Trouble Shooter, known in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 as , is a scrolling shooter by Vic Tokai

Vic Tokai

is a telecommunications company in Japan providing cable and DSL services as well as network solutions. The "Vic" in Vic Tokai's name stands for Valuable Information & Communication while the "Tokai" is simply the name of its parent company TOKAI, a Japanese natural gas utility founded in 1950...

 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...

 in 1992. Players take on the role of Madison, a combat operative assigned to rescue a prince who has been taken hostage. The game was given a very distinct theme of self-parody between the enemies, story and dialogue. A sequel titled was also released for the Mega Drive in Japan and Korea only.

Gameplay

Players assumed control over Madison who was accompanied at all times by her partner Crystal; unlike Madison, Crystal could flip firing positions allowing her to fire behind Madison. Also, Crystal was invulnerable to all enemy fire; Crystal would only be affected if Madison died. At the beginning of almost every stage, the players had to choose a Special Weapon they could use during combat. After every use however, the weapon would have to recharge in order to be used again.

Players could select from four different power-ups consisting of the usual shooter icons (speed-ups, life-ups, firepower and speed-downs). The player could stock up on Madison’s hit points by collecting life-up icons. This was necessary as the game had no lives system and only offered the player three continues.