Grind Stormer

Flyer

**Grind Stormer**, Known in Japan as **V・V** (ヴイ・ファイヴ, *V-Five*) is a vertical scrolling shooting game developed by Toaplan and released in 1993 for arcades. It was ported in 1994 to the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis by Tengen.

## Story

### Arcade version

A long time ago, games that only changed the viewpoint such as 2D and 3D were rampant, and as an advanced version, a type called virtual reality etc. appeared, but the demands of people without an upper limit are not enough to satisfy even those. In 2210 AD, the demand for more inspiration for people's games gave birth to the ultimate arcade game machine. Its name is "Grind Stormer". This ultimate game machine was no longer a game, but a super-realistic experience game where players could actually enter the game world and experience combat. The fifth menu of this game, "[V・V] (V-Five)", was a super-ultimate special menu where the player bets its own life, not being able to return to the real world unless it cleared it.

The player machine "NA-00" made by combining the latest technologies for this game had much better specs than a real fighter. The always-equipped "WING" was an invincible device that would not be attacked by placing the "WING" itself in a completely different dimension. The attack range can be freely changed by the player's control, and by using the dimensional distortion that occurs when "WING" come into contact with each other, it is possible to shoot bullets that are several times more powerful than the usual "SHOT". When an enemy is found, it aims at the number of life reactions in the aircraft and keeps shooting bullets until it is destroyed, and when it hits the enemy, the absolute magnetic field generated by nuclear fusion with the fuel of the enemy aircraft is generated. "MISSILE" to add further attacks. Many players confronted with these three selectable weapons and "WING", but none of them had ever cleared and returned to the real world.

A young man is about to insert a coin here. He was a secret intelligence officer of an information research agency dispatched by the government. His purpose was to investigate the true purpose of "V・V".

"Is this really just a game? If not, what is the real purpose of V・V..."

When he pressed the start button, all the speakers signaled the start.

"Show Time!"

Now, this young person is downloaded to the world of "[V・V] (V-Five)"...

### Mega Drive version

The first year of the Planetary Calendar - The conclusion of all wars, conflicts, and cold wars on the Earth. Through the integration of the world, humankind will have lasting peace.

Planetary Calendar 78 - Completed the lunar base. Mars migration plan started.

Planetary Calendar 105 - Departure to Mars, the first immigrant ship. One-way flight for about 10 years. Since then, 12 immigrant ships have departed to date. All crew members settled on Mars.

Planetary Calendar 275 - A huge island emerged near Japan.

That was the beginning of everything.

Japan, which is called the land of fire, suffered enormous disasters due to repeated volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. As if to make up for it, Mother Earth made a huge island appear off the coast of the Japanese capital. But the island was not just a lump of soil. There was a dome-shaped city on the island, probably built by the hands of intelligent lifeforms, and underneath the city was a vehicle that looked like an interstellar spaceship, about the size of the island. Both were full of products from unknown advanced technology.

Immediately, several research teams were formed, but the top news was always Mission V・∂ to investigate the city and Mission V・V (V-Five) to investigate and activate the spacecraft. V・∂ and V・V (Five) announced the results of the survey so that they could compete with each other, but it was the V・V team that made the big deal first. They succeeded in launching the spacecraft.

However, the good news disappeared before the new discovery of V・∂.

The genetic sample left in the city reveals that the intelligent life form is the ancestor of humankind. They, our parents, seem to have reached this earth from a star far away, which is not shown in the star map. Being chased by someone. V ・ ∂ succeeded in translating their message.

"To my children ... Our star was completely destroyed by the sudden appearance of an alien ∴% ￡ \* (untranslatable). The survivors have escaped from the home planet, but the aliens have been chasing them. We fled, frightened, and finally built an interceptor fighter in the ship's laboratory. But the opportunity to use the fighter never came. When the ship's engine stopped due to a breakdown, we noticed that the aliens had stopped tracking. It turns out that the aliens were chasing us relying on the energy emitted by the ship. My children, don't start the ship's engine. The aliens are keeping an eye on us."\

No, we did. This is the so-called too late. That's why the excellent pilot (yes, you) selected from Mission V・V will board the fighter left by his ancestors and fight against aliens. Good luck to you! To protect the Earth!!!

## Gameplay

*Grind Stormer* is a vertical scrolling shoot 'em up, with the first button being used to fire the currently equipped shot. The player proceeds by destroying enemies on the ground and in the air with shots, and clears a stage by defeating a boss. The player loses one of his or her ship's stocks if hit by enemy attacks or body hits, and when the stock reaches zero, the game is over, but the player can continue for an additional fee.

The shot button is equipped with a continuous-fire function, and an ingenious device allows the player to perform an ideal continuous-fire attack by holding the button down. At this time, there were many cases in which the presence or absence of a continuous-fire device at arcade game arcades disrupted the proper balance of the game. In order to solve this problem, the game was programmed from the production stage so that it could be played at any arcade without any sense of unfairness.

The game consists of 12 stages of 6 stages x 2 laps, and the game ends when the final stage is cleared; in the second lap, a large number of bullets fly back at the player for each enemy destroyed. The arcade version of the game was unusual for an arcade game at the time in 1993, in that two players took turns playing. Perhaps for this reason, Toaplan produced a sticker that said "Two players cannot play at the same time," and some stores put it on the cabinet.

### Power Up systems

The power-up system works differently between the Japanese and western releases of the game:

* In the Japanese version of the game (V・V), the game utilizes a weapon gauge system similar to the one used previously in *Slap Fight*, which is reminiscent of the same system used in *Gradius*. By collecting a diamond-shaped power-up capsule dropped from certain enemies, the leftmost power-up on the gauge lights up. By collecting more power-up capsules, the gauge will move to the right one by one. When the second button is pressed the currently selected weapon is equipped and the gauge is reset.
* The Western version of the game (Grind Stormer) utilizes a traditional power-up system, with weapons being dropped from specific enemies and automatically equipped when collected. This version also introduces a new smart bomb with limited stock, activated by pressing the second button.

The ship is equipped with two wings (options) at the initial stage and four at the power-up stage, and the movements of the wings change depending on the weapons equipped. The wings themselves do not have hit detection. The different shot types cannot be equipped in duplicate. The durability of large enemies, mid-bosses, boss characters, etc. are set based on the weapons they have equipped. For this reason, if you encounter a boss character with Search equipped and change to missiles, it will be easier to defeat him because his durability will remain low based on Search. In the opposite case, the durability will be high and it will be difficult to defeat the boss.

Power-up capsules give a bonus when clearing a stage, depending on the amount of power-up capsules obtained. If you clear a stage with no mistakes and all power-up capsules obtained, you will receive a bonus of 5 million points, and if you clear a second stage with no mistakes and all power-up capsules obtained, you will receive an additional bonus of 10 million points. In Bomber Mode and the international version, there is no bonus for clearing each stage, and a bonus of 50 million points is only awarded for clearing two laps with no mistakes.

### Special Items

* Full Power Capsule (MAX-POW): Appears at certain points in the game to maximize the power-up phase of the aircraft and earn 100,000 points.
* Special Power Up Capsule (SPECIAL): Appears when the player continues playing with a continue and has the same effect as the Full Power Capsule.
* Scoring Panel: There are three types of scoring panels: fixed at 500 or 10,000 points, alternating between 500 and 1,000 points, and 500, 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 points, which are added to the score at the time the capsule is acquired. They appear both on the ground and in the air, and often appear when a structure is destroyed. There are also enemies that produce a large number of these items by hitting them with a shot.
* 1UP: This item is hidden in ground objects, etc., and taking it will increase the stock of your aircraft by one unit.

## Gallery

US Mega Drive coverJP Mega Drive coverKey art