Grind Stormer is a 1993 vertically scrolling shooter arcade video game originally developed and published by Toaplan in Japan and North America. It is considered to be the spiritual successor to Slap Fight. Based around a video game within a video game concept, players assume the role of a young secret agent assigned by the government taking control of the NA-00 space fighter craft in an attempt to defeat the titular virtual reality simulator, rescue the abducted players who lost against it and unveil its true purpose.
Headed by DonPachi producer Kenichi Takano, Grind Stormer was created by a small development team of new employees at Toaplan who would later go on to work at one of its offshoots after the company declared bankruptcy in 1994 and was originally titled Bakuretsu Wing before being ultimately renamed to V・V in Japan. It is notable for marking the debut of Cave co-founder Tsuneki Ikeda in the video game industry, serving as one of its programmers and features a much smaller hitbox for the ship compared with previous shoot 'em up games released at the time. It is also notable for being one of the last games by Toaplan to feature an FM soundtrack, as the company began to clear out their FM chip inventory. Initially launched for the arcades, the game was later ported to the Sega Genesis by Tengen and first published in Japan on 25 March 1994 and a month later in North America, featuring both the original Japanese and North American versions as selectable gameplay modes.
Grind Stormer proved to be popular in arcades but the game has been met with mixed reception from critics and reviewers alike since its release on the Genesis, who felt divided in regards to several aspects such as the presentation, visuals, sound design and gameplay. It has been regarded by some to be an early example of a manic shooter. As of 2019, its rights are owned by Tatsujin, a company founded in 2017 by former Toaplan member Masahiro Yuge and now-affiliate of Japanese arcade manufacturer exA-Arcadia alongside many other Toaplan IPs.
Gameplay
Grind Stormer is a science fiction-themed vertically scrolling shoot 'em up game where players assume the role of a young secret agent assigned by the government taking control of the NA-00 space fighter craft through six stages in an effort to defeat the titular VR game, rescue the abducted players who lost against it and unveil its true purpose as the main objective. As far as vertical scrolling shooters go, the game initially appears to be very standard but the power-up and scoring systems change depending on the version being playeed; In Grind Stormer, players have the normal weapon layout with instant power-ups and bomb icons. This version also has speed-up icons as well as speed-down icons, and higher value point items. In V・V, however, the players collect gems that allow them to choose between multiple weapons through a power meter system reminiscent of Gradius and Slap Fight instead, removing the bombs and weapon icons completely. This version also has a shield power-up not featured in the former version as well.
Each version of the game features three types of weapons to choose from: Shot, Search and Missile. Shot is the standard vulcan weapon players start with at the beginning and can fire in different directions depending on their arrangement, however the ship's firepower increases into one large beam when the options are focused and held on at close range. Search is a satellite-only weapon that turns the options into homing devices that seek out any enemies on the screen (even if they were invulnerable), and changes the ship's color into light violet once equipped. Missile, as the name implies, fires non-homing rockets with a high firing rate and power, while the options follow the ship in the "snake" or "shadow" style, though the item will turn the ship's color into blue once equipped.