Shock Troopers

Little is known about the development, release, and critical reception of Saurus' Shock Troopers. What we do know is that Shock Troopers was the thirteenth most successful arcade game in Japan in 1998, a year after it originally released. Despite being a modest success in the arcade, Shock Troopers never received an AES version. One can only speculate the reasons why SNK chose not to release this gem at home. Actually, SNK didn't seem to have much faith that their non-fighting games would sell well in the home market after 1994. The entire Metal Slug series and most shooters released after 1994 were in generally short supply on the AES. While Shock Troopers' sequel, 2nd Squad, did see an AES release, it was in such short supply that it is one of the most expensive games on the platform in the modern second-hand market. 

Shock Troopers and its sequel were never ported to any other console of the day - and that's a damn shame. Gamers from the 90's relied on console ports to keep games alive, and the fact that this gem never got into the hands of the masses that didn't stumble on it in an arcade haven't helped the legacy of this game in the modern era. The first re-release happened in the mid-aughts on the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console platform. Thankfully, the modern re-releases have been garnering a lot of positive press in the last decade or so. Shock Troopers is definitely one of the best titles on the Neo-Geo, and stands tall with its Metal Slug brethren as one of the best run-n-gun arcade shooters of the late 90's arcade era. 

Like SNK's Ikari Warriors series from the mid-1980's, Shock Troopers is a top-down run-in-gun where you can move your character and fire your weapon in eight different directions. Story details are sparse, but basically you are saving the world from some dude with big hair who has kidnaped a woman named Cecelia's grandfather to make some sort of weapon that will destroy the world. To counter this nefarious plot, eight special forces members have been deployed to save Cecelia and her grandfather and stop the big-haired baddie from asserting world domination. There are a couple cut-scenes that play in between levels, but these silly scenes do little to make you care about what's going on or the characters involved. Maybe if the game had a home version (AES functionality, including menus and the like, are in the game's code), the manual would have given more details to the plotline. As it stands, little is known about these characters or their motivations.

Unlike the Metal Slug games where the individual characters are basically just different skins for the same animation and move sets, each of the eight characters in Shock Troopers provide the player with a unique playthrough of the game. Each character moves at their own pace that ranges from ploddingly slow, to brisk. The slower characters pack more fire power, while the more nimble characters have enhanced maneuverability. Each character also has their own unique bomb attack.

At the start of each game the player can choose one of three paths: Jungle, Valley, or Mountain. I'm not sure if these are supposed to represent different difficulties, but I didn't see much difference in my three play throughs. Each path has five main stages that all lead to the centrally located enemy hideout. During each playthrough, you have the option to take a slightly different path about mid-way through your adventure. This detour will eventually put you in one of the other path options for the last couple levels of the game. While most stages are run-n-gun affairs, there are some neat segments that include riding on a motorcycle, a mine cart ride, climbing cliff walls, and other unique settings. Additionally, each stage has two or three unique areas to traverse, leading to a lot of variety in backgrounds and setting that keep the game feeling fresh much longer than your typical arcade shooter. 

In typical arcade game fashion, you are met with a big boss at the end of each stage. These boss encounters usually comprise of a large tank like vehicle you have to blow up before moving on. In the final few stages, the pilot driving the vehicle will attack you after the tank, making these battles a two round affair. Each vehicle and pilot's attack patterns are unique, so even though its the same basic set up, there is still some variety to keep you on your toes each play through. 

At the game's outset you can choose two types of play styles: Lonely Wolf or Team. In Lonely Wolf mode you play solo and have three lives to use per credit. In Team style you choose three characters and you can swap between the characters at any time. Each character has their own life bar, meaning that in lieu of life stocks each character acts as one of your three lives per credit. What's awesome is that when playing two-player each person can choose their own style of play. You can even change up your style of play when you continue. Again, there is a lot of variety here for an arcade game.

Controls are simple, but they get the job done. A shoots your weapon, but if you hold down A you can lock your character in the direction they are facing and strafe around the enemy. The B button does a quick ground roll that will pass through all projectiles, and the C button throws your bomb. While you have the A button held down to strafe and fire, you thankfully still have access to your B and C maneuvers. Along with your normal machine gun, you can pick up a flame thrower, heavy machine gun, Vulcan cannon, or 3-way spread shot. Each of these additional weapons has limited ammo, but weapon drops are thankfully plentiful. You can also pick up bomb packs to increase your bomb stock, and life capsules that will fill a percentage of your life bar. There is also the rare speed boost and no-damage buff that provide temporary enhancements.

The overall difficulty is much easier than the Metal Slug series, but the game is still a challenge for those not used to twitch-action games. Every time you die you know it is because you made a mistake. Nothing in this game feels like a cheap death, and that's quite a feat. Despite its arcade roots, this is not a quarter muncher and a dedicated gamer can probably one credit the game in a couple of weeks through regular play on default settings. 

Not only is the gameplay sublime for the genre, the pixel art graphics are on point. Each stage's backgrounds are unique, and the level of detail in the locals is staggering. It's hard to pay attention to all the tiny details while playing, but if you take a moment to pause the game every so often you'll be treated with some of the best pixel art on the Neo-Geo. Character sprites are pretty big for this style game and move with fluid animation and detail that is only rivaled by the Metal Slug series. Seriously, Shock Troopers is one hell of a handsome game and shouldn't be missed by any pixel art aficionado. 

Not only is the game beautiful, but it sounds great as well. The sound effects are what you'd expect, but they all have a boomy level of bass that really makes explosions and gun shots pop and snap. Voices are well done overall, and each character has a few quips that help to display their individual personalities. The music is where the game really shines, though. While some tracks are decent enough hard rock faire, there are some really sick drum and bass tracks that are just a treat to listen to. Because the game never had a port to the Neo CD, there is no arranged soundtrack. That said, you don't need it. While not all music in the game is worth a listen outside of gameplay, those drum and bass tracks definitely drive the experience while playing and sound great on a good home theater set up. 

Shock Troopers is a fantastic arcade run-n-gun that is just as much of a joy to play today as it was 24 years ago. It's big, beautiful, bursting with variety, and has tons of replay value - something many arcade games can't claim. It's unfortunate there are so few ways to play the game on Neo-Geo hardware, but an MVS cart can be had for around $200 - $300. There was no Neo CD release, but you can find conversions and reproductions of the game to use on the AES if that's your thing. Despite not having an official home release, it has all the AES options you'd expect already built into the game's code. 

Thankfully, there are many ways to play this game in the modern world of 2022. The most notable way to play is on Hamster's Arcade Archives for $8. It's available on all modern digital platforms, and is 100% worth your time and money. Play this game any way you can. It's a ridiculously well crafted game.