Innovative New Technology.

PlayStation

Upon release on consoles in 1995, ''

Famicom Tsūshin formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' (''Famitsu'') scored the PlayStation version of the game a 29 out of 40,PLAYSTATION CROSS REVIEW: サイバースレッド. Weekly Famicom Tsūshin. No.333. Pg.23. 5 May 1995. giving it an 8 out of 10 in their Reader Cross Review.読者クロスレビュー: サイバースレッド. Weekly Famicom Tsūshin. No.336. Pg.31. 26 May 1995. ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' criticized it for its lack of originality and unimpressive graphics, saying it "looks like something you could've played on a 16-bit system", but concluded that "it's fine, fast-paced fun, especially in two-player mode". '' Next Generation'' reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it two stars out of five, and wrote that "this title didn't need to come home at all, but if you're an absolute die-hard fan of the original coin-op, the one-player mode is a close match".

Notes

References

{{reflist 1993 video games Arcade video games Namco arcade games Bandai Namco Entertainment franchises First-person shooters PlayStation (console) games PlayStation Network games Virtual Console games Cancelled Sega Saturn games Science fiction video games Tank simulation video games Third-person shooters Vehicular combat games Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Shinji Hosoe Video games set in the 2060s