Oh hey, it's the Blodia. Does that mean this is where Jin debuted? Wait, what do you mean "wrong game"?
Armored Warriors (Powered Gear: Strategic Variant Armor Equipment in Japan) is a Beat 'em Up developed by Capcom and released in 1994.
In 2281, the Earth has been battling aliens from the planet of Raia and has only recently agreed to a ceasefire. One year has passed and the the Raian captial "Melkide" has been seized by a unknown army. The Earth decides to help them out by sending in the Red Shield Unit to save Raia, but unknown to everyone involved, the true purpose of this war was to take over the planet Raia once the army was gone.
The pilots in the Red Shield Unit are the following:
- 1st Lt. Jeff Perkins, Code Name Rash. He pilots the AEX-10M Blodia. While Hot-Blooded, he's a gifted pilot despite lacking in actual battle experience.
- Captain Ray Turner, Code Name Justice. He pilots the SVA-6L Reptos. He's a soldier bureaucrat who comes from the planet of Raia as a messenger of peace.
- Major Glenn Reed, Code Name Gray. He pilots is the AEX-10H Guldin. He's one of the few survivors of the Legendary "Squad of Death."
- 2nd Lt. Sarah White, Code Name Siren. She pilots the AEX-12J Fordy. She's half-French and half-Raian, and became the youngest Armored rookie in history at the age of 14.
What this Beat 'em Up has going for it is the ability to pick up different parts of destroyed mechas, such as their arms, legs, and onboard weapons, although enemies can make you lose yours as well. If two or more people are playing, and you pick up a radio in the level, you can get a joint machine where you and your allies can become a Combining Mecha for a limited time during boss battles.
The game got a Spiritual Successor in the form of a Fighting Game called Cyberbots in 1995.
This game has examples of:
- Alien Invasion: Inverted. Complete the game without ever using continues and you get to find out that it is Earth's military that launches an invasion on planet Raia. The player characters are so disgusted at this that they resign (in Justice's case, he is discharged from his home planet's army).
- Amazing Technicolor Population: The Raians have blue skin.
- Battleship Raid: The last stage.
- Bottomless Magazines: Only in shooting mode.
- Brain in a Jar: M-Brain: the Final Boss.
- Combining Mecha: Only possible if two or three people are playing.
- Alpha Fortress: A Giant tank-like robot with drill arm and four cannons.
- Beta Cannon: A Robot with Turbo-Jet legs, two cannons and chainsaw arm.
- Gamma Battler: A Humanoid Robot with tail and two cannons.
- Competitive Balance: Due to how modular the players' mechs are, this is heavily downplayed beyond initial loadouts and even then there's not much effect from that. A rare departure in a Capcom Beat'em up.
- Code Name: Your pilots are addressed this way. Their real names are in Attract Mode.
- Developer's Foresight:
- The cyborg infantrymen are normally killed by anything up to including approaching them. But, lose a life while they are present, and they will get knocked down and lose their heads in the process. From this then on they will now attack and move at random directions.
- The rare Powered Armor enemies are one-hit-point wonders that normally fly to attack with a rocket launcher. However, losing a life, will force them to the ground and will briefly walk until they launch back up again.
- Earn Your Bad Ending: Complete the game without using a continue and you find out you were an Unwitting Pawn to the Earth government the entire time, which results in Earth taking over Raia.
- Energy Weapon: The Laser Cannon. Some bosses, especially the last one, attack with energy weapons.
- Evil Versus Evil: It turns out the Earth military is just as, probably even more, corrupt as the Raian rebels you are fighting.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: The Power Knuckle which your mech starts out by default and can be replaced with more powerful arm-mounted options.
- Human Aliens: The Raians are identically in appearance to humans save for their blue skin.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: Win this game without using any continues, and you will find that you were an Unwitting Pawn in Earth's conquest of planet Raia.
- Humongous Mecha: The cyborg infantrymen, humans, and Raians look like toys to the mechs, and some of them are even bigger than the others.
- Hyperactive Maintenance: Health pickups are in the form of gasoline and tools.
- Kill It with Fire: The Napalm and Flame weapons.
- Laser Blade: One of the weapons.
- Long Song, Short Scene: A trip to the service menu reveals dozens of awesome tunes of which many are only heard for less than half a minute. The first level, for example, is usually over within twenty seconds but its theme extends far beyond that, and it's awesome.
- Mecha Expansion Pack: All robots have the ability to change parts of body stealing parts of the enemy: Right Arm (Death Drill, Force Claw, Chain Spark, Laser Blade and Shield), Legs (Treads, Turbo Jet and Insectoid) and Cannon (Vulcan, BIT, Wide Range Missile, Homming Missile, Bomb, Flame and Laser)[1]
- Mini-Mecha: What you're generally driving and fighting most of the time.
- Mission Control: Briefs you between missions, and occasionally throughout the levels
- Recurring Boss: Azrael, the captain of the Raian army. You have to deal with him three times in the game. He is the stage 1 boss, the stage 5 mid-boss and the stage 6 boss.
- Rewarding Vandalism: Smashing scenery usually yields items for points or health pickups.
- Second-Person Attack: Blodia does this to an enemy mecha in the intro. Inverted in the continue screen where an enemy mecha attacks you unless you insert another quarter.
- Shapeshifter Weapon: Some of the Leg Modules seem to be powered by Battletoads Technology.
- Shock and Awe: Chain Spark
- The Smurfette Principle: Siren is the only selectable woman.
- Spell My Name With An S: Justice is misspelled as Justis throughout the game. It's only spelled correctly in Attract Mode on the character profiles.
- The Stinger: Beating the game on one credit shows what your character is doing after the credits.
- Rash: After learning about the invasion of Raia that was unknowingly led by his unit, he makes a sortie and never returns to the army. He races stock cars in L.A. now.
- Justice: He learns the true purpose of this mission he was on was so his home planet could be invaded by Earth forces. After being discharged from the army, he decides to spend time with his family and write a book on his experiences with his unit.
- Gray: He felt so guilty about his unit leading the invasion of Raia that he retires, and now becomes a popular gambler in Las Vegas.
- Siren: She refused to participate in any more missions after learning her unit led the invasion of Raia. She takes up skydiving as a new hobby.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Nearly everything in the game explodes in great, fiery, well drawn explosions.
- Sudden Downer Ending: If you beat the game without using a continue, it will feature an extended ending after a character shot where you learn you were pawns in the Earth's plan to take over Raia. Thanks to your intervention, Earth manages to successfully invade and take over Raia. The human characters are despondent at this and quit the military to take on hobbies to distance them from their past. Justice meanwhile gets more of a Bittersweet Ending where he accepts his mistakes and goes on to live a quiet happily married life with two children, whilst writing a book on his experiences so that future generations may not make the same mistakes Earth and Raia did.
- This Is a Drill: The power drill arm weapon. Turbo-Jet special attack◊ and also Combining Mecha Alpha Fortress have a drill weapon.
- Twofer Token Minority: Siren is half French and half Raian.
- Unwitting Pawn: According to the true ending, Everyone in the conflict, the Raian rebels to justify Earth's intervention and weakening the military strength of the Raian's standing army, and the player characters to wipe the rebels in a 'heroic' fashion.
