Steel Gunner is an 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...

 that was released by Namco

Namco

is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...

 in 1990.

Story

Garcia and Cliff are super cops in the Neo Arc (a play on Newark

Newark, New Jersey

Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...

) police force. The professor and his assistant have been kidnapped and you must shoot your way through four missions to the final confrontation with the mysterious enemy superweapon!

Gameplay

This is a fixed position "rail shooter" where the player progresses along a predefined path to win each level. The player uses two weapons - a machine gun with unlimited ammunition and a limited number of missiles (four at the beginning of the game with another four being awarded at the end of each level). When launched, the missiles destroy all of the destructible objects on screen. Many of the objects on the screen can be shot, including plants, glass and other background objects, as well as the occasional innocent bystander. The player loses health when shot by enemies and for accidentally shooting innocents as they cross the screen. If, on the other hand, an innocent person crosses the screen unharmed (i.e, without being accidentally shot by the player), a small amount of health is restored to the player. In addition, the player also regains health at the end of a round, depending on how accurate his or her shooting was.

Technical information

The game runs on Namco System 2

Namco System 2

The Namco System 2 arcade system board was first used by Namco in 1987 and was a major enhancement to the previous Namco System 1 arcade system board....

 hardware. A sequel named Steel Gunner 2

Steel Gunner 2

Steel Gunner 2 is an arcade game that was released by Namco in 1991. As the name suggests, it is the sequel to Steel Gunner, which was released in the previous year.As in the earlier game, the players shoot at cyborgs while rescuing humans....

was released in 1991.