Eight Man (video game)

1991 video game

1991 video game

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

* WW: 7 June 1991

Neo Geo AES

* JP: 20 November 1991
* NA: 20 November 1991
* EU: 20 November 1991

Genre(s)| Beat 'em up
Mode(s)|

* Single-player
* co-op

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.

## Gameplay

[edit]

Gameplay screenshot

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]

## Release

[edit]

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]

## Reception

[edit]

Reception

Review scoresPublication| 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]

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Japanese: 8マン, Hepburn: Eitoman

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "VG: エイトマン". Beep! Mega Drive (in Japanese). No. 25\. SoftBank Creative. October 1991. p. 124.
2. ^ Sol, Bruno (August 1996). "Manga Zone - Eight Man". Japanmania (in Spanish). No. 4\. Grupo Zeta. pp. 20–21.20-21&rft.date=1996-08&rft.aulast=Sol&rft.aufirst=Bruno&rft_id=https://archive.org/stream/Japanmania_04#page/n19/mode/2up&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Eight+Man+(video+game)" class="Z3988">
3. ^ Schoolgirl Milky Crisis: Adventures in the Anime and Manga Trade. A-Net Digital LLC. 5 November 2010. ISBN 9780984593750. Retrieved 2019-05-18 - via Google Books.
4. ^ a b Eight Man user's manual (Neo Geo AES, US)
5. ^ "Neo Geo オールカタログ". Gēsen Tengoku (supplement) (in Japanese). Vol. 1\. Tokuma Shoten. September 25, 1993. p. 50.
6. ^ "Oh! Neo Geo Vol. 10 - 8マン". Beep! Mega Drive (in Japanese). No. 45\. SoftBank Creative. June 1993. p. 158.
7. ^ "NEO GEO Soft > 1991-1992" (in Japanese). GAME Data Room. Archived from the original on 2018-10-01. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
8. ^ Alomair, Badr (May 7, 2019). "100 Days of MEGASHOCK! #19 Eight Man". 100 Days Of MEGASHOCK!. WordPress.com. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
9. ^ Biondich, Paul (1998). "Eightman (Arcade) - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on 2014-11-16. Retrieved 2019-05-18.
10. ^ Halverson, Dave; Sgt. Gamer; Stratton, Tom; Cockburn, Andrew (July 1993). "Viewpoint - Neo Geo - Super Eightman". GameFan. Vol. 1, no. 8\. DieHard Gamers Club. p. 11.
11. ^ Gideon (January 1992). "Neo Geo For Real! - Eightman". GamePro. No. 30\. IDG. p. 101.
12. ^ Demoly, Jean-Marc; Steph (January 1992). "Test - Neo Geo - Eightman". Joypad (in French). No. 4\. Yellow Media. pp. 72–73.72-73&rft.date=1992-01&rft.aulast=Demoly&rft.aufirst=Jean-Marc&rft.au=Steph&rft_id=https://retrocdn.net/index.php?title=File%3AJoypad_FR_004.pdf&page;=72&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Eight+Man+(video+game)" class="Z3988">
13. ^ Noak, Philipp; Hellert, Stefan (August 1993). "Special - Neo Geo - Eightman". Mega Fun (in German). No. 11\. CT Computec Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. pp. 28–30\. Archived from the original on 2018-10-21. Retrieved 2019-05-18.28-30&rft.date=1993-08&rft.aulast=Noak&rft.aufirst=Philipp&rft.au=Hellert,+Stefan&rft_id=http://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=t&id;=8807&s;=3&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Eight+Man+(video+game)" class="Z3988">
14. ^ Yanma; Itabashi (July 1992). "Super Soft 大特集 - 今、『NEO・GEO』がおもしろい！: 8マン". Micom BASIC Magazine (in Japanese). No. 121\. The Dempa Shimbunsha Corporation. p. 209.
15. ^ Drevet, Cyril (February 1992). "Tests De Jeux - Neo Geo - Eight Man". Player One (in French). No. 17\. Média Système Édition. pp. 60–61.60-61&rft.date=1992-02&rft.aulast=Drevet&rft.aufirst=Cyril&rft_id=https://www.abandonware-magazines.org/affiche_mag.php?mag=32#=1075&album;=oui&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Eight+Man+(video+game)" class="Z3988">
16. ^ "The Player's Choice - Top Games Now in Operation, Based on Earnings-Opinion Poll of Operators: Best Software". RePlay. Vol. 17, no. 2\. RePlay Publishing, Inc. November 1991. p. 4.
17. ^ Knauf, Andreas (February 1992). "News - Neo Geo - Eightman". Video Games (in German). No. 6\. Future-Verlag. pp. 12–13. Retrieved 2019-05-18.12-13&rft.date=1992-02&rft.aulast=Knauf&rft.aufirst=Andreas&rft_id=https://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=t&id;=10984&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Eight+Man+(video+game)" class="Z3988">
18. ^ R.I.P. (February 1996). "The Final Word game review - Eightman -- Pallas/SNK Corp". Game Zero Magazine. Game Zero. Retrieved 2019-10-02.

## External links

[edit]

* Eight Man at GameFAQs
* Eight Man at Giant Bomb
* Eight Man at Killer List of Videogames
* Eight Man at MobyGames

Portals:

* 1990s
* Japan
* Video games

*[WW]: Worldwide