Macross 2036

OVERVIEW

Macross 2036 is one of the first crop of games to exploit the Macross franchise, at a time it was being revived thanks to the release of the Macross II OVAs. A side scrolling shooter, it relates a series of events that take place several years after the original Macross television show (and in so doing, tie in some elements from the Macross feature film).

Taking advantage of the CD Rom medium, the game boasts a number of fully voiced animated cut scenes, as well as incorporating familiar music from the series. It’s also worth noting that artist Haruhiko Mikimoto, who did the character designs for the animated Macross projects, also worked on Macross 2036, and his work can be seen in the fully colored instruction manual.

As a shooter, Macross 2036 stands out for its remarkable graphics, and compelling boss fights in which the ship transforms into ‘battloid’ mode.  

CHARACTERS

Mylene Jenius – the player controlled pilot, and daughter of Max and Myria Jenius from the original Macross series.  It should be noted that this version of Mylene is very different from the character seen in Macross 7, and so the events of Macross 2036 would have to be considered non-cannon.  

GAMEPLAY

Before each mission, the player is allowed to spend EXP points to buy extra weapon and ship upgrades. These points are accumulated during the game by collecting small orbs left behind from defeated enemies.  

Each round is played with Mylene’s Veritech  in the fighter jet configuration, with only a rare appearance of the hybrid ‘guardian’ mode (gameplay is basically identical in either case). At the end of each stage, the ship transforms into the robotic ‘battloid’ mode, and the controls change – firing is automatic, with the I and II buttons used to rotate the ship in a 360 degree fashion.  It is in this fashion that the end stage boss battles take place.