Trojan

Overview

Trojan is a side scrolling action game developed by Capcom and distributed by Romstar. Players take on the role of a young warrior (named Trojan) who must defeat the evil tribes spread throughout a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The game has been released on over five different gaming platforms including the NES, Playstation 2, and Xbox. Trojan's gameplay is similar to that of arcade classics such as Tiger Road and Kung-Fu Master.

Gameplay

The objective in Trojan is to guide the main character through side scrolling levels set in various post-apocalyptic settings. The main character, Trojan, is equipped with a sword for attacking and a shield for defense. While holding the shield button down, players can position the shield using the directional pad (or joystick). Certain projectiles hitting the player's shield will cause Trojan to temporarily lose his weapons. Once lost, he will have an opportunity to regain them by acquiring the sword/shield icon that will appear on the map. Defeating certain enemies (and accessing hidden areas) will grant Trojan various power-ups which include: Boots (jumping high, has four uses), winged heart (health), 1up (extra life), Yashichi (bonus points), letter P icon (power boost), and a letter S icon (speed boost).

Game Modes

The arcade version of Trojan supported two players, but only by way of alternating gameplay. The NES version (arguably the most popular) included a bonus "versus" mode in which two players could battle against each other.

The Tribe Bosses

Each level of the game has tribe "bosses" that must be defeated both at the midway point and at the end. Towards the end of the game there are two bosses at the midway point instead of one. With each boss there is a usually a simple pattern to defeating them. Throughout the game the player will face each of the bosses several times - sometimes with different color palettes. However, their fighting strategies/patterns remain the same.

These bosses include:

• Mamushi - Twin mutants sporting green masks and bright red mohawks, armed with deadly throwing axes.
• Iron Arm - A large, bionic mutant who attacks by launching his iron fists like missiles. He can also use his arms to block the player's attacks.
• Armadillon - Armored mutant who is able to curl into a ball and roll across the ground, much like an armadillo. He is also able to breathe fire when standing.
• Goblin - An ugly, blue-haired mutant with remarkable agility, he leaps across the screen tossing spiked projectiles at the player.
• Muscler - An extremely large mutant clad in blue armor, he wields a giant club.
• Red Trojan - He possesses all the abilities of the main character.
• King Shriek - Second-in-command to Achilles, he wades into battle swinging an enormous flail. Like the Mamushi, he has a twin.
• Achilles - Leader of the evil tribes, an imposing figure dressed all in red. He attacks with a gigantic sword which causes great damage.

The game ends with the defeat of Achilles, the leader of all the other tribes. The most effective strategy when fighting Achilles is to aggressively push him against the corner with the shield, then psych him into attacking.