| Eight Man | |
| Developer: | Pallas |
| Publisher: | SNK |
| Director: | Seigo Ito |
| Producer: | Eikichi Kawasaki |
| Programmer: | Nishidon Shinchan |
| Composer: | Yoshihiko Kitamura Yoko Osaka Makiko |
| Series: | 8 Man |
| Platforms: | Arcade, Neo Geo AES |
| Released: | Arcade Neo Geo AES |
| Genre: | Beat 'em up |
| Arcade System: | Neo Geo MVS |
is a side-scrolling beat 'em up arcade video game developed by Pallas and published internationally by SNK for both the Neo Geo MVS (arcade) and Neo Geo AES (home) platforms in 1991.[1] It is based on Kazumasa Hirai's 1963 manga and anime superhero of the same name, who is considered one of the earliest cyborg superhero characters from Japan.[2] [3] Staying true to its concept of a crime-fighting super-robot, players take the role of 8 Man and his robo-comrade 9 Man respectively in a fight against an invading evil robot army.
Eight Man is a side-scrolling beat 'em up game where players control the cyborg superhero 8 Man (P1) and his former rival comrade 9 Man (P2), across ten stages that take place in a futuristic setting where a bio-computer system called Cyber is threatening mankind with his army of robots.[4] During gameplay, players can only move between left and right in the levels, while enemies are fought with either the A or C button (which activates the character's special attack), in addition of the B button that serves for jumping and pressing it when holding the joystick down, the characters perform a slide movement. The levels are broken into different phases and some of them involves the players chasing a vehicle, while enemies are coming out to attack. Power-ups are also scattered along the way to be collected that will enhance the player's attacks, as well as granting screen-clearing bombs that damages all enemies in sight. After reaching the end of a level, a boss must be fought in order to progress onto the next stage.
If a memory card is present, the player is allowed to save their progress and resume into the last stage the game saved at.[4]
Eight Man was initially launched for arcades on June 7, 1991, and later during the same period for the Neo Geo AES in November 1991[5] [6] [7] [8]
RePlay reported Eight Man to be the fourth most-popular arcade game at the time.[9] Eight Man received mixed to positive reception since its initial release in arcades and Neo Geo AES.[10] [11]