4-D Warriors is a shoot 'em up

Shoot 'em up

Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...

 arcade game

Arcade game

An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

 released by Sega

Sega

, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...

 / Coreland in 1985

1985 in video gaming

-Notable releases:* Brøderbund releases Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, the first game of the prolific Carmen Sandiego series* Nintendo releases Super Mario Bros. on September 13, 1985, which eventually sells 40 million copies making it the best-selling video game of all time until 2008.*...

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Description

The game is a horizontal scrolling shooter in which you take control of a jetpack propelled space warrior who travels between parallel universes

Parallel universe (fiction)

A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...

 and worm holes (hence 4-D or 4 dimensions) throughout the game. By flying over the top of the play field, you end up in an alternate universe

Parallel universe (fiction)

A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...

. You travel back and forth defeating enemies until you reach a boss creature. On some occasions a worm hole will appear in the middle of the play field and you are taken to even stranger worlds...

Gameplay

The game contains at least six distinct worlds. You begin in a red zone populated by a variety of surreal enemies. The red zone also contains at least three kinds of powerups in the form of crystals. By going over the top of the red zone, you can enter a blue zone.

The blue zone is where the level boss first appears. Once the boss is sufficiently damaged, it will retreat to the red zone, where you can destroy it and advance to the next level. When the boss is not present, the level contains a selection of enemies that behave similarly to those in the red zone, although their appearance is somewhat different. By going over the top of the blue zone, you can return to the red zone.

Several randomly occurring phenomena in the red zone can take you to other worlds:

• A hole opens up and two green diamond-shaped objects emerge. If they catch you, you will be transported to a world with a blue sky and clouds, where you need to shoot a moving blue circle and avoid bullets from two giant eyeballs on the ground.
• A creature appears from the bottom of the screen and swallows you. You then traverse its vertically-scrolling digestive tract.
• Two bouncing mirrors appear from behind you and sweep across the screen. If they catch you, you will be transported to one of at least two possible locations:
  • A field of orange spheres populated by blue pyramids.
  • A cyan-colored hallway filled with giant stone heads, giant chalices, and a variety of floating masks.