Last Duel (Arcade, PS2, Steam, other formats, Capcom, 1988)

[Randorama]

This long-form review is a partial copy of the post I made in the "Other Gaming" section. I believe that the post would be appropriate in this section, but if moderators say "nay, one version in one thread suffices", I am fine with the decision. If not, please enjoy and see you by the end of this month with newer reviews. The longer post ("squib" is the label I use) is here and contains a final part with personal musings and memories regarding the game. This version focuses on providing a thorough review, instead (2468 words, or 6.2 pages in times new roman, size 12, single space; the usual disclaimers apply).

Last Duel: Interplanetary War 2012 (Capcom, 1988) is a hybrid genre game alternating shmup stages with action/driving stages. The players must fight the Galden tribe invaders from Planet Bacula to defend their home planet Mu, and save their queen Sheeta. Players drive a three-wheeled car that can jump on obstacles and precipices during odd numbered stages, and a spaceship during even-numbered stages. Unlike previous titles (e.g. Konami’s Gradius and Taito’s Tokyo), Last Duel represents perhaps the first title in this genre allowing players to 1-CC the game after only one harder loop. The game also features a deeply atmospheric OST by Kawamoto Tamayo of Alph Lyra and then Zuntata fame, and beautiful alien vistas for the stages. The game was ported on several 1980s consoles (e.g. Amiga) and included in the various Capcom collections (e.g. Capcom Classics Collection on PS2, Capcom Stadium Collection on Steam). This review aims to shed some light on this perhaps obscure but brilliant early Capcom game.

Last Duel is one of a few more experimental shmups that Capcom produced in the 1980s (e.g. Legendary Wings, Forgotten Worlds). Capcom designers during the 1980s were perhaps more oriented towards less clear-cut approaches to genres. Most companies in that decade, anyway, would produce more willingly experiment with unique mechanics and ideas, rather than fixating on genres. The game runs on perhaps older Capcom hardware (CPS0?), but nevertheless features colourful graphics and well-animated vehicles, as well as a groovy OST. The screen orientation is TATE and, as in several other Capcom titles, the game area corresponds to the screen: there are no extra lateral portions. Auto-fire was a controversial option in arcades at the time, so the game included automatic weapons when fully powered up. Several aspects of the game were quite innovative: we discuss them after we have offered an overview of the story.

The game features a typical 1970s’ Space opera or Science Fantasy psychedelic setting with a definite 1970s, Matsumoto Leiji- or Miyazaki Hayao-esque vibe. The planets Mu and Bacula are at war because the Bacunian Galden tribe seeks to conquer Mu, after having subjugated all Bacula reigns. The war turns for the worse for Mu, as the Galden are ruthless and better armed. As the attract sequence shows, the Galden abduct queen Sheeta from Mu to force their enemies to capitulate. The queen’s guards make a desperate attempt to save their beloved monarch by using an experimental vehicle. The guards drive three-wheeled armoured car that can jump obstacles at high speed, and that turns into spaceship that can also fly at low orbit and near-surface altitudes. The game thus presents this rescue mission and attempt to end the ongoing war between Mu and Bacula once and for all.

The game’s originality lies in the mechanics governing the “Land” stages (Stages one, three, five on both loops). The car maintains a fixed position on the screen, approximately at one third from the bottom of the screen. The player can move left and right and increase or decrease speed by pushing up or down. Diagonal movements move the car on one side and accelerate or decelerate: for instance, movement to the up-left increases speed and moves the car to the left. Speed changes occur when tapping or when holding either direction for at least 2 seconds. The car starts at speed level 5 and can increase to level 12 or decrease to level one. Scrolling is constant, but the speed determines how fast the car moves and long the jumps can be. Thus, changing speed according to stages’ hazards becomes a necessary skill to acquire, to navigate the corresponding stages.

During the Land stages, the A button shoots bullets, and the B button controls jumps. The stages have quite complex layouts and environmental hazards such as precipices and holes. Furthermore, enemies can try to ram into the players’ car and bullets can of course destroy the vehicle. For all these obstacles, jumps are a valid solution: the car can jump (i.e. the sprite undergoes a rudimentary scaling animation) and can (hopefully) land in a safe(r) spot. During jumps, however, the car cannot shoot: players must thus use jumps with wisdom. The spaceship mode or “Sky” stages are simpler: the A button shoots bullets, the B button activates the “rolling” attack, and the ship can move in eight directions. The “rolling” attack activates an invincible, enemy-piercing, phoenix-shaped, incandescent shield that consumes “rolling” energy. Once depleted of energy, the attack becomes inactive for the rest of each stage.

Players can choose among three distinct attacks and obtain two extra weapons. The pearl white “P” power-up increases the number basic shots up to three: collect two of them to reach this level. The light blue “P” power-up activates a dual shot, fast auto-fire based attack. A first power up will trigger a three-way shot; a second, a two-way shot two streams at 60 degrees from the dual shot. The green “P” triggers a cool-looking green laser with an orange energy stream spiralling around the laser. This attack is also fully automatic and quite powerful but has a slow cadence and an annoying sound effect. Players can also collect up to three “M” power-ups so that they can shoot three homing missiles, and a “symbol” power-up to obtain side pods. The pods shoot one bullet in front of them and one to their open side.

These power-ups are available on both stage types. On spaceship type stages, players can collect up to four “S” speed power-ups, too. Collecting power-ups of the same time when the attack is maxed out will just award players 1000 points: since, the game offers few scoring opportunities, however, it is a good idea to collect these items. The game offers several extends: first at 20k points, second at 80k points and then one every 80k points. The game awards extends only in the first loop: players will not receive any extra lives in the second loop. The game also has a survival rank system that increases enemies’ H(it)P(oint)s, aggressiveness, and bullets’ speed: rank resets after each death, of course. Overall, the game mechanics are rather simple, though for its time auto-fire-based weapons were an interesting innovation. We return to these matters when discussing difficulty, given their relevance for this aspect.

Before we tackle the game’s challenges, however, I would like to offer considerations about Last Duel’s aesthetic offers. Visually, the game features beautifully vibrant colours covering a wide palette, especially on the first four stages. Each stage features several unique and well-animated enemies (creatures and vehicles), detailed backgrounds and good-looking, chromatically rich, and attractive visuals. The players’ vehicles are also quite well-designed, with the car featuring a relatively detailed jumping animation and the spaceship turning into a burning phoenix during the rolling attack. A minor note is that some bullets may sometimes be hard to see, as they may partially blend against some backgrounds due to quirky palette choices. This problem happens only a few times, at any case. On the other hand, the players’ shots are well designed and, at least for the laser, big, colourful, and destructive enough to probably render enemies’ obliteration a pleasant matter.

Aside the praise-worthy quality of the graphics, Last Duel appears gorgeous also in its exotic half Science Fiction, half Science Fantasy design and surprisingly good combination of settings. Stage one, “Galden’s Route”, offers a beautifully futuristic view of Mu’s capital and its highways. Stage two completely changes style, has players fly through “Mystery Zone” and fight mostly organic creatures. Stages three, four, five and six respectively take place in gigantic subterranean cave, a field of dangerous asteroids in space, a vast icy region and Galden’s base in space. Ultimately, 1980s games often featured such bric-a-brac stylistic choices: Last Duel somehow manages to blend these choices relatively well via copious amounts of fluorescent pixel art. As in the case of City Connection, lovers of modern synth-wave aesthetics might find this game’s visuals gorgeous and pioneering at the same time. Embrace the game’s queerness and vaguely 1970s camp design, and you should be delighted.

The brief mention of Kawamoto Tamayo at the beginning of this review might have wetted your musical appetite, or so I hope. I must admit that this game features one of my favourite “Golden Tamayo” OSTs. Miss Kawamoto, after all, composed some absolute classics while at Capcom (e.g. the Wagnerian Black Tiger and the intensely surreal Ghouls’n Ghosts OSTs). For Last Duel, “TamaTama” created an interesting mix of J(apanese) synth-pop with jazzy influences and a dash of soul and funk. Stage one includes an interesting if modestly sampled keyboard solo; stage two is a slow, deeply melancholic minuet perfectly matching the otherworldly organic stage. All stages include interesting melodic lines, skilfully sampled instruments, and influences from various genres. As proof of “Tama-Chan”’s depth of musical knowledge, the name entry song for scores below the first place is a groovy, enthusiasm-infected samba. A certain degree of melancholy, nevertheless, cheerfully permeates the whole OST.

An interesting aspect regarding the game’s aural presentation pertains to the sound effects. One clear-cut memory I have of the game is that the sound effects are quite loud and moderately cheesy. When the car/spaceship receives a hit, a loud siren-like noise signals the event, drowning the OST and probably any other sound in the immediate surroundings. Arcade are noisy places, but Last Duel was always the loudest game in a room, in my memory. Other sounds effects are not so loud and perhaps annoying, apart from the spiral laser shot. Aside these zany, possibly irritating effects, the game features crisp and well-crafted soundbites that nevertheless have an 8-bit, “loud is better” taste. Ironically, as a kid I loved the flippant loudness. However, my adult age I would suggest to fiddle a bit with the sound settings so that the neighbours might not call the police due to an aliens’ attack.

By this point, you may of course wonder if the game offers an accessible challenge. After all, a stereotype about 1980s arcade games is that they were hard in often maddening ways. I believe that navigated shmuppers should have rolled their eyes to a full exposure of the sclera, by their reading of the word “accessible”: I apologise if this is the case. Last Duel may perhaps be one of the easiest shmups, or at least hybrid shmup/action game titles, that features a loop. I believe that only two facets contribute to the overall difficulty of the game: the game mechanics, and in particular the mechanics governing the car stages, and the stage design. The loop’s few specific rules operate as forming a minor facet, too. For this reason, I propose that the first two facets are worth 20 points of 50, and the third 10 points.

The game mechanics affect difficulty in a simple manner. Sky stages may feel bland. Power-up as per preferences, shoot anything that moves and use the rolling attack when needed: problem solved. Land stages require instead that players learn to handle the car in all situations, with the proviso that the car has a fixed position on screen. Furthermore, Land stages have a time limit: players have 400 (half) seconds to complete a stage, so opting to clear stages at a minimal pace (e.g. speed one) may be dangerous. Conversely, cruising through Land stages at full speed may be dangerous, as players can crash unto incoming bullets of enemies easily. Playing for score is however easy: kill all enemies, collect all extra power-ups, clear stages quickly and save the rolling attack. I would thus assign two points to Sky stages, five to Land stages, and 7/20 to the overall game mechanics.

The other key source of difficult lies in the stage design or, more appropriately, in the design of land stages. Once players understand and possibly master the car’s mechanics, they should also develop a good grasp of each stage’s layout and their pitfalls. Land stages require that players always stay without the boundaries of the surface the vehicle is driving on: highway on stage one, stone path on stage three, ice on stage five. Players can jump outside these boundaries or fall into precipices and chasms; they can also land on enemies or even bullets. They must thus learn how to avoid obstacles irrespective of the driving speed, and jump judiciously. Sky stages involve narrow junctures, but those are easier to navigate via free movement. I would thus assign 7/20 points to this facet: stage memorization should be easy for any committed player.

Clearing the first loop should thus reach an intermediate level of difficulty, at 7+7=14/50 difficulty points. Clearing the second and final loop does not represent a radically more difficult challenge for two reasons. First, the game’s rank system seems based on survival time and power level, but it maxes out early in the game (stage four or so). Once players can handle stages three to six at maximum rank, they can also handle their counterparts in the loop. Second, extends stop during the loop, so players can only count on the lives accumulated during the first round. However, recovering from deaths is easy because rank plummets, and an extra blue power-up should appear after a few seconds. I assign five points to these aspects, for a 14+5=19/50 difficulty points. In my view, 1-CC’ing both loops of Last Duel is mostly an advanced intermediate challenge, but certainly an entertaining one.

In conclusion, Last Duel is a hybrid action/driving/shmup title that offers a good challenge via its genre-blending game mechanics. The game has an intriguing visual and aural presentation and a certain 1980s charm that may appeal to old nostalgic hearts but also retro-oriented players. The first loop should be an accessible challenge to most players who are willing to learn the quirks of the Land stages and the car form’s mechanics. Clearing both loops may possibly be a feat accessible to any dedicated player, I believe: the difficulty is manageable. Anyone who wishes to explore Capcom’s early catalogue and discover earlier more experimental titles should overall enjoy this little gem. Shmups evolved in quite different directions, so this title could be a perfect experience to glimpse alternate, almost counterfactual evolutions of the genre. My final suggestion is thus simple: please enjoy it with a tinge of nostalgic melancholy.