Gynoug
Encyclopedia
Gynoug also known as Wings of Wor in North America, is a video game for the Sega Mega Drive
, developed by Masaya and published by NCS Corporation in 1991. The game sprites were designed by the sprite designer of legendary shooting title Cho Aniki
. Mean Machines
magazine reviewed the title, giving it 88%. It had four levels of difficulty: easy, medium, hard and "hyper". It is a side scrolling shooter title, in the same vein as R-Type
, Gradius or Darius.
Mid-round boss: Dragoon, a grey, seemingly fossilised tortoise with an elongated neck ending in a toothy skeletal head. It shoots orange spores out of its neck.
End-of-round boss: Locomotive Breath, a locomotive engine with a man's face which spits out missiles.
Mid-round boss: Oglithan, a conical shell which floats around turning itself inside-out, revealing a fleshy inside and emitting a spray of spores, as well as larger missiles.
End-of-round boss: Masseboth, a wooden ship with a bearded man's face as a figurehead
, spitting spores. After a while, the ship sinks before rising up to reveal a much larger face underneath the ship, wearing the ship on its head. Spores are emitted from the rudder
as well as from the face's mouth. "Masseboth" is also Hebrew (מצּבה, matz-tsay-baw) for "standing stones" or "column" but this seems to have little to do with this boss itself.
city, with spitting gargoyles and other enemies.
Mid-round boss: Peeble, a segmented serpentine creature which zooms away from and into the screen to collide with Wor.
End-of-round boss: Gark, a huge engine with a face like Locomotive Breath, which emits a serpentine whip of spores from its eyes. Its lower "jaw", a plough, drops away at times to reveal its "tongue", a fiery sword emitting fireballs.
Mid-round boss: Monotrog, a set of floating heads around a machine with a propeller and missiles.
End-of-round boss: Orrpus, a disembodied human upper body, half-mechanised and half-flesh, with machinery on its shoulder/back. It shoots out red discs (like red blood cells) from its mouth and lower side.
Mid-round boss: Slog, a cross-legged grey humanoid orbitted by fast-moving spheres, spitting blue spores. In English, to slog is to hit or strike, possibly referring to the creature's missiles, or else simply an attempt to create a primitive, bestial name (cf. "ug").
End-of-round boss: Perfidy, a bizarre grey individual with an inactive lower body resembling a whole octopus stretched across the bottom of the screen, joined to the upper body, an armless grey torso and head, by a flexible muscle joint. The upper body moves wildly, emitting red missiles. In English, perfidy is treachery or a betrayal.
Mid-round boss(es): All of the previous mid-bosses one after another: Dragoon, Oglithan, Peeble, Monotrog and Slog.
End-of-round boss(es): Orrpus (Round 4) appears first. Afterwards, the final boss appears: a previously unencountered turquoise humanoid with an exposed rib cage and a jellyfish-like creature on its back, all while curled up in a foetal position but ending in a large clawed hand instead of legs. It shoots white spores from its midsection, which float around slowly and do not disappear until the boss's defeat. The instruction manual gives the last boss no name, simply exhorting the player to "PREPARE FOR THE WORST!", much as the shop assistant does upon purchasing the game.
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...
, developed by Masaya and published by NCS Corporation in 1991. The game sprites were designed by the sprite designer of legendary shooting title Cho Aniki
Cho Aniki
is a Japanese video game series originally developed by the Masaya and published by NCS Corp. The first game debuted in 1992 for the PC Engine system. The game's sequels and spin-offs later appeared on the Super Famicom, Wonderswan, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and PlayStation 2...
. Mean Machines
Mean Machines
Mean Machines was a market-leading multi-format gaming magazine released between 1990 and 1992 in the United Kingdom. Its style was popular with gamers of the time for its irreverent humor, anarchic editorial tone and style, and its sometimes outrageously outspoken reviews.- Origins :In the late...
magazine reviewed the title, giving it 88%. It had four levels of difficulty: easy, medium, hard and "hyper". It is a side scrolling shooter title, in the same vein as R-Type
R-Type
is a side scrolling shoot-em-up arcade game produced by Irem in 1987. The player controls a space fighter named R-9a "Arrowhead" to defend humanity against a mysterious but powerful alien life-form known as "Bydo", which was later discovered to be not entirely alien in origin...
, Gradius or Darius.
Plot
The heavens are being attacked by the demons of Iccus, led by a being known only as the Destroyer. The angel Wor must bring the fight to Iccus itself and put an end to the Destroyer's dark plans.Round 1
The game begins in some caves with deep, dark passageways and a river in the background.Mid-round boss: Dragoon, a grey, seemingly fossilised tortoise with an elongated neck ending in a toothy skeletal head. It shoots orange spores out of its neck.
End-of-round boss: Locomotive Breath, a locomotive engine with a man's face which spits out missiles.
Round 2
An overground level, with Wor flying through the open air over water and birds (among other enemies) dropping missiles. Eventually the round moves underwater to an encounter with a mini-Oglithan (see below) before meeting the real thing.Mid-round boss: Oglithan, a conical shell which floats around turning itself inside-out, revealing a fleshy inside and emitting a spray of spores, as well as larger missiles.
End-of-round boss: Masseboth, a wooden ship with a bearded man's face as a figurehead
Figurehead
A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration found at the prow of ships largely made between the 16th and 19th century.-History:Although earlier ships had often had some form of bow ornamentation A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration found at the prow of ships largely made between the 16th and...
, spitting spores. After a while, the ship sinks before rising up to reveal a much larger face underneath the ship, wearing the ship on its head. Spores are emitted from the rudder
Rudder
A rudder is a device used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft or other conveyance that moves through a medium . On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw and p-factor and is not the primary control used to turn the airplane...
as well as from the face's mouth. "Masseboth" is also Hebrew (מצּבה, matz-tsay-baw) for "standing stones" or "column" but this seems to have little to do with this boss itself.
Round 3
A quasi-gothicGothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
city, with spitting gargoyles and other enemies.
Mid-round boss: Peeble, a segmented serpentine creature which zooms away from and into the screen to collide with Wor.
End-of-round boss: Gark, a huge engine with a face like Locomotive Breath, which emits a serpentine whip of spores from its eyes. Its lower "jaw", a plough, drops away at times to reveal its "tongue", a fiery sword emitting fireballs.
Round 4
A entirely mechanised level, with engines and pipes in the background.Mid-round boss: Monotrog, a set of floating heads around a machine with a propeller and missiles.
End-of-round boss: Orrpus, a disembodied human upper body, half-mechanised and half-flesh, with machinery on its shoulder/back. It shoots out red discs (like red blood cells) from its mouth and lower side.
Round 5
A bizarre world with floating aberrations, reminiscent of inside the human body (especially the eye).Mid-round boss: Slog, a cross-legged grey humanoid orbitted by fast-moving spheres, spitting blue spores. In English, to slog is to hit or strike, possibly referring to the creature's missiles, or else simply an attempt to create a primitive, bestial name (cf. "ug").
End-of-round boss: Perfidy, a bizarre grey individual with an inactive lower body resembling a whole octopus stretched across the bottom of the screen, joined to the upper body, an armless grey torso and head, by a flexible muscle joint. The upper body moves wildly, emitting red missiles. In English, perfidy is treachery or a betrayal.
Round 6
Another sky-like level, with clouds above and below and rays of light in the background.Mid-round boss(es): All of the previous mid-bosses one after another: Dragoon, Oglithan, Peeble, Monotrog and Slog.
End-of-round boss(es): Orrpus (Round 4) appears first. Afterwards, the final boss appears: a previously unencountered turquoise humanoid with an exposed rib cage and a jellyfish-like creature on its back, all while curled up in a foetal position but ending in a large clawed hand instead of legs. It shoots white spores from its midsection, which float around slowly and do not disappear until the boss's defeat. The instruction manual gives the last boss no name, simply exhorting the player to "PREPARE FOR THE WORST!", much as the shop assistant does upon purchasing the game.
External links
- Gynoug / Wings of Wor at GameSpotGameSpotGameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...