Gaiapolis (
Konami, 1993) is a an hack’n’slash type of belt-scroller with RPG elements: it would thus fall in the wide umbrella category of AARPGs. The game is distinctive in that it has a TATE screen orientation, a great orchestral OST with the occasional world music/electronica piece, and very anime/manga-like art (early ‘90s style). The game has three characters: “Prince”, “Fairy” and “Dragon”. Dragon is the slower but more powerful character, aimed at beginners; Fairy is the technical, fast but weaker character for experts; the Prince is the character for intermediate players. The wiki in my early link gives a lot of background about the game including characters’ names. In this long-winded post I will be sloppy with names and world setting details, sorry.
Players can choose one or two characters and save the world from “The Empire” of something.
To achieve victory, players must clear 16 stages and beat the evil Dragon-like final being. Players thus embark in a classical quest, moving from one location/stage to another location/stage seeking the three keys to “Gaiapolis”, a mysterious city in which a powerful weapon resides. Players must attempt to access the city before The Empire guys do, because the Evil Emperor wants to kill half of the world’s population to balance things out (…no, his name is not Thanos). Notably, the game features a code system to access stages. Once a credit ends, players will be given a code that allows them to reach the last stage they reached. On a new credit, players can choose starting a new play or inserting alphanumeric codes, and thus skip stages if the code is correct.
The control scheme is simple. A is for attacks and parries: while tapping A activates sword swings (dual clubs attacks for Fairy), holding A activates the shield animation (club parry for Fairy). B activates attacks from the familiar, a little creature that joins the characters once they collect one of three egg types. Dark pink is for the wyvern, Beige for the armadillo, and blue/grey for the goblin. One tap sends the familiars to attack enemies: a second tap calls them back. The C button is for magic spells: characters can collect diamonds and launch spells of increasing power when they press C. Familiars have up to five bars of energy, and will die once energy is depleted; they recover energy when they do not attack. Players start with three bars but can reach eight bars after reaching level 18; players can level up, RPG-style.
Before I address this mechanic, please let me outline the fighting system. Players can perform simple combos. tap 4-5 times A in a row and, if the attacks connect, the character will perform a certain series of swings before dealing the “final” blow. If players can tap quickly and/or meet some condition I never figured out, they can deal a critical hit: a small flame will appear after the hit, the characters will yell something, and the enemies should receive up to 6 times the usual damage (more or less). Characters can also perform a charge attack: tap twice in one direction, hold the direction after the second tap to run before charging. Finally, characters can perform a special attack by doing a 360 degrees movement with the joystick. The characters will swing their weapons in a rotating motion and hit anyone who gets close.
The game’s hack’n’slash nature lies in the attack types but also in the parrying mechanics. Since parrying involves holding the A button, chains can be cancelled into parries if the need to block a blow arises. Parries do not automatically block every hit. Enemies that are too close can land weaker hits against a parrying character and deliver less damage. This aspect of the fighting game is peculiar, because “broken parries” can be used as tactical gambits. When a character is hit, the i-frames are generous (1 second, even 1.5 seconds) and allow players to pummel back the offending enemies. Parrying thus can become an aggressive technique that allows players to break denser hordes of enemies, though at some cost for the players. Note that enemies may side-step or even backstab characters if they move quickly around the parrying direction. In that case, characters will receive full damage.
Once players learn how to time their attacks and parries, the fighting system opens up in an interesting manner. Each character has a different reach with their weapons. However, all characters can outreach any of the normal enemies, in the opportune conditions. For instance, the dragon has a reach with his sword swings that is a bit longer than the sprite’s size. Some enemies have smaller sprites and shorter swinging reaches: they can be baited into attempting to hit players, and getting hit via quick counter-attacks based on this reach difference. When counter-attacks are successful, players can easily land full chains and dispose of enemies faster. Failed counter-attacks can result in full hits, but quick-witted players can always cancel their attacks into parries at the very last frame. Fights can thus be quick and lethal on both sides; expert players can mow hordes quickly but also avoid sudden deaths easily.
The game can be considered an AARPG; the game’s RPG facets, however, can be reduced to a couple of interesting aspects.
The first aspect is that each successful attack and bonus item gives characters some (e)X(perience)P(point)s. Treasure chests and occasionally enemies drop items; hitting walls and/or specific points of the scenery can also reveal secret items. Most XPs do come from successful attacks, however. All hits reward approximately the same amount of XPs, but deal different damage levels. Critical hits and charges deliver the most damage, but award the same amount of XPs as single swings. Thus, killing each enemy via swing chains is the best source of XPs in fights. Characters can reach level 30, with each level requiring a progressively higher number of XPs. Levelling up increases attack and defence levels, but also the number of life bars. Players start at 3 bars, at max out at 8 bars (level 18). Note also that each level up awards some increasing extra energy; by level 25, it’s 2.5 life bars.
The second aspect is that the game has an elaborate plot meshed with the world setting, and one stage after which players can choose branching paths. Briefly: The Empire invades “Avalon”, Prince’s reign. Prince and his allies Fairy and Dragon, who also have grudges with The Empire, fight back. Their ally in this obviously just cause is the Golden Hawk/Fire Warrior, a mysterious entity who takes the form of a golden hawk or warrior (eh!) when appearing during cut scenes. After clearing the first stage, players can see the world map, and receive a first hint that the game is set in some variant of Earth (OK, “Avalon” is also a very obvious giveaway). As the game progresses, it is revealed that this is Earth from a very distant future borne out of the ashes of a global (nuclear) conflict: Fairy, Dragon and some enemies are actually mutated human species.
Our characters must beat up three generals from The Empire, before pummelling The Emperor. Stages 4, 9 and 13, respectively called “First Key”, “Second Key” and “Third key”, involve a fight against a general and then against some mecha-organic-weird creature. On stage 5 (“Maharishi”), players can collect three special items (some ugly-looking stone artefacts hidden in specific spots) to obtain access to an alternate version of stage 6 (i.e. the location/stage “Neo-Kobe”). Otherwise, they will move again to “NeoMosc”, which they first visit first on stage 2. Upon reaching “Gaiapolis”, the location for stage 15 and 16, players and characters discover that it is a geostationary sub-orbital station, i.e. a station placed at 30 km or so of height. Their mission is thus to prevent The Empire to use this ancient technology (and the demons/dragons it can summon) to lay waste to the world.
I acknowledge that the
Science Fantasy setting and the puny minimal path choices are not exactly unique to RPGs, but they offer some connections to typical world settings for this genre. It is also true that the RPG-like levelling mechanics are…barebones. Note that characters can also collect increasingly powerful weapons and shields (jewels, for Fairy) as they progress. However, these are the most RPG-esque aspects of the game (also: the final weapon is hidden. Be sure to check what happens on stage 16 when you hit the scenery). Nevertheless, for a 1993 game it does have a lot of interesting features. None of these features are introduced in this title, but many operate in relatively refined manners (e.g. parrying, charging). In general, the game offers a good idea of the early 1990s’
Zeitgeist “fantasy plus arcade games” titles (think of
Mahou Daisakusen in shmups).
An ambivalent aspect of the game is its length. The game aims to be epic and long: characters pursue a global quest on foot (…I guess), the orchestral score has a slow, epic style, and the goal is to save the planet (again). The game requires at least one hour for a 1-CC that does not involve any milking and that includes an aggressive approach to bosses. Milking is relatively simple. In some key spots, if players have no bombs they can trigger the appearance of some strange critters releasing diamonds and other bonus items. Furthermore, some but not all bosses award more XPs if the characters’ familiars hit them. It is impossible to reach level 30 (i.e. max out) without milking, so players may choose to reach the 70 minutes mark for a 1-CC. Note, however, that by level 25 characters seem to max out stats.
Boss battles are the part of the game in which the game reaches particularly unpleasant levels of “Konami cheap design”. All bosses have tons of hit points with respect to players’ power level on a stage, and have small vulnerability windows. Players can take extensive risks to kill them quickly: all stages have a limited amount of time, and remaining time is turned into XPs after clearing a stage. However,
all bosses except the first one will test players’ skills considerably, if they choose this approach. I think that the description of one battle can be illustrative; I hope that you are not going to flee from the game after reading it, however.
The second boss is a curious mechanical robot that wields a giant axe. It tries to cleave players with powerful vertical swings that send shockwaves once they hit the ground, or with periodic rotations of the axe (and body) that can only be parried. Players can hit the boss by side-stepping it when he lands vertical swings, or when he rotates but is distant enough from the players. In both cases, only a few hits can be landed every time, and the boss has 5 full lives: it requires approximately 60 hits to die. This entails that players need to spend at least 80 seconds to land these hits safely, or perhaps fewer seconds by taking big risks during the rotating attacks. Every other option will probably result in a quick defeat; thus, players who quickly lose their patience will easily snap during most boss fights.
This aspect of the game also emerges in several encounters during the game. Most stages have a relatively well-paced progression and balanced, increasing difficulty; however, some sections act as “bottlenecks”. For instance, Stage 12 (“Los”) has two passages/rooms in which the character(s) will be overwhelmed by an abundance of crimson and blue warriors, with zombies further creating pressure on players. In these situations, the safest option is to focus on 1-2 hits plus an immediate parry, as enemies will simply use their overwhelming numbers to land hits on players. The fastest but riskiest option is to master attacks at minimal distance for multiple hits. One can of course abuse charge attacks, even if these attacks lengthen the duration of fights considerably. More aggressive approaches require very precise timing, and enemies may quickly land a few hits and kills characters swiftly; remember, any fight can be deadly, quickly.
The game’s difficulty has an interesting curve. The game does not offer a true challenge until ST 2’s boss; by this point, only players who display enough patience to slug it out with this boss will proceed. ST 3 (“Turan”) is easy, but the boss is a “hit-and-run” Konami-style pest. Players will again be tested on their patience, rather than fighting skills. Stages 4 to 7 involve patience-testing bosses, but the stages
per se are not difficult. Stage 8 (“Dark Corridor”), however, is a bottleneck stage: players are forced to fight in a reduced space (a series of platforms) against powerful enemies. They can only survive if they have mastered all the relevant fighting techniques and level up at a brisk pace: players receive no extra energy on this stage. Stages 10 and 12 have stiff bottleneck sections, but are otherwise manageable.
Difficulty and length converge into a lethal mix on Stage 13 (“Third key”): players fight the third general and a mecha shooting…acid mud tentacles (I guess). The third general requires a mastery of the parry gambit: players who can receive minor damage or parry successfully his attacks can actually land relatively safe chains, even though losing 2-3 life bars is an acceptable gambit. The mecha appearing after the general has such erratic attack patterns that it should appear impenetrable to most players. If players can clear these veritable difficulty walls, Stage 15 (“Gaiapolis”) is not difficult, even if choke-full of enemies. The stage’s bosses, the three generals in their demonic form, are however exasperating in their really narrow weakness windows and their 24 full life bars per general. From here to the final boss, it’s the typical “Konami boss rush”, but at a slow and nerve-racking pace.
The ending sequence is however satisfying. The characters flee as the station collapses to the surface, riding the windgs flying vessel. The Golden Warrior/Hawk has a final chatter with them admitting that he/she/whatever was human, a long time ago. Some hints suggest that the Golden Warrior is/was a space-faring human from the pre-apocalypse time, and came back to Earth to give a future to his descendants. Cut scenes during the games are actually beautiful and present the story in copious detail: at least for the first few runs, I would suggest players to read and enjoy them. Fun fact: JP, EU and US versions seem identical except for the fact that the JP version has voice actors for the three generals, too. Earth is saved from the menace of The Empire, Gaiapolis is no more but no one seems to care, and our heroes go back home.
So, if you have reached this point of this mini-article, you may genuinely wonder: is this game any fun? My answer is: yes, but with a disclaimer. The game will feel slow and plodding if you don’t learn how to fight for the XPs, i.e. land a few hits at a tricky distance, bait enemies, and so on. A possibility is to 1-CC the game by (ab)using charges, but that makes the game even slower and difficult. Levelling up is important, so learn to fight in a dangerous yet interesting manner. Enemies are also tricky, and each enemy must be addressed with specific counter-attack and baiting techniques. Bottle-neck sections thus create a very “fantasy book” feeling of heroes fighting with their backs against the wall but winning, when performed well. Spells are colourful and well animated, but you must learn when to use them; no room for mistakes.
The answer to another implicit question that you should have by now is: yes, the game is beautiful and epic in style, with a glorious OST. It is clear that
Gaiapolis’s designers worked intensely to bring this world to life, and with it their love for the Fantasy genre. I wouldn’t actually be surprised if this game is based on an
After Action Report story. The game exudes the typical atmosphere of a story that was first on paper or in RPG form, and then translated into the medium of videogames. The game is also a time capsule from early ‘90s Konami: it has gorgeous graphics and a sober use of scaling and rotating effects, as well as highly animated and colourful sprites. Aesthetically, it is a delight in all aspects.
At least for me, also, there is the nostalgia factor. I played this game when it came out to nausea. My uncle found it too easy, so he thought well to rank up the difficulty to “hard”: enemies suddenly delivered tons of damage on every minimal hit. My RPG buddies and I were not discouraged, because having an arcade game that “felt” like our favourite tabletop RPGs was just pure bliss, as teens. I never 1-CC’ed the game by myself, back in the day: we always had to rely on co-op efforts, which were certainly an exhilarating experience. I only have 1-CC’ed the game recently and via (awful) emulation, so I can say that at some point the nostalgia factor has prevailed in my opinion of the game. Please try the game out; “it’s the best way to get a feeling for it”, as Captain Obvious would say.
A parting anecdote, if I may. I loved the game so much that I adapted the whole story to a campaign for the RPG
Elric!. As teens, we combined the English version of this RPG with the French-based expansions by the publisher Oriflam; one of them was
Hawkmoon!. Both RPGs are based on books by
Michael Moorcock, and are connected via the general framework of the “Multiverse” (Moorcock introduced the idea in 1956, in case you wondered).
Hawkmoon! has this “Science Fantasy” setting that is rather close to
Gaiapolis in style, so I “tortured” my RPG buddies with a home-brew campaign that embedded the game’s story in the RPG’s milieu. My buddies still wonder where on Earth I could find the time and patience for this kind of madness. Nevertheless, there were a few other groups that ended up playing the campaign as well, in the following years (!).
So...it took decades to clear on one credit this and other titles that escaped me back in the day. Fun fact: I aimed for a 1-CC will all three characters and with either "NeoMosc" or "Koben" routes. I obtained the final 1-CC a few days before flying back "to the motherland" for the first time after a while. 1-CC eluding me for too long, before taking the long way home: done and dusted. A trivial pursuit for an adult, but I dislike not reaching the goals I pursue. The writing of this whole five pages (well, in word) of ranting has been deeply cathartic, if only because I can finally admit that my teen self was quite the queer/weird/geek/nerd one. But then again we all grow up and get things done, don’t we?
(3163 words, proof-read once for grammar, style and whatnot. Further edits and suggestions are welcome if you send me your paypal account).
"The only desire the Culture could not satisfy from within itself was one common to both the descendants of its original human stock and the machines [...]: the urge not to feel useless."
I.M. Banks, "Consider Phlebas" (1988: 43).
Marked for R2RKMF index, as per your usual fine form!
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Oh right! Back on topic. Yeah I'm fondest of the Alien Queen route, too; it's not got the platforming terrors of III's ultimate hell rush, but as a flatland boss parade with a climactic vertical ascent, it's such a satisfying vision of xenohell. I particularly like the vibrant colours playing off the classically brutal Giger biometal, on the stage and its denizens alike. 
