Games I Beat: Gaiapolis

Gaiapolis
Top Down Beat Em Up
1-2 Players
System: Arcade
Developer: Konami
Year of Release: 1993
Beaten: June 10th, 2017

It's both bewildering and amazing that so many games made by well recognized game developer's are still managing to float just outside of most people's radar. I'm pretty familiar with many video games from every generation, and delightfully still run into little gems I'd never so much as heard of. When I stumbled on a video for Gaiapolis I knew I would want to check it out immediately. So, with a friend in tow, we managed to make our way to Gaiapolis.

First off, not a great name. I think the "ia" stands if for the "o" that's usually found at the beginning of "-opolis", but it still feels awkward to say. Just had to point out each time I've said it aloud I too have tried pronouncing it in at least two different ways. Since I'm already nitpicking, the other niggling issue throughout the game was that inbetween levels there was a split second where the screen would "break" and just show a random hodgepodge of the background sprites. This could be due to being emulated though. Aside from that, some, admittedly, charming spelling and grammartical errors plagued the game, but really this is about the extent of my criticism.

Gaiapolis has a plot, for sure, but I'm not exactly clear as to what it is. According to the wikipedia "Prince Gerard Himerce seeks vengeance against the Zar Harc Empire for the destruction of his homeland, the Kingdom of Avalon." Who, alongside his traveling companions, a dragon exile named Duke Galahad, and the half-fairy half-human Elaine Shee, go "on a journey to prevent King Darkness, the leader of Zar Hard, from reviving an ancient demon." Playing through the game it seemed more like three rubble-rowsers listening to the demands of a self-immolated anarchist gathered the keys to heaven and brought it crashing down. I'm fine with either interpretation really.

The presentation is mostly really nice (aside from those quick level transition glitches). The three playable characters are all well designed, the backgrounds look, at worst, serviceable, and the enemies are a bit plain, but look appropriate. The bosses had mostly interesting designs, and in particular Gaiapolis (the actual place in-game) looked really cool. Floating high above the Earth with glass floors, and random bits having worn away from time and abuse. There's nothing that'll leave you proclaiming wow though. Inbetween levels there are some anime-ish cutscenes with minimal animation, but they look decent for the time and were entertaining enough to watch. Really the broken English was the best part. Do you follow the Fire Warrior, or the Fire Worrior? I'll never know for certain.

What really drew me into Gaiapolis is that it's, visually, a unique take on the beat 'em up. Instead of being side scrolling, or that weird perspective where you can move up and down a bit like in Golden Axe or Streets of Age, it's top down. After playing the game, though, this is mostly a gimmick. You'll still wander forward and after beating up all the enemies be told to head in a specific direction. On rare occasions (I believe in a few predetermined spots) you'll also upgrade your shield, and in the final boss encounter, your sword. I had slight hopes there would be a larger focus on character progression and exploration, but that wasn't the case. It maintained the status quo of beat em ups, just with a slightly different perspective.

Fighting is standard stand there and mash the attack button, unfortunately there is only one in this game, and aside from their reach the characters all seem to play about the same. The fairy does seem to attack a lot faster, but both the prince and the dragon have a much wider swing, hitting more enemies and thus stopping more incoming damage. As a quarter munching arcade game though this kind of cheap tactics are to be expected. To be fair, I will never be the sort to find any appeal in trying to one credit an arcade game. I'm in it more for the journey.

And the journey is a pleasant one, you won't find too much that's original here. Gaiapolis itself seems very heavily inspired by Laputa Castle in the Sky, and there's a hinted at "this is actually a post-apocalyptic story!" story thread once you get far enough in. It follows the standard tropes of the genre at the time, and some of the bosses felt like they were forcibly ripping my (virtual) quarters from my (virtual) pocket. Overall, if you're looking for an oft-overlooked beat 'em up (at least as far I can tell) Gaiapolis might be worth a look. Honestly though, make sure you've already ran through the tried and true classics like Shadows of Mystara first though.