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Elevator Action Returns

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Elevator Action Returns is Taito's sequel to their 1983 game. At the start of the game, you choose one of three characters, Kart Bradfield, Edie Burrett, and Jad the Taff. Each of them has their strengths and weaknesses, as well as different primary and secondary weapons. Your mission is to obtai...

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Developer
Taito

Released on
1994

Size
1–2 Players

Version
Arcade

Requirements
Arcade

Downloads
Platform

ESRB Rating
Not Rated

Cooperative
Yes

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Description

Elevator Action Returns is Taito’s sequel to their 1983 game. At the start of the game, you choose one of three characters, Kart Bradfield, Edie Burrett, and Jad the Taff. Each of them has their strengths and weaknesses, as well as different primary and secondary weapons. Your mission is to obtain the computer data that are hidden behind specially marked doors (colored red) in six buildings. Entering blue-colored doors during the game will trigger a spinning wheel that contains various items, and when you hit the fire button, what it stops on is what you get. These include point items, health items, machine guns, and rocket launchers. As with the original game, you can use elevators to travel between floors.

You can shoot various objects to destroy them, including barrels and drums, which can help defeat various enemies that include lackeys, zombie soldiers, karate agents, trench-coat goons, guard dogs, and more. Avoid being shot by these enemies. There are cameras scattered throughout each building, which can be destroyed. If you are sighted by one of these cameras, a brief siren goes off. You have limited time to clear each building. When time runs out, the building blows up and you lose a life.

Elevator Action Returns

Overview & History

Released by Taito in 1994, Elevator Action Returns (also known as Department Store in Japan) is a cult-classic arcade sequel that vastly expanded upon the 1983 original's vertical espionage formula. Set in the year 2020 during a New Year's Eve celebration, a terrorist organization has planted multiple bombs across a massive commercial complex in order to hold the city hostage. Players select from three distinct elite secret agents: Kart Bradfield, a seasoned veteran armed with a heavy assault rifle; Edarlite, a swift and agile female operative equipped with rapid-fire weaponry; and Jad the Bug, a powerhouse wielding a devastating rocket launcher. Across meticulously detailed, multi-tiered stages featuring sprawling department stores, underground subways, and chemical plants, your mission is to infiltrate restricted computer terminals to disarm the explosives before the timer runs out.

Gameplay Features & Mechanics

Unlike its predecessor, Elevator Action Returns introduces visceral, cinematic action powered by Taito’s advanced 2D hardware. The game transitions the stealthy puzzle-platforming of the original into a bombastic run-and-gun shooter infused with beat-'em-up elements. Players must skillfully navigate a dizzying maze of elevators, escalators, stairs, and ventilation shafts while engaging hostile terrorists, attack dogs, and mechanized units. A standout mechanic is the environmental interaction: players can crush enemies beneath descending elevator cars, shoot overhead lighting fixtures to plunge rooms into darkness, or detonate strategically placed fuel drums for massive chain-reaction explosions. Along your descent, red doors yield vital weapon upgrades—including flame throwers, missile launchers, and submachine guns—as well as crucial bonus points. The inclusion of a cooperative two-player mode turns every floor into a chaotic firefight, balancing precision vertical platforming with relentless arcade combat.