is a
multidirectional shooter
Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs
) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of charact ...
video game developed and published 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 ...
released in arcades in 1984. It is the sequel to the 1981 game ''
Vanguard
The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force.
History
The vanguard derives fr ...
''. It was not as successful as the original.
Gameplay
Unlike the forced scrolling format of the first game, ''Vanguard II'' takes place in
top-down
Top-down may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* " Top Down", a 2007 song by Swizz Beatz
* "Top Down", a song by Lil Yachty from ''Lil Boat 3''
* "Top Down", a song by Fifth Harmony from ''Reflection'' Science
* Top-down reading, is a part of ...
multi-directional scrolling stages. The ship can move in eight directions as it flies over a floating alien platform with the goal of destroying the power pods providing the station with energy. Aerial defenses must be shot down, while pods on the platform must be bombed with the aid of a crosshair. Once the players have destroyed enough pods they can bomb the core, which destroys the platform and ends the level.
Reception
In Japan, it was ranked number 22 on the ''
Game Machine''
table arcade cabinet
An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...
chart in May 1984.
Legacy
''Vanguard II'' was included in the ''
SNK Arcade Classics 0'' compilation for the
PlayStation Portable
The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...
, which was released in Japan in 2011.
[
]
See also
*''Time Pilot '84
''Time Pilot '84: Further Into Unknown World'' is a scrolling multidirectional shooter released in arcades in 1984 by Konami. The different time periods of 1982's ''Time Pilot'' are replaced by a top-down view of a science fiction landscape tha ...
''
References
{{reflist
External links
''Vanguard II''
at GameFAQs
GameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by Fandom, Inc. since October 2022. The site has a databa ...
''Vanguard II''
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 ...
''Vanguard II''
at Killer List of Videogames
Killer List of Videogames (KLOV) is a website featuring an online encyclopedia devoted to cataloging arcade games past and present. It is the video game department of the International Arcade Museum, and has been referred to as "the IMDb for pla ...
''Vanguard II''
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 ...
1984 video games
Arcade video games
Science fiction video games
Shoot 'em ups
SNK franchises
SNK games
SNK Playmore games
Video games developed in Japan