City Connection is a driving action game by Jaleco that was released in the arcades in 1985. In many ways, it can be considered a mix between Rally-X and Miner 2049er. In the game, you must drive a car over every inch of the stage. The roads start out clear, and as you drive over each section, they change color. On each stage, you must avoid a collection of local vehicles out to stop your joyride, and cats which sit in the middle of the road with no concern for their own well being.
Jaleco brought the game to homes on the MSX home computers where scrolling was replaced with screen swaps, and more faithfully on the Famicom and NES systems. In 2004, the game was rereleased on the Windows 9x platform, not once, but twice, and contains the most accurate conversion made. It has also been released as a title for play on Mobile phones.
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Title screen.
Controls
- Joystick: Press the joystick left or right to direct the car in one direction or the other. You can change directions at any time on the road, and in mid-air while falling, but you can not rapidly change directions. You must complete one change of direction before changing again.
- Fire: Press the fire button to launch a tin can out in front of your car. If it hits an enemy car, the car will begin to spin out of control. It can then be rammed off the screen for bonus points.
- Jump: Press the jump button to leap into the air. In order to rise to a level above you, you must hold up on the joystick in conjunction with pressing jump, and you must do so at a moment that will allow you to clear the ceiling of the level you wish to jump above.
- 1-2 Players: Press to start a one or two player game.
Elements
Player car
This is your car, a Honda City hatchback. It's your job to drive over every segment of the road found in each stage. In order to do this, you must jump and fall between various levels of road. Your car cannot stop moving, only change direction. You must also avoid colliding into any other vehicle on the screen, as well as stationary cats that sit in the middle of the road. In order to protect yourself, you can fire cans found on the road at the other vehicles, which sends the spinning. You can then ram the spinning cars for bonus points.
Enemy cars
The enemy cars take a variety of forms depending on the city you are in, including police cars, ambulances, pickup trucks, and taxis. They typically occur in groups of four or five. They typically appear ahead of you on the screen, driving along in your direction. They drive slightly slower than you, making collision with them from behind more common than collision with them from the front. They are susceptible to the tin cans that your car can shoot. If one spinning car is rammed into another spinning car, even more bonus points are awarded.
Cats and Spikes
In every city, you will encounter cats which unwittingly serve as obstacles in the road. They remain motionless, and actually pose more of a threat to your car than the enemy cars since you will drive towards them quicker, and must react faster in order to avoid them. Like many items found in each stage, their position is not persistent. Once they scroll of the screen, they will reappear in another location of the stage, and not necessarily where you previously saw them. They can not be removed from the stage by shooting a can at them, so just avoid them and save your cans for the vehicles. Spikes only appear on the lowest level if you continue to drive on that level for a long time. If you do not leave the lowest level, spikes will appear from out of the ground, and they are extremely difficult to avoid.
How to play
- You start out on the highest level of the stage. If you continue to drive straight off the edge of one level, you will begin to drop towards a level below you.
- You can not stop moving, you will always drive at the same speed throughout the game. You can change direction as long as your wheels are touching the road, or while you are falling down. You cannot change direction in the middle of a jump.
- As you drive along the road, you will encounter tin cans. Drive over them to collect and store them for later use. Press the fire button to shoot a can out in front of you.
- If a can hits an enemy car, that car will begin to spin out. You can ram the spinning vehicle off of the screen for extra points. If you ram one spinning car into another spinning car, you will earn even more points.
- From time to time, a cat will show up in the middle of the road. They can not be removed from the road, and they must be avoided at all costs.
- If you spend too much time on any one level (which is really only possible on the lowest level), spikes will begin to appear out of the ground which will destroy your car. They are even harder to avoid than the cats.
- On rare occasions, a balloon will begin to float across the screen. If you manage to collect three of them, you will be warped forward to a random level.
- In addition to balloons, some stages feature hidden objects such as hearts or rabbits, that have various affects such as warping you, or giving you an extra life.
- Once every single segment of floor has been turned to a different color, or filled in, you will advance to the next stage. You will also be awarded a bonus for every tin can you still possess.
Home Versions
These are some pictures of the various home conversions and packaging.
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MSX screen
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MSX box
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PC box
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PC case
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NES screen
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Famicom box
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NES box
