The Gyruss Fighter is the main protagonist space fighter of the third-person shoot 'em up Gyruss made in 1988 adapted by Famicom Disk System from 1983 arcade game of the same name. It is a specially-made starfighter built by the Gyruss, the anti-government revolutionaries who rebelled against Domez, the dictator of the Earth Federation. The starfighter is piloted by Domez' own son Rudolph after he rebelled against his father.
History[]
The story of Gyruss from FDS version had been completely rewritten from the original arcade version.
In 26th century, Earth is renamed the Earth Federation and is led by a militarist unitary government, essentially a dictatorship. Under a draconian law, people of all genders and able-bodied are taken to forced labor to construct mobile space forts throughout the Solar System under the harsh surveillance of Federation military.
By the year 2545, with the order of Earth Federation's supreme leader Domez, constructed military forts in Solar System are to be utilized as forward bases to invade planets in Solar System, engulfing the mankind in a constant war. Rudolph, the son of dictatorial Domez, rebelled against his father but failed, was caught and sentenced to a decade of hard labor. After 10 years, Rudolph was finally freed. Now, far from being broken from his experience however, Rudolph was determined more than ever to stop his tyrannical father. To do this he found Gyruss, the anti-government revolutionaries. In order to overthrow his father and free each of the planets, the revolutionaries built a custom-made starfighter for Rudolph to pilot, which had a warp drive built-in so that he could reach each planet quickly.
Once the fighter is completed, Rudolph is launched alongside it towards the planet Neptune, where he battles Domez's forces, diminishing their hold on the planet. Gyruss Fighter's quest to free planets of Solar System has four phases except the final 'planet', the sun in which it only has three phases:
in the first phase, Gyruss Fighter engages lackeys of Federation military. Then in the second phase, Gyruss Fighter is engaged with a quartet of lead spaceships escorted by lackeys. The second phase will not be cleared until the said quartet is destroyed, and as long the guartet remains it will continue to call on reinforcement. Destroy the enemy quartet spaceship and Gyruss Fighter will fly onto the third phase where after Gyruss Fighter clears away federation lackeys it will wage the mobile base which acts as the game boss that oversees the occupation of a planet. Once the mobile base/boss is destroyed, a freed planet appears and Gyruss fighter flies towards it. Finally in the fourth phase where Gyruss in waged in a turkey shoot against federation forces that do not fight back and is busy retreating from Gyruss fighter. Fourth phase is a bonus phase in which the more lackeys Gyruss fighter shoots, the better the score and more items Gyruss fighter will be able to collect. After the fourth phase a map of Solar System appears, and Gyruss fighter will move onto the next planet waiting to be freed.
Gyruss fighter repeats this for the remaining planets along the way towards Earth, crippling Domez's army and freeing each planet one by one. Upon reaching Earth, he repeats his plan once more against much more heavily defended planet. He succeeds, severely weakening Domez's hold on the planet. However, even with Earth freed, Gyruss fighter's battle continues. As Domez's military stubbornly holds onto Venus, Mercury and Sun and makes its last stand. Rudolph then scrambles and clears the remaining forces on the last two planets as well as the Sun, eventually decimating Domez's hold on the Solar System entirely.
Aftermath[]
With Domez's forces destroyed in Solar System, he is nearly powerless against Gyruss without his military to maintain his grip on power. After his victory Rudolph flies back to Earth and taking advantage of the momentum instigates a global revolution, and this time he is successful. Ultimately Domez is overthrown as a result, putting an end to his tyranny. The bright new age has opened.
Weapons[]
The Gyruss fighter has two weapons that help it decimate Domez's forces.
Neo-Tutonic Cannon - the Gyruss Fuighter's primary weapon, it fires a single cannon shot straightforward, allowing it to destroy most enemies with one hit, though larger ones (such as bosses) will require extra firepower. It can be upgraded to fire dual cannon shots.
Ultra-Lazonic Phaser - a powerful weapon only available in the NES and Famicom versions of Gyruss. When fired, it releases a powerful blast that penetrates through all small enemies in its path, whilst also dealing major damage against bosses. The fighter only has limited ammunition for this weapon, so it must replenish them regularly via orange power-ups to take advantage of their usefulness. Up to seven can be stored at once.
Items[]
Extend - Grants Gyruss Fighter an extra stock. Perhaps the most essential item that players definitely would want to take. When Gyruss Fighter is destroyed, a stock is used to revive Gyruss Fighter and when there is no more stock when Gyruss Fighter is shot down, its quest will have failed, and the game would be over. So the more stock the better.
Blue Capsule - appear only in fourth phases, this item would appear when enemy fighters of particular color are destoyed. When shot, all enemy fighter formation present at the screen will be annihilated thus making the attempt of Gyruss Fighter's seeking of perfect score closer.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the original 1983 arcade game (or at least, the international version of it) Gyruss is the name of enemy aliens, called 'Gyrusians' and the protagonist fighter is nameless. This page deals solely with the Famicom Disk System adaptation of the game.
- Interestingly, in the NES/Famicom versions, the Gyruss Fighter travels to Pluto after Neptune. This is likely because at the time of the game's release, Pluto was actually closer to the Sun than Neptune.