Journey to Silius (NES)

Journey to Silius, also known as Rough World in Japan, is a side-scrolling run and gun video game developed and published by Sunsoft in 1990. The game is set in the year 0373 of the new space age calendar, a time when Earth is overpopulated and humanity is expanding into space colonies. The protagonist, Jay McCray, plans to join his father at space colony #428 in the Silius Solar System (SSS). However, tragedy strikes as the colony is destroyed in an explosion orchestrated by terrorists, killing Jay’s father and the research team, and erasing all their data.

Amidst his father’s belongings, Jay discovers a floppy disk containing the complete plans for the SSS colony along with a personal message urging him to continue the work if the colony were ever destroyed. Motivated by this message and a desire to avenge his father’s death, Jay vows to fight the terrorists responsible for the disaster.

Gameplay involves controlling Jay McCray through five challenging stages, including the ruins of the space colony, an underground concourse, the terrorists’ hideout, a spaceship, and a factory. Each stage is filled with robotic enemies and security systems, culminating in a boss fight. Jay starts with a default handgun but can acquire additional weapons like a shotgun, machine gun, homing gun, laser rifle, and grenade launcher. These special weapons consume a Gun Energy gauge, which, when depleted, reverts Jay back to his handgun. Players can recover Jay’s health and replenish ammo through energy capsules dropped by defeated enemies. Upon completing the final stage, the game cycles back to the first stage, increasing in difficulty.

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