X-Multiply appreciate

icycalm · Post by **icycalm** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 4:45 am

This game currently rocks my world. It's 7:39 am and I am just going to bed after playing it for more than 6 hours. I don't know why everyone says this is an R-Type clone--it plays nothing like R-Type, other than the fact that both games are horizontal shooters. Controlling the mechanical arms gives me a feeling like no other shooter. It also looks and sounds awesome, with a great opening stage. Anyway, I could keep gushing like this for ever, I am in love.

And yeah, my score sucks but gimme a break, I'll try again tomorrow.

SAM · Post by **SAM** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 5:28 am

I guess people compare this with R-Type because they are both horizontal shooters made by Irem.

scrilla4rella · Post by **scrilla4rella** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 6:40 am

damn, this looks awsome!! I can't believe I passed up the opportunity to buy the Arcade Gears verison of this with Image Fight for 4,000 yen a year ago in Nagoya. I will definatly be keeping an eye out for this one this summer...

chtimi-CLA · Post by **chtimi-CLA** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 7:31 am

x-multiply is awesome, one of my favorite irems with dragon breed

Shocky · Post by **Shocky** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 7:32 am

"looks awesome"?? It looks like shit, graphically. It's a great game, but it lacks a graphical style, unless one counts having multi-color puke all over the screen as style. I just played the ultra-crappy neogeo game Andro Dunos, which suffers from the same problem: Single objects may be drawn well, but when they're on the screen at the same time it's a total mess.

OK, I admit that the X-Multiply graphics are at least interesting idea-wise, even though they may look ugly.

Sly Cherry Chunks · Post by **Sly Cherry Chunks** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 8:44 am

I remember first seeing this in the arcades when I was 11, thinking it ws the best thing ever. The game looks and feels like something made by Psygnosis for the Amiga, fortunately it plays pretty well. Gets really hard later on though and the final level has no checkpoints.

Interestingly, I made my way through a big chunk of the game using the yellow surround weapon. At first I would avoid that power-up because you lose your forward shots - but actually, it's pretty versatile.

1989 was just an amazing year

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:32 am

Great game, I personally like it better than R-Type.

Konami later took the mechanical-arm/tentacle thing and made Xexex, the best horizontal shooter ever.

I still need to pick up the Arcade Gears pack as well, but my Saturn is not here at the moment...

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 1:07 pm

I've wanted this game forever. I just checked on E-Bay to see if the price has gone down on the Saturn version - nope, it hasn't.

It used to sell for $60 or $70 a couple of years ago, now the copies seem to be in the $90 range.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 1:28 pm

game kicks loads of ass! it's times like these i am thankful for my exposure to mame.

ccovell · Post by **ccovell** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 2:19 pm

I play this one once in a while, and it is challenging and quite fun. But the graphics have a whole Euro-shmup feel to them, and not in a good way.

While playing, I can't help but be distracted thinking, "I think this game was a project given to junior graphic artists just for practice." Not on the same level as R-Type or Dragon Breed.

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 3:20 pm

This could have used instant respawns. The arms thing adds a nice layer of complexity (dodge and you might miss) and overall it's not a bad game esp. given the time period, but overshadowed by the greats. I.e., I haven't cleared G-Darius or Border Down yet so it'll be a long time before I give games like this attention.

DC906270 · Post by **DC906270** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 4:25 pm

Shocky wrote:it lacks a graphical style, unless one counts having multi-color puke all over the screen as style

lay off the drugs man, Irems hori's are probably the most stylised around. definately some sort of "rogue antibody" theme going on in this game. pure class.

diOdesu · Post by **diOdesu** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 5:25 pm

someone borrowed my image fight/x-multiply ps1 disc and never gave it back. gah, you make me want to either break down that guy's door, or purchase the game again to fill the void, i mean empty case.

Klatrymadon · Post by **Klatrymadon** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 5:51 pm

lay off the drugs man, Irems hori's are probably the most stylised around. definately some sort of "rogue antibody" theme going on in this game. pure class.

Yeah, some of the pieces of music in the game (coupled with these visual stylings) lend it quite a Lovecraftian quality, I think.

Then again, I'm a bit of a H.P. fanboy. I think I actively try to find parallels wherever I can.

DEL · Post by **DEL** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 9:23 pm

The theme is H.R.Giger (as with Astyanax).
Strong music and reasonable graphics for its time.
Back in 1989 I managed to 1 life it to the final stage of the 2nd loop, but as I've mentioned before; that stage is a nightmare maze of small floating balls that don't die and move in erratic circles.

Edit 12/09/08:- I have since watched a nico replay of Stage 14 and I could do it now (if I fire-up the game again that is

).

overdrive · Post by **overdrive** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 12:01 am

I just recently played it and will have a review of it up in a bit. I can see why the R-Type comparison was made (both Irem horis, both have lots of tight spaces and both have their periods where you definitely want to know what's going to happen before it does.....like in that final level, so you can destroy the things that generate those indestructible balls ASAP so only one or so gets released), but don't all-together agree with it.

I see it as being more of a pure hori precurser to Abadox (although superior to that game in about every way possible). But even then, I think that is more of a stylistic comparison than an actual gameplay one.

Either way, this is a very fun and well-designed game that has its share of rough spots to get through. I nearly choked on my bile trying to get through that one area on one of the last levels where you descend the vertical shaft to the boss. The combination of those tentacles and those little alien critters about fried my brain.

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 1:28 am

It's one of my fave shooters; when I first played the game I was pretty shocked to how wonderful everything was. Getting those bio-tentacles and watch them swing around never gets old, and the music has that creepy factor to it -- perfect for the mood.
If there's one shmup I'd consider to be vid game art, this is it. That may seem going overboard, but that's how much I love it.

And yeah, better than any R-Type (except for 2).

SAM · Post by **SAM** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 5:31 am

diOdesu wrote:someone borrowed my image fight/x-multiply ps1 disc and never gave it back. gah, you make me want to either break down that guy's door, or purchase the game again to fill the void, i mean empty case.

Simular situation (luckly not such a costly game) happenedd to me too.

From then on I never borrow any game to someone I don't trust, and I also make sure the borrower know the value (in term of $$$) of the game your borrow, and make sure them know in advance that if they lost/damage it they would have to found another one for me.

moonblood · Post by **moonblood** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 6:41 am

DEL wrote:The theme is H.R.Giger (as with Astyanax).

eh, not to be picky or anything, but isn't astyanax a fantasy platformer? is there lots of giger towards the end or something?

Sly Cherry Chunks · Post by **Sly Cherry Chunks** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 7:53 am

For no particular reason, I really love the message you get at the end of the game.

Skyknight · Post by **Skyknight** » Mon May 01, 2006 2:45 am

I wouldn't be surprised if X-Multiply could make sense as a prequel to the R-Type games (yes, even though it takes place AFTER them...). The remains of Bykhee's army might be how humanity derived the Genon and Bydo...

I'm pasting up, by the way, my earlier attempt at making sense of how BabelFish rendered X-Multiply's story...

In 2249, humanity has established a colony in a nearby star system (BabelFish somehow came up with "stun star"). However, the colony is plagued with mysterious deaths. Eventually, scientists discover that the victims are in fact being parasitized by microscopic aliens. In an effort to halt this horror, the microscopic fighter X-002 is sent into one of the infected (the page I found doesn't make clear whether the hapless woman is alive or dead)...

St. 1 (theme song: "Into the Human Body")
The X-002 first ends up in some torn-up mucous membranes. The parasitism already appears to consist of the aliens converting human tissue to new aliens...

St. 2 ("Babe Good-Lookin'"...--; )
A dark cavity where the X-002 must contend with a composite alien.

St. 3 ("The Rolling Worms"; I think there are two versions of this)
Into some of the victim's internal organs, blasted by inflammation and tumors, as well as the creature "Ganyuru" (at least, that's what the katakana elicit).

St. 4 ("Illegal Illusion")
Now you're in the windpipe. Sluggish stage, apparently, and the page called this fight a "nightmare in nightmare".

St. 5 ("Bloody Bloom")
As BabelFish puts it, "The bubble of the toxin outblooms, the mass spore flies about. And, to the sea of the mucus which became corrupted."

St. 6 ("Twilight Sight")
The X-002's new destination: the abdomen. Things are going get pretty strange, what with the body mass's blood vessels constantly shifting between congestion and anemia...

St. 7 ("Lusty Her Majesty")
All that remains is to destroy the source of the infestation: Bykhee, the alien queen, who has set up camp in the host woman's uterus. What is the true nature of the "fertilized egg of fear"?

On a side note, the boss theme is just called "Boss Theme", the ending theme "The End of Operation", and the name entry song "Body Scratchers."

EDIT: Even on the Japanese flyer, Irem included an English translation of the base story...

"In the year 2249, many immigrants died in mysterious ways on a planet colonized by the human race far away in space. Scientists attributed the death to shock caused by micro-aliens parasitizing them, and sent here a miniaturized fighter plane X-002 into a human body."

Keranu · Post by **Keranu** » Mon May 01, 2006 8:44 am

X-Multiply is badass to the max.

gameoverDude · Post by **gameoverDude** » Mon May 01, 2006 11:05 pm

moonblood wrote:
DEL wrote:The theme is H.R.Giger (as with Astyanax).
eh, not to be picky or anything, but isn't astyanax a fantasy platformer? is there lots of giger towards the end or something?

There's definitely some Giger influence in the final stages of the game. Nenko (the artist who did Rastan) worked on this one as well. This probably explains why Astyanax looks so great and Rastan Saga 2 looks like shit.

X-Multiply seems influenced more by Konami's Life Force than R-Type (well, maybe a 50/50 mix of the two) yet with a more grisly look to the artwork. I get the comparsions somewhat.

Skyknight · Post by **Skyknight** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 10:13 pm

I managed to catch the soundtrack (no, I'm not telling you how I did it), and I have to admit, this is definitely a strangeness elemental. "Illegal Illusion" is easily my favorite of the bunch, closely followed by "Twilight Sight" and "Lusty Her Majesty" (English mistranslation note: one of the words for "crime", "tsumi", can also mean "malice" or "sin". Likewise, one of the words for "illusion", "mugen", can also mean "fantasy" or "dream". Perhaps Irem meant "Malicious Dream" {"Tsumi no Mugen"}, but got distracted by alliteration?).

"Bloody Bloom", meanwhile, is just plain STRANGE. "Babe Good-Lookin'" is pretty somber, so I'm wondering how it got its name (it certainly wasn't for the composite alien!). "The Rolling Worms"...whatever you do, DON'T play the first part just before bedtime. I doubt you'll get to sleep, it's so unsettling.

Bal-Sagoth: The Lovecraftian qualities might be intentional. The last boss is named "Bykhee", which sounds a lot like "Byakhee". What are the other bosses named, if anyone knows (or cares to charge through the game at the moment in order to get to the credits and the boss display)?

Klatrymadon · Post by **Klatrymadon** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 11:02 pm

No idea on the boss names, sorry. Nice to hear confirmation of the stuff regarding the woman's uterus; it was recently explained to me by a chap on another forum. Sublimely unhinged stuff from the Irem boys, once again!

I've also noticed that the Image Fight double pack for the Saturn tends to be much more expensive these days, unfortunately.

Limbrooke · Post by **Limbrooke** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 11:33 pm

Bal-Sagoth wrote:No idea on the boss names, sorry. Nice to hear confirmation of the stuff regarding the woman's uterus; it was recently explained to me by a chap on another forum. Sublimely unhinged stuff from the Irem boys, once again!

I've also noticed that the Image Fight double pack for the Saturn tends to be much more expensive these days, unfortunately.

Thankfully the PS rendition is about 1/2 as much and plays exactly the same.

shinsage · Post by **shinsage** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 11:52 pm

Wow, that's an interesting story, Sky. I had no idea it took place in some lady.
Reminds me of Salamander, but with more vagina.

Klatrymadon · Post by **Klatrymadon** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 10:15 am

Aha! Some stills from the lovely ending sequence (which, of course, features all the boss names) can be found here:

http://www.vazcomics.org/mamend/X/xmultipl.htm

Skyknight · Post by **Skyknight** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 7:57 pm

Well, Hostur/Hastur (1) and Hidra/Hydra (5) are also pretty easy to connect with the Lovecraft mythos. The others, though...Rokusu (2)? Zarikasu (3)? Ghoums (4)? Darya (6)? Is there anything in the mythos that sounds at least slightly like these? (Rokusu and Zarikasu in particular--the ending "su" suggests that Irem was doing a literal kana transliteration of something)

I don't think the X-002 is departing through the birth canal--otherwise, what's the usual entry/exit tube for the ship doing there after Bykhee's parting message? That was probably just a blood vessel to someplace where vengeful minions couldn't go...

I'm starting to think that Irem intended to conflate together the themes of alien invasion and demonic possession, if the Lovecraftian referents are anything to go by. I seem to remember that in the mythos, the demons are more accurately thought of as extremely powerful aliens...

Edit: Of course, with my luck, Rokusu is probably just supposed to be "Locus". While checking (and sending to BabelFish) a few other pages, I think the blue crystal orb in front of Bykhee is supposed to be the "fertilized egg of fear". So, when you kill Bykhee, apparently it instills itself into and activates the egg. Result: four bouncing baby Bykhees (this CAN'T be good).

({sigh} Now a Yog-Sothoth wannabe? Bal-Sagoth, where would this other forum be?)

NAVVARR · Post by **NAVVARR** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 10:07 pm

Been a fan of this game since it was in the arcades and spent a lot of 10p's til i completed it.
Its similar, but a whole lot more different from R-type- which is more polished.
Rtype is more stylish, but Xmultiply is definately up there amongst my favourite shooters.
I've got the PSX1 version and also the MAME versions, and occasionally load it up for a blast.
If you've not played it then you're missing one of the best shooters around.
The last boss is weird, almost like Christ on a cross- weird- the sound effects are amazing too and the tunes are perfectly suited to the levels.

shmups.system11.org

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