Cyber Troopers Virtual-On: Operation Moongate

Cyber Troopers Virtual-On (電脳戦機バーチャロン, Dennō Senki Bācharon) was released in arcades and for Sega Saturn and PC, all in both America and Japan. There were also two-player online versions of the game released in America and Japan for the Sega Saturn using the NetLink and XBAND services. A remake of the Operation Moongate was released for the PlayStation 2 on October 25, 2007, as part of the Sega Ages 2500 line, featuring improved framerates, music and additional features not found in the original versions. Operation Moongate was also rereleased on Xbox Live Arcade & PlayStation Network as a part of the Sega Model 2 Collection.

Gameplay

Virtual-On is set up similar to a Versus fighting game. Two virtuaroids (Mecha) face each other on a stage. The player(s) use a variety of firearms, explosives, melee weapons, and other techniques to destroy the enemy for a set number of rounds, usually a single battle, or best two out of three rounds, like fighting games.

The game is made to be played with a two-joystick setup, known as the twin-sticks. Each stick is equipped with a trigger and a button on top of the stick.

The twin sticks control the virtuaroid on screen much like a bulldozer. Pushing or pulling both sticks in one direction makes it move in that direction, while pushing one stick forward and pulling the other back makes it turn in the forward direction. Pulling the sticks apart causes the virtuaroid to jump into the air, and automatically turn to face the opponent. Pulling them towards each other while pulling a trigger causes the virtuaroid to prone while firing.

The top buttons are Turbo buttons. Pressing a Turbo button while moving causes the virtuaroid to dash for a few seconds. Dashing is used to avoid enemy fire, or to maneuver quickly around the map. Virtuaroids can fire while dashing. While dash-firing, as with during a jump, the virtuaroid turns to face the enemy before shooting.

Each virtuaroid is armed with three weapons, which are different for each virtuaroid.^[3] Two of those weapons are associated with either the left or the right trigger, and are referred to as the Left Weapon (LW) and Right Weapon (RW) respectively. The Right Weapon is generally a Virtuaroid's main weapon, usually a rifle or gun. The Left Weapon is commonly a support weapon, often an explosive. Left weapons usually have a blast radius and can inflict splash damage even if they miss the target directly. The third weapon is called the Center Weapon (CW), and is activated by pulling both triggers simultaneously. Depending on the selected virtuaroid, a Center Weapon attack can be extremely powerful, but can only be used a few times in a row before they run out of energy. Each weapon's size, power, and rate of fire is varied by the virtuaroid's actions when the player pulls the trigger. For example, a standing Temjin's RW is a single shot from its rifle, but while dashing, the RW unleashes a rapid burst of shots at once. While dashing, the virtuaroid's direction may also have an effect on the attack.

References