Venus Senki

Venus Senki: Io City Dakki (ヴィナス戦記 イオ・シティ奪回) is a strategy combat game developed by Human Entertainment for the Famicom and published in Japan by Varie in 1989. Based on The Venus Wars manga series written and illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, the game takes place during the year 2089, long after humans have taken settlement on neighboring planet Venus and focuses on a war between three factions for control of the planet.

The player assumes the role of the Hound biker gang, who have taken it upon themselves to defend the nearby Io City from encroaching forces from the Ishtar Empire. With eight attack vehicles called Mono-bikes (motorcycles that have one large wheel) and two transport vehicles which repair the bikes and replenish their ammo, the squad moves from destination to destination repelling the Ishtar forces.

Gameplay
Gameplay varies between turn-based strategy on the overworld map to a vehicular combat mode when engaging in close combat. The goal of these sequences is to eliminate all the enemy's craft as they fly or drive towards the player, using a finite supply of missiles and an endless supply of bullets. A certain number of special enemy types, usually purple in color, need to be destroyed for the unit to disappear from the strategic map.

Role-playing elements are also present,enabling players to level-up and gain experience from fights. Characters can be viewed between missions to check on their progress.

Ultimately, a single strategy can be employed throughout most of the game, rendering the challenge somewhat meaningless. If four bikes are positioned around either transport, they will be refueled every turn, and the enemy will simply advance upon them, allowing them to be easily taken out. The action-oriented take on combat is interesting, but get repetitive after a while.

Story
During the early 21st century, Venus has undergone a drastic change in its environment due to a "great bump" with an asteroid, making it a habitable planet for humans. After the colonization of Venus began, Venus was divided into two major autonomous states, "Ishtar", which boasted a mighty military force, and "Aphrodia", which was blessed with fertile land and rice fields.

Ishtar decides to deploy powerful weapons called octopus tanks to storm and capture Aphrodia's capital, Io City, with a mighty military force. Aphrodia, whose capital was stolen, formed a combat motorcycle unit "Hound" in an effort to fight back and retake Io City.