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Jet Force Gemini
Developer(s)	Rare
Publisher(s)	Rare
Designer(s)	Martin Wakeley (lead design) Peter Beanland (director) Leigh Loveday (story) Robin Beanland (composer) Graeme Norgate (composer)
Engine	Enhanced Diddy Kong Racing
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64
Release date	NA October 11, 1999 EUR November 2, 1999 JPN December 1, 1999
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: T (Teen)
Media	64-megabit cartridge

Jet Force Gemini, or Star Twins (スタ・ツインズ, Star Twins^?) in Japan, is a science fiction third-person shooter game for the Nintendo 64 developed and published by Rare that was released on October 11, 1999. The single-player adventure spans many varied planets as the player assumes the role of the Jet Force Gemini as they try to stop the evil plans of the bug dictator Mizar. Multiplayer modes can be unlocked, including the traditional death-match and survival matches. Also available in multiplayer are racing games, as well as the firing range mode, which is similar to a rail shooter game. Jet Force Gemini shares elements with platform games, first person shooters, and run and gun games.

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Single player 1.2 Multiplayer 2 Story 2.1 Setting 2.2 Plot 2.3 Characters 3 Development 4 Reception 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Gameplay

(Move game screenshot to this section, will go on left or right)

Jet Force Gemini is played in the third-person view, although the player can shoot in first-person view through the aid of a button on the controller. Throughout the game many exotic worlds are visited along with a wide array of weapons to collect along the way. Jet Force Gemini is unique in that it employs the rare cooperative style of gameplay, where two can play the story mode at once.^[1]

The weapons that can be found in the game include a pistol, machine gun, missile and rocket launcher, shotgun, sniper rifle, flame thrower, numerous explosives, and many other fictitious weapons.

[edit] Single player

The single player mode of Jet Force Gemini gives the player the option to choose from three different characters to play as. At the start of single player the player can only play as Juno until he finds Vela, who then finds Lupus. Each character is unique because each possesses a special ability the others don't have: Juno can freely walk in lava without the worry of taking damage, while Vela can swim underwater and Lupus can temporarily hover, making it possible for him to make near-impossible jumps. Once the player finds and repairs Floyd, the player has the option of letting another player control Floyd with the use of another controller.^[2]

Single player is comprised of fifteen different levels. In each level the player is required to fight Drones, which resemble various insects with humanoid characteristics. The player must defeat the Drones in one section of the level to progress to the next section, although some levels only have one section and in one level no Drones at all. While at these levels the player can also rescue a race of ursine-like refugees known as Tribals.^[1] At first only three levels are available to the player with each character, with some sections inaccessible. In order to complete those levels and open new levels the player must first reach Mizar's Palace with each character.^[1]

[edit] Multiplayer

The multiplayer mode in Jet Force Gemini allows for up to four players to engage in three different kinds of games.^[2]

Battle Mode, the first multiplayer game, allows the players to face off in a deathmatch.^[1] The screen first splits in half when there are only two players, then into quarters with three or four players. The player is given three different deathmatch options in which to play:^[2]

• Time Limited — Players are given a time limit to see who kills the most
• Slaughter — A certain kill total determines the winner
• Survival — Each player killed is disqualified from the game until one player is left

The second multiplayer game, Target Mode, puts the players in a rail level setting on a chosen level. The main focus of this game is for the players to shoot targets resembling Drones while being careful to not shoot Tribals. Each Drone shot earns the player points, while each Tribal shot penalizes the player by taking points away. This game differs from the other two multiplayer games in that the screen doesn't split, instead each player controls a crosshair on the screen.

The final multiplayer game, Racing Mode, is at first unavailable until the player reaches a certain event within the single-player mode.^[2] The players can choose whether they want to make the race timed-based or lap-based. Other options include which level the players want to play on and what type of items such as boosts and weapons they want on the track. Like Battle Mode, the screen is split depending on the amount of players.

[edit] Story

[edit] Setting

[edit] Plot

The game begins with Juno, Vela, and Lupus witnessing an attack on Goldwood by Mizar's forces. Soon afterwards, their spaceship is attacked by the Spawnship and boarded by drones. Since they're the last Jet Force ship left (the fleet being destroyed by Mizar), they decide to not to wait for orders and act on their own. The three abandon ship and go off their own separate paths to stop the invasion and confront Mizar.

After reaching Mizar's lair, the three finally confront Mizar and defeat him. However, Mizar escapes to a nearby asteroid, were he sets course to impact with Earth. King Jeff, the leader of the Tribals, can help the Jet Force team by providing an ancient starship that can quickly catch up to Mizar's asteroid. However, the team needs to locate several vital parts scattered throughout the game, as well as rescue all the enslaved Tribals. Also, King Jeff upgrades the characters with Jet packs that allow the characters to fly if they have fuel available and gives the team new armor. From this point on, the player can play with Juno, Vela, and Lupus on any level.

After all the Tribals are rescued, and the parts found, the Jet Force team, along with King Jeff, goes to Mizar's asteroid. After a rough landing, Juno fights through Mizar's army and finally confronts and defeats Mizar himself (who is actually a robot controlled by King Jeff's brother, Barry). However, to save Earth, Floyd sacrifices himself to destroy the asteroid. Afterwards on Earth, the Jet Force team are honored for their accomplishments.

[edit] Characters

(Put an image in this section of Juno, Vela, Lupus, and Floyd)

In Jet Force Gemini Juno, Vela, and Lupus are all members of the elite Jet Force squadron known as "Gemini". Juno's determination for wanting to keep the universe secure stems from when he and Vela's parents were killed by space pirates. Vela, who is Juno's twin sister also protects the universe for similar reasons. While Juno is calm and collective, Vela's audacity has helped get her through difficult situations. Their dog, Lupus, has gone through cybernetic implants to aid them in battle if ever needed. Floyd is a flying robot created with an advanced AI by Mizar. During a mission on the planet Tawfret he questions Mizar's orders for the execution of a small group of Tribals. He saves the Tribals from the Drones and is dismantled for his disobedience and left behind. Once Juno finds and repairs him he joins Jet Force. ^[2]

[edit] Development

(A picture of the original design of the characters will go here, most likely on the right)

The same team who had previously worked on Blast Corps came together to work on Jet Force Gemini.^[1] Earlier while still in development Juno and Vela's designs were more youthful and cartoon-like with enlarged heads.^[1] There were no plans at first if Jet Force Gemini would support the 4MB Expansion Pak, although Rare had considered the possibility of using it.^[3] This lead to some confusion as the box cover for the original release stated that it did support the Expansion Pak. Nintendo provided a quick-fix to the mislabeled covers by providing stickers declaring its Rumble Pak compatibility and fixed later printings of the boxes.^[4]

Jet Force Gemini was originally planned for release on August 31, 1999, but was pushed back to September 27 in order to give the programmers time to polish up the game.^[5] Manufacturing delays forced it to be delayed even further to October 11, 1999.^[3]

Before being released in Japan, Jet Force Gemini was localized as Star Twins due to Nintendo's opinion that "Jetto Fōsu Jeminai" was too difficult to pronounce.^[6]

[edit] Reception

Jet Force Gemini released to generally good reviews from critics, though not as high as Rare's other N64 games such as GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark. IGN gave Jet Force Gemini an 8.1/10, earning it an Editor's Choice award^[1], and GameSpot gave the game a "great" review of 8.8/10.^[7] IGN praised Jet Force Gemini for its gameplay, but felt it fell short in it's single player for lacking a smooth framerate and forcing the player to rescue every Tribal to beat the game.^[1] GameSpot also praised the gameplay, stating the only problem was "poor camera angles" and "flat textures".^[7] Overall, it holds a score of 8.3/10 at Gamestats.com and ranks in at #23 among all Nintendo 64 games.^[8]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• JFG APEX: Info, Forum, JFG2 Project
• Nintendo.com information
• DMOZ.org directory
• GameFAQs information
• GameRankings information
• GameSpot information