Keio Flying Squadron 2 Explained

Keio Flying Squadron 2
Developer:Victor Entertainment
Director:Yasushi Endo
Satoru Honda
Designer:Teruhito Yamaki
Artist:Naomasa Kitatani
Kenji Kawashima
Yoshiyuki Ozaki
Nobuyuki Ikigame
Daisuke Fukuda
Akito Kuroda
Masaru Yokōra
Composer:Tsukasa Tawada
Platforms:Sega Saturn
Genre:Platformer, scrolling shooter
Modes:Single-player

is a 1996 Japanese video game for the Sega Saturn. Developed by Victor Entertainment, it is a direct sequel to Keio Flying Squadron. While the first game is a side-scrolling shoot 'em up, the second game is a platformer with shooter sections.

Like the first game, the second game refers to Japanese culture, both ancient and modern simultaneously.

Plot

A year has passed since the apocalyptic disaster known as the "Ark Catastrophe", which left a great crater in the center of Edo. The destruction wrought major economic consequences and while much investment was poured into the public works for the new Edo Castle, the citizens were all feeling the pinch of the recession.

Dr. Pon Eho was no exception. Although a freak of nature with an astronomical IQ of 1400, hard reality forced the genius tanuki to become a laborer in the construction of the new castle. One day, while he was shoveling away some gravel near the center of the crater, he unearthed the Secret Treasure Scroll and one of the Six Magical Orbs (called Jewels in the Japanese version). With the knowledge that the six Orbs together would bring him an enormous amount of treasure, he quickly left his job in search of the remaining five Orbs listed on the Scroll's map.

Meanwhile, Himiko Yamatai, "the Pompous Queen of the Ancients", makes a dramatic appearance at the Nanahikari family's dinner table and grabs the family's Magical Orb. But before she can get away, Dr. Pon ambushes her and steals it. Of course, Rami makes chase and joins the race for the great treasure, starting her on her new adventure.

Gameplay

The game mainly consists of side-scrolling platformer stages.[1] Two of the stages retain the shoot-'em-up style of the first game, but the Homing Spot Jrs. can be obtained as bonuses only. Besides the platformer and shoot-'em-up stages, there are vertically scrolling bonus stages, a rollercoaster stage and an underwater stage, classifying the game as a multi-genre platformer.

Several bonuses can be collected including three weapons:

Rami can also bounce on the heads of enemies to defeat them, as well as Kappas to reach higher places. Being damaged without holding an item results in the loss of a life. Background objects can be pick up and thrown at enemies to defeat them. Some background objects can also have a utility use. There are three difficulty levels which alter how many enemies there are to defeat and how quickly weapons disappear after being damaged.

Points Orbs can be collected throughout the game. Defeating some enemies also rewards points, but there are some enemies that are considered passive and will instead deduct points when defeated. A reward system accessed from the main menu unlocks helpful hints and behind-the-scenes extras depending on the highest and lowest scores achieved through playing.

Characters

Japanese names are given in the Western order, given name first.

Voice cast

Japanese

English

Development

After Keio Flying Squadron was released to critical acclaim, the developers started talking about developing a sequel. Production on the game began in 1994 with the title Keiō Yūgekitai 2, with director Yasushi Endo, game designer Satoru Honda, programmer Teruhito Yamaki and composer Tsukasa Tawada getting the basic ideas together. Keio Flying Squadron was Victor Entertainment's next big project, but they had a couple of other Sega Saturn games in development: Metal Fighter Miku and Center Ring Boxing.[8] [9] [10]

The game was going to be a graphically enhanced version of the first game, but was made into its own game with a different story and lots of different features. The action would still be based around a side-scrolling shooting game, but the developers would experiment with using video backgrounds and 3D bonus stages, and most of the items that the player would pick up would be taken from real photographs as well. The specifications for the Saturn had changed a lot at the time, so the developers spent a lot of time testing the console's capabilities. Endo considered the Saturn a wonderful console to work with. The video backgrounds, 3D bonus stages and photographed items would later be dropped around 1995.[8] [9] 3D video games were popular at the time, but the developers chose to stick to 2D. Endo and Yamaki stated that this was because they were not good at 3D, had been planning it for the first game, and considered the idea of turning anime characters into polygon models terrible. About half a year after they began planning the game, the developers heard that Sega was planning to release the Saturn in November, so they changed course. However, when the development equipment finally arrived, they could not really use it. Opening and closing the lid took more time than typing on the keyboard. At first, Endo was so preoccupied with learning how to make games on the Saturn that he could not even think about doing 3D polygon graphics, but over time the Saturn and PlayStation started to focus primarily on 3D polygon graphics, which made him angry.[10]

Endo and Honda felt that because the previous game was a shooter, it did not allow the time and luxury to look closely at the characters onscreen, and made it quite difficult to bring out their charm, with Rami Nanahikari being the only character that stood out. Because of this, they decided to go for a genre that would allow for more detailed sprites, movements and expressions. Thus, the game became an action platformer, and its name was later changed to Keiō Yūgekitai: Katsugeki-hen.[11] [12] The game had a different title screen with Rami and Spot that was only used in an early sample build at a Sega trade show in late 1995.[13] Rami was originally going to have sprites that were more in line with her normal anime design, as opposed to the shorter sprites in the final game, and would have also carried a Frog Hammer.[14] The game's art, graphics and stage designs were done by Naomasa Kitatani, Kenji Kawashima, Yoshiyuki Ozaki, Nobuyuki Ikigame, Daisuke Fukuda, Akito Kuroda and Masaru Yokōra, while the character designs were done by Hiromasa Ota. Compared to the first game, Keio Flying Squadron 2s graphics and animation were more polished and fluid. It also made use of sprite scaling, squashing and rotation, digital photography, transparency, shading and 3D elements.

The Sumida River stage was originally going to be a platformer stage, but when Endo was working on parts of the stage where Kusatsu, the Arrow of Hope, was to be used, he got stuck and decided to change it to a shooter stage. Because of this, the bow and arrow set has stationary locations throughout the stage and cannot be obtained.[15] The Martial Arts Tournament was planned to have seven participants, but five of them ended up being scrapped, with only Benkei Musashibō and Missionary Xavier making the final cut.[16] [17] They include:

In contrast to the first game's more fast-paced score, Keio Flying Squadron 2s soundtrack, composed by Tawada, had an exciting yet relaxing tone that was coordinated with the onscreen characters' animations, with the platformer stages having patterns that ranged from sounding Sonic the Hedgehog-esque to Disney-esque.[18] The musical instruments, which included koto, shamisen, percussion instruments and drums, were recorded using the Yamaha SY99.[19]

The game features animated cutscenes produced by Studio Pierrot, who also produced the cutscenes in the first game. The Japanese voices were recorded and directed by Susumu Aketagawa at Magic Capsule and Avaco Creative Studio. In the first game, Rami was the only character with spoken dialogue during gameplay, but this time the enemies and bosses also had dialogue.[20] In response to overwhelming requests, Miho Kanno, who was appearing in advertisements for the Victor V-Saturn (she owned a V-Saturn at the time, as well as a copy of the first game[21]) and releasing singles under Victor's music label at the time, reprised her role as Rami, reuniting with Jōji Yanami and Keiko Yamamoto, who reprised their roles as Dr. Pon and Grandma, respectively.[22] [23] According to Kanno, when she heard about the game, she felt a sense of parental affection because Rami was warmly accepted and loved by everyone at the time, and she considered her a character close to her hometown of Saitama Prefecture.[3] [24] Producer Toshiyuki Nagai took care to create an atmosphere in the recording booth so that she could enjoy her sessions. Yanami also replaced Yusaku Yara as the voice of Grandpa. Mika Kanai provided the voice of Himiko and replaced Akiko Hiramatsu as the voice of Spot.[3] Additional voices were provided by Yamamoto, Kae Araki, Keiji Fujiwara, Nobuo Tobita, Wataru Takagi, Dai Sasahara and Hikiko Takemasa.[25] Tawada created Daidarabotchi's (the game's final boss) voice and sound effects by recording Fujiwara's voice and applying various effects to it, such as pitch-shifting it down, and used a sample of his own burp from a sound effects library for Musashi Sakaimari's burping and vomiting.[7] He was immersed in a lot of the voice clips in the Digital Audio Tape that he was using, though he only used about three-fifths of what he sampled. At one point he happened to use the wrong sampling rate for the 3-meter Alien's voice, resulting in the voice being sped up when it was imported into the game. Endo found this interesting, so he added subtitles for players to understand what the Alien was saying.[26] At first, Tawada planned to use the Saturn's built-in sound engine for everything, including the music, but the voice clips took up a lot of memory space on the disc. He tried playing around with it, but he just could not get the sound that he was satisfied with, so he decided to use Compact Disc Digital Audio instead, trying to do so in a way that would not be noticeable even if the music looped.[20] The English translation and voice recording was done at Watanabe-Robins & Associates and Music Annex, with the voices provided by Samantha Paris, Roger L. Jackson, Elaine A. Clark, Toby Gleason and Don Robins.[5] Clark performed several different characters in the game, including Himiko, Hannya, Otafuku, the 3-meter Alien and Yoshiko Oroshiya.[27] [28]

Release

Keio Flying Squadron 2 was released on May 17, 1996 for the Sega Saturn in Japan, and in Europe and Australia in September later that year.[29] It was originally set for release in March of that year.

was a "not for resale" Sega Saturn disc only available in Japan in 1996. The disc contains higher quality versions of both the opening and ending FMV cutscenes of the first game, two cutscenes related to the second game, demo levels from the second game, a sound test including voice clips for Rami, Spot, Dr. Pon and Himiko, a showcase of the aforementioned scrapped Martial Arts Tournament participants, and an art gallery available both in-game and separately, being accessible on the CD via a personal computer.

Reception

Upon release, Keio Flying Squadron 2 received a mixed reception. While many praised its visuals and soundtrack, the controls were a common point of criticism. The Saturn was also facing stiff competition from the PlayStation and Nintendo 64, which may have overshadowed the game's release.[30]

Sam Hickman wrote in Sega Saturn Magazine that the game has very generic and overly easy gameplay, but is still somewhat fun to play, largely due to the intriguingly strange graphics. However, she concluded that most people would not find it worth the retail price, and scored it a 78%.[31] In 1998, Saturn Power rated the game 88th on their Top 100 Sega Saturn Games, summarizing, "A bizarre Japanese platform game that, somehow, manages to impress all that come into contact with it. The graphics are fairly primitive, but the gameplay’s excellent."[32] Michael Townsend of Retro Replay stated, "While Keio Flying Squadron 2 dazzles with its graphics and catchy tunes, the clunky controls were a deal-breaker for me. It's a shame because the game has so much personality, but when the gameplay doesn't match up, it's hard to fully enjoy the experience."[30]

External links

Notes and References

  1. August 1996. Keio Flying Squadron: Cute Bunny Girls Flying Across a War-Torn Japan? Yoiks! It's Keio Flying Squadron!. Sega Saturn Magazine. EMAP International Limited. 10. 24.
  2. Web site: Keio Flying Squadron 2 European Manual Page 10-11 . October 2, 2023 . Soaring Rabbit.
  3. Sega Saturn Magazine JP staff. Keiō Yūgekitai: Katsugeki-hen (Coming Soon Soft). Sega Saturn Magazine. 2. SoftBank Group. January 1996. 157. October 14, 2023.
  4. News: 【次世代機／5月17日】今日は『慶応遊撃隊 活劇編』の発売22周年！【レトロゲーム】. May 17, 2017. Gamedrive. 2019-05-20. JA.
  5. Web site: Keio Flying Squadron 2 European Manual Page 14-15 . October 2, 2023 . Soaring Rabbit.
  6. Web site: Keio Flying Squadron 2 European Manual Page 12-13 . October 2, 2023 . Soaring Rabbit.
  7. Book: Sasayama. Yasuhiro. Fujiwata. Kazusato. September 10, 1996. 慶応遊撃隊活劇編ガイドブック. Mainichi Communications. 声優さんの声から切ってきて、いろいろエフェクトかけて、グルグル回したり。1面のボスのダルマのゲロもね。音が妙にリアルで。あれはね、昔サンプリングした自分のゲップ。ライブラリから引き出してきて、いろいろループさせたりして。「慶応~」くらいですからね。そういうのを使えるのは。ゲロがゲームに出ることってあまりない。サウンド的にはけっこうたいへんだったね。数がとにかく多くて。サンプリングなんかもいっぱいしなきゃいけない。. November 17, 2023.
  8. Hickman. Sam. Guise. Tom. Turning Japanese!: Keio Flying Squadron: Interview with Yasushi Endo. Sega Magazine. 12. EMAP International Limited. November 1994. 58. October 2, 2023.
  9. Sega MegaZone staff. Keio Flying Squadron: Interview with Yasushi Endo. Sega MegaZone. 47. Mason Stewart Publishing. December 1994. 8. October 2, 2023.
  10. Book: Sasayama. Yasuhiro. Fujiwata. Kazusato. September 10, 1996. 慶応遊撃隊活劇編ガイドブック. Mainichi Communications. 3Dが不得意だから。それもあるけど、メガCDで企画していたというのもあるし...。前作を出してみたら好評だったんで、2を作ろうという話になったんです。だから、最初の企画はメガCDで温め いたんですよ。あと、アニメのキャラをポリゴンにしても悲惨だし。ところが、2の企画を立てて半年くらい経ったころ、セガが新しい機械を出すらしいという話が来て、路線を変更したんだ。ただし、詳しいスペックとかそのへんは...。ようやく開発機材が来ても、あまり使えなくて。キーボード叩くよりも、蓋開けたり閉め たりとか、そういう時間の方が長かっ た。当初はどうやってサターンでゲームを 作るかということで頭がいっぱいで、3Dとかは考えられなかった。ところが、そのうちサターンやプレイステーションが3Dばかりアピールするようになって。このあたりから意地になって。サターンの特殊機能は絶対使わんぞと。. November 17, 2023.
  11. Sega Saturn Magazine JP staff. Keiō Yūgekitai 2 (Special Report). Sega Saturn Magazine. 1. SoftBank Group. November 1994. 85. October 13, 2023.
  12. Book: Sasayama. Yasuhiro. Fujiwata. Kazusato. September 10, 1996. 慶応遊撃隊活劇編ガイドブック. Mainichi Communications. シューティングだとキャラクターを一生懸命描いても、出した途端にやっつけられちゃう。もっとちゃんと見せ たいなって。 だよね?それから、シューティングってユーザーの層をけっこう限定しちゃうじゃない? 昔はそうでもなかったけど。で、1作目を出してみたらキャラクターがけっこう立ってるし、だったらもう少し広げようかと。. November 17, 2023.
  13. Web site: Keio Archive on Twitter: "Keio Artbook Scans 2". Twitter. May 21, 2024.
  14. Web site: VGDensetsu on Twitter: "[Beta] Keio Flying Squadron 2 (1996) (Saturn Fan - April 1995)"]. Twitter. October 2, 2023.
  15. Book: Sasayama. Yasuhiro. Fujiwata. Kazusato. September 10, 1996. 慶応遊撃隊活劇編ガイドブック. Mainichi Communications. 1の3(隅田川)のシューティング。あれは、もともとアクションだった。その名残りがあの取れない弓矢に出てると。あそ こはアクションで作っているうちに煮詰まっちゃって。それで、シューティングにしてみたらどうだって。そうしたらそのまんまなっちゃって。. November 17, 2023.
  16. Web site: Keiō Yūgekitai: Okiraku Tamatebako (Sega Saturn) - Full Disc Showcase. YouTube. October 2, 2023.
  17. Book: Sasayama. Yasuhiro. Fujiwata. Kazusato. September 10, 1996. 慶応遊撃隊活劇編ガイドブック. Mainichi Communications. もともと武闘大会って敵7体でやるはずだったんですよ。その敵キャラのイラストが雑誌に載ったもんだから、ニフティに「さるモードでは弁慶とザビエルしか出ないようです」という書き込みが。. November 17, 2023.
  18. Book: Sasayama. Yasuhiro. Fujiwata. Kazusato. September 10, 1996. 慶応遊撃隊活劇編ガイドブック. Mainichi Communications. アクションゲームにしては割とのんびりしていますね。前回はシューティングで、けっこうインテンポで始 めから終わりまでノリよくやったんですけど。今 回は、キャラクターの動きが非常に可愛らしいんですよ。それなら、音楽もただ始めから終わりまで盛り上がるんじゃなくて、その曲 自体に起伏がある。各面でもいろいろ毛色が違うというのを心掛けました。何というのかな、ゲームを時間をかけてゆっくりと楽しんで欲しいと。たとえばアクションといっても、ソニック風とかディズニー風とか､いっぱいパターンがあるじゃない。その中でも、できれば和風ディズニーみたいなのがいいかなと思ってたんで。. November 17, 2023.
  19. Web site: Tsukasa Tawada on Twitter: "久しぶりに慶応遊撃隊活劇編の音源聞いてるけど、琴、三味線、打楽器、鼓･･･全部SY-99でやってるっぽい！". Twitter. November 18, 2023.
  20. Book: Sasayama. Yasuhiro. Fujiwata. Kazusato. September 10, 1996. 慶応遊撃隊活劇編ガイドブック. Mainichi Communications. 前回は主人公が喋るだけだったんだけど、今回は敵キャラもバンバン喋るし。最初はBGMも含めて全部 内蔵音源でやろうと思っていたんだけど、けっこう声とかが多くなって、メモリを圧迫して。それでもいろいろいじってみたんだけど、自分の納得するような音をどうしても出せないので、それだったらCD-DAにして。で、できるだけループが頭に戻っても分かんないようにやったんですけど。. November 17, 2023.
  21. Web site: kugadrive on Twitter: "アメージング商店街で慶応遊撃隊活劇編の設定資料集ゲット！新品だこれー！菅野美穂さん、Vサターン持ってるらしいよ。". Twitter. June 13, 2024.
  22. Web site: chibaminato_jp on Twitter: "Miho Kanno in V-Saturn Advert". Twitter. October 2, 2023.
  23. Web site: BEEP Akihabara store on Twitter: "Message from Miho Kanno". Twitter. October 2, 2023.
  24. Book: Sasayama. Yasuhiro. Fujiwata. Kazusato. September 10, 1996. 慶応遊撃隊活劇編ガイドブック. Mainichi Communications. 蘭未ちゃんというキャラクターが皆に温かく受け入れていただけたんだなと、親心のような気持ちになりました。. November 17, 2023.
  25. Web site: Kei on Twitter: "Additional Voices in Keio Flying Squadron 2 (1996)". Twitter. October 2, 2023.
  26. Book: Sasayama. Yasuhiro. Fujiwata. Kazusato. September 10, 1996. 慶応遊撃隊活劇編ガイドブック. Mainichi Communications. 僕んとこのDATには没頭した声がいっぱい。そのうちプレミアがついたら。サンプリングしたもののうち、使ったのは5分の3くらいかな。宇宙人の声は面白かったよね。たまたま僕がサンプリングレートを間違えて取り込んじゃったら、けっこうハマって。それが面白いんで、何言ってるか分からないような字幕なんかつけたりして。字幕撃つと点数が入るんですけど、なぜか。びっくりしました。初め避けてたらいきなり点数がピコンって入って。何だ これは。字幕で点くれるの?. November 17, 2023.
  27. Web site: Elaine A. Clark on Twitter: "I believe I did... but it was so long ago, I can't remember. As I recall, I performed several different characters. Thanks for asking!". Twitter. June 15, 2024.
  28. Web site: Elaine A. Clark on Twitter: "You've got a good ear! It sounds a bit like me, but it was a long time ago. I remember the session and recording lots of different characters. Thanks for the memory!". Twitter. June 15, 2024.
  29. Lomas. Ed. Coming Soon - Lunatic Platformer Shoot 'em Up from JVC. Computer and Video Games. 178. EMAP International Limited. September 1996. 40.
  30. Web site: Keio Flying Squadron 2 [Sega Saturn] Review and Longplay [1996]]. Retro-Replay.com. March 29, 2024.
  31. Hickman . Sam . Review: Keio Flying Squadron. Sega Saturn Magazine. 11. . United Kingdom. September 1996. 76–77.
  32. January 1998 . Top 100 Sega Saturn Games . Saturn Power . 9 . 95.

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