3-D WorldRunner

This Acclaim published NES game was the first Square game to reach North America. The game was developed by both Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu.

3-D WorldRunner is a 1987 third person action game developed by Square. The player assumes the role of Worldrunner, also known as Jack, and must save several planets from strange alien creatures, led by the villian Grax. The game consists of 8 worlds, each divided into separate quadrants. The player must navigate through the level and defeat the endboss before a timer at the bottom of the screen runs out. Worldrunner is not controlled directly by the player, but his movement speed is changed by use of the directional pad. He can also jump and fire missiles, which must be obtained by the player.

The strangest feature of the game was the "3-D mode", which was also features in Square's Rad Racer for the NES. When 3-D mode was activated, the graphics became anaglyph images. When viewed through the supplied red and cyan filtered anaglyph glasses, a Stereoscopic 3-D effect was achieved. This has made finding a complete version of the game quite difficult for collectors, as the 3-D glasses included are often missing. This same technology was later used by Square in both JJ, the sequel to 3-D Worldrunner, and Rad Racer.

The game was designed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, Nobuo Uematsu, and Nasir Gebelli, all of whom would later go on to develop Final Fantasy for Square.

Game Name	3-D WorldRunner
Platform(s)	Famicom Disk System NES
Publisher(s)	Acclaim Entertainment, Inc.
Developer(s)	Square Enix
Genres	Add a new genre Action
Themes	Add a new theme Sci-Fi
Original US Release	need a fuzzy date?
Original US Release	September 1987 know the real date?
Aliases

	Panorama Cotton
	Pepsiman
	Space Harrier
	Space Harrier II
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