The Future needs YOU!
20XX A.D. A troubled world caused a surge of mass terrorism. With warfare spreading to every city, people live in constant fear...
Cannon Spike is a 2000 shooting game from the Japanese developer Psikyo, done under license from Capcom. It holds the distinction of being one of the last games released for the Sega Dreamcast, and wasn't released in Europe at all until 2002. Despite reasonable exposure at the time of release, including a cover story
◊ in the enthusiast magazine GameFan, it's largely fallen into obscurity. Thankfully, now we can enjoy this title thanks to Emulation for Arcade (MAME) as well for Dreamcast (Chankast, NullDC, etc.)
As one might expect from seeing the name Psikyo, Cannon Spike is a twitch shooter. As one of seven characters - Cammy, Charlie, Baby Bonnie Hood, Mega Man, a futuristic version of Arthur, or original characters Shiba Shintaro and Simone - you blast through multiple Capcom-themed stages, firing guns on full-auto while zooming around on rocket skates, skateboards, or in B. B. Hood's case, an old scooter. Two-player co-op is available.
Cannon Spike's old website can be seen here
thanks to Wayback Machine. The Other Wiki made a modest article about this game here, mistake that Hardcore Gaming 101 thankfully fixed making a full article dedicated to this game here. Also Capcom Wiki has an article about this game here, as well separated character articles for Shiba and Simone.
Tropes:
- Anachronism Stew: The game is set in the future, but Arthur comes from Medieval Age, Cammy, Charlie and B. B. Hood comes from the present, and Mega Man comes from a distant future. And even so, all the characters are together in the same plot.
- And between the SF characters, Charlie comes from Alpha, but Cammy's outfit is from II, in which that time Charlie's dead (at least until Street Fighter V). Subverted with the alternate Cammy's costume, which is Shadaloo's Dolls from Alpha.
- BFG: Arthur's gunlance.
- The Brute: Kabuki, one of the bosses of the game.
- Bullet Hell: A worthy trope from one of the Trope Codifier companies, Psikyo.
- Competitive Balance: The playable characters differ in terms of speed, firepower, and melee.
- Cool Hover Board: Shiba has a antigravitatory board that uses to move on the screen with Implausible Boarding Skills.
- Costume Evolution:
- Cammy's outfit from this game is back in her recent Street Fighter V appearance.
- Also, Charlie's look changed here where he's using a black t-shirt below his famous yellow jacket, apart of wearing glasses all the time.
- Crossover: A boldly plotless shoot-'em-up starring characters from Street Fighter, Mega Man, Darkstalkers, and (sort of) Ghosts 'n' Goblins, blasting their way through multiple levels based on various Capcom franchises.
- Cyborg: Simone. A cyborg with superhuman strength, she works along with Arthur to complete her mission.
- Dub Name Change:
- Known in Japan as Gun Spike. Also, Charlie's name is Nash, B. B. Hood is Bulleta and Mega Man is Rockman, just like in their game series.
- Subverted with Balrog, which is named his japanese name in all versions (US and Europe).
- Elite Army: As refering in game's story:...To combat the terrorists' robot soldiers, the World Union for Peace organizes a special force equipped with specialized "Motor Boots" for ultimate mobility. It is up to this Anti-Robot Special Force led by Cammy to enter into battle and rid the world of the robot menace.
- Episode of the Dead: There's a scene where your character fight zombies and the bosses are giant mutant monsters, an obvious Shout-Out to Resident Evil game series.
- Evil Costume Switch: When you choose Cammy, you can press up or down and you can select her Shadaloo's Doll costume from Street Fighter Alpha series.
- Expy/Shout-Out:
- Two of the characters strongly resemble characters from other Arcade Games by Capcom. Simone is a lot like Linn Kurosawa from Alien vs. Predator, and Shiba is a redesign of Siva from Three Wonders. Arthur doesn't count as, as his ending shows, it really is him.
- Even when the comparision has been done in the past, Cammy with his rollerskates looks a lot more like Alita/Gally in her Motorball outfit◊.
- Shiba has some resemblances with Naruto Uzumaki, considerating Naruto manga started in 1999 and Cannon Spike was made in 2000, this could be possible.
- Genre Mashup: The game is a kind of hybrid between a Shoot 'Em Up and a Beat 'em Up, since despite the characters only attacking with bullets and bombs, the rest of the mechanics of Cannon Spike share similitudes with a classic Beat 'em Up, even having some proper moves, like Cammy and Charlie using some of their fighting moves.
- Fanservice: For Capcom fans.
- Final Boss: Psychiccer Sting, a Lightning Bruiser which also made clones of himself.
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Much like in the Capcom vs. games, except the villains are mostly original characters.
- Meaningful Name: The name of the game, "Cannon Spike", is also the name of one of Cammy's moves in Street Fighter seriesnote . And Cammy is The Protagonist of this game.
- Mighty Glacier: Arthur counts as this, especially with his exaggerated version of his golden armor.
- Ms. Fanservice: As usual, Cammy's ass is on full display. Also Simone with her well-marked Battle Ballgown, and Cat Lady Beauty with her Navel-Deep Neckline.
- Mythology Gag: Contains a ton of these from Capcom:
- The game plot happens in 20XX.
- Protagonists hail from franchises such as Street Fighter, Ghosts 'n Goblins, MegaMan, and Darkstalkers. Even the original characters are based on certain games.
- Powered Armor: Basically Arthur's Knight in Shining Armor is up to eleven.
- Rule of Three:
- There're 3 buttons to use in the game, Mark (used to lock onto a targeted enemy), Shoot, and Attack (a close-range strike, usually more powerful or with greater knock-back compared to ordinary shooting.) In addition to these basic commands, each character also has a ranged special attack (unleashed by pressing Shoot and Attack simultaneously), a close-range special (Mark and Attack simultaneously), and a super special (all three buttons simultaneously).
- Also, one of the Boss Battles are made by 3 robots: Rick Blue, Bob Green and Ken Brown.
- Secret Characters: Mega Man and Baby Bonnie Hood in Dreamcast version. Only you have to press left or right respectively after the last seen character on screen (Charlie at left, Simone at right) on the Character Selection screen.
- The Stoic: Simone.
- World of Action Girls: Cammy, Simone and B. B. Hood are all capable ass-kickers in their own right. As is the Dark Action Girl, Cat Lady Beauty.
- You Don't Look Like You: One of the bosses who looks like Marilyn Manson is called as "Fallen Balrog"note .
