Internet Arcade: Dynasty Wars

Also Known as Tenchi wo Kurau (天地を喰らう)
Dynasty Wars is a 2D scrolling horizontal fighter game developed and published in 1989. This action arcade game was released by Capcom Co. Ltd, a Japanese video game developer and publisher. The company is famous for publishing several successful game franchises such as Street Fighter, Ace Attorney, Monster Hunter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom was established in 1979 Kenzo Tsujimoto who was also the president of Irem Corporations, another popular Japanese game company. Capcom was initially named I.R.M which has a subsidiary called Japan Capsule Company C, Ltd. Both companies mainly manufactured and distributed electronic game machines in the late 70s. In the early 80s, I.R.M was briefly named Sambi Co. Ltd before it was later changed to its current brand name in 1983. Capcom is still fully operational and currently game franchises featured on PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

Dynasty Wars is a video game based on a popular manga named Tenchi wo Kurau which means Heaven and Earth Destroyed. The game starts with a brief background story of the founder Huo Dynasty, Liu Ho who has ruled the dynasty for 400 years. After the start screen, the warrior characters are shown one after the other and each warrior’s story and weapon strength is displayed on the screen. The warriors are Liu Bei, Kuan Yu, Shang Fei and Shao Yun. You can choose any of these players as your hero, and you are to take control of both the warrior and the horse he rides on in a bloody battle against enemies in each level of the game.

The game is made up of eight stages, where you are armed with a spear and you can receive power-ups to increase your strength. At the bottom of the screen, a health bar shows your strength level and each assault made on your character reduces its health bar.
All characters come with unique weaponry and a different ambush attack partner. They also possess different levels of strength, when four blue orbs are collected, the weapon carried by the player you choose upgrades. The blue and yellow orbs appear on the battlefield randomly and when a certain amount of each orb is collected, the warrior’s health increases or his weapon is upgraded.

Asides the spear weapon your character can use to fight against enemies, there are four other special attack modes useful when he is bombarded with several enemies. The special attack modes can clear out hordes of enemies at once but they reduce your character’s health drastically.
Ambush Mode: Another warrior appears on the screen with a long spear and fights against the enemies by mimicking every move you make. This warrior only stays on the battlefield for about 10 seconds.
Rockslide Mode: From your side of the screen, logs and boulders rush down at enemies and barriers blocking your way. This mode can only be activated along sloppy terrains.
Explosion Mode: This special mode activates waves of explosions which extends around the battlefield and destroys enemies and bosses on sight.
Flame Mode: When this mode is activated, four archers appear from your side of the screen and begin to shoot arrows lit on blue flames at the direction of your enemies’ direction.