Eight Man | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Pallas |
Publisher(s) | SNK |
Director(s) | Seigo Ito |
Producer(s) | Eikichi Kawasaki |
Programmer(s) | Nishidon Shinchan |
Writer(s) | Kazumasa Hirai |
Composer(s) | Yoshihiko Kitamura Yoko Osaka Makiko |
Series | 8 Man |
Platform(s) | Arcade, Neo Geo AES |
Release | Arcade
|
Genre(s) | Beat 'em up |
Mode(s) | |
Arcade system | Neo Geo MVS |
Eight Man[a] 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]
Publication | Score |
---|---|
AllGame | (Arcade) [9] |
GameFan | (Neo Geo) 296 / 400[10] |
GamePro | (Neo Geo) 21 / 25[11] |
Joypad | (Neo Geo) 84%[12] |
Mega Fun | (Neo Geo) 73%[13] |
Micom BASIC Magazine | (Neo Geo) [14] |
Player One | (Neo Geo) 65%[15] |
RePlay reported Eight Man to be the fourth most-popular arcade game at the time.[16] Eight Man received mixed to positive reception since its initial release in arcades and Neo Geo AES.[17][18]