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Trizeal

トライジール, AKA: Shooting Love: Trizeal

A sci-fi vertical-scrolling shooter directly ported from its arcade incarnation. Using polygonal graphics, but retaining a completely 2D gameplay, Trizeal puts you in command of two tiny starfighter as you attempt to clear several stages filled with enemy ships and creatures gunning for you. Your ship is able to morph into three distinct configurations, each with their own speed and armor as well as unique weapon system (basic machine gun, homing missiles and laser), by picking up power-ups you can upgrade each form and increase its abilities and the point of the game is to keep your ship balanced enough to survive in all situations.

Year

2005

Orientation

Vertical

PHYSICAL

HISTORY

Trizeal is a Japanese vertically scrolling shooter developed by Triangle Service and released as an arcade video game in 2005. It was ported to the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2.

Gameplay

Players control and can transform a spaceship into three forms (which alternates weapon attacks), working through multiple levels and boss sequences. The game can be played in four different screen modes, with one mode mimicking the narrow arcade version. A ship from Triangle Service's previous release, XII Stag, is hidden in the game and can be unlocked by holding the "X" button before selecting a stage in Stage Attack mode. The power-ups can be used to upgrade each separate weapon respectively.

There are six levels in the game, they get progressively harder until the last stage which consists of only two bosses. Two unlockable modes become available when the game is completed, they are Omake mode and Lifting mode. Omake mode is a short level which has denser bullet patterns than the normal game, lifting mode is where you have to juggle a stone on your ship to score points.

Marketing

Between the arcade and Dreamcast releases of Trizeal, the developer released a 'SOS statement' claiming the arcade game had suffered poor sales. They also said that, if TRIZEAL for Dreamcast did not sell well, the company would not be able to produce the next one. Furthermore, it also claimed it would not be a net-only release because it wanted the game to be displayed in shops.