Replicart

Famicom Disk System · 1988 · JP

Taito Dual Action

Publisher: Taito · Developer: Dual · Genre: Action

The game takes place at the end of the 21st century. A gigantic snake-like alien called Sonada invades Earth and constructs a base under the soil. Sonada attacks various locations, stealing precious resources, and appears invulnerable to all forms of modern offenses. Engineers regroup and construct a base where a new weapon can be developed. They create the Replicart in the image of Sonada, and give it the power to convert resources into new material that can extend the Replicart and increase its strength until it reaches enough power to destroy the invader. Replicart is to the original Snake game what Arkanoid is to Breakout; an upgrade that takes the core features of the game and expands upon them by adding enemies, power-ups and more elaborate play settings. In it you must move a robotic snake through mazes in an effort to collect a required number of pieces before the exit will open. The snake's length extends by one unit for every piece collected. If the snake's head touches any of the walls, enemies or its own body, it is destroyed and the player loses one life. The conversion to the Famicom Disk System by Taito is quite different than the MSX2 original. The number of levels has been reduced to 100, but between every 10 levels, a boss battle occurs in which the player must chase a monster around the screen and blast it until the monster takes enough damage. A bonus level is provided for the player after each boss is defeated before they progress to the next level.