Phalanx (video game)
A horizontal shooter known for its bizarre American box art.
Phalanx: The Enforce Fighter A-144 is a side-scrolling shooter from 1991, created by ZOOM Inc. and Kemco for the X68000, Super NES, and Game Boy Advance. Its American box art is famously odd, showing an old man in overalls and a fedora playing a banjo with a spaceship behind him.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- ZOOM Inc. (X68000); Kemco (SNES, GBA)
- Composer
- S. Yamaguchi (SNES); Tsukasa Masuko (GBA)
- Platforms
- X68000
- Super NES
- Game Boy Advance
- WiiWare
- Genre
- Scrolling shooter
- Modes
- Single-player
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
The player's ship can switch among three speed levels at any time, enabling fast movement to avoid enemies or slow movement to weave between bullets. Unlike many shooters of the era, the Phalanx ship has three hit points that can be restored by a specific power-up, and health persists between levels. Weapons are obtained from items left by certain enemies; up to three can be stored simultaneously, and acquiring a new weapon replaces the currently equipped one. The player may freely switch between stored weapons and can sacrifice a weapon to produce a smart bomb effect, freeing the slot for another weapon. The Extent is set at every 300,000 points. Difficulty is adjustable among three levels in the options menu (not during play), primarily affecting enemy bullet count; a hidden Funny difficulty, accessible via cheat codes, greatly increases difficulty. The L weapon equips two stationary options and a piercing laser; upgrades add beams from the options and increase power, and its smart bomb spins the ship firing bullets in a spiral while granting invulnerability. The H weapon equips two orbiting options and a homing ball; upgrades let options fire homing balls, and its smart bomb creates a damaging energy field around the ship. The E weapon is a charge weapon firing energy bolts; charging increases bolt size and number, and upgrades raise the maximum charge level; its smart bomb causes full-screen antimatter damage to all visible enemies.
Plot
In the year 2279, a planetary research project sends a group to the alien planet Delia, where they partly colonize it. After some time, an emergency transmission about a hazardous leak reaches their orbiting security force. The planet's space fighters become possessed by an unknown squadron of alien bioships that appear suddenly and become a hostile threat. The player controls Wink Baufield (named Rick in the Game Boy Advance version), an ace pilot assigned to investigate the disaster in the experimental fighter A/144 Phalanx during Operation Climax.
Release
The unusual SNES box art for the US release features an elderly man (played by Bertil Valley, 1913–2004, known for playing a mall Santa for 25 years) playing a banjo. The box art has been described as goofy and misleading, and as the most surreal video game box art of all time.
Reception
Phalanx placed fourth in a popularity ranking by Micom BASIC Magazine in August 1991. Zenji Nishkawa of Oh!X praised its overall audiovisual presentation, and Technopolis also highlighted the graphics and sound while noting the game’s difficulty. A 1993 Super Famicom Magazine readers’ poll gave it a 21.45 out of 30, ranking it 106th among Super Famicom titles. SNES Force liked the sharp graphics but found the gameplay frustrating. The Game Boy Advance version earned a 71.33% average from nine reviews, considered mixed or average.
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