In The Hunt

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In the Hunt
Studio Irem
Publisher Irem
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 1993
genre Shoot'em up
Game mode Single player , two player
control 8-way joystick, 2 fire buttons
casing JAMMA
Arcade system V33 @ 9 MHz
V30 @ 7.15 MHz
Sound chips: Irem GA-20, YM2151
monitor 320 × 240 grid
Color palette: 2048 colors

In the Hunt (Japanese title: 海底 大 戦 争, Kaitei Daisensou) is a horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up by the Japanese manufacturer Irem and was released in 1993 . It was characterized by its unusual submarine scenario and its detailed comic graphic style. The game was Irem's final arcade shoot-'em-up.

In the Hunt originally appeared as an arcade game and was based on the JAMMA system, but later (from 1995) conversions for PC , PlayStation and Sega Saturn were also programmed.

Game description

The player steers a small submarine through different underwater worlds and has to defend himself against all kinds of opponents on water, on land and in the air and defeat the final boss . For this purpose, the submarine is armed with torpedoes , depth charges and rockets , which can be reinforced by various power-ups or replaced by alternative systems. The submarine only moves in the water, but it can also swim to the surface in order to use rockets to fire objects in flight.

In contrast to usual 2D shooters, the levels do not scroll automatically from right to left, but only when the player has passed a certain point in the direction of the right edge of the screen. In this way it is also possible to stop in order to completely destroy all opponents. On the other hand, certain opponents appear again and again in the same place. In order to avoid an endless stagnation at individual points of the level, the player is set a time limit to finish the level. The supply of remaining time can be increased through collectible bonuses, but can never exceed the starting value of 99 seconds. In addition to this possibility of stopping, the game only scrolls in some places after a strong opponent has been destroyed. Overall, this system forces the player to advance quickly, which results in an interesting game dynamic between fast forward movement and skillful tactics.

As further play elements, there are also labyrinth sequences, sea mine fields and icebergs that have to be overcome. The levels themselves include the Antarctic waters, a sunken city, a loading port, and the like.

The game has a multiplayer mode in which two players compete on a team against the enemies.

technology

The game uses raster graphics with a resolution of 320 × 240 pixels and also offers parallax scrolling . The graphic itself is kept in a comic-like style and is very detailed. All objects are designed in a very varied color and also in small details such as B. Animated vibrations from nearby explosions or rocking from waves. In addition, the graphic also implements essential aspects of the submarine scenario such as B. waves, rising air bubbles or sea creatures in the background. The weapon animations are also very pronounced: torpedoes leave clearly visible traces of bubbles behind them, while depth charges sink irregularly, swinging downwards.

A similar graphics engine was used by Irem in Gunforce , on which the same development team worked. This later programmed the graphically similar Metal Slug series for SNK .

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