FixEight

FixEight[lower-alpha 1] is a run and gun arcade video game developed and published by Toaplan in July 1992.[1] The spiritual successor to 1990's Out Zone, it is notable for being one of the few titles by Toaplan that has not received any official port to home consoles as of date.[2][3][4][5] Set in a future where an alien race known as the Gozzu from the fictional planet Fortuna invaded the universe, players are tasked by the Galactic Federation government with an extermination mission against the invaders by assuming the role of one of the eight mercenaries.

FixEight
Developer(s)Toaplan
Publisher(s)Toaplan
Designer(s)Nanpei Kaneko
Composer(s)Toshiaki Tomizawa
Platform(s)Arcade
Release
Genre(s)Run and gun
Mode(s)Single-player, co-op, multiplayer (up to three simultaneous players)

As of 2019, the rights to FixEight is owned by Tatsujin, a company founded in 2017 by former Toaplan member Masahiro Yuge and now-affiliate of Japanese arcade manufacturer exA-Arcadia alongside many other Toaplan IPs.

Gameplay
Gameplay screenshot.
See also: Out Zone § Gameplay

FixEight is a science fiction-themed vertically scrolling run and gun game similar to Out Zone, where players assume the role of one of the eight playable mercenaries through seven increasingly difficult stages, each with a boss at the end that must be fought before progressing any further, in an effort to exterminate the invading Gozzu alien race on planet Fortuna as the main objective.[6][7][8][9][10] Players fight enemies on foot and move upward through the level. The players are also equipped with a number of "X" bombs capable of any enemy caught in its blast radius at the start, rendering players invincible for a brief period of time after using a bomb and the player's stock is refilled with "B" icons.[4][11][12][13]

Returning from Out Zone is its weapon system, albeit modified; Players are equipped with two main weapons at the beginning that can be upgraded by picking up "P" icons and switch between them at will by standind below a change panel but unlike its predecessor, each character has their own weapon set, as well as their own special weapon that is acquired through a "?" icon.[4][11][13] Grabbing the "?" icon after obtaining the special weapon grants other attributes such as increasing the character's overall speed or shield.[13] Other items like gold bars and gold statues can also be picked up for points.[11][13] Omitted from its predecessor is the energy bar system where player had to remain aware of their depleting energy level.[4]

If a single player is downed, their character is immediately respawned at the location they died at, unlike its predecessor's checkpoint system.[4] Getting hit by enemy fire, colliding against solid stage obstacles or falling off the stage will result in losing a life, as well as a penalty of decreasing the characters' firepower and speed to his original state and once all lives are lost, the game is over unless the players insert more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing. Although there is an ending, the game loops back to the first stage after completing the last stage as with previous titles from Toaplan, with the second loop increasing the difficulty and enemies fire denser bullet patterns, in addition to spawning extra bullets when destroyed (sometimes called 'suicide bullets' or 'ricochet effect'). Defeating the second loop results in being sent back to the first stage, starting the third loop.

Synopsis

Plot

FixEight takes place in a future where an alien race known as the Gozzu from the planet Fortuna have invaded the universe, prompting the Galactic Federation government with releasing a group of eight mercenaries from their imprisonment in an asteroid prison and sending them to Fortuna with the task of exterminating the invaders alongside their planet.[4][11][12][13]

Characters

Development and release

FixEight was released in arcades in July 1992.[1] Despite sharing the same gameplay mechanics, Out Zone composer Tatsuya Uemura stated in a 2017 podcast that FixEight was not directly related to its predecessor, although he and members of the original team had no involvement during development.[15][16] According to former Toaplan designer Junya Inoue, FixEight was designed by Nanpei Kaneko, a member who would later work on Knuckle Bash before quitting the company and work as illustrator for Japanese magazines.[17][18] The soundtrack was composed by Toshiaki Tomizawa.[19] On October 21, 1992, an album was co-published exclusively in Japan by Scitron and Pony Canyon, featuring an arranged song composed by Tomizawa.[19] A promotional recording sent by Toaplan to arcade operators also features an arranged song not present in the 1992 album.[20]

Reception and legacy

In Japan, Game Machine listed FixEight on their September 1, 1992 issue as being the ninth most-successful table arcade unit of the month, outperforming titles such as X-Men.[21] In the November 1992 issue of Japanese publication Micom BASIC Magazine, the game was ranked on the number six spot in popularity.[22] Nick Zverloff of Hardcore Gaming 101 gave positive remarks to FixEight related to several improvements made over its predecessor and regarded it as "one of the most improved sequels Toaplan ever made".[4] Den of Geek noted it to be one of the titles from Toaplan which intensively pushed the formula established by their previous endeavors.[23] In more recent years, the rights to the game, its predecessor and many other IPs from Toaplan are now owned by Tatsujin, a company named after Truxton's Japanese title that was founded in 2017 by former Toaplan employee Masahiro Yuge, who are part of the Embracer Group.[24][25][26]

Notes
  1. Also known as FixEight: The Legend of Heroes of Hell (Japanese: フィグゼイト －地獄の英雄伝説－, Hepburn: FixEight: Jigoku no Eiyū Densetsu) in Japan.

References
  1. Akagi, Masumi (13 October 2006). タイトー (Taito); 東亜プラン (Toa Plan); Taito America; F. pp. 44, 50, 137, 152. ISBN 978-4990251215. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  2. Yanma (August 1992). "Super Soft Hot Information - Video Game: フィグゼイド". Micom BASIC Magazine (in Japanese). No. 122. The Dempa Shimbunsha Corporation. p. 239.
  3. S.E.A. (March 1993). "Arcade Machine: Fixeight - Armamento infalible". Micromanía (in Spanish). Vol. 2, no. 58. HobbyPress. p. 70.
  4. Zverloff, Nick (5 February 2011). "Toaplan Shooters (Page 5) - Fixeight". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on 26 February 2011. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  5. "The Unconverted: FixEight". Retro Gamer. No. 127. Future Publishing. March 2014. p. 67.
  6. "フィグゼイト". Gamest (in Japanese). No. 75. Shinseisha. August 1992. p. 70.
  7. "フィグゼイト". Gamest (in Japanese). No. 76. Shinseisha. September 1992.
  8. "フィグゼイト". Gamest (in Japanese). No. 80. Shinseisha. November 1992.
  9. "フィグゼイト". Gamest (in Japanese). No. 84. Shinseisha. February 1993.
  10. "フィグゼイト". Gamest (in Japanese). No. 107. Shinseisha. February 1994.
  11. FixEight arcade flyer (Toaplan, JP)
  12. FixEight manual (Toaplan, EU)
  13. "FIXEIGHT" (in Japanese). Shooting Star. Archived from the original on 8 October 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
  14. derboo (October 2012). "Tracing the Influence: Stolen Images in Games - Part 5: Other: In-game graphics". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on 26 September 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
  15. "東亜プラン シューティングクロニクル". SweepRecord (in Japanese). SuperSweep. 14 November 2011. Archived from the original on 2019-10-21. Retrieved 2020-02-15. (Translation by Shmuplations. Archived 2018-07-11 at the Wayback Machine).
  16. Brian Mosley; James Brunner (March 2017). "Out Zone with guest Tatsuya Uemura – PA76" (Podcast). Pixelated Audio. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  17. "井上淳哉 - 「エスプレイド」「ぐわんげ」を創った男". Continue (in Japanese). Vol. 6. Ohta Publishing. September 2002. ISBN 978-4872337006. (Translation by Gamengai. Archived 2019-11-22 at the Wayback Machine. Transcription by Gaijin Punch. Archived 2006-07-10 at the Wayback Machine).
  18. "イラストレーターのわ第16回/金子ナンペイ". ワコムタブレットサイト (in Japanese). Wacom. 2020. Archived from the original on 2018-06-10. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
  19. "PCCB-00100 | FIXEIGHT". vgmdb.net. VGMdb. Archived from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-15. (Translation by Shmuplations. Archived 2019-10-22 at the Wayback Machine).
  20. Tatsuya Uemura (July 27, 2019). 『Fixeight』1992年JAMMAショー用PV. YouTube. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
  21. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 433. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 September 1992. p. 31.
  22. Yanma (September 1992). "Super Soft Hot Information - Video Game: Hot 20". Micom BASIC Magazine (in Japanese). No. 125. The Dempa Shimbunsha Corporation. p. 243.
  23. Lambie, Ryan (21 June 2018). "Toaplan: the rise and fall of Japan's greatest shooting game company". Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  24. "ライセンス事業" (in Japanese). TATSUJIN Co., Ltd. 2019. Archived from the original on 2018-12-25. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  25. Bravo, Roberto (12 September 2018). "Nueva compañía "Tatsujin" asegura tener gran parte de las IPs de la extinta Toaplan" (in Spanish). Gamercafe. Archived from the original on 2019-10-21. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  26. "Embracer Group Announces the 11[th] Operating Group: Embracer Freemode". Embracer Group. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
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