Spinal Breakers

Spinal Breakers
US flyer
Japanese Name	スパイナルブレイカーズ (Spinal Breakers)
English Name	Spinal Breakers
Developer(s)	Video System
Publisher(s)	Video System (Japan) Sammy (US)
Release Date	WW 1990
Platform(s)	Arcade

Spinal Breakers (スパイナルブレイカーズ ) is a shooting action game released by Video System in 1990 for arcades.

Overview

Spinal Breakers is a crosshair shooter similar to Cabal and NAM-1975. The camera is set behind the player character, constantly scrolling to the right as enemies continuously appear on the screen. The player is initially equipped with a machine gun and limited use grenades; the player must move the crosshair to aim at enemies, with the character position being locked when shooting, though the player can perform an evasive roll by pressing the second button. In addition to shooting enemies the player can also destroy parts of the scenery which will drop extra grenades, new weapons and waffles to replenish health.

The game stars Captain Waffle, who would later appear as a hidden character in Sonic Wings 3 and Sonic Wings Special. Waffle has been in artificial hibernation on a space station, and he travels to Earth to fight organic robots known as the Hildroid, who have been affected by nuclear radiation and somehow have gained the ability to travel through time. They are now taking over human and animal hosts from Earth's past.

The game has three possible endings:

• Worst ending: Let the timer run out on any stage. Waffle returns to the space station only to find that his wife Camille and their daughter have been possessed by the Hildroid. Waffle shoots them both, then a third gunshot offscreen implies that he commits suicide.
• Bad ending: Do not let the timer run out, but use a continue at least once. Camille is safe, but Waffle himself is revealed to be possessed.
• Good ending: Do not let the timer run out, and do not use any continues. The whole family returns to the space station safely, and the Earth returns to the way it was before the Hildroid attack.

The Hildroid later appears as one of the enemy forces in Sonic Wings 3.

Story

from a US Spinal Breakers advertising flyer

Hildroids were created by humans as a worker force. They had no will, no intelligence, and were submissive robots. Then it happened...

Several nuclear explosions around the globe triggered a nuclear war-- man's worst nightmare. But nothing compared to the terror of the mutated, now murderous hildroids. In horror and defeat, man fled to the stars.

Now, Captain Waffle must return to Earth and smash the hildroids, before they can complete a diabolical plan to alter history, and destroy humanity.

Characters

Playable

• Captain Waffle

Non-Playable Characters

• Camille
• Waffle's Daughter

Stages and Bosses

Spinal Breakers contains seven stages.

Stage	Location	Boss
1	Europe	Hildroid Tank
2	China	Fire Master
3	Russia	Hildroid Dinosaur
4	Rome	Hildroid Gladiator
5	Egypt	Hildroid Eye Monster
6	Japan	Hildroid Samurai
7	America	Hildroid Boss

Releases

Arcade

Spinal Breakers was released in arcades in Japan and internationally.

Japanese arcade art set - front.

Japanese arcade art set - back.

US flyer.

US arcade manual.