The 3-D Battles of WorldRunner

"3D World Runner" (formerly released in Japan as "Tobidase Daisakusen" for the Famicom Disk System) looks suspiciously like a Space Harrier clone, but for the most of the time it is not. First of all you are running instead of flying and gameplay is more about jumping over chasms and avoiding obstacles and monsters. Only during the boss battles it is the typical flying and shooting gameplay. The game works well for what it wants to be. The graphics are nice and fast and the controls are ok.

teran01 # 2011-03-19 12:16:05

SQF-TDS Tobidase Daisakusen published on Famicom Disk 1987-03-12 by DOG (Square) in Japan (see the Famicom Entry, this game apparently was not published for the Japanese Famicom in cartridge format)
NES-WO-USA 3-D World Runner published 1987-09 by Acclaim in the USA. Rarity C-

Seemingly inspired by Space Harrier. But while Space Harrier was a 3rd person view rail shooter, this is sort of a 3rd person view run-and-jump platform game. Jumping for specific distances is your main required skill, but dodging left and right is also important. Shooting is mainly for defeating bosses but other minor enemies can be eliminated also. The game constantly scrolls you forward and you can only slightly speed up or slow down; stopping requires a collision with a solid object, preferably one that is not lethal. You will need to dodge and or jump enemies, solid columns, flaming columns, poison mushrooms, and canyons. There are springs to aid in jumping, stars to collect for points, special items, hidden items, and warp balloons. Hearts are rare and give extra lives. Rockets enable shooting; an ability you lose if you get hit. Mushrooms are deadly. Atoms make you invincible for a time. Clocks add extra time (did I mention the time limit?); which will be required for some of the levels. A potion gives you a 1 hip point orange force field, giving you a total of 2 HP :) Grabbing another potion will remove your existing field. The vast majority of special items are hidden. Stars are just for points and are laid out horizontally, vertically, and surrounded by hazards to make them more challenging. Precise speed and jump control are necessary to collect ever star. Getting stars is not required. There are secret stages containing only stars and items (grab the warp balloon). Each level is divided into 4 sections (checkpoints basically) and there is a boss at the end of each level. Inexplicably, you can fly only during boss fights, which seem to be directly taken from Space Harrier more so than the rest of the game. Beat the game to learn about Hard Mode. Beat the game in Hard Mode and...? Don a pair of Red/Blue 3D glasses and hit the select key to get and added effect of depth. Music is by Nobuo Uematsu who would later compose for the Final Fantasy games.

Spoilers:
About 500000 copies of the game were sold.

(Zerothis) - # 2009-03-22 00:20:13

display: raster

prequel of
JJ: Tobidase Daisakusen Part 2 (NES)

version of
Tobidase Daisakusen (Famicom Disk System)