An unusual coin-op made by
Capcom in 1991, composed of three different games among which the player could choose: a
Puzzle Game (
Don't Pull), a
Platform Game (
Midnight Wanderers: quest for the Chariot) and a
Shoot 'em Up (
Chariot - adventure through the sky). Strangely enough,
Chariot was also the direct sequel to
Midnight Wanderers.
Since Don't Pull has no plot to speak of, here's the story behind the world of Midnight Wanderers and Chariot: the demon Gaia stole the legendary Chariot of Light, symbol of the Kingdom of Ashtar, and turned all the inhabitants of Ashtar into wooden statues. Lou and Siva, the wanderers of the title, are the kingdom's only hope: they must enter Gaia's castle, defeat the demon and use the magical Card of the Dawn to re-awaken the Chariot. After having recovered the artifact, Lou and Siva must use it to fly into the sky and save the princess of Ashtar who was kidnapped by Gaia's
superior, Lar.
The game(s) was ported to
Sega Saturn and
PlayStation in 1998, and later included in Capcom's Classics Collection for PS2 and XBOX. Lou and Siva made only a few appearances in subsequent Capcom games, most notably in one
Marvel vs. Capcom game as helpers.
Don't Pull provides examples of:
Midnight Wanderers provides examples of:
- All Trolls Are Different: The most common enemy type.
- Automatic Crossbows: Lou uses one, shaped like a gun.
- BFS: Third boss Dougar uses one.
- Big Bad: Gaia.
- The Dragon: Moeban, as he's seen ordering the other bosses around.
- Breath Weapon: The flamethrower guy in the Terror Twins duo and the fat frog-like Mook.
- Bubblegloop Swamp: Stage 02.
- Crossover: Gaia and Laru (swordsman from the Terror Twins) appear in the quiz game Adventure Quiz: Capcom World 2. In Capcom's Crossover shooter game Cannon Spike, the character of Shiba Shintaro is based off Siva.
- Clothing Damage: Just like in Ghosts N Goblins, a more well-known Capcom production, getting hit in Midnight Wanderers doesn't kill you, but strips you to your underwear. One more hit and you're history, though.
- Degraded Boss: The flamethrower guy from the Terror Twins and Dumpty return as generic enemies in the later stages.
- Dual Boss: Second boss, The Terror Twins. The Dumpty Mini-Boss may count as well.
- Dumb Muscle: First boss, Balgoss.
- Evil Laugh: Some Mooks have a comic-book-like "HA HA HA" over their heads while attacking you.
- Evil Tower of Ominousness: The tower in the Demon's Castle.
- Foregone Conclusion: Will Lou and Siva defeat Gaia and recover the Chariot? Well DUH!
- Funny Animal: The frog in the intro that gives the heroes the summoning card.
- Grandpa God: This is how the forces of good are portrayed in the intro and ending.
- Green Hill Zone: The first stage.
- The Hero: Lou is even referred as such in the intro.
- High Altitude Battle: The Terror Twins are fought aboard a flying machine.
- Inexplicable Treasure Chests: They come out of the ground!
- In Harm's Way: Implied in the intro.
- Knife Nut: Siva.
- McGuffin: The Chariot. The card needed to summon it would count too, but the heroes are already in its possession at the beginning.
- Palette Swap: Some Mooks.
- Physical God: Gaia.
- Playing with Fire: The Firestorm helper.
- Recurring Boss: Balgoss and Dougar are fought again in the last level.
- Recycled In Space: Ghouls 'n Ghosts on a magical kingdom.
- Reflecting Laser: One of the powerups turn the arrows into these.
- Shock and Awe: One of Gaia's two attacks.
- Shout Out: The Midnight Wanderers title is written in the iconic, red-and-yellow Indiana Jones font.
- Balgoss has a splitting jaw that looks like the one Predator has.
- Spiritual Successor: The previously unreleased SNES game Nightmare Busters
appears to have been heavily influenced by Midnight Wanderers, right down to the chests appearing from the ground and the pointy-eared enemies. - Taken for Granite: Instead of stone, everyone in Ashtar is turned into wooden statues by Gaia's magic.
- The Lost Woods: First stage.
- Toy Time: Stage 3.
- Villainous Demotivator: Gaia threatens his minions just as the Wandereres are reaching the top floor.
- Walking the Earth: The Midnight Wanderers.
- Waddling Head: Dougar is just a head with a very long arm.
- When Trees Attack: Golem Wood, the first Mini-Boss.
Chariot provides examples of:
- Backup Twin: Possibly in the case of sixth boss Alcazar, which is identical to Midnight Wanderers Moeban.
- Big Bad: Lar.
- Boss Rush
- Death from Above: Alcazar's shower of spikes.
- Dual Boss: Third boss, Gemini.
- Frickin' Laser Beams: Gemini and Hypnos abuse of these.
- Floating Continent: The scenery in Stage 06 shows several chunks of land (and castles) floating around.
- Flunky Boss: First boss, Aeolus.
- Giant Enemy Crab: Fourth boss, Cancer.
- Inexplicable Treasure Chests: And now, they fly with little bat wings...
- Losing Your Head: Halfway through the boss fight, Lar loses his body and becomes a flying sphere-throwing head.
- Man Behind the Man: Lar was behind Gaia's stint.
- Mini-Boss: The trio of big-gun totting techno-devils Bazz, Dazz and Jezz. Also a sort of Recurring Boss, as they are mostly Palette Swaps of each other.
- Non-Indicative Name: The Chariot is more like a hang-glider.
- One Hit Point Wonder: Unless you get enough powerups.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Bosses are named after either deities (Aeolus, Hypnos) or zodiac symbols (Gemini, Cancer, Sagittarius).
- Save the Princess
- Schrödinger's Player Character: Siva only appears in the ending in a single player game.
- Shows Damage: Most of the bosses, often in a creepy way.
- That's No Moon: Second boss Hypnos◊ appears to be some crescent-shaped, steampunk-ish creature shooting lasers.
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