Forgotten Worlds

Forgotten Worlds, known as Lost Worlds (ロストワールド Rosuto Wārudo) in Japan, is a vertical scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game released in 1988. The game's playable characters are two blue and red flying marines battling aliens and accompanied by a floating satellite. Their ultimate goal is to defeat the God of Destruction Bios, who has conquered the Earth and reduced it into a wasteland. Enemies drop money called Zenny, which players can use to upgrade their weapons and satellites in the store.

This is the third and final game in Capcom's "jet-pack" shooter series, following Section Z and Hyper Dyne Side Arms. The game was also included on the Capcom Classics Collection for PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2005.

Gameplay

Forgotten Worlds can be played by up to two players simultaneously. The player controls a flying muscle-bound soldier armed with a rifle with unlimited ammo. The Player 1 character is equipped with a long-range automatic rifle, while Player 2 has a short-range wide shot. The controls in the original coin-op version consists of an eight-way joystick for moving the character in the air while flying and a unique rotatable button known as the "roll switch". Rotating the switch left or right allows the player to adjust their character's aim in one of sixteen directions, while pressing it causes the player character to shoot his gun. This allows for the player to move their character anywhere while keeping their aim in one direction. Pressing the switch rapidly will cause the character to perform a "megacrush" attack which will destroy all on-screen enemies, but at the expense of a portion of their vitality gauge.

The player character is accompanied by a satellite module orbiting near him that will provide backup firepower every time the player fires their gun. Like the main character, the satellite can also be rotated with the roll switch. Rotating the character while firing will only rotate the aim of the satellite, while rotating the character without firing will not only rotate the satellite's aim, it will also move its relative position around the player.

The player can obtain blue-colored coins known as "zennies" from defeating enemies throughout the game. The zennies are used as currency to obtain new power-up items from shops located at certain points in each stage. When the player enters an item shop, they are given a choice of the items available and a limited time to make any purchase they wish. These items consists primarily of new weapons for the satellite module, but also includes a health kit to restore lost vitality, an armor that allows the player to sustain additional damage, and even tips on how to defeat the boss awaiting at the end of the current stage.

Forgotten Worlds consists of five stages with a total of eight bosses. The player will lose if their vitality gauge runs out, but will be given a chance to continue.

Characters

Forgotten Worlds art — Promotional artwork.

Unknown Soldier Blue - the player character.
Unknown Soldier Red - the character used in a two-player game.
Sylphie (シルフィー) - the girl who sells the player different weapons, armor, items and information for a cost of zenny in her shops scattered throughout the Forgotten Worlds. She is called Mirabella in the U.S. Genesis version.
Bios - an evil deity who has already destroyed most of the planet. He has created eight other gods to carry out his will.
Spydrobot - a spider creature that travels in groups. They creep along the ground and spit fire balls.
Paramecium - an amorphous blob-like beast that attacks with fiery breath and telekinesis.
Dust Dragon (ダストドラゴン) - a boss that will attack with its rib bones that emerge from its stomach. Its heart is its weak spot.
Sphinx - a monster with a detachable head that, upon its destruction, unleashes a centipede-like creature.
Mesketit - a possessed flying ship in Egypt that attacks players with an arsenal of weapons.

Story

(From the manual):

"Many years have passed since mankind dominated the Earth. Invaders from another galaxy have nearly destroyed our planet in their attempt to add it to their evil Empire. Led by Lord Bios, the alien horde has crushed all opposition. YOU are the last hope. You must face their assault in personal, deadly combat. Equipped with an anti-gravity device and armed with photon gun, you will seek and destroy the minions of the Empire.

In your attempt to overthrow the dark Lord, you will fight the strangest and strongest creatures from around the universe. Do battle with the lizardmen, the shapeless ones, and the fierce bronze dragon. But you're not completely alone in your quest for freedom. You can upgrade your weapons system at several locations scattered throughout the lands.".

Stages and bosses

World	Stage	Boss
Dust World	1 - Empty Metropolis^[1]	Paramecium
	2 - Doomed Harbor^[1]	Dust Dragon
	3 - Wastelands^[1]	War God
Pyramid World	4 - Stone Corridors^[1]	Mesketit
	5 - Inner Sanctum^[1]	Sphinx
	6	Tutankhamen
Sky World (Cosmic World)	7 - Miasma^[1]	Iceman (Not to be confused with the Mega Man character) Giant Crab (SMS version)
	8	Whodin and Laidin (Fūjin and Raijin)
	9 - Tower of Dread^[1]	The evil god Bios

Trivia

Zenny, Capcom's monetary denomination, is used in many of their games besides Forgotten Worlds, including Gaia Master, Black Tiger, Mega Man Legends and Mega Man Battle Network series.
The two giants in the later levels are references to the two twins guardian characters from the manga and anime series Fist of the North Star. They both use invisible cutting wires to kill people.
The War God appears as a statue in Guy's ending from Capcom Fighting Evolution and in the back of Zeku's clothes in Street Fighter V. This is because the War God's name in Japanese is "Bushin" (武神)^[2] , the same name of Guy and Zeku's fighting style.
The Final Fight enemy Two P is designed after the 2P/red Unknown Soldier, with his name being a reference to him ("Two Player" or Player 2). His character bio on the Shadaloo C.R.I. character encyclopedia website provides further references to him and Forgotten Worlds, implying the two are one and the same, with Two P suffering from amnesia and having no memories of his identity.

Credits

Arcade Version

Game Designer: Akiman, Nin Nin, Poo, Mr. Kihaji
Soft Programmer: Youichi, Noriko, Takɐno, Nouchi
Object Designer: Kurichan, Takata, Shinsyudon, Sintan, Emetaro
Scroll Designer: Mikichan, Hanachan, Kuramoyan, Fukumoyan, Nonochan, Black Man
Sound: Tamasan, Yukichan no Papa
Hard Ware: Kuchino
Mechatronics: Kamimori
Special Thanks: Hustler Bam, Rattchan, Kakkun, Poochan, CBX.Yukio, Ota, Ito
June 1988

Additionally, Forgotten Worlds, like many other games during this era of gaming, credited its staff in its default Score Ranking Table, which is as follows:

1st 10000 NIN
2nd 9000 EGW
3rd 8000 KOJ
4th 7000 TAK
5th 6000 MIK

Genesis/Mega Drive Version

Planner: Mino, Mu.Kondo
Soft Programmer: Taku.Ayu, K.Koba
Designer: Stresteles, Hide, D.Minow
Sound: Ippo
Game Check: Works Nishi, Gottochan
Special Thanks to: Capcom

Master System Version

Planners: Tommy, Yukino
Programmers: Kimrom, Yone
Designer: Tommy, Yukino
Sound: Ippo
Special Thanks to: Capcom
Presented by: Sega

TurboGrafx-16 Version

Director: N.Okada
Programmer: M.Wada
Producer: Taka.Ozama
Executive Producer: S.Ishihara
Graphics Convert: K.Tsubokura, K.Nakada, A Wave (T.Hirabayasi, F.Koakutsu)
Graphic: K.Eto
Sound: K.Hayashi
Cast: H.Tanaka, M.Ikemizu, E.Hara, Y.Yamamoto
Supervisor: M.Iriguchi, T.Tabeta
Manual Editor: M.Morita, S.Ueno
Special Thanks: T.Miyokawa, S.Kuroda, Y.Masuko, Y.Myoga, F.Suzuki, Capcom