The 16-bit Arcade and Console Era (1990-1995) - Cybernator (a.k.a. Assault Suits Valken)

RELEASE DATE: 1992

DEVELOPER / PUBLISHER: Masaya / NCS Corp. / Konami

BEST VERSIONS: Super Nintendo

In the 1990s, one of the best ways to explore new games wasn’t to buy them, but to rent them at your local video store. That was how a friend of mine discovered Cybernator, an unassuming release from Konami that looked like it might provide a few hours of fun. Being a fan of Americanized anime like Robotech, my friend was immediately drawn in by the sophisticated mechanical designs and animations that made the game’s mechanical Cybernator suit seem like it had some weight and power in the game world. But he was also impressed by the range of weaponry, the dash, jump jet and shield mechanics and the overarching story, which included a mission where an enemy general attempted to drop a massive interstellar battleship onto the Earth out of petulant retribution for his defeat and another level where you got to fight an enemy ace pilot and watch him shoot down your ally. My friend soon became an evangelist for the game, and that was how I wound up buying it after finding a rental copy for sale in a previously played bargain bin.

Little did we know that the game was a prequel to another mecha-themed game – released in North America in 1990 as Target Earth on the Sega Genesis – or that the games went by another name in Japan: 1990’s Assault Suit Leynos and 1992’s Assault Suits Valken. Neither of us had a copy of Cybernator’s manual, but if we had, we certainly would have laughed at the clunky localization which referred to your commanding officer as “Major Steele (AKA Ol’ Iron Britches)”, which suggests that the mech’s powerful punching attack should be called the “Knuckleizer” and that by unleashing it, “more than teeth will fly,” or that your powerful beam cannon goes by the brand name “LL-7 Lazziewarfare Laser Beam.” The manual also dubs the insane villain of the third mission “Generalissimo Francisco Flako.” It’s amazingly silly stuff.

Fortunately, the game itself doesn’t include any of this nonsense and the in-game text (which pops up before missions and, quite often, during them) feels much more authentic to what you’d expect from a military-style mecha anime like Mobile Suit Gundam, Super Dimension Fortress Macross or Armored Troopers Votoms – missions with clear objectives, large-scale battles in which you’re part of a broader strategy, duels with other Assault Suit pilots and lots and lots of destruction with powerful weaponry. This is the sort of game where you can blow up portions of the environment and where just walking on certain surfaces creates dents in the flooring. It’s the sort of game where tiny little humans will run for terror and where you can gleefully stomp over them if you wish. It’s the sort of game where your primary weapon – the Vulcan machine gun – is more than enough to handle the job, but where you have other attacks you can pick up and utilize if you feel like you need more power.

Cybernator also has a lot of variety built into its gameplay. The first level feels loose and open, with multiple paths forward to stomp towards a fairly easy boss encounter. But in the second level, you strap on a jetpack and play through what feels like an R-Type-style shoot ‘em up in an asteroid field before you reach a more open zero gravity section where you fight the same enemies in 360 degree encounters. The third level, which includes the aforementioned attempt on the part of the enemy general to drop his battlestation into the Earth’s atmosphere, is particularly impressive since it begins as a zero gravity infiltration mission into the base, then turns into a corridor shooter where you’re destroying everything inside and then concludes with a literally heated fight with the general in his own Assault Suit as the base begins descending through the atmosphere. With every mission, Cybernator ups the ante on the action and storytelling, concluding with a desperate final battle where you and a humongous enemy Assault Suit piloted by your sworn enemy are both racing up a missile shaft to escape a rising explosion from the base you just destroyed as you both attempt to destroy one another. It’s amazingly epic stuff, and that it’s all contained in a 16-bit action platformer really speaks to the game’s overall quality.

The Super Nintendo original is a fine version of the game, but for whatever reason, it was censored in North America to remove some of the darker story elements, including a significant part of the game’s ending. The anime-style portraits of characters are also removed when the game’s displaying text, which is curious given that all of the other artwork in the same style is intact. If you want a more complete experience, you can track down the PAL PlayStation 2 Assault Suits Valken re-release from 2005 that’s somewhat remastered and which includes an improved version of the game’s already excellent soundtrack in addition to all of the cut content. (If you lack the appropriate hardware to play the game on your TV, the PCSX2 emulator is an excellent option.)

Cybernator’s producer, Toshiro Tsuchida, left Masaya in the mid-1990s to help create G-Craft’s Front Mission series of mecha strategy games which are highly recommended for those who enjoy the style and aesthetic of the Assault Suits series. I would also be remiss if I failed to mention the PlayStation 4 and PC game Assault Suit Leynos, a 2016 HD remake of Target Earth and which is essentially the sequel to Cybernator. It’s quite similar in style and sensibilities, but very much its own game with a self-contained story.

We’re moving on to the 1990s console and arcade games to cover one of the golden eras of video gaming as gaming shifted to 16 bits at home and true 3D in the arcades!

We’ll cover shoot ‘em ups, run and guns, fighters, brawlers, RPGs, platformers and, of course, strategy games, sports games and more. Take some time learn about great games you may have missed like Power Blade, Ranger X, Thunder Fox, Liquid Kids, Alligator Hunt, Arabian Fight, Crystalis, Popful Mail, Alisia Dragoon, Kid Dracula, Little Samson, The Space Adventure, Rocket Knight Adventures, Rolo to the Rescue and even oddities like The Haunting Starring Polterguy and The Ooze!

If you missed my series on the hundreds of 1980s PC, console and arcade games you probably never played, you can find the entire archive at https://greatestgames.substack.com.

Anything I don’t share here will be in my upcoming book, tentatively titled The Greatest Games You (Probably) Never Played Vol. 3. Subscribe to this newsletter so you won’t miss it!

If you missed my previous series on the hundreds of 1980s console, arcade and PC games you probably never played, you can find the entire archive at https://greatestgames.substack.com.

Anything I don’t share here will be in my upcoming book, tentatively titled The Greatest Games You (Probably) Never Played Vol. 3. Subscribe to this newsletter so you won’t miss it!