The NewZealand Story
| The New Zealand Story | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Taito |
| Publisher(s) | Taito |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, NES, Amiga, C64, Master System, Spectrum, Megadrive, PC Engine |
| Release | 1988 |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Up to 2 players, alternating turns |
The New Zealand Story (also known as Kiwi Kraze in its American NES version) is a 1988 arcade game by Taito. The player controls a sneaker-wearing kiwi chick called Tiki, and the aim of the game is to rescue several of his kiwi chick friends who have been kiwi-napped by a leopard seal. At the end of each level, one of these characters is released from a cage. Like Bubble Bobble, letters can be collected to spell out "EXTEND" for a bonus. However, levels scroll rather than being stationary.
Gameplay
The weaponry starts out as arrows, but pickups can change these into bombs, lasers, or bouncing fireballs. These act a little differently, and what is useful depends upon the player's location. A distinctive feature of this game is the ability to ride a variety of flying vehicles, ranging from balloons to a UFO armed with either laser or guided missiles. Vehicles can be found ready for use or can be stolen from any enemy.
Other features include the many secret areas and shortcuts hidden throughout the game, as well as a special "Heaven" round where the player goes after losing their last life (though only if the player dies by getting hit by an arrow to the head, no other "death" will activate the "Heaven" round), actually having a chance of escaping and continuing the game "on Earth" (note this only occours once on any stage from 3-1 to 3-4).
Tiki
The hero of this game, Tiki the kiwi, also appears in other Taito games like Liquid Kids, Bubble Symphony as a guest star, and Pop'n Pop as a playable character, although he never became a popular Taito mascot.
History
The game has been converted for most game consoles and most 8-bit and 16-bit home computers. The original arcade game was released in 1988, whereas most home computer conversions were done in 1989, with some game console versions coming in 1990 and 1991. The game was also converted for the FM Towns and Sharp X68000 systems in Japan as well as being bundled with the Amiga 500 Batman Pack which was launched in September 1989 and sold over 2 million units. Home computer conversions received good reviews in computer game magazines.
The game had no official sequel, but there were several clones and modified versions, usually called New Zealand Story 2 or New Zealand Story Extra (on which the Mega Drive port is based, although it bears the original game title). The only Taito game which bears a faint resemblance to it, is Liquid Kids or Mizubaku Adventure, released in 1990, which uses the same screen font, reuses some gameplay elements and has a similar plot, although there are important differences between the two.
The home computer versions refer to the villain as a walrus on the packaging; however the original arcade version specifically mentions him as being a leopard seal during the closing credits. It is likely this was added by Ocean's marketing team for the home versions, as walruses are not normally found in the Antarctic.
The New Zealand Story can be played using the emulators MAME, Shark and Raine. It can also be played on the Xbox, PlayStation 2, PSP and the PC as it is included in Taito Legends.
In February 2007, Rising Star Games published the Taito-developed Nintendo DS title, New Zealand Story Revolution. The game has been well-accepted by media sites due to being a faithful rendition of the original game. The DS game combines the use of both screens for action on the top screen and a map on the bottom screen. During certain instances, the game shows play on both screen and asks the user to "Touch the differences" between the two screens to unveil a door to continue. This is new to the DS version of the game. The game for DS also introduces a four-player wireless mode and Normal and Expert game modes. It was released on February 2, 2007.
Locations used in the game
| Round(s) | Name |
|---|---|
| 1-1 to 1-4 | Auckland |
| 2-1 to 2-4 | Rotorua |
| 3-1 to 3-4 | Waitomo Caves |
| 4-1 | Wellington |
| 4-2 to 4-4 | Strait Cook |
| 5-1 to 5-2 | Hanmer Springs |
| 5-3 to 5-4 | Aoraki/Mount Cook |
Credits (arcade version)
- Main Staff
- Kazutomo Ishida
- Hisaya Yabusaki
- Akira Ootsuki
- Makoto Fujita
- Koichi Ooyama
- Sound Effect
- Hisayoshi Ogura
- Yasuko Yamada
- Yasuhisa Watanabe
- One-Time Staff
- Mitsukou Kimura
- Naoko Toshimitsu