Tube Panic (Arcade - PlayStation 4 - Switch)

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Sturmvogel Prime
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Tube Panic (Arcade - PlayStation 4 - Switch)

Post by Sturmvogel Prime »

DANGER ZONE (PART IX)
¿WHO'S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD TUBES?




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Welcome to Tube Panic, where things are Tubular!
Hope you get a way too cool ride, dude.


Time for some Arcade Archives classics. This time is gonna be Nichibutsu's Tube Panic.



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Tube Panic is a simple third view shmup where your objective is to reach the end of the stage before your power runs out, so it's basically "You against time". You can control the ship's speed by pressing up to accelerate and down to brake. Your only weapon is your laser fire with a rate of three bullets on screen. Sounds minimal and simple, but that's all what you're gonna need anyway, since the game's top priority is focused on speed, navigate through obstacles when required and escape on time rather than destroying all that crosses in your way. In most games, where falling through a hole means your inevitable demise, here it is a "Warp" where you can skip a small portion of the level and obtain a temporary invincibility shield. This comes in handy when you need to break through an enemy crammed section of a stage. Like most early 80's arcade games, there's no continues if you run out of lives, making this game one of those "One shot to finish" kind of games.



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At least is not a viacrucis like in Top Gun.

At the end of each level, you're required to land on the carrier. Unlike Konami's Top Gun game, this is much easier since you have a wide enough space on the carrier to land on. Landing will grant you bonus points based and doubled from your remaining energy.



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You're right on target!

I've discovered this one by mere casuality; If you land precisely in the center, you'll get a "RIGHT ON" bonus of 5,000 points. The best hint possible is the red mark on the center of the carrier, is tricky, but not impossible.
With all its visual awesomeness, it was sad that this game didn't get a console release, not even on PC's which had the potential to recreate a vast part of the arcade experience. Yeah, we had to wait 36 years and both PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch to see this game in our consoles as part of the Arcade Archives series. Unlike most releases of the series, their port of Tube Panic is based on the Japanese ROM, I guess both Japan and worldwide releases were the same since they're on english and having both were unnecessary. Like all of the Arcade Archives games, the game features both Hi-Score and Caravan Modes. While you can get the 100,000, 200,000 and 300,000 points trophies on either Original or Hi-Score Modes, Caravan Mode feels useless since it lacks of trophies to unlock, but they're a nice addition to the concept of improving the game's original replay value.



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Something's coming out the plumbing, poor Luigi's in a bind.
Giant turtles out to get him, creepy crabs are right behind.
Fighter flies! Jeeper jipes! they're all coming out the pipes!

MAAAAARIO!!, ¿WHERE AAAAARE YOOOUUU?


For a 1984 game, the graphic aspect was an innovation due to the use of perspectives in both horizontal and circular, being the last one the most Tube-accurate of the game. The use of sprite scaling on the scrolling is also a revolutionary idea, this was years before After Burner and S.T.U.N. Runner, and for the time being, this was far more advanced than Sega's Turbo, where the sprite scaling was implemented. Nichibutsu improved this concept by adding the rolling effect on the tube parts of the stage making the 3D more immersive, making the graphics department of this game something ahead of its time. As for the sound department, the game only uses short tunes for the game start, level clear and ending, leaving the whole game with a "VRRRRMMM-MM-MMMMMM" buzzing that sooner or later will become annoying as we have a music-less gaming experience.

Here's a playlist of songs for your Tubular experience
Blue System - Dr. Mabuse
Napalm Death - Necessary Evil
Metallica - Fuel
Real McCoy - Runaway
Beach Boys - Surfin' USA
Beach Boys - I Get Around





TUBE CURIOSITIES
- The player ship is called Marcus.
- The motherships at the end of each level are called Minerva and Pleiades.
- Due to rough katakana translation, their names were translated as "Mercus", "Minelva" and "Preades".
- Fujitek was the developer of the game, while Nichibutsu distributed it.
- The european arcade flyer tagged the game as "Super Graphics" on top of Tube Panic's logo.




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Complete, Radical and Tubular, Nina.

Tube Panic is pure retro-immersive shooting for those who are looking something quite unique from old school arcade games, along with a little throphy boost for those who've got the Arcade Archives release.



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Glad to see Lea liked this game.
Fan of Transformers, Shmups and Anime-styled Girls. You're teamed up with the right pilot!
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