Arcade Archives: Strategy X

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This week's Arcade Archives release is.... Strategy X (Konami, 1981)

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Only the one ROM this time. Three control schemes are offered- one for normal controllers using the right analogue stick or buttons to aim, one for arcade sticks that just uses buttons to aim, and one approximating the arcade cabinet where you have to click in the analogue stick to fire. Preference Settings allow players to adjust game speed.

The evil IMMORTALIAN lurks at the end of this battlefield crawling with their rotary cannons, attack jeeps and sturdy tanks. Are you going to keep them waiting? Your highly-advanced tank has a fully-rotatable turret with shells strong enough to blast through brick walls, but it's a little slow and doesn't exactly get great gas mileage. There's fuel depots littered across the theatre of conflict, so be sure to dock in and refill your tanks, but be careful they don't get caught in the crossfire, they can be destroyed! Your tank's also a little delicate, so don't go crashing into any walls or no-go zones. And, er, we forgot to put any traction on those treads, so watch out for ice. Get to the enemy base and complete your mission!

Oh nice, another Konami arcade game previously trapped in the hellscape known as the Microsoft Game Room has been saved! This is a really early example of what would eventually be classified as a twinstick shooter, even earlier than Taito's Front Line, but this uses an unusual control scheme seen on the hilarious Stern flyer ("even Patton would spend all his quarters" indeed)- a joystick with a button on top for firing, and two buttons for rotating your cannon's turrets. It's not as immediate as something like Robotron: 2084 for changing direction, but that kind-of works well in this game- you have to balance advancing, taking out enemy threats and keeping your fuel topped up all at once, so it really does require a bit of strategy and so having slower but more deliberate aiming works in its favour. I quite like this game, it's one of my favourite early Konami games- it feels very satisfying to nail targets from far away (the crunchy sound effects definitely help) and there's enough terrain variety to keep you going forward. Definitely recommended if you haven't played it before!