2281: The Bosconian occupation

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It seems there is never a dull moment for the United Galaxy Space Force. Fresh from the Galaxian-Galaga War of 2281, the same year also played host to the UGSF’s first encounter with an alien race they came to call “Bosconian”.

The Bosconian forces were initially known as ETI-2, or the Next Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, after the initial ETI forces were encountered during the Galaxian-Galaga War of 2279. There was no evidence to indicate a connection between the initial ETI forces and the Bosconians; “ETI” and “ETI-2” were simply internal designations used by the UGSF prior to establishing the new species’ true identities and intentions.

Bosconian

The Bosconians appeared in a number of United Galaxy-controlled star systems, built themselves a network of bases and began occupying surrounding territories. Rather than simply jumping straight to blasting them out of the sky, the UGSF followed established negotiation protocols by initially attempting to initiate friendly contact, followed by issuing a warning and finally attempting intimidation.

All attempts at contact with the Bosconians were met with force, so clearly something had to be done. Enter the new Blaster spacefighter, a contemporary of the Fighter that formed the backbone of the UGSF forces during the Galaxian-Galaga War of 2281. The Blaster differed from the Fighter in that it was designed to be more manoeuvrable, and also to be able to take on threats from both the front and the rear. With the Bosconian forces spreading at an alarming rate, its abilities would surely be put to the test.

The Bosconian conflict of 2281 would be chronicled in Namco’s 1981 arcade game of the same name. While an early release in the shoot ’em up genre, Bosconian was enormously influential in that it was one of the earliest multi-directional shooters, and also one of the first shoot ’em up games to feature diagonal movement.

Bosconian

Gameplay in Bosconian is simple and straightforward. Each stage challenges the player to destroy a number of Bosconian bases while fending off Bosconian fighters. Bases can be destroyed in two ways: firstly, by destroying all the “pods” on the outside of the base, or alternatively by firing an accurate shot at the “core” of the base in its centre.

Destroying all the pods is more challenging and time-consuming, but ultimately worth more points; destroying the core, meanwhile, allows you to give yourself a bit of breathing room or complete stages more quickly.

Bosconian features a radar display similar to that seen in Namco’s Rally-X from the previous year. It’s arguably a little more useful in Bosconian than it is in Rally-X, since there are no maze walls to get in your way; you can simply head in the direction of a blip on the radar to find your next target.

While it might feel as if Bosconian plays at a fairly sedate pace in its early stages, you’ll quickly come to revise that opinion. A synthesised voice bellows “ALERT! ALERT!” as the condition of the current stage escalates from green to yellow, with the Bosconian bases sending fighters after you. Take too long and this will escalate further, with the voice amusingly and repeatedly mispronouncing “CONDITION WED! CONDITION WED!” as you’re absolutely swarmed by enemy forces.

Bosconian

“Condition Wed” can also happen somewhat prematurely if you happen to run into a Bosconian spy ship and don’t immediately blast it out of the cosmos. On top of that, the Bosconians will occasionally launch formation attacks at you; these are made up of multiple fighters, with bonus points on offer if you destroy all of them. Blast the differently coloured “leader” ship, though, and the remaining ships will scatter, making them hard to destroy.

Bosconian’s presentation is simple but effective. Its scrolling starfield provides a good impression of movement, and the way in which the bases and ships appear to move “faster” than the background creates an early illusion of parallax scrolling.

Sound effects are iconic ’80s Namco, combining strange bleepy-burble noises for the destruction of smaller ships with some meaty digitised explosions for bases, mines and the player ship exploding. The digitised speech is also easy to mock from a modern perspective, but it would have been genuinely awe-inspiring to have an arcade game like Bosconian shouting at you back in 1981. As much as one might take the piss out of “Condition Wed!”, it really does add a sense of urgency to the gameplay.

Bosconian

Bosconian is a really enjoyable game, with its multidirectional movement and bi-directional firing making it a very distinct experience from other shoot ’em ups of the time — particularly fixed shooters such as Galaxian and Galaga. It’s also a nicely balanced game; even those who find themselves struggling with the precision and accuracy required by Galaxian and Galaga may find themselves getting along a bit better with Bosconian, as the whole thing is a bit more forgiving — the movement system alone makes it much easier to get out of trouble.

Unfortunately, Bosconian didn’t perform all that well commercially on its original release; many Bosconian machines ended up turned into Galaga machines, since the latter ended up being considerably more popular. It was still well-received, however; press of the time praised its innovative mechanics, and in more recent years its influential nature has been much more readily recognised. It also spawned two sequels in the UGSF timeline, which we’ll get to all in good time.

Today, Bosconian is an early Namco title that holds up very well indeed. It’s something a little bit different from the other shoot ’em ups of the era — and its accessibility makes it a great title for taking your first steps into early ’80s blasters if you’ve previously found the unforgiving nature of fixed shooters a bit tough to get to grips with!

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Pete Davison
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