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Turbo Force

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Arcade

Turbo Force was produced by Video System in 1991. A shooter with good graphics and great sound. Turbo Force is even more of a direct predecessor to Sonic Wings than is Rabio Lepus: Turbo Force features vertical scrolling gameplay very similar to that of the Sonic Wings series along with a n...

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Developer
Video System

Released on
1991

Size
1–3 Players

Version
Arcade

Requirements
Arcade

Downloads
Shooter

ESRB Rating
Not Rated

Cooperative
Yes

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Description

Turbo Force was produced by Video System in 1991.

A shooter with good graphics and great sound.

Turbo Force is even more of a direct predecessor to Sonic Wings than is Rabio Lepus: Turbo Force features vertical scrolling gameplay very similar to that of the Sonic Wings series along with a nearly identical power-up system. (The only differences in power-ups are that the vehicle slowly loses power even if not damaged, and that instead of a bomb that can be deployed at the player’s discretion, the special weapon detonates as soon as its power-up is touched.)

Still, Turbo Force lacks Sonic Wings’ in-game, backstory, dialogue, and well-developed characters, although the developers did conceive of a plot to explain some of what happens in the game. According to the graphic designer Soukou Junyoukan (装甲巡洋艦, aka “Armored Cruiser”), “The story is that an American Air Force pilot, while racing his car on a public road, wanders into another mysterious dimension and gets caught up in a war there. Oops!” This other dimension takes the pilot (and two of his buddies, if all three players are used) into a future world which has been invaded by an alien civilization. The pilot modifies his car into a flying, fighting machine and sets out to defend the new world from its enemies.

Soukou-san explains that Turbo Force’s developers basically did whatever they wanted in designing the game, resulting in a somewhat mismatched feel. The developers used what they learned from creating Turbo Force to make Sonic Wings a better, and more successful, game.

Turbo Force

Overview & History

Released in 1991 by Video System, Turbo Force is an eccentric vertical-scrolling shoot 'em up that injects pure Saturday-morning cartoon absurdity into the traditional sci-fi arcade space opera. Players assume the roles of two plucky rebel pilots, Ray and Lucky, tasked with liberating the peaceful planet Nebula from the iron grip of the tyrannical alien warlord, Vulcano. Unlike contemporary gritty shooters, Turbo Force embraces a vibrant, colorful aesthetic, blending high-speed aerial dogfights with frantic, on-foot mech transformations. The game's distinct visual flair and challenging coin-op pedigree made it a cult classic in Japanese and North American arcades, challenging players to master its unforgiving bullet-hell patterns across six bizarre stages.

Gameplay Features & Mechanics

At its core, Turbo Force differentiates itself from genre peers by integrating a unique transformation mechanic. While players begin each stage piloting agile fighter jets, collecting specific power-up pods allows them to dock into bipedal humanoid mechs. This drastically alters the combat dynamic: jet mode offers superior evasion and sweeping laser arrays, while mech mode grants directional aiming, heavy-duty missile launchers, and a devastating screen-clearing bomb attack. The game also features a cooperative two-player mode where pilots can combine their firepower to unleash synchronized hyper-lasers. Power-ups modify standard vulcan shots into homing missiles, triple-spread lasers, and plasma rings, which are essential for surviving the relentless onslaught of organic-mechanical hybrid bosses.