Shatterhand
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| Shatterhand | |
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 Shatterhand title screen |
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| Developer(s) | Natsume/Jaleco |
| Publisher(s) | Natsume/Jaleco |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo Entertainment System |
| Release date | 1991 |
| Genre(s) | Action/Platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media | Cartridge |
| Input methods | Control pad |
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For other uses of "Shatterhand", see Shatterhand (disambiguation).
Shatterhand is an action game for the NES. Like in an RPG, the player defeats cyborgs for money and uses it on repairs and new attacks. After defeating the first stage, set in an oil refinery, the player gets to choose from five dystopian stages while listening to a bouncy music soundtrack. After defeating all five stages (factory, nuclear submarine, taiga base, gravitational lab, and flaming city ruins), there is a final stage set on a space shuttle. The game was released in Japan as Tokkyuu Shirei Solbrain on the Famicom, based on the Metal Hero Tokusatsu of the same title. Changing the plot and character sprites to match Solbrain's story, it is unknown whether Shatterhand was a modified version of Solbrain, or vice-versa. There is also a difference in levels, the nuclear submarine is replaced with an amusement park, the bosses are in different levels and the duration of the special armor is better, making the Japanese version slightly easier than the North American version. The American version also features slightly better graphics, such as at the level select screen in the North American one there is an animation on the hero to suggest the screen is flickering, and the mini robots that accompany the hero are more detailed.
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[edit] Plot
In the year 2030, medical technology develops to a point where missing limbs can be replaced with "cybernetic" devices that replicate human movement and form with great precision. Working on a top secret military project, a large group of scientists create military uses for these new cybernetic limbs. Within that group of scientists, a handful of subversives unite. With world domination as their goal, these subversives collaborate covertly to create an army of cyborg soldiers. General Gus Grover emerges as the leader of the group, and, after plans are carefully made and an awesome assembly of cyborgs stands at the ready, the group begins open revolt. They become known as the Metal Command.
To combat the revolutionary movement, the Law and Order Regulatory Division is formed (L.O.R.D.). They put another group of scientists together to come up with something to combat the cyborgs of the Metal Command. What comes of this group's research and development is a very special pair of hands.
These cybernetic attachments give their recipient the strength of a piledriver. They are capable of shattering metal on impact. There's only one problem. Without a willing recipient, these powerful hands cannot be used against the Metal Command.
Meanwhile, in the Bronx, a young and highly decorated police officer named Steve Hermann chases after one of the Metal Command's cyborgs. The cyborg slows down, allowing Hermann to catch up. Hermann is puzzled by the apparent cooperation of the cyborg, until he hears the crunch of metal on concrete behind him. He turns just in time to see a huge cyborg close in. Hermann becomes a human sandwich between the two mighty cyborgs. They pull apart to determine if Hermann is still alive, and despite crushed hands and ribs, Hermann manages to run to freedom.
Several days later, after both of his completely crushed and mutilated hands have been amputated, a L.O.R.D. official approaches Hermann's hospital bed with a package under his arm. He identifies himself and opens the package. He picks up the contents and displays them to Hermann: a pair of cybernetic hands - the strongest hands in the world.
Now more motivated against the Metal Command than ever, Steve Hermann accepts the cybernetic hands and the responsibility that goes with them. The cybernetic hands are attached, and Hermann spends the next two months recovering from his injuries. When he emerges from the hospital, he will be known only as "Shatterhand" to protect his true identity. His mission: crush the rebellion with his bare hands.
[edit] Objective
Shatterhand is a high-action game with eight-direction scrolling. You control Shatterhand in his quest to find and to defeat General Grover, leader of the rebellious Metal Command. During the game, you encounter all kinds of mechanical and bio-mechanical creatures en route whose sole purpose is to stop you at any cost. Your primary weapons are your cybernetic fists, and you will have to defeat most of your opponents by punching them. In addition, Shatterhand can block some enemy fire with his punches.
You can also get lots of help from any of the eight hovering "satellite robots," each of which has a unique high-powered weapon that automatically fires whenever Shatterhand throws a punch. In order to obtain a satellite robot, you must collect any combination of "alpha (α)-beta (β)" letters that appear when you punch some of the white boxes scattered throughout each stage. For example, if you collect three "B" letters, you'll get a grenade-firing satellite robot. There are eight possible combinations of the two letters that you can collect, and each combination gives you a different satellite robot. As you play the game, you'll learn which satellite robot is most desirable for each stage. Also, when you have a satellite robot and you re-collect the identical combination of letters required to get that robot, you'll temporarily transform into a powerful, heavily-armored, invincible dynamo. The robots can also lift Shatterhand by first ducking, then pressing and holding the A button until Shatterhand grabs the robot and starts hovering, you can also throw the robot when hovering, causing damage to the targeted enemy as well as the robot, after throwing a robot, it will take a while until it will return back to Shatterhand.
The game has seven stages. The first stage and the last stage must be played first and last respectively, but you can play the five middle stages in any order you choose. A stage select menu appears after you complete the first stage. The path to the final showdown with General Grover leads through a factory, a refinery, an anti-gravity research facility, a submarine, a burning subway, a filtration plant, and finally to General Grover's missile launch complex.
[edit] Satellite robot combinations
(Combination / Description)
ααα: Yoyobot - Fires a large bouncing ball that retracts like a yo-yo.
ααβ: Laserbot - Fires a laser beam.
αβα: Swordbot - Swings a lethal sword.
αββ: Ricobot - Fires balls that ricochet.
βββ: Grenadebot - Fires grenades.
ββα: Pyrobot - Shoots a long flame. Press B Button, then press and hold B Button a second time to make flame shoot forward.
βαβ: Boomerangbot - Fires up to two discs that act like boomerangs.
βαα: Bounceobot - Fires a bouncing ball.
