Video Game / Slashout

Four heroes against an army of demons.

Slashout is a 2000 High Fantasy-themed Beat 'em Up / Hack and Slash video game developed for Sega's NAOMI arcade hardware by Amusement Vision. It is a Spin-Off of Spikeout, a series of beat-'em-up arcade games created by Toshihiro Nagoshi centered around urban street-fighting.

Set in an unnamed, rather generic Standard Fantasy Setting, a meteor heralds the awakening of an evil force, unleashing legions and legions from the forces of chaos across the lands. The source of all evil is traced to a mysterious floating castle in the skies, and as monsters start roaming the streets, countryside and forest, four heroes took up arms on a quest to save the world:

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The four playable heroes:

L - R - Luna, Slash, Axel and Kamui

• Slash, The Hero which the game is named after. A young warrior-in-training who wields the Galahad and a well-balanced Jack of All Stats.
  • Special Move: Playing with Fire, either by creating fiery explosions with each slash, or plunging Galahad into the ground creating a flaming sphere engulfing the environment around Slash damaging every enemy.
• Luna, a priestess and Dance Battler who wields the curved sword, Shiva. A fast-moving Fragile Speedster who delivers quick slashes and deal moderate damage, but having the lowest amount of health.
  • Special Move: Being a Barrier Warrior, Luna's incantations radiate a circle of Holy energy around her, knocking enemies all aside and dealing average damage.
• Axle, the Barbarian Hero and The Big Guy of the four, whose mighty battleax, Bacchus can cut down enemies with just a few chops. A Mighty Glacier with high defense, but slow moves.
  • Special Move: Dishing Out Dirt, which have Axle smashing Bacchus into the ground causing spikes made of rocks to impale enemies surrounding him with petrified shards.
• Kamui, the sole Ninja character in a medieval-fantasy world, because Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja. The second in speed after Luna, but can deliver far more damaging hits thanks to his awesome katana, Yukimura.
  • Special Move: Blow You Away, with Kamui harnessing the power of wind to generate tornadoes flinging enemies away, or use the Yukimura to summon a vertical cyclone surrounding Kamui which blows mooks near him aside.

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Slashout contains examples of:

• All Your Powers Combined: Vagio, the Final Boss, is an amalgamation of all the previous bosses all in one demonic entity, created by the demons' energy and a vassal acting on behalf of the demon who is still in fetal form. It puts up one hell of a fight before going down, too, but thanks to synchronization defeating Vagio will destroy the demon itself before it can be birthed.
• Attack Its Weak Point: All of the bosses have a weak spot that the game will announce to you before the battle. Case in Point:
  BOSS: Marionette
  WEAK SPOT: Hands
• Big Fancy House: The second stage, the Mansion of Baron Bambola, which is located atop a hill and infested with undead enemies. You will need to clear the hill of skeletons and various mooks before forcing your way in to confront the boss.
• Bilingual Bonus: Most of the enemy mooks' names are derived directly from the Italian language.
  • "Cilegio Cathedral" (Cherry Tree cathedral) has pig-men enemies called "Porco" (pigs). They're backed up by chicken-like enemies called "Gallo" (chicken). The first boss is notably a lion-esque manticore named "Leone" (lion).
  • "Baron Bambola's Mansion" (Doll Baron's Mansion) contains "Osso" (bone) skeleton enemies, backed up by ghostly mooks called "Fanta" (fantasma, or ghost) and floating caps without faces called "Cappe" (hood). Also, the boss is a Perverse Puppet, fitting the stage's title.
  • "Valley of Miniera" (Valley of Mines), an abandoned mining town, has robotic enemies including giant mechanical crabs with gigantic Power Pincers, called "Forbici" (scissors), robots with springs for legs called "Molla" (spring), and robots that spams exploding projectiles called "Bomba" (bomb). The stage's boss is a muscular cyborg, "Forza" (force).
  • "Forest of Nano" (Forest of Dwarves) have the lizard-men "Lucer" mooks (lucertola, or lizard), pumpkin-headed "Zucca" (pumpkin) enemies, and man-eating plants called "Erba" (grass).
  • "Lake Rovina" (Lake Ruins), an old temple submerged in the river and the first hidden stage, has the living sun-like enemies called "Solo" (solitary), duel-wielding living armors named "Solda" (soldier), and spell-casting druids called "Mago" (magician, or wizard). The end boss is the malevolent avatar of darkness called "Caos" (mayhem).
  • "Labyrinth of Pingue" (Labyrinth of Enrichment), a maze-like Egyptian tomb and the second hidden stage, includes scythe-wielding skeletal spirits called "Tutan" (positive), floating stone golems called "Argil" (clay), and shadowy wraiths with a singular eye in the middle of their torso named "Buia" (darkness). The boss fought in this stage is a fire-breathing, bomb-throwing obese genie called "Corpu" (body).
  • "Dragon's Den" (for once, a stage title that isn't derived off the Italian tongue) have the octopus-like "Seppia" (squid) enemies and the feline-like "Gatto" (cat) chimaera. The stage ends with fighting a dracolich boss called "Drago" (dragon).
  • "Diabolo Shell" (Demon's Shell), the floating castle in the final stage, have Living Shadow clones of the player heroes, called "Falso" (false). And ends with the Final Boss, "Vagio" (Wander).
• Boss Warning Siren: The game will gleefully announce the arrival of each boss or Gatekeeper, prior to their arrival, accompanied by a siren-like wail in the background.
  Here Comes the Gatekeeper!
  Get Ready for the Boss! Fight it out!
• Classical Chimera: The dragon's den level contains enemies called "Gatto", cat-like monsters based on the chimaera with feline bodies, bat-like wings, and a tail ending in a spiked ball. They are among the strongest enemies in the game given it's near the end, with a golden Gatto as the Gatekeeper.
• Cyborg: Forza, the third boss, appropriately since the third stage have you fighting mechanical or machine-based enemies entirely. Said boss is a medieval version of the trope with gigantic steam-powered gauntlets built in both arms and can Megaton Punch you to the ceiling if you're hit by his attacks.
• David vs. Goliath: The bosses easily tower over all the playable heroes and can fill up most or all the screen when they attack, but the heroes can still defeat them by the end of each stage.
• Dem Bones: The "Osso" skeleton enemies in the second stage are armored living skeletons, with a red Osso serving as a Gatekeeper King Mook.
• Dracolich: Drago, one of the last bosses of the game, is a gigantic skeletal dragon. Appropriately enough you fight him in a colosseum made from the bones of some gigantic monster.
• Enemy-Detecting Radar: On the lower right corner of the screen, which shows mooks in the area and also serves to inform the player if they're heading the right direction.
• Faceless Eye: The final stage has giant eyes growing out of stone walls, which can fire powerful Eye Beams capable of taking up an entire path leaving barely any room to avoid. They also tend to Beam Spam their attacks, forcing players to move quickly and slash them up before they can unleash the beams and strafe to the corner of the level.
• Fetus Terrible: The Demon's initial form is a green fetus with red eyes, hibernating in the center of it's floating castle. As you try destroying it, the demon manifests itself into a physical form, the Final Boss called Vagio, to fight you.
• Flying Seafood Special: Flying humanoid cuttlefish enemies called "Seppia" shows up in the Demon's flying castle stage, using their Combat Tentacles to attack.
• Giant Enemy Crab: The "Forbici" enemies are gigantic robot crabs, with their Power Pincers being their namesake.
• The Goomba: This game probably has the most hilarious Goomba-type enemies in any action game, ever . Right at the start of the first stage you will be facing human-sized chickens and sheep, who somehow attacks by floating around and comically pecking or butting at you. After killing a bunch of them you then face the Porco enemies.
• Giant Hands of Doom: The "Marionette" boss commandeers a pair of creepy-looking, purple floating clawed hands ending at the wrists, and will use them to pound you from above during the boss fight.
• King Mook: The "Gatekeeper" at the end of each stage, right before the boss, is a larger, more powerful, upgraded leader of one of the stage's existing enemies, leading the lesser mooks behind. You'll fight the king versions of the Porco, Osso, Lucer, Forbici, and Gatto enemies before the boss of each stage.
• Living Shadow: The "Falso" enemies at the final stage are shadow-clones of the four playable heroes and powerful enemies providing a Mirror Match before the final encounter. They materialize as shadowy silhouettes of Slash, Luna, Axle or Kamui, and the ability to duplicate their exact moves to use on the player.
• Living Clothes: The Cappe enemies are living hats supported by a pair of shoes.
• Lizard Folk: The Lucer enemies in the Forest of Nano stage are lizard men armed with curved swords.
• Mana Meter: The Gem level which is located right under the Life Meter of your characters, which allows you to cast deadly elemental spells and unleash stronger attacks. The attacks drain your mana, but you can collect residual mana from crystal shards dropped by slain enemies to restore them.
• Man-Eating Plant: The "Erba" enemies are giant Venus flytrap heads on snake-like vines, repeatedly snapping at the players like a snake.
• Mecha-Mooks: The third stage, the Valley of Miniera, is populated entirely by robotic enemies, including the "Forbici" mechanical crabs, spring-loaded Molla robots, and bomb-throwing "Bomba" mooks. Appropriately, the level ends with a Cyborg boss, Forza.
• Ominous Floating Castle: Diabolo's Castle, the airborne castle of the demon in the final stage, a floating fortress with the demon in foetus form within the core.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: The "Fanta" enemies are floating ectoplasms wearing creepy grinning masks, and attacks by tackling. In a few rare occasions, they'll transform themselves into a ghostly fist to punch the player. Despite being ghosts, they are still vulnerable to the players' weapons.
• Our Manticores Are Spinier: Leone, the first boss, a two-headed Manticore monster with wings who attacks the players as they enter a chapel. It lacks the spiked tail from classical depictions of Manticores, though.
• Perverse Puppet: The second boss, called a "Marionette", an animated doll controlled by a pair of disembodied clawed hands.
• Storybook Opening: Or Storybook Closing – after defeating Vagio the Final Boss, the game then ends with a closing book with the last few pages being screenshots of the four heroes fighting the previous bosses as the credit plays.
• Pig Man: The Porco enemies are pig-humans who shows up in droves in the first stage, capping with a battle against a muscular Porco lieutenant.
• Ribcage Ridge: The boss arena where you fight Drago is a colosseum made from the ribs of some gigantic draconian monster.
• Snake People: The Gorgon boss is a gigantic snake woman with a massive serpentine lower body.
• Stingy Jack: The "Zucca" enemies are pumpkin-headed humanoid monsters, who attacks by enlarging and throwing their pumpkin-like heads at you. They regrow their removed heads in seconds after each throw.
• Symbolic Blood: Every injured enemy would "bleed" crystal energy shards that spills all over the area, in a manner similar to guts and blood in more violent games. These shards can be collected to boost your character's Mana Meter.
• Timed Mission: Each and every level is timed and needs to be cleared within 90 seconds, with the player(s) losing a life if it reaches zero. The timer refills itself at the beginning or during a Gatekeeper or boss battle.

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