Bushiroad has shared a lot of interesting details about the upcoming shoot 'em up Macross: Shooting Insight, inspired by one of the most popular sci-fi anime series of all time.
The details about the game, which was announced back in January alongside a Goblin Slayer game and a Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation game, were announced on the brand-new Twitter account created for the title.
Interestingly, the game was originally announced for PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam, but a PS5 version has been added. On top of that, the information is being shared in English as well as Japanese, heavily implying that a localization will be provided.
Below you can read all the information provided so far, starting with the plot.
After coming to, Maximilian Jenius, captain of the Macross 7 fleet, tried to wrap his head around what had happened.
Something massive had struck his ship, the Battle 7. Upon regaining consciousness, he discovered that the rest of the flagship's fleet had vanished. Adrift nearby instead, was an older class vessel with weaponry of decades past, seemingly belonging to the New U.N. Military era. Also spotted were vessels outfitted with state-of-the-art technology that he'd never seen before.
"If I'm not mistaken, it would appear that we've somehow been transported into the future."
It was an astonishing conclusion, one that the Captain had come to only after assessing all the information at his disposal. Further investigation, however, would soon uncover something even more incredible.
Sara Nome: Mayan priestess and Guide of the Wind.
Myung Fang Lone: Producer of Sharon Apple, the galaxy's most popular virtual idol.
Mylene Flare Jenius: Member of the rock band Fire Bomber.
Sheryl Nome: The Galactic Fairy.
Ranka Lee: Super Dimensional Cinderella.
Freyja Wion and Mikumo Guynemer: Members of the Tactical Sound Unit Walkure.All have deep connections to "Songs." All are known as being "songstresses." And all have gone missing.
Their whereabouts and safety are unknown and there are few clues as to where to start searching.
With the situation becoming more dire by the minute, Shin Kudo, Isamu Dyson, Gamlin Kizaki, Alto Saotome, and Hayate lmmelmann, all ace pilots from their respective time periods, team up to find them.
The mission to rescue the songstresses from all across the galaxy is about to begin!
We also hear about the gameplay, which will prompt us to "select a pilot and their Variable Fighter to advance through stages. Stage layouts change depending on the pilot selected."
The playable pilots and variable fighters available are as follows:
- Shin Kudo & VF-OA (from Macross Zero)
- Gamlin Kizaki & VF-17S (from Macross 7)
- Isamu Dyson & YF-19 (from Macross Plus)
- Alto Saotome & VF-25F (from Macross Frontier)
- Hayate Immelmann & VF-31J (from Macross Delta)
Interestingly, each pilot has his own story and as such, the game includes six original stories (the reason why there are six stories and five listed pilots has not been explained). Players will be tasked with rescuining the missing songstresses and restoring peace to the galaxy to return to their original time periods.
Each pilot will have to fly through stages made of multiple scenes each with distinct game types depending on the three modes of their Valkyrie variable fighters. These game types include horizontal scrolling shooting, vertical scrolling shooting, and 360-degree scrolling shooting. These stages will also include powerful enemies from the different time periods of the Macross series.
If you're unfamiliar with Macross, it's one of the most famous and beloved sci-fi and mecha anime franchises of all time, debuted in Japan in 1982 from the genius of Studio Nue and Shoji Kawamori (who recently did the mecha design for Marvelous' Daemon Ex Machina). It focuses on the struggle of humanity to find its place in space with the help of powerful variable fighters that can transform between three different stages: mech, fighter jet, and a hybrid between the two known as Gerwalk. The uniting power of song is another recurring theme of the franchise.
Since its inception, the franchise has sparked plenty of sequels and additional releases on other media. The latest TV series, Macross Delta, aired in 2016, followed by two theatrical movies.
Unfortunately, the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross TV series was picked up in the West by American television production company Harmony Gold, which completely distorted it and mixed it up with the basically unrelated series Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada, creating the unsightly Frankenstein monster known at Robotech.
Unfortunately, the murky licensing situation prevented most Western fans from enjoying a proper localization of the Macross franchise until recently, with Harmony Gold blocking most attempts to correct its misdeeds. That changed recently, as rights owner Bigwest finally announced a deal that unlocked the possibility of releasing the popular franchise on the global market, with plans including anime, games, toys, and more. Macross: Shooting Insight appears to be one of the first fruits of that deal.
