Assault Suits Valken

Cybernator North American cover artwork.

***Assault Suits Valken*** (重装機兵ヴァルケン, *Jūsō Kihei Varuken*?), also known as ***Cybernator***, is a 2D mecha themed run-and-gun platformer video game developed by Masaya (Nippon Computer Systems (NCS Corp)) and released in 1992 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The second entry in the *Assault Suit* series, it is a prequel to the first game, *Target Earth*. The game was localized and published overseas by Konami. The story follows Jake Brain who pilots a giant mecha and fights in a war engulfing the entire world.

## Plot

The game takes place in the future, during a time when Earth's fossil fuels have begun to dwindle. There is a massive war taking place all over the Earth for control of these resources, as well as for territorial rights on the Moon. The two warring governments, the Axis and the Federation, have the ability to go into space and create giant space stations and weapons of mass destruction.

Jake Brain is the game's protagonist. He is a soldier drafted into the Pacific States' Marine Corp and pilots a Federation Assault Suit. In the prologue text, he states he only fights because he is a soldier, not concerned with patriotism or politics. Survival for a soldier means defeating the enemy. The assault suit has a humanoid shape, with arms, legs, a torso, and a head. It is equipped with a variety of weapons, shields and other special accessories, giving it full land and minor air capabilities.

Jake and his platoon, which operate from the warship Versis, are tasked with the destruction of Bildvorg, the most powerful mecha of the Axis forces, which is piloted by Major Beldark, whom Jake first meets in Mission 4 and would later meet again before the final boss. The various missions in the game lead up to the completion of this objective. Versis sends out two other assault suits, one is unnamed and another is named Apollo in Stage 4, who is destroyed offscreen by one suit that is really fast (Beldark). Ironically, in that mission, the player saves an enemy suit entering the Earth's atmosphere, whereas Beldark kills Jake's ally Apollo soon after.

The game has two endings. The bad ending can be reached if the player fails any mission in the game, such as failing to stop Arc Nova from falling, and/or allowing the enemy space shuttle to escape in Mission 5. In this ending, the Versis is critically damaged and most of its crew are killed, including Crea (Jake's partner and superior), which leaves Jake devastated in the credits. The Game Over screen also states the player has not completed their mission. If the player succeeds in the side missions, the Versis survives and Jake returns to the carrier, the war is over and Jake and Crea embrace each other on the Versis' deck as assault suit falls to pieces.

## Gameplay

The player takes the role of Marine Corp pilot, Jake Brain, of the Federation's Assault Suits squad. Basic gameplay is similar to most other 2D action platformers, with the player's mecha appearing as their playable character moving and jumping through each stage, fighting enemies along the way, until reaching the end, where they often engage in battle against an area boss. The player's mecha is four stories tall, but for gameplay purposes, it appears as an average sized character, with most enemies scaled accordingly to match its size and with human enemies appearing minuscule in comparison. Additionally, normal walking movement is slow, giving with this the effect of controlling a gigantic and heavy battle suit.

To compensate for the mecha's slow movement, a dashing feature is implemented, which is assigned to a single button. If the JUMP button is held after performing a jump, the mecha can slowly fly for a limited period of time using its propulsion pack thrusters until they exhaust, allowing the player to reach high and/or far away platforms.

The mecha starts with only two weapons, a fully rotational Vulcan Cannon with slight spreading capabilities, and a powerful punch which deals massive damage (often more than the other conventional weapons), although the player must risk getting close to an enemy to punch them. Other weapons can be acquired by collecting 'Weapon' power-ups (W). Available weapons are the Laser Beam and Homing Missiles. Each of these weapons (including the punch) can be individually upgraded by collecting Power Chips (P), which can be uncovered by destroying certain environmental objects or dropped by some enemies. Each weapon requires a predetermined number of Power Chips to upgrade to its next level, displayed via a number next to that weapon's gauge which represents the number of chips needed for the next upgrade. Each time a weapon is upgraded, it becomes more powerful, gaining additional destructive power and also changing its shape to shoot more projectiles and/or cover a wider area.

The mecha also counts with impenetrable shields which are affixed to its arms. This shield can block any frontal attacks, although the player won't be able to attack while it is deployed.

The mecha counts with a health gauge which depletes as it takes damage. If the health gauge is fully depleted, the mecha will explode and the game will end. The player can then make use of one of their Continues (if available) to continue playing on the same stage they were defeated.

Stages generally feature very large areas that are composed of many screens size. An onscreen minimap can be brought up to help the player navigate to their current objective.

In certain stages, the mecha is given a propulsive peripheral that allows it to fly freely (even in outer space), making gameplay more similar to a horizontal space shooter, where the player has to fly at high speed while fighting enemy formations and evading environmental objects.

## Releases

*Assault Suits Valken* was released in Japan for the Super Famicom on December 12, 1992, developed and published by Masaya (NCS Corp). When the game was released outside of Japan, the title was changed to *Cybernator*. It was released in North America on April 1993, and in Europe in 1993. *Cybernator* is the only version of the game that was published by Konami.

The game received a port to the PlayStation 2 in 2004 in Europe, Australia and Japan, under the original title *Assault Suits Valken*. This version features upgraded graphics and updated sounds, an arranged soundtrack, new artworks, and restores the dialogue portraits.

*Cybernator* was released on the Virtual Console in PAL regions on December 7, 2007, and in North America on December 17, 2007, both for the Wii and in North America on August 7, 2014 and in PAL regions on February 26, 2015, both for the Wii U.

In 2014, the game was re-released in Japan through the game distribution service Project EGG.

### *Assault Suits Valken Declassified*

On February 20, 2023, developer M2 announced *Assault Suits Valken Declassified* (stylized as *ASSAULT SUITS VALKEN DECLASS!F!ED*), an updated re-release of the game for Nintendo Switch to be released in Spring 2023. The game features a new English translation without the censorship present in *Cybernator* and restoring all character dialogue portraits, as well as new artwork by character designer Satoshi Urushihara, a digital recreation and translation of the official 80-page Japanese guidebook, interviews with the designers, exclusive pre-production artwork, savestates, unlockable cheats, and an option to switch between the original and newly arranged soundtracks, along with other additional features, including:

* New English translation
* Retro screen filter (scanlines)
* Official Japanese guidebook translated into English
* New artworks by the original character designer Satoshi Urushihara
* Interview with original graphic and mecha designer Satoshi Nakai
* Previously unreleased pre-production artworks
* Music player featuring both original and arranged soundtracks

## Regional differences

Similar to many other Konami games from the era (starting from the 1980s), the export "*Cybernator*" version of the game was the subject of heavy censorship during its localization in order to comply with Nintendo's non-violence policies for games released on their consoles. The Japanese version, *Assault Suits Valken*, featured written dialogue accompanied by a portrait of the speaker, but these portraits were removed during localization. There is also a scene absent in which the president of the enemy forces, whose banner is that of the European Union, after realizing that his nation has been defeated, puts a gun to his head and commits suicide. Also, some written dialogue is taken out, which shows the soldier rescued in Mission 4 being in the mecha fought before the final boss. Despite these removals, the few human enemies in the game remain (which are minuscule in scale compared to the mechas appearing throughout the game), with no censorship when they are killed.

The instruction booklet of the English version is also filled with inconsistent information. For example, Mission 6 takes place in the Alps, where the Versis tries to fly over the mountains to reach the Allied frontlines, but according to the booklet, the player's aim is to raid the enemy commander's mountain retreat. Another example of inaccurate information would be concerning the laser weapon, the strongest the player would receive in the game (not taking into account the Napalm gun cheat weapon). It states the laser takes a long time to recharge, yet it actually recharges at least as fast as the Vulcan's reload, and unlike the Vulcan the laser, it automatically recharges to a full load if the player stops firing it, without needing to expend its power/ammo first. The instruction booklet also states the suit to be a colossal five stories tall and weighing 5 tons (which would be underweight for a machine that tall), contrary to promo material stating it to be four stories tall instead.

All these removals and changes have since been restored to the game via hacks and fan translation patches, and up until recent times, these were the only ways to emulate in English a similar experience to the original artistic approach of the game. The Nintendo Switch re-release, *Assault Suits Valken Declassified*, restores all the removed content for the first time in an official product.

## Cheats

* **Extra Continues** (SNES): At the title screen, hold Up + L + R and then press START.
* **Napalm**: Clear Stage 1 without shooting anything except the boss.
	+ **Upgradable Napalm**: Unlock the Napalm gun as mentioned above and clear Stage 2 without shooting anything except the boss.

## Gallery

### Packaging artworks

Super NES North American cover artwork.Super Famicom cover artwork.Super NES European cover artwork.PlayStation 2 cover artwork.*Assault Suits Valken Declassified*
Nintendo Switch cover artwork.
### Promotional artwork

American magazine advertisement with art by Tom duBois.European magazine advertisement with art by Tom duBois.Konami magazine advertisement promoting *Cybernator* among other Super NES games.
### Miscellaneous

Super NES *Cybernator* key artwork by Tom duBois.
## Trivia

* Even though *Assault Suits Valken* was released after *Target Earth*, it takes place a century before it.
* In *Assault Suits Valken 2*, Jake makes a cameo appearance as a 30-year-old veteran soldier who assists in battles as a non-playable character.

## External links

* *Assault Suits Valken* at Wikipedia - Original version of this article.