Arrow Flash
Encyclopedia
Arrow Flash is a horizontal scrolling shooter video game developed by Sega
and released by Renovation Products
in the US (and by Sega
in Japan and Europe) in 1990 for the Sega Mega Drive
/Genesis. Main character Zana Keene (Anna Schwinn in the European release) commandeers a prototype transformable fighter-mecha left from her grandfather to fight against an alien attack force known as the Great Golems attacking humankind. The game is mostly a horizontal shooter, with one down scrolling stage and one stage with a diagonal scrolling background, although the ship does not change orientation when this happens.
Two additional mechanics differentiate Arrow Flash from similar scrolling shooters, one of which is that the ability to transform the player's ship. The two forms available are a humanoid mecha
form and a typical jet form. The player's weapons change depending on the form. The jet form only shoots forward but intensly, while the mecha form can fire diagonally and sometimes even from the back; helper ships mimic the jet's actions but stay in a fixed formation behind the mecha. The jet form is also faster than the mecha, but both can be killed by only one hit unless the player picks up an energy shield which can sustain 3 hits. The game's titular "Arrow Flash" is a highly powerful attack for each form; the jet fires five large blasts forward, while the mecha form becomes engulfed in flame, rendering it immune to attack for a short while. Depending on the options set at the start of the game, arrow flashes are either required to be charged up with unlimited use or collected out on the field with no charge time.
Weapon I
A blue arrow shot that does moderate damage
Weapon II
A yellow arrow shot that fires faster than weapon I but does less damage
Weapon III
A very slow firing weapon that does massive damage
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...
and released by Renovation Products
Renovation Products
Renovation Products Inc. was the North American subsidiary for Telenet Japan. They published and localized many of the games from Telenet Japan and its subsidiaries for North America, but they never actually developed any games...
in the US (and 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...
in Japan and Europe) in 1990 for the Sega Mega Drive
Sega Mega Drive
The Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...
/Genesis. Main character Zana Keene (Anna Schwinn in the European release) commandeers a prototype transformable fighter-mecha left from her grandfather to fight against an alien attack force known as the Great Golems attacking humankind. The game is mostly a horizontal shooter, with one down scrolling stage and one stage with a diagonal scrolling background, although the ship does not change orientation when this happens.
Gameplay
Like many scrolling shooters, the player initially has a basic shot, which can be upgraded and/or exchanged for different weapons, as well as gain smaller ships that follow the player's ship around and copy its attacks. As is usual, these powerups are distributed throughout the levels, and are lost entirely when the player loses a life.Two additional mechanics differentiate Arrow Flash from similar scrolling shooters, one of which is that the ability to transform the player's ship. The two forms available are a humanoid mecha
Mecha
A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...
form and a typical jet form. The player's weapons change depending on the form. The jet form only shoots forward but intensly, while the mecha form can fire diagonally and sometimes even from the back; helper ships mimic the jet's actions but stay in a fixed formation behind the mecha. The jet form is also faster than the mecha, but both can be killed by only one hit unless the player picks up an energy shield which can sustain 3 hits. The game's titular "Arrow Flash" is a highly powerful attack for each form; the jet fires five large blasts forward, while the mecha form becomes engulfed in flame, rendering it immune to attack for a short while. Depending on the options set at the start of the game, arrow flashes are either required to be charged up with unlimited use or collected out on the field with no charge time.
Weapons
The game starts you off with only a basic machine gun like weapon. There are 3 more weapons (named I,II and III) available to find and upgrade.Weapon I
A blue arrow shot that does moderate damage
- (level 1) - basic weapon
- (level 2) - a 2nd shot is added but the shots fired now travel slower.
- (level 3, jet) - rate of fire increases, helper ships gain level 1 weapon
- (level 3, mecha) - helper ships gain level 1 weapon, if no helper ships were acquired 2 shots are fired behind
Weapon II
A yellow arrow shot that fires faster than weapon I but does less damage
- (level 1, jet) - basic weapon
- (level 1, mecha) - a 2nd shot is added, but slower fire rate
- (level 2, jet) - a 2nd shot is added, same fire rate
- (level 2, mecha) - 3 way shot (one straight, two diagonal)
- (level 3, jet) - a 3rd shot is added (all 3 are fired forward), helper ships gain level 1 weapon
- (level 3, mecha) - helper ships gain level 1 weapon, if no helper ships were acquired 2 shots are fired behind
Weapon III
A very slow firing weapon that does massive damage
- (level 1) - basic weapon
- (level 2) - more damage is inflicted
- (level 3) - helper ships gain a similar weapon (but not as powerful as level 1)
Trivia
- Arrow Flash's third weapon is actually the "Red Weapon" from the first R-type game. (aka. Fire Chain), looks like the "snakey" charged shot from Megaman X´s upgraded gun
- The game has a few references to GundamGundamThe is a metaseries of anime created by Sunrise studios that features giant robots called "Mobile Suits" ; usually the protagonist's MS will carry the name Gundam....
. In the 5th stage, robots looking like upper half of Jegan can be seen as enemies. Also the name "RMS-106" can be seen at the ending credits. RMS-106 is the model number of Mobile Suit Hi-Zack. - The game also has references to MacrossMacrossis a series of science fiction mecha anime, directed by Shōji Kawamori of Studio Nue in 1982. The franchise features a fictional history of Earth/Humanity after the year 1999. It consists of three TV series, four movies, six OVAs, one light novel and five manga series, all sponsored by Big West...
. In the intro movie, the ship is launched through a docking bay similar to the ones used in the anime.
External links
- Arrow Flash at GameFAQsGameFAQsGameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff "CJayC" Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by CBS Interactive. The site has a database of video game information, cheat codes, reviews, game saves,...