Torpedo Range: video game
Created | Updated Jan 12, 2017
Developer: Romstar
Publisher: Nintendo of America
Date Published: April 27, 1991
Platforms: Game Boy Pocket
ESRB Rating: Everyone (Mild violence)
Torpedo Range is a mixed bag: it had some RPG elements, and it had some action elements. It had unique (albeit repetitive) gameplay, but the story was rather dismal.
The Global Armed Alliance almost has the world under their control, and they do this by conquering the navies of the major world powers(of 1991): USA, England, Australia, China, Japan and Canada. You (the player) possesses the navy's most powerful submarine ever. Wondering which country that sub come from? You choose. No catches, no twists, no surprises in the story. It's simply fluff for the rest of the game.
Gameplay is rather odd yet fun for a while. It makes no difference what country you pick. All the subs have the same abilities; they just look slightly different. Enemies are static locations on the world map. There are submarines, carriers, cruisers, and battleships. They all have difficulty levels from one to four stars. In addition to these, there were also the countries' home ports, which served as a kind of boss battle. When one of these ports were defeated, the enemies surrounding that area would vanish, and all the other enemies would get a bit stronger. When an enemy is defeated, the previously beaten enemy comes back to life, and you score a certain amount of points based on the strength and type of the enemy (i.e. destroying a one-star submarine would net 50 points, and a four-star battleship would make 4000.). These points can be spent with a tap of the A button to purchase more shields, torpedoes, or super shots. The price for shields and torpedoes rises each time they're purchased, but supershots don't.
Battle is simple, but it depends on what is being fought. If some submarines are the enemy, the battle is two-dimensional. The sub drifts up, down, left and right and simply destroys the other three subs. For a carrier fight, the procedure is the same, but planes drop bombs overhead, and a carrier will eventually come floating by. If it's anything else, then an above water torpedo launcher can be moved left and right. Fire at anything that moves. Targets can have depth on the z-axis(be far away or close up) and shots travel along the z-axis. This applies for cruisers, battleships, and ports.