Shockman is a video game developed by Hudson Soft

Hudson Soft

, formally known as , is a majority-owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973...

. The game was originally released on April 27, 1991

1991 in video gaming

-Notable releases:*Microprose creates Civilization, Sid Meier's most successful game .*Electronic Arts releases James Pond 2 and Road Rash for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, starting a series of games that were popular in the 1990s....

 for the PC Engine console in Japan (known as the TurboGrafx-16 in North America), and was re-released on the Wii Virtual Console

Virtual console

A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...

 in North America on April 30, 2007, In Europe on May 4, 2007, and in Australia on July 27, 2007. Shockman is the only game in the Kaizou Choujin Schbibinman series to be released in North America.

Story

Shockman takes about 2 years after Kaizou Choujin Schbibinman. Tasuke, whose name was changed to Arnold in the U.S. release, is no longer a student and works as a cook in a local restaurant. Kyapiko, whose name was changed to Sonya in the U.S. release, remains a student. Since the fall of the Dark Skull, Doc has constantly suspected that another invasion was coming sending Arnold and Sonya on searches for the new invaders although never finding anything. However, one day, after Doc is kidnapped, Arnold and Sonya find out that an alien empire led by Ryo is planning to take over the world. Also, two other villains have appeared with similar powers to Arnold and Sonya. They are dark Schbibinman named Jeeta and Mue. Arnold and Sonya must now rescue Doc, stop Ryo from taking over the world, and avoid being killed by Jeeta and Mue.

Gameplay

Shockman plays very differently from Kaizou Choujin Schbibinman. Swordplay has been eliminated and is replaced by a ranged weapon much like Mega Man

Mega Man (character)

Mega Man, known as in Japan, is a cybernetic video game character, and the main protagonist of what has been referred to as the original Mega Man series developed by Capcom since 1987. The pixel art for the character was created by the designer of the original game in the series, credited under...

's Mega Buster. The world map, upgrades, and hostages have also been removed from the game. There are also now two side-scrolling shooter stages. Additionally, jump control has been altered. Other than these changes, the gameplay remains the same. The goal still is to get through the stage and defeat the boss.