Overview
Spica Adventure is a 2D fantasy side-scrolling platformer developed by both Taito and Dreams and released by Taito for arcades (using PC-based Taito Type X hardware) in Japan in 2005. It originally received a mobile phone release in 2003.
Featuring a stylized and colorful cartoon art style similar to Taito's earlier Super Bust-A-Move series, Spica Adventure puts players in control of the young pink-clad girl Nico as she crash lands on the toy robot-populated Planet Spica and must blaze her way through with her rocket-propelled parasol (in a similar fashion to Taito's 1991 game Parasol Stars).
It later received a digital arcade release for the NESiCAxLive platform (for Taito Type X2 hardware) on January 24, 2011. It will receive a home release for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch sometime in 2024.
Gameplay
Spica Adventure is a one-joystick, two-button arcade game, with one button for using her parasol (A) and one button for jumping (B). Her parasol has a variety of uses, including mobility and both offensive and defensive abilities:
- In general, tapping the A button causes her to make a close-ranged stabbing attack with her parasol. On the ground, she can perform a combo of close-ranged strikes by repeatedly tapping the A button, with the final attack being a forward charge. In the air, holding downward on the joystick while doing this causes her to perform a downward charge (which can bounce off of enemies).
- Holding down the A button while close to a wall, or holding down the A button while reaching any orthogonal surface with a charge, causes her to plant her umbrella in it, which she can then use to fling herself in a perpendicular direction (as a charge attack) by holding the joystick in the opposite direction and releasing it. For example, she can plant it at a wall and fling upward by holding and releasing the joystick downward, then planting it at a ceiling and fling rightward by holding and releasing the joystick leftward.
- Holding down the A button otherwise causes her to open her parasol, which she can use on the ground to deflect star projectiles (making them more powerful homing stars) or in the air to glide (which she can move using the joystick). Opening the parasol over a fan causes her to propel herself upward for a quick glide. On the ground, she can change the direction of the parasol using the joystick (up to eight directions).
- Pressing both A and B buttons simultaneously causes her to launch her parasol forward like a rocket for a ranged attack. Holding the A button when it reaches the wall causes her to plant it at a wall and retract herself to it as a grapple.
The stages are built to be traversed as quickly as possible with the parasol, as a large screen-filling robot will start to pursue the heroine if she spends too long in any one stage. She earns points by defeating enemies, collecting jewelry, and growing flowers, the latter of which is done every time she stands on an unflowered tile.
Area
Each area includes two normal stages and one boss battle. There are nine areas in total with branching paths in two spots, leading to three possible routes:
- A. Future City 1 (Easy) -> B. Future City 2 (Easy) -> C. In the Sky 1 (Easy) -> E. Shin Rock Chewy (Normal)
- A. Future City 1 (Easy) -> B. Future City 2 (Easy) -> D. Neon City (Normal) -> F. In the Sky 2 (Normal) -> H. Under Water (Hard)
- A. Future City 1 (Easy) -> B. Future City 2 (Easy) -> D. Neon City (Normal) -> G. Space Zone (Hard) -> I. Himitsu Key (Hard)
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