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Tenkomori Shooting - Point Blank meets the shmup genre...and other wild mashups

VGEsoterica

Member
I love when a company decided to just slam together two genre's and see what happens. When Namco released the original Point Blank they had a massive hit on their hands. I still play it at least a few times a year on my CRT. But what was Namco not great at? Making 2D shmups. Sure they had them but they never reached the level of pretty much every other company around them. Not saying Namco didn't make GOOD shmups, just saying they never really hit.

So what did Namco do? They took the Point Blank formula (frantic, fast paced mini games that requires precise aiming and quick decision making) and married to to a shmup. Out popped Tenkomori Shooting.

It's a shmup, but it doesn't have stages. It has the same level select screen as Point Blank but they took out the light gun and gave you an arcade stick and buttons. It has all the fast paced action you'd expect of Point Blank but the entire gameplay genre has been switched. Oh and monkeys...lots of monkeys.

But seriously it's a really rare and obscure game but damn is it not one of the most fun arcade games I've ever played from Namco. Def a 10/10 recommend in my book. Maybe an 11/10 because....ya know...monkeys!

Curious if anyone else has ever played or if people have other recommendations for genre mash up games? Because I am all ears
 

ManaByte

Member
Monkeys? Guns? GREATEST GAME EVER CREATED BY HUMANKIND!
makemydaymonkey.jpg
 

Notabueno

Banned
So let me get a thing straight:

this has nothing to do with Point Blank, but this is a mini/micro-game or variety game? Unless Point-Black is the first variety game ever released?

I'm interested in defining the proto exemples and first full fledge variety game there was
 

VGEsoterica

Member
So let me get a thing straight:

this has nothing to do with Point Blank, but this is a mini/micro-game or variety game? Unless Point-Black is the first variety game ever released?

I'm interested in defining the proto exemples and first full fledge variety game there was
It’s made by the same company / team behind Point Blank. It’s basically “Point Blank: Shmup Edition”

same mini game style, some mini game concepts are reused, same “scale the tower” level design, some shared art and most important a shared sense of frantic action packed gameplay
 

Notabueno

Banned
It’s made by the same company / team behind Point Blank. It’s basically “Point Blank: Shmup Edition”

same mini game style, some mini game concepts are reused, same “scale the tower” level design, some shared art and most important a shared sense of frantic action packed gameplay

This is an amazing "discovery" and video, I hope there are roms around...

I'm not sure which game started the "variety" genre, probably some game around the 4th gen, but 5th gen variety games like Point Blank or...fuck what's the japanese name of the PS1 game with a family trying to get through the day with several different mini-game or phase, like it start with a office guy with glasses trying to escape a boulder at some point
 

VGEsoterica

Member
This is an amazing "discovery" and video, I hope there are roms around...

I'm not sure which game started the "variety" genre, probably some game around the 4th gen, but 5th gen variety games like Point Blank or...fuck what's the japanese name of the PS1 game with a family trying to get through the day with several different mini-game or phase, like it start with a office guy with glasses trying to escape a boulder at some point
Incredible Crisis is the game you are thinking of. Fun game too. Such a weird premise
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
Namco shooters were all over the arcade. Time Crisis and Ninja Assault were the two I remember the most. I did play Point Blank enough to realize how unique it was compared to Sega shooters. It was fun, audible noises with each shot, and crazy mini games. I had no idea this existed. My shoot ‘em up was a lot of Raiden and various SNK shooters. I bought Buster Bros for PS1 a couple years ago. Almost like Capcom’s version of crazy mini games. I love the menu screen and how well the animation is done.
 

VGEsoterica

Member
Namco shooters were all over the arcade. Time Crisis and Ninja Assault were the two I remember the most. I did play Point Blank enough to realize how unique it was compared to Sega shooters. It was fun, audible noises with each shot, and crazy mini games. I had no idea this existed. My shoot ‘em up was a lot of Raiden and various SNK shooters. I bought Buster Bros for PS1 a couple years ago. Almost like Capcom’s version of crazy mini games. I love the menu screen and how well the animation is done.
I have the entire Point Blank franchise on PS1 and I still think it may be the best game series that is not story based to ever exist. Just straight up FUN
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I have the entire Point Blank franchise on PS1 and I still think it may be the best game series that is not story based to ever exist. Just straight up FUN
The PS1 Guncon was great. I had that with Time Crisis. Namco always made great games in the arcade.

I have to wonder if I ever get to go to Galloping Ghosts, if I’ll ever have the chance of seeing Tenkomori Shooting. Did you manage to get a board off eBay or Yahoo Auctions in Japan?
 

CamHostage

Member
Looks great, and makes me thing it's kind of surprising that "micro-game" phenomenon only seemed to have worked with WarioWare and Mario Party, despite some real promise beyond brainless play. NES Remix came and went (there should be a bazillion DLC chunks of classic games for a NES Remix app by now, but it's not even on Switch yet.) PlayStation had WTF on PSP (and a PS1 game in the franchise before it,) but that wasn't much. Point Blank series was fun, and Namco had a few of these in arcades (Panic Park is another one, I feel like there's countless more Japanese party/microparty games I've seen in arcade shows and arcades abroad,) but it oddly stopped just about when the downloadable game and non-disc-based market would have made these games more viable. There's a new Monopoly Party, and there's a new Party game based on a cartoon every once in a while (although surprise micro-games are a little different, maybe?), but it's a type of game system I would like to see make a comeback in popularity.

Only issue I see with Tenkomori Shooting is that it doesn't look like it's designed well for multiplayer? The video says it has a multiplayer mode and is "even more fun" that way, but it looks too cramped and busy in its action to work multi, does it not? Never played it, obviously, maybe I'm wrong.
 
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