Game Center CX Special – Back to Contents
Arino’s Challenge: Virtual Console: Star Force

After sampling the Virtual Console selection himself, Arino is given a proper challenge from the staff. AD Nakayama rolls in a squat little arcade cabinet, and Arino peers inside. It’s Star Force, the original Tecmo shooter that Arino played in season 1! It’s also one of the new Virtual Console Arcade titles.

Arino gives the game a try, but isn’t serious about it, so he dies quickly. Besides, the staff directs him to the Wii, where he’ll play it there. His challenge is the same as it was before: shoot down the "Lalios" miniboss in stage 1. You need to it with six rapid shots to its core before its armor pieces fly in and hit you.

As before, Arino does okay in the first part of the stage, but when the omnious music kicks in and Lalios appears, he doesn’t quite get enough shots in and dies quickly. On the the next try, he doesn’t even make it to Lalios. That, or he crashes into it before he gets to fire.

Arino is offered the Classic Controller in hopes that it will help him out. He takes the controller and tries again. Yeah, it’s not doing anything. The deaths rack up, just as they did so many years ago. Help is called in, and no, it’s not Takahashi Meijin this time.

It’s former AD Tojima, of course. Tojima enters the frame and sits down next to Arino to try his hand at Star Force. He’s good at blasting through the first wave of enemies… until a stray bullet hits him. Not the best start. And then he does it again! When he finally gets to Lalios, he has the same problem Arino has. One death is enough for Tojima; he exits in shame.

Arino gets back to it, and at one point, he gets five shots in, but at the very moment he hits it the sixth time, the armor piece hits him. So close! But then, AD Nakayama comes in. His big hint has to do with the ominous Lalios music. If Arino can time his shots to when the music changes octaves, he might be able to do it. Nakayama’s explanation of the "da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da" melody doesn’t quite help at first, as Arino still fails.

But on the next try, he gets in the groove, and miraculously destroys the Lalios! The 50,000-point bonus is earned, and the challenge cleared. All it took was two hours of hard work.