Rocketron

A game by Astro Port for PC, originally released in Japan in 2017, and released in the US in 2020.

Rocketron is set in the same universe as the developer’s previous mech-based actioners, Gigantic Army and Steel Strider. As in those games, you take on the role of a peacekeeping organization (and delivery service) called Argo Express. But rather than playing as a person piloting a lumbering mech suit through linear action levels, you instead take on the role of a cybernetic humanoid with the unlikely name of B.L.A.M. as he explores an interconnected metroidvania environment.

The year is 2049 and The Congregation of Gogoh has designs to take over a cyberhuman planet called Metnal 28. As a cyberhuman himself, B.L.A.M. has been enhanced to excel in combat and he is sent down to the planet to put a stop to Gogoh’s nefarious plans. As in previous games, things get off to a bombastic start, with the Argo Express delivery truck getting dropped into combat while the dropship clears the landing zone of enemy machines. The truck then drives forward at a high speed, smashing through more bots before ejecting B.L.A.M. into the air for a running start, immediately blasting baddies with his rifle (which is apparently called a Rocket Musket).

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 2017, 2020, Astro Port, Henteko Doujin, PC

Steel Strider

A game by Astro Port for PC, and Linux, originally released in Japan in 2013, and released in the US in 2015.

Steel Strider is a sidescrolling mech combat game that serves as a follow-up to the developer’s prior mech actioner, Gigantic Army, once again focusing on the conflict between Terrans and Ramulons. As in the previous game, the player controls a lumbering mech through a number of industrialized environments – with a somewhat muddy color palette – blasting robotic foes with a wide array of weaponry. New to this game is independent aim control, allowing players to use a mouse or dual analogue controller to aim in any direction while moving, which gives the game a faster pace than its predecessor.

The game’s description places the action in “the second half of the twentieth century” – which would be between the 1950’s and the 1990’s – so this is likely meant be in the 21st century, given all the spaceships and mechs and whatnot. At any rate, a war has been waging across the entire galaxy, but it is nearly over. However, organized crime continues to flourish, and small skirmishes occasionally break out, but the local peacekeepers are ill-equipped to deal with these issues. Instead, a secret organization responds to distress signals, travelling undercover as a delivery service called Argo Express. In actuality, they transport a Gemini-class MCR, which stands for Manned Combat Robot (not My Chemical Romance), piloted by an operative who neutralizes galactic threats with extreme prejudice.

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 2013, 2015, Astro Port, Linux, Nyu Media, PC

Gigantic Army

A game by Astro Port for PC, Linux, and Switch, originally released in Japan in 2010, and released in the US in 2014.

The mech-based action shooter genre is a small one, but it has had a number of standout titles over the years, including the likes of Target Earth and Cybernator (both part of the greater Assault Suits series), as well as Metal Warriors. These games feature large slow-moving mechs with multidirectional aiming and heavy firepower, slogging their way through an array of robots and other mechanized baddies. Gigantic Army is built upon this core design philosophy, and offers a few new touches of its own.

As is typical of the genre, the mech in Gigantic Army moves slowly and clanks around noisily as it walks. There are numerous small touches that are meant to lend scale to the otherwise small character sprite, including buildings and cars that are dwarfed by its size, a spray of spent shells as the mech fires, and large fiery explosions from every destroyed enemy. In the backgrounds of the outdoor environments, war rages on, with distant ships flying over a parallax-scrolling landscape and firing their weapons, offering additional depth to the scale of the campaign.

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 2014, Astro Port, Linux, Nyu Media, PC, Switch