Arcade Archives: Land Sea Air Squad

[tepidsnake]

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Land Sea Air Squad (Taito, 1986)

PSN
EU
US

Switch browser eShop links aren't live just yet, but it is on there, I promise.

The Japanese (Riku Kai Kuu Saizensen- currently undumped for MAME!), US L(and Sea Aur Squad) and International (Storming Party) ROMs are included. Preference Settings allow you to display the number of shots you've fired and number of successful hits in the current area, allowing for easier tracking of your accuracy (not available in Hi-Score Mode).

... I repeat, come in, Sergeant Sarge! The situation is desperate, so I'll be brief: the enemy army has seized eight key strategic areas and fortified their position therein, installing 40mm cannons in each of them. We have to reclaim these areas but reinforcements will take too long to get here, and we've lost enough time already. This is where you come in: as a lone commando unit, you must infiltrate these areas and destroy those cannons! We've got you a simple gun and a somehow-infinite supply of grenades, but not even this will be enough, so with a little OSP (that's on-site procurement, remember) you can commandeer the Super Mecha vehicles strewn across the battlefield. Boats, tanks, helicopters and even a train, use 'em to protect yourself against enemy fire but remember to bail if they start to explode. We're counting on you, Sarge, don't let us down, over!
 

Released a year after Capcom's Commando and just a month before SNK's Ikari Warriors (arcade-history's dates come from this book which is generally a trusted source), you can source at least one of the big ideas from Taito's own Front Line from 1982- that game had tanks you could jump into along the way too! There's definitely a big Commando influence here especially in terms of visuals, but it emphasises careful, well-placed shots instead of spraying and praying, making it feel like a very different game from Capcom's classic. That's because, if you fire constantly and shower the battlefield with bullets, you're gonna struggle. Instead, you really need to make each shot count and try and kill multiple enemies with single shots (or run enemies over in your tank) so that you get the Super Bonus at the end of each area, which gives you a points bonus, a power-up bonus and guarantees you'll get a helicopter in the next area. That helps a lot- Sarge can only take one hit and dying will often make things spiral and you'll just never be able to recover. I find it a pretty tough game (then again, I'm not good at Commando either) but it's very moreish and deeply satisfying once you get into it, and it's also got some Taito-esque secrets including hidden messages, power-ups based on your score and even a weird angel that can appear! Oh, and of course, it has an amazing, catchy main theme that has a harsh, unique sound to it that'll get stuck in your head. Highly recommend you check this one out!
 
If you'd like to see an expert play the game, I highly recommend LordBBH's counterstop run where he maxes out the score and makes it look easy! He also explains a lot of the mechanics here, so it was very instructive and helpful in putting this post together, definitely give it a look if you want to challenge the game yourself!