- Joined
- Jul 9, 2001
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It's January, the holidays are over, the relatives are all gone, which is a relief, time to set in which to me are dark, cold days of winter (we're supposed to get snow here on the East Coast this weekend). If you're stuck in a cold godforsaken land like the Philadelphia Burbs like me, what a better way to spend your inside time than with a hot beverage, blanket, your arcade stick, and Varth - Operation Thunderstorm- the January SOTM. This is a vertical shooter released by Capcom in 1992. It has some similarities to the 19xx series particularly 1941 Counter Attack. It is emulated on a variety of consoles - PS2, Xbox, PSP (good luck playing it on that), PS4 and Switch and XBOX whatever and Steam through Capcom Arcade Stadium. You can play it on your Analogue Pocket as well unless you're still trying convince yourself that you don't need reading glasses like me. Last I looked it was $1.99 or less on Capcom Arcade Stadium, so there is no excuse not to pick this one up and support Capcom and whatever Street Fighter 6 Chung Li DLC costumes they are releasing these days instead of innovative games like this.
Approximately 30 levels so this should keep all of you goobs busy. The levels go fast and many do not have a boss at the end. Game should be able to be completed in an hour to hour and a half. There are hidden Capcom themed power ups littered about, and you can waggle your joystick (which if you're on this forum you definitely have experience waggling your stick) to rebuild your bombs stock, not unlike increasing your drift stock in Ridge Racer.
Here is the story from Wikipedia (since we all know we play shooters for the story) kinda what AI will do to us sooner than later, some real Terminatorish stuff:
Varth follows the story of a disaster that befalls a human colony on a planet of the same name. The entire colony is run by a 7th generation supercomputer which controls the operations of all machinery on the planet. Unfortunately for the residents of Varth, Delta-7 has been possessed by the entity "DUO" (Dimension Unbody Offender), thought of as an evil spirit but actually a temporal-spatial consciousness which spontaneously arose within the supercomputer. DUO has come to the conclusion that human existence is inimical to the planet, and has therefore turned the planet's defenses against its own populace. Eighty percent of the planet is laid waste by the event, and this is only the beginning of DUO's cleansing scheme. The colonists' reliance on the supercomputer has caused them to lose the ability to take care of themselves, and thus have no means of fighting back. The only hope for the colony lies in the pilots of two planes equipped with 4th generation computers which DUO cannot control—they are controlled not by machinery, but by humans.
From my understanding past level 10 the US and Japanese versions are different. We can do separate leaderboards if necessary. Capcom Arcade Stadium allows you to play the Japanese or USA rom version of the game.
Here is a Varth review recently posted in chat.
If any of you experts have anything to add please do, I love shooters but am definitely a novice.
Please post a pic of your score, what level, and which region.
I will update the leaderboards accordingly, good luck to all, Happy JanuaryShooteroftheMonthing!!!
Approximately 30 levels so this should keep all of you goobs busy. The levels go fast and many do not have a boss at the end. Game should be able to be completed in an hour to hour and a half. There are hidden Capcom themed power ups littered about, and you can waggle your joystick (which if you're on this forum you definitely have experience waggling your stick) to rebuild your bombs stock, not unlike increasing your drift stock in Ridge Racer.
Here is the story from Wikipedia (since we all know we play shooters for the story) kinda what AI will do to us sooner than later, some real Terminatorish stuff:
Varth follows the story of a disaster that befalls a human colony on a planet of the same name. The entire colony is run by a 7th generation supercomputer which controls the operations of all machinery on the planet. Unfortunately for the residents of Varth, Delta-7 has been possessed by the entity "DUO" (Dimension Unbody Offender), thought of as an evil spirit but actually a temporal-spatial consciousness which spontaneously arose within the supercomputer. DUO has come to the conclusion that human existence is inimical to the planet, and has therefore turned the planet's defenses against its own populace. Eighty percent of the planet is laid waste by the event, and this is only the beginning of DUO's cleansing scheme. The colonists' reliance on the supercomputer has caused them to lose the ability to take care of themselves, and thus have no means of fighting back. The only hope for the colony lies in the pilots of two planes equipped with 4th generation computers which DUO cannot control—they are controlled not by machinery, but by humans.
From my understanding past level 10 the US and Japanese versions are different. We can do separate leaderboards if necessary. Capcom Arcade Stadium allows you to play the Japanese or USA rom version of the game.
Here is a Varth review recently posted in chat.
If any of you experts have anything to add please do, I love shooters but am definitely a novice.
Please post a pic of your score, what level, and which region.
I will update the leaderboards accordingly, good luck to all, Happy JanuaryShooteroftheMonthing!!!
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