''Avenging Spirit'', known in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

as , is a 1991 2-player platform

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...

developed by C.P. Brain and published by

Jaleco was a corporate brand name that was used by two previously connected video game developers and publishers based in Japan. The original Jaleco company was founded in 1974 as Japan Leisure Company, founded by Yoshiaki Kanazawa, before being renamed ...

Plot

During a walk with his girlfriend, the player is ambushed by agents of a mysterious

crime syndicate The Crime Syndicate or Crime Syndicate of America (CSA, with America sometimes spelled Amerika) is a team of supervillains featured in DC Comics. The team is composed of evil Multiverse (DC Comics), parallel-universe counterparts of the Justice Le ...

who take his girlfriend away and shoot him to death. Now, as a wandering spirit with the ability to possess most others, he is summoned by his girlfriend's father (who researches

ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

energy) and is given a mission to save her from the mysterious crime syndicate holding her hostage, enabling the player to rest in peace. Coincidentally, the crime syndicate is also researching ghost energy, and they kidnapped the girl in an effort to force her father to cooperate with them. The player must fight through six stages to infiltrate the evil syndicate's base, collecting three keys on stages 2, 5, and 6. If the player has all three keys upon reaching the final leg of Stage 6, he can open the girl's cell and possess her to help her fight her way out. If not, he must abandon her and face the syndicate's leader alone. After the syndicate's leader is defeated, the base blows up, and the player ends up on a grassy field as his spirit's power fades. If the player fails to save the girl, she presumably dies in the

explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume of a given amount of matter associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Explosions may also be generated ...

and he expects to see her in the

afterlife The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's Stream of consciousness (psychology), stream of consciousness or Personal identity, identity continues to exist after the death of their ...

as he fades away. If the player does save her, she approaches the field, and the player expresses a wish for her future happiness as he vanishes.

Gameplay

Players can possess one of four characters with unique abilities at the start of the game, but the library of enemies expands and changes with each level. Players either attack or possess enemies, collect power-ups, and defeat bosses to advance.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Avenging Spirit'' on their July 1, 1991 issue as being the seventeenth most-successful table arcade unit of the month. ''

Sinclair User The ''Sinclair User'' was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum (while also occasionally covering arcade games). Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was pub ...

'' called ''Avenging Spirit'' a "superior action game with a rather odd scenario." They praised the longevity of the game, but admitted that it had a steep learning curve which might not appeal to more casual players. British gaming magazine '' The One'' reviewed ''Avenging Spirit'' in 1991, stating that it "isn't destined to be a classic", but it has "originality and nice touches".

Ports and re-releases

On December 14, 2010, DotEmu SAS released an

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

port of the game. The

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

version was re-released on the

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

3DS eShop's

Virtual Console The Virtual Console was a line of downloadable retro video games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld systems. The Virtual Console lineup consisted of titles originally released on pa ...

download service in Japan on June 7, 2011 and was released worldwide on August 11, 2011. A physical cartridge for original Game Boy systems was re-released by Limited Run Games in 2022. A re-release developed by Shinyuden and City Connection and published by Ratalaika Games for

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

Xbox Series X/S The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are the fourth generation of consoles in the Xbox series, succeeding the previous generation's Xbox One. Released on November 10, 2020, the higher-end Xbox Series X and lower-end Xbox Series S are part o ...

, and

Evercade The Evercade is a handheld game console developed and manufactured by British company Blaze Entertainment. It focuses on retrogaming with ROM cartridges that each contain a number of emulated games. The Evercade was released on 22 May 2020, and ...

was released on July 29, 2022.

Notes

References

External links

''Avenging Spirit''
a
Arcade History
* {{KLOV game, id=6980 1991 video games Arcade video games Dotemu games Game Boy games Hamster Corporation games Jaleco games Multiplayer and single-player video games Multiplayer hotseat games Platformers Video games about ghosts Video games about spirit possession Video games developed in Japan Virtual Console games Ratalaika Games games