Garyo Retsuden is a 1987 arcade action game loosely based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Loosely.Very loosely.
Taking place in an alternate version of Three-Kingdoms era China where giant monsters and evil wizards exist, the three sworn brothers, Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, have somehow gained the powers to expel energy blasts and fireballs from their hands.
When the three brothers' sworn enemy, Lu Bu, abducted the princess, it's up to the trio to embark on a rescue mission as they take on enemy forces. Whose ranks includes giant slugs, frogs, bats, two-headed tigers and the players are left scratching their heads when pondering the question, "Which chapter in Three Kingdoms did all these insanity originate from?"
Gameplay-wise, Garyo Retsuden is more or less another Ikari Warriors clone, save for the setting. And that the main characters have superpowers.
See also Ninja Emaki, which likely inspired this game.
Garyo Retsuden contain examples of:
- Airborne Mooks: Giant moths, bats, and hostile hermits flying on clouds capable of throwing projectile attacks are among the totally random variety of enemies you can fight.
- Amphibian at Large: Oversized frogs as large as carriages who can shoot projectiles from their mouths will inexplicably appear as occasional Giant Mook enemies.
- Bat Out of Hell: Man-sized giant bats are a rare enemy type, who swoops around the screen to attack your character. They're coloured blue, green or red but NOT black.
- Blob Monster: Small, green and blue blobs who can shoot projectiles are weak enemies in a few areas.
- Char Clone: Lu Bu in the final level somehow takes on a Char Aznable makeup, for reasons unexplained.
- Doppelgänger Spin: Luo Dian, the boss of the Changjiang level, can split himself into copies to confuse you.
- Flying on a Cloud: We did mention this game have hostile hermits on clouds as enemies, right?
- Hand Blast: Obtaining power-ups turns your ranged weapons, may they be arrows or flung knives, into projectiles shot from your hands. Note that many bosses and higher-level mooks have this ability too.
- Moth Menace: Giant moth enemies will appear regularly to attack you with poisonous spores.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Giant oriental dragons are an occasional enemy variety.
- Panthera Awesome: You'll fight giant, two-headed tigers a lot throughout the game, especially in the forest stage. They don't have any ranged attacks though, but can lunge at you with deadly speed.
- Playing with Fire: The flame powerup can turn your projectile into fireballs. And upgraded into homing fireballs for good measure.
- Power Floats: Lu Bu, the Final Boss, doesn't walk. He floats all over the damn place (somehow) while spamming attacks on you.
- Power Up Mount: You can find horses tethered to posts in a few areas, and ride them while kicking ass all over the place. They give you a helpful speed boost and if hit by enemy attacks, dissappears leaving you on foot.
- A Winner Is You: If you complete the game, you get a poorly-rendered still frame of the princess you're rescuing, telling you "Many Thanks for Your Courage". For 10 seconds. Then the screen goes black... before you get kicked back to the Great Wall, level 1. Have fun!
