XESS - The New Revolution
XESS: The New Revolution (pronounced "excess") is a compilation arcade game that was released by SemiCom in 1997; it runs on the hardware first used by Toaplan for Snow Bros.: Nick and Tom, in 1990, but increases the speed of the Motorola 68000 to 16 MHz and reduces the Zilog Z80 to 4 MHz (it also uses a Yamaha YM-2151 and OKI MSM-6295 for sound as opposed to a Yamaha YM-3812). Games in this compilation: Cookie & Bibi (1995): SemiCom's first game released under their own name, which plays similar to Taito Corporation's Puzzle Bobble series (but replaces the Bubble Dragons with squirrels - the eponymous "Cookie" and "Bibi" - and the bubbles with fruits), had begat two sequels by this time, but they're both virtually identical to the original (just replacing the fruits with balls and fast foods). New Hyper Man (1997): Never released as a standalone game, this follow-up to SemiCom's first unofficial Pac-Man sequel of Hyper Pac-Man (which is also included in this compilation under the name "Hyper Man") is a multi-directional shooter, which features ducks, armadillos and slimes as enemies in addition to the two types of unnamed ghosts (and the pink ones are now red instead). Hyper Man (1995): Originally released as a standalone game under the name "Hyper Pac-Man", this version for SemiCom's first unofficial Pac-Man sequel removes the final boss's last form; it is also worth noting that in 2002, both unofficial Pac-Man titles for this compilation (but not Twinkle, which was released later in 1997) were rereleased as a part of K1Soft and Han System's Puzzle King under the names of Pac-Man 2 and Hyper Man 2 respectively (the former name also does not refer to Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures from 1994), along with that aforementioned "Snow Bros.: Nick and Tom" under the name Snow (but the original ending sequences were removed).
Genre(s): Strategy | Platform