Game Center CX Season 6 – Back to Contents
#40
恐怖のWヘッダー「マイティ」&「レッドアリーマー2」
A Terrifying Double Header – "Mighty" & "Red Arremer II"

Chousen

The epic battle from the last episode continues. We begin on the third day, at 10:00 AM. Arino and Inoko MAX keep the "warp, save" pattern in check as they make their way up to stage 16. With a stock of 32 lives, the two bravely start again.

With 18 lives left, Arino makes it to the final stage. He dies within moments, which is his cue to pass it to Inoko MAX. But Inoue respectfully declines and asks the Kacho to keep playing. Arino gets up to the warp room, but consistently dies. On the 13th life, he finally makes it through. But this is far from the end. One more stage will end this game once and for all. Arino must now get a hidden sphinx item in the 17th level, which will reveal the exit door.

Once he gets through the exit, one more room awaits. A tower of treasure chests is all that’s in here. Arino must get another sphinx, which is in the bottommost chest, without getting hit by the enemies. He fails once, and has to repeat the stage from the beginning. He gets down to 8 lives before getting to the treasure chests again, but keeps failing as he hops on the chests. The music climbs as the count of lives decreases. Arino gets down to the last life, and… he just doesn’t cut it.

Inoko MAX is disappointed, naturally, but Arino apologizes. Having gotten this far, the two respectfully give up. Arino gets up to leave, but is called to sit back down. This is, after all, the Double Header, and it’s only been 15 minutes into the show! He’s handed Red Arremer II for the next challenge.

Red Arremer II

Capcom’s RPG platformer stars Arino’s biggest rival: that damn gargoyle from Ghosts ‘N Goblins. He has trouble getting used to the controls in the action stages, and he’s surprised how quickly he gets to the first boss. But the bad guy’s pattern is easy to crack, so it’s a quick battle. In the next ministage, Arino keeps falling to his death, only to realize Red Arremer doens’t control the same way Bomb Jack did — the A button doesn’t have to be pressed constantly to float. But when he gets to stage 2, it doesn’t really help — he still has trouble getting through the early parts.

Eventually Arino starts getting a better grip on things, and even lucks out when he dies trying to fly up a shaft, only to continue at the top! He continues on to the second boss, Death Balloon. The boss is such a trouble that Arino dies almost 40 times during the fight. By now he’s spent four hours just on stage 2, but by attempt 37 he finally makes it through.

Arino earns the Buster weapon as he contunes to stage 3. It’s a projectile weapon that makes things much easier to deal with. Arino breezes through and defeats the boss. At this point Arino’s spent nine hours in the same room. He reaches the boss of the next palace, but again hits a wall. The producer chimes in off-camera and introduces a secret support "item." Arino laughs at whatever he sees.

In walks… AD Sasano! The AD from season 2 who provided great help to Arino, particularly with Ghosts ‘N Goblins. It seems fitting, then, that Arino has him at his side. Sasano quickly dispatches the boss, and then exits. Arino continues to stage 4, but starts tripping up again. Sasano steps back in to try and get Arino through the stage. He leads him up to the boss, or rather bosses — the Twin Guardians. This fight isn’t quite as painful, so Arino manages to finish up on his own.

Stage 5 is one big warp puzzle, and the boss is… the Red Arremer doppelganger! The tension is almost too much for Arino to handle. A half-dozen attempts pass, and the producer announces the time limit. Sasano steps in to provide a few hints, but it’s not enough to beat the doppelganger. Arino has no choice but to end the Double Header. As the credits roll, Sasano and Inoko MAX finish up the game.

TamaGe

Arino enters the Ayase Batting Center, which also has a quaint arcade, though that’s putting it kindly. He starts off with an SNK UFO catcher, and manages to win a penguin-shaped tissue holder.

Arino moves on to the video machines, but many of them are busted one way or another. He talks to the managing attendant, but he’s no consolation. Arino moves on to the games that are working: an SD Ultraman game in a rusty cabinet and, ironically, a baseball game.

Arino decides to step out to the cages, but the balls fire a bit too fast for him. AD Urakawa comes into frame and shows off in front of Arino. He teaches him a thing or two, and Arino manages to hit a ball. Unfortunately, that’s about as much action as there can be here.

Romantic ga Tomaranai

This episode’s saucy scene comes from the original Momotaro Dentetsu. A special hot spring scene can be seen if you roll the dice the luckiest way.

Game Collections: 1988 – December