Veigues Tactical Gladiator
System: TG-16
Release Date: December 1990
Developer: Bits Laboratory/Victor Musical Industries
Publisher: NEC
Genre: Action
Hop into your mech to blast aliens back to space in Veigues Tactical Gladiator! These alien invaders appeared off the Pacific coast and have laid waste to the cities they’ve encountered. Though the human forces have retreated, they have captured some enemy technology and have created the ultimate weapon to launch its final attack. You’ve got ten levels to get through, so get moving!
Your mech is equipped with three different weapons. Button I fires your cannon, which is upgraded after levels. Button II is a punching attack. This is upgraded by spending points earned after each level. By holding Buttons I and II simultaneously, you blast continuously from the chest and can alter the aim by pressing up and down. You jump/hover by pressing/holding up and a meter drains as you are hovering. This refills quickly while you’re on the ground. The screen scrolls to the right and you begin facing that direction, but can turn to face the other direction by pressing down. While you’re in the process of turning, you enjoy a few frames of invincibility. I wasn’t sure which frames they were… but it’s important to learn them to succeed.
Your HUD shows several useful things. The first is the radar window in the lower left that shows left, right, and up arrows. These light up before enemies come on screen in the direction indicated. Learning to keep an eye on this will help you avoid damage and prepare your positioning. It’s important to kill as many enemies as you can, because the more enemies you kill, the more points you get to spend on upgrades after the stage.
Points can be spent on upgrading your punch, your body shot, your hover capabilities, and on shields. Each of these can be upgraded to level 6. Each shield has ten sections that drain as you’re hit. Luckily, they slowly recharge as you aren’t taking damage. If a level of shield is drained, it’s lost forever and you have to buy it again after the level. In my first attempt, I ignored the body shot upgrade. This was a massive mistake that I rectified after dying and had a much easier time.
When your shield drain, you will lose use of your radar, left arm, or right arm. If the shield meter drains again, you lose another, and if it drains down a third time, you die. When you die, it’s game over. Near the end is a boss gauntlet, which can be quite difficult if you didn’t get their patterns down earlier. This is probably where I would have quit if I couldn’t save state, it’s hard. But then I would have missed the final boss and then the bonus level and extra final boss at the end, which didn’t require time travel.
Graphics: 3.0
I think this looks really good. The sprites are all nice and the backgrounds all look cool.
Sound: 2.0
Music and sounds don’t stand out, but they weren’t bad.
Gameplay: 3.0
The controls are interesting enough to give you some tactics through the level. It plays pretty tight and you have control over how your upgrades progress.
Difficulty: 3.0
Once you figure out the optimal upgrade path, the levels are doable. Until near the end, when the difficulty spike is insane.
Fun Factor: 3.0
I actually liked this one quite a bit and wouldn’t mind any similar titles in the future.
Overall Rating: 2.8
Veigues Tactical Gladiator earns a B. This is a solid title from the TG-16 and one that I suggest you give a shot, it was good.