is a side-scrolling

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 ...

video game produced by

dB-SOFT was a Japanese software development company that was in business from 1980 to 2003 based in Sapporo, Hokkaido. They started as a video game developer, releasing titles for various home computer platforms (including the Family Computer), but su ...

that was released in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

exclusively for the

Family Computer The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redes ...

(the Japanese version of the Nintendo Entertainment System).

Gameplay

In a story inspired by ''

Dirty Pair is a series of Japanese light novels (the first one being a fix-up) written by Haruka Takachiho and illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko that was later adapted into anime and manga versions. The first stories that make up the first volume ...

'', Layla, a 17-year-old member of special forces group CAT, needs to rescue her team partner Iris who was kidnapped by the evil Dr. Manitoka. Eight asteroids have to be explored in search of Iris, each divided into two sections: the first part involving the surface of the asteroid while the second part deals with the actual enemy base. The game's screen always scrolls from left to right and no backtracking is permitted on any level. While navigating through the cavern-like interiors of the asteroids, password disks must be retrieved. At the end of each base awaits 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, ...

that must be defeated. When the player character's life reaches zero, she dies and immediately loses a life. A

password A password, sometimes called a passcode (for example in Apple devices), is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of ...

is shown after the player game over so that players can resume their progress at a later date. Several guns in addition to some hand grenades can be used; a handgun is the player's initial weapon, but more powerful weapons can be found by exploring. Every weapon has a limited amount of ammunition. Certain blocks can be broken by using the player's chosen weapon; the destroyable and non-destroyable blocks are sometimes indistinguishable. Bonus levels distributed throughout the game allow players to destroy squadrons of enemy ships while being completely impervious to their attacks.

Reception

When ''Layla'' was announced in August 1986, originally scheduled to arrive in September, the game was noted for featuring the second heroine on the Nintendo Entertainment System, after Valkyrie from '' Valkyrie no Bōken: Toki no Kagi Densetsu'' (the gender of

Samus Aran is a fictional character and the playable protagonist of the video game series ''Metroid'' by Nintendo. She was created by Japanese video game designer Makoto Kano. She was introduced as a player character in the original 1986 video game ''Me ...

from '' Metroid'' was a secret). However, more female-protagonists games including ''

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded ...

'', '' The Wing of Madoola'' and ''

Gall Force is a metaseries of science fiction anime OVAs by the studios Artmic and AIC, with production by Youmex. The original character designs were by Kenichi Sonoda, though these were dropped for the ''Gall Force: The Revolution'' remake. C ...

'' also arrived at around the same time as when it was finally released in December. Upon its release, ''Layla'' was rated 26/40 (5, 7, 7, 7) by the four reviewers in ''

Weekly Famitsu 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 f ...

'', three of whom acclaimed the

cuteness Cuteness is a subjective term describing a type of attractiveness commonly associated with youth and appearance, as well as a scientific concept and analytical model in ethology, first introduced by Konrad Lorenz. Lorenz proposed the concept ...

of the main character in their notes.''Weekly Famitsu'' 14 (1986/12/26). The three reviewers from ''Marukatsu FC'' gave it an overall score of 11/15 (4, 4, 3).''Marukatsu FC'' 15 (1986/12/12).

References

External links

*{{MobyGames, id=/layla, name=''Layla''
''Layla''
at GameFAQs 1986 video games DB-SOFT games Fiction about asteroids Japan-exclusive video games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Science fiction video games Side-scrolling platform games Single-player video games Video games developed in Japan Video games featuring female protagonists

Gameplay

Reception

See also

References

External links