It's the year 1977 and the evil Gogoh Army from space is attacking Earth! Japan (and the entire planet)'s only hope comes from the Supercharged Research Center, who developed the Combining Mecha Vulkaiser to fight against the invaders. Go, Vulkaiser! Restore peace to the Earth!
Supercharged Robot Vulkaiser, aka. VULKAISER in all caps, is a Horizontal Scrolling Shooter developed by Astro Port (the makers of SATAZIUS) and released on Steam in Summer 2015. The game is made to be a huge pastiche of 70s and 80s Super Robots, especially Mazinger Z, Voltron and Voltes V, complete with episode titles and big yellow English subtitles, in the form of a Bullet Hell shooter.
The basis of the gameplay is that at fixed points the Vulkaiser can combine with one of the other four Kaiser modules and gain new special attacks. You only have one life, and when one of the Kaisers is destroyed it is gone forever, but the robots are repaired in between levels, replenishing a bit of life. Shooting charges up the modules' special weapons, that when fired cancel some of the enemy bullets.
Witch-Bot MEGLILO
is another bullet hell game set in the same universe, this time a Vertical Scrolling Shooter. The wacky premise is that Meglilo, a Magical Girl from the Magic Kingdom, gets killed during one of the battles between the Gogoh Army and the Supercharged Research Center, and Prof. Amamori himself rebuilds her in the form of a cyborg with huge firepower and the ability to stop time.
Now is the time to combine the strength of five:
- Adjective Noun Fred: Supercharged Robot VULKAISER, following the naming theme of early robot anime.
- Affectionate Parody: Of early robot anime in general. Witch-Bot Meglilo specifically is a parody of Chargeman Ken! specifically, with Ken's parents and younger sister making cameos in the stage 4 cutscene.
- Bishōnen: General Roz, the leader of the Gogoh Army.
- Bullet Hell: Higher difficulty levels ramp up the amount of bullets shown on screen.
- Cyber Cyclops: Several enemy vessels and robots, most notably the first boss.
- Destructive Savior: The skyscrapers in the first level will be damaged and destroyed by your bullets, and there is no way to prevent them getting razed.
- Evil Knockoff: The fourth boss, Supervillain Robot Warukaiger, is a bigger purple Vulkaiser armed with copies of the four modules. Beating it nets the achievement "Never Buy Bootlegs".
- Flechette Storm: Needle Kaiser's special attack. As Kimiko says, her module is not about precision but about covering the biggest area possible.
- Horned Humanoid: General Roz, possibly as a homage to Voltes V's Boazanian people.
- Lighter and Softer: The game is much more colorful, campy and light-hearted than every other Astro Port shooter before or since.
- Make My Monster Grow: A curious example. You always fight Roz on his mecha, but for the final showdown with him you fight... Roz himself, grown to Vulkaiser's size and shooting energy blades and other stuff.
- Planet Eater: Vulkaiser destroys the Gogoh base on the Moon, but then Gogoh appears and swallows the Earth whole!
- Prequel: To Armed Seven and Mechblaze set 12 years earlier. It serves as an origin as to how Earth's military became advanced enough to have mechs and space stations as early as the 80's
- Punny Name: Supervillain Robot Warukaiger is named after "waru", a Japanese word meaning "bad"..
- Recurring Boss: Roz usually shows up mid-level, piloting a different mechanical creature every time.
- Redshirt Army: At one point in the final level, the Vulkaiser is surrounded by what remains of Earth's armies, inspired by the robot's tenacity to fight the enemy all together. They all get blown apart in seconds, leaving Vulkaiser to fight alone once again.
- Rocket Punch: Vulkaiser's Missile Fist.
- Smart Bomb: Every Kaiser module has a different Omega Weapon to blow up enemies and cancel the enemy bullets.
-
Spiritual Successor: Of sorts, to Geppy X (itself being one to Gekiganger 3). They both pretend to be an old-school robot anime. - Spot the Imposter: Parodied when, during the battle between Vulkaiser and its Evil Knockoff Warukaiger, apparently Professor Amamori could not tell one apart from the other. Despite Warukaiger being bigger than the robot he himself developed, and also being a different color.
- This Is a Drill: Drill Kaiser's weapon, and also the first boss' giant drill. Defeating him nets an achievement called "Drill that Pierces the Heavens!"
- Two Girls to a Team: Kimiko Usui (pilot of the Needle Kaiser module and Professor Amamori's assistant) and Suzuna Jujo (pilot of the Drill Kaiser).
- Unobtainium: Vulkanium, the material Vulkaiser is made of. Probably a nod to Mazinger Z's Japanium.
- Womb Level: The sixth and last level is set inside Gogoh itself, and the enemies there are organic in nature.
- You Killed My Father: Suzuna Jujo fights to avenge her parents killed by the Gogoh Army.
