Andro Dunos is a 1992 sci-fi Horizontal Scrolling Shooter developed by Visco Corporation and published by Neo Geo.
Like most spaceship-themed arcade shooters at the time, Andro Dunos doesn't have much of a backstory to justify its Excuse Plot; in the future, an unknown, hostile alien race has invaded earth, and humanity decides to retaliate with their Neo Type space-fighters, of which they have only two prototypes of: the Yellow Cherry (Player 1) and Red Fox (Player 2). Armed to the teeth with assorted weapons including multi-directional turrets, missiles, lasers and assoted upgrades (which the player is free to cycle around while flying all over the place), it's up to the Yellow Cherry and Red Fox to take on an entire invasion force.
A Cult Classic at its time of release, the game managed to acquire enough of a fanbase for a sequel to be released 30 years later, made by indie game developer PixelHeart Studios.
Three decades later (both in-game and real life), the aliens are back and have conquered most of Planet Earth in a massive counterattack. Yellow Cherry and Red Fox are called out of retirement to counter the invasion force once more.
With arcades no longer a thing in 2022, the sequel is instead made for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 (a system upgrade might be needed for the latter).
Despite the similar-sounding titles, do not confuse this with Andro Melos.
The Andro Dunos duology contain examples of:
- Alien Invasion: One that kicks off the plot of both games.
- Asteroid Thicket: The first game's fifth stage is set in an asteroid field where stray meteorites needs to be shot before it hits the players. In a slightly more realistic manner, small, fast-moving meteors can be destroyed, but large ones are fixed on a single spot and immune to all damage. The sequel repeats this in its third stage.
- Boss Bonanza: The sequel have one of its later stages which is either this trope or a Boss Rush; prior to the final level, one stage have Yellow Cherry and Red Fox fighting several returning bosses from the original game, one at a time.
- Boss Tease: The Leviathan mech from the sequel, who appears firstly as a Shark Fin of Doom as it assaults the player(s) by launching projectiles from beneath an ocean. After fending off its attacks, the chase continues with the Yellow Cherry and Red Fox diving underwater, battling other enemies before facing the Leviathan in an Underwater Boss Battle.
- Brain in a Jar: The alien leader and Final Boss of the first game is a gigantic alien ship piloted by a massive brain within a glass dome, visible on its exterior.
- Charged Attack: By holding down the firing button and releasing after adequate energy build-up, allowing the Yellow Cherry and Red Fox to fire a powerful blue energy blast.
- Cyber Cyclops: The sequel's first boss is an alien mecha with a single blue eye for a face. Which turns red once its health is depleted enough.
- Fighter-Launching Sequence: The opening FMV of both games depicts the players' selected starfighters taking off from their base on Earth, in order to combat the invasion force.
- Happy Ending Override: Downplayed; the first game ends with Yellow Cherry and Red Fox thwarting the invader's plans by destroying their space base, but the sequel starts with Earth already occupied by the aliens and most of the planet's surface a wasteland. However, Yellow Cherry and Red Fox have been upgraded in the interim and quickly form a counterattack.
- Homing Projectile: Yellow Cherry and Red Fox has homing missiles equipped in its arsenal in both games, where their shots targets the closest onscreen enemies.
- If It Swims, It Flies: As seen in the sequel, Yellow Cherry and Red Fox can travel through the skies, outer space, and underwater in one level set in a sunken city.
- Kill It with Ice: The Leviathan mech in the sequel seems to have a preference of using ice-exclusive weapons against the players, either firing ice projectiles, dropping icicles, and so on. Fittingly, defeating the Leviathan will cause its onboard ice weapons to malfunction and freeze itself.
- Kraken and Leviathan: The sequel has a robot Leviathan as an Animal Mecha boss sent by the alien forces, who appears in the underwater stage.
- Robotic Reveal: The Leviathan boss in the sequel appears to be organic until its health is halved, at which point its face falls apart and a visible mechanical core is exposed.
- Sentry Gun: The alien invaders have sentry turrets installed in its various bases, either in space or on Earth, which are automated and fires at Yellow Cherry and Red Fox on sight.
- Shows Damage: A new feature in the sequel, thanks to no longer adhering to graphic limitations of the mid-90s. Now bosses will visibly break apart when receiving enough damage; the Cyber Cyclops will have its blue eye turning red, the Leviathan's face cracks to reveal internal wiring, and so on.
- Smart Bomb: Available in both games, where upon activation the players' ships releases a circular energy wave that damages all onscreen enemies.
- Spread Shot: A classic shump power-up, appearing in both games where Yellow Cherry and Red Fox can fire bullets in a wide arc of three at a time. They can even be upgraded until there's a spread-shot cannon on both sides of the vehicles!
- Stationary Boss: Most of the bosses in the original game, being giant war machines tethered to the ground, takes up an entire corner of the screen and can only retaliate by firing projectiles. In the case of the Alien Core, it's growing from the flesh-covered wall of a cavern.
- Walking Tank: A new enemy introduced in the sequel, the alien forces now have mechs on two legs carrying a cockpit attached with a huge turret. They're even towers above most regular enemies and can absorb lots of missiles before going down, serving as Giant Mook-type enemies.
- Wave-Motion Gun: Most bosses in both games have at least one of these in their arsenal, where they'll fire a thick energy beam covering more than half the screen when trying to take down the players.
