| Warp & Warp | |
|---|---|
 North American arcade flyer | |
| Developer(s) | Namco |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Designer(s) | Shinichirou Okamoto[1] Shigeichi Ishimura |
| Programmer(s) | Shouichi Fukatani[1] |
| Series | Warp & Warp |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, MSX, Sord M5, PV-1000, Family Computer |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Multidirectional shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Arcade system | Namco Warp & Warp |
Warp & Warp (ワープ & ワープ, Wāpu to Wāpu) is a multidirectional shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco in 1981. It was released by Rock-Ola in North America as Warp Warp. The game was ported to the Sord M5 and MSX. A sequel, Warpman, was released in 1985 for the Family Computer with additional enemy types, power-ups, and improved graphics and sound.
Gameplay
The player controls a "Monster Fighter", who must destroy tongue-sticking aliens named "Berobero" (a Japanese onomatopoeic word for licking) on two different screens, the free-movement Space World and the obstacle-filled Maze World. Controls consist of a four-position joystick and a button.
Berobero appear at the corners of the screen and begin to move around randomly, changing color and increasing in value as they approach the center. In Space World, the player can shoot and destroy them by pressing the button, while avoiding the bullets that the Berobero fire back. Destroying three consecutive Berobero of the same color causes a bonus alien to appear, which can be shot for extra points. In Maze World, the player must press the button to set time-delay bombs and catch the Berobero in their explosions; the length of the delay is set by holding the button down, and the blast radius increases with each Berobero destroyed. The Berobero do not fire at the player on this screen, and no bonus aliens will appear; however, the player can score extra points by destroying multiple Berobero with one bomb.
Two horizontal bars at the center of the screen constitute the Warp Zone, which flashes on occasion to indicate that it is active (with the Katakana text ワープ (Wāpu) in the Japanese version or the English text "WARP" in the US versions). On either screen, stepping into the Warp Zone while it is active will immediately transport the player to the other one. Once all Berobero in a level have been destroyed, as indicated by counters in the corners of the screen, a new one begins in Space World.
Whenever the player touches a monster or alien, is hit by a bullet, or gets caught in a bomb explosion, one life is lost and the bombs are reset to their original blast radius. The game ends when all lives are lost.
Reception
In a retrospsective review, AllGame compared its gameplay to Wizard of Wor and Bomberman, describing it as "an obscure but endearing maze shooter".[2]
References
- 1 2 Szczepaniak, John (11 August 2014). The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers (First ed.). p. 201. ISBN 978-0992926007. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
- 1 2 Brett Alan Weiss (1998). "Warp Warp - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on November 16, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2020.