ガンガンレボリューション Gun Gun Revolution

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Gun Gun Revolution (ガンガンレボリューション) was made in 2004 by Takara as part of their PlugIt! series. The hardware part was developed by SSD and uses their Xavix technology. I talked about the predecessor Gun Gun Adventure in episode 107.

The gun feels very solid and is of a good build quality. It is surprisingly heavy, but this isn't much of a problem, as the gun is operated two handed anyways. Like one of the configurations of its predecessor the gun uses a cross hair sight. By cranking back the front handle the gun changes to a grenade mode in the game. Visible from the side are the power switch, power indicator and reset button. As nicely hinted here the gun can be powered either by external power supply unit or via four AA cells. The unit transmits composite video. On the handle is a TRRS socket, in which the red Gun Gun Adventure gun can be plugged in for two player action.

As I don't understand Japanese I am not very sure about the story. It seems that Gun Gun Adventure Island rose from the sea and flew into the sky after the events from the first game, revealing the machine bottom side of the island. The hero has to gather four crystals in order to remove the clouds from this mechanical bottom in order to enter it. In the inner workings of the island the player destroys a heart which is then fertilized by a befriended ferry like creature which is then entering its adult form.

The game saves the progress in story mode which allows the player to interrupt the game and continue some other time. Like in the predecessor groups of levels are tied to selectable locations. Most levels play as distinct mini games. Usually a location consists of two mini games and a boss fight. Often it's beneficial to use the grenades on a boss.

The game consists of 18 levels. On the river the player shoots monsters avoids obstacles on a boat and beats a robot. In the forest flowers are shot, matched and the boss of Gun Gun Adventure is fought. On the hill the player fights against ghosts, repeats ghost patterns on a tile wall and plays rock, paper, scissor. In the black tower flames are fought, a monster is fed until it explodes and a fire monster is extinguished. In the mechanic bottom of the island the player shoots flying robots, plays Japanese scrabble and fights a robot boss . On the way to the island's heart the player continues to fight robots and shoots an armored fire fly. Flying spheres spin around the heart. For every destroyed orb one of the bosses is fought again. If they are all defeated the player tries to deflect monsters into the heart, until it is destroyed.

Like in Gun Gun Adventure, the individual levels can be selected from outside the story mode in a dedicated menu. A similar menu shows the high score for each level.

Personally I like Gun Gun Revolution. The graphics are cute and the music is entertaining. The mini games provide a rich variety of game play which together with the selectable difficulty setting helps to keep the game fresh. Sadly I can't adjust the game's difficulty for all levels to my desire, as the Japanese scrabble level gets too difficult for me otherwise. I greatly appreciate the inclusion of the grenade functionality which makes the game ever so slightly more interesting.

I like the design of the box. Even though it mixes computer renders of the gun with photographs and drawn artwork, the box design blends together very well and looks intriguing.