Vertical Force
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| Vertical Force | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Developer | Hudson Soft |
| Publisher | Hudson Soft (Japan), Nintendo (North America) |
| Platform | Virtual Boy |
| Device | Virtual Boy |
| Type | Game |
| Genre | Shooter |
| Play Area | Seated |
| Game Mode | Single-player |
| Release Date | August 12, 1995 (Japan); December 1, 1995 (North America) |
Vertical Force (バーティカルフォース) is a 1995 vertically scrolling shooter developed by Hudson Soft for Nintendo's Virtual Boy, the red-monochrome stereoscopic tabletop headset. Hudson Soft released it in Japan on 12 August 1995, and Nintendo published it in North America on 1 December 1995.[1][2][3][4] The player flies a fighter called the Ragnarok over a scrolling battlefield split into two flight altitudes, a high line and a low line, and switches between them with a button press to reach enemies, dodge fire and avoid obstacles. Collectible AI drones fly alongside the ship and attack enemies on their own.[5][1]
The two-layer design ties the game's mechanics to the Virtual Boy's depth effect: the Ragnarok, its enemies and the scenery sit at visibly different distances from the player. Reviews have been mixed: several critics credited its use of the 3D display while describing the shooting itself as conventional and the game as short, and others found little to recommend.[5][6] On 14 May 2026, Nintendo added the game to the Virtual Boy - Nintendo Classics service for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack members.[7]
Gameplay
In Nintendo's description for its 2026 re-release, the planetary-caretaker computer of the planet Odin has reprogrammed itself, renamed itself Mittgard and declared war on humanity. With the United Earth Army losing, the player pilots the Ragnarok battle machine as humanity's last hope.[7] The Japanese description calls the computer the "machine god Midgard" (機械神ミッドガルド).[1]
Vertical Force scrolls vertically, and each stage ends with a boss.[5] Nintendo's English description calls the two-altitude mechanic the "flightline system"; the Japanese description calls it the "Solid Line System" (ソリッドラインシステム).[7][1] The A button moves the ship between the two altitudes. Players use the switch to dodge an attack, collect a power-up on the other line or reach enemies flying at the other height. Enemies can start on one line and sweep to the other to attack, ground or ship-mounted turrets add extra fire, and some scenery blocks one altitude, forcing a change. In the second stage, whirlpools pull the ship down from the upper line into enemy fire below.[5][6] Instead of a stock of lives, the ship has a single damage meter, which also drops whenever the ship runs into something.[6]
Power-ups give three weapon types, each with three levels of upgrade: a shield, a wider shot and a laser beam. There are also three kinds of drone. Drones attack enemies on their own, and one type attacks only when the player fires but repairs the ship when there is no fighting. Each drone has its own energy meter. Besides the active drone, up to three more can be held in reserve, where they are repaired; the right directional pad swaps drones in and out of reserve, and the B button detonates the active drone to damage every enemy on screen. The Select button cycles four drone behavior settings: whether a drone returns to reserve on its own when its energy is low, and whether it follows the ship's altitude or flies freely.[5]
Each stage includes a fight with Bratt, a mid-stage boss whose weapons are upgraded at every encounter; beating Bratt works as a checkpoint. End-of-stage bosses include a platform that splits apart, a spinning snake-like creature and a skull, and many of them require frequent altitude changes to attack and retreat.[5] The game has five stages, but the fifth contains only Bratt and the final boss. It has three difficulty settings and unlimited continues. Continuing resets the score and removes the player's drones and upgrades, and high scores are not saved.[5]
Use of the 3D display
The two flight altitudes are drawn at different depths. Nintendo Life's Dave Frear wrote that the "feeling of depth is impressive and really enhances the visuals", and noted that the ship flies lower than the Virtual Boy could show, which keeps objects on the lower line large enough to see. In his view the effect works best in stages where the ground or sea is visible below, with nearby structures adding to the sense of the surroundings.[5] N-Europe's Dean Jones described extra layers in parts of some levels and wrote that later stages move from plain black backgrounds to textured and moving ones.[3] Victor Lucas of The Electric Playground disagreed, calling the 3D effects "a pointless afterthought", although he described the transitions between the two flight paths as "nicely handled".[8]
Development
Hudson Soft developed the game.[4][3] A Super Play review quoted by N-Europe says it was the first third-party game to go into development for the Virtual Boy, and that Hudson had spent its time building "a great 3D environment, with two planes of action that you can fly between".[3] The Japanese cartridge carries the catalog number VUE-P-VH3J.[2]
Release
Vertical Force was released in Japan by Hudson Soft on 12 August 1995 and in North America by Nintendo on 1 December 1995.[1][2][9][3] It was never released in Europe, where the Virtual Boy itself never launched.[10]
On 14 May 2026, Nintendo added Vertical Force to the Virtual Boy - Nintendo Classics app together with V-Tetris, Jack Bros., Space Invaders Virtual Collection and Virtual Bowling; Japan also received Virtual Fishing.[7][11] The app runs on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 and requires a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership.[7] Nintendo's Japanese listing and Famitsu credit the re-release to Konami, and Nintendo's listing gives the copyright as Konami Digital Entertainment; Magmix notes that the original was released in 1995 by Hudson, as the company then was.[1][12][9] According to Magmix, playing the Virtual Boy titles also requires one of two separately sold accessories, the Virtual Boy for Nintendo Switch 2 / Nintendo Switch or its paper model version.[9]
| Platform | Region | Release date | Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual Boy | Japan | 12 August 1995 | Hudson Soft | Catalog number VUE-P-VH3J[1][2] |
| Virtual Boy | North America | 1 December 1995 | Nintendo | [4][3] |
| Nintendo Switch / Nintendo Switch 2 (Virtual Boy - Nintendo Classics) | Worldwide | 14 May 2026 | Nintendo | Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack[7][11][1] |
Reception
Reviews have been split. Super Play, Nintendo Life, N-Europe and The Video Game Critic all credited the depth effect, while The Electric Playground did not; several reviewers found the underlying shooter conventional.
| Publication | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Super Play (issue 34) | Not stated in source | "Judged purely as a shoot-'em-up it's only ho-hum, but the 3D really makes it" (as quoted by N-Europe)[3] |
| The Electric Playground | 4.5/10 | Review by Victor Lucas[8] |
| The Video Game Critic | D | Review posted 17 July 2003[6] |
| Nintendo Life | 7/10 | Review by Dave Frear, 26 May 2009[5] |
Victor Lucas of The Electric Playground likened the game to Xevious, 1942, 1943, Raiden and other vertically scrolling shooters, found the graphics "rudimentary" and the music "generic", and wrote that the game was "so devoid of any kind of identity" that it would not be remembered.[8] The Video Game Critic called the gameplay "woefully uneven" and wrote that the game "makes fine use of the Virtual Boy's 3D capabilities, but it's simply not that much fun". The reviewer liked the drones but found swapping them confusing in the heat of battle, and criticized the high-pitched sound effects, the large overlapping red platforms in later stages and the lack of a final score display.[6]
Dave Frear of Nintendo Life described Vertical Force as possibly the most conventional Virtual Boy game in design, but said its levels "make good use of the hardware's 3D effect". He praised the music and the harder difficulty settings, criticized the beeping weapon sounds and the Select-button drone settings, and wrote that the game "suffers greatly from only having four full levels". He concluded that it was "not quite good enough to be known as Hudson's 'lost classic'".[5] Writing for N-Europe in 2025, Dean Jones called it "a fun, if short, scrolling shooter" and "one of the highlights of the system".[3] Nintendo Life's ranking of the Virtual Boy games on Nintendo Switch Online, which is ordered by reader ratings and was last republished in August 2026, listed Vertical Force ninth in October 2026.[10]
John Sharp, who organized the exhibition "Spacewar!: Video Games Blast Off" with the Museum of the Moving Image in New York to mark the 50th anniversary of Spacewar!, wrote that the organizers included Vertical Force among its 21 playable games to show one of the paths video game aesthetics took after Spacewar!.[13]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "バーティカルフォース (Vertical Force)". Nintendo Classics. Nintendo. https://www.nintendo.com/jp/games/feature/nintendo-classics/v-6092_j/index.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "バーティカルフォース (Vertical Force)". Pico Pico Daihyakka (gavas.jp). https://www.gavas.jp/products/detail.php?product_id=380. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Dean Jones (2025-03-18). "All Virtual Boy Games #8: Vertical Force". N-Europe. https://www.n-europe.com/features/all-virtual-boy-games-8-vertical-force/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Vertical Force (Virtual Boy)". Nintendo Life. https://www.nintendolife.com/games/virtualboy/vertical_force. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 Dave Frear (2009-05-26). "Vertical Force Review (Virtual Boy)". Nintendo Life. https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/2009/05/vertical_force_retro. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "Virtual Boy Reviews V-Z". The Video Game Critic. 2003-07-17. https://videogamecritic.com/vboyvz.htm. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Liam Doolan (2026-05-14). "Nintendo Expands Switch Online's Virtual Boy Library With Five More Games". Nintendo Life. https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2026/05/nintendo-expands-switch-onlines-virtual-boy-library-with-five-more-games. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Victor Lucas. "Vertical Force". The Electric Playground. https://web.archive.org/web/20010501032150/http://www.elecplay.com/reviewfull_447.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "「一気にキタ」高騰したレアゲー含む6作追加「バーチャルボーイ Nintendo Classics」". Magmix. https://magmix.jp/post/353918. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Gavin Lane and Nintendo Life Staff (2026-08-22). "Every Nintendo Switch Online Virtual Boy Game Ranked". Nintendo Life. https://www.nintendolife.com/guides/every-nintendo-switch-online-virtual-boy-game-ranked. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Sal Romano (2026-05-13). "Virtual Boy - Nintendo Classics adds V-Tetris, Jack Bros., Space Invaders Virtual Collection, Virtual Bowling, and Vertical Force". Gematsu. https://www.gematsu.com/2026/05/virtual-boy-nintendo-classics-adds-v-tetris-jack-bros-space-invaders-virtual-collection-virtual-bowling-and-vertical-force. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ "『ジャック・ブラザースの迷路でヒーホー!』『バーチャルボウリング』など6作品が、バーチャルボーイ Nintendo Classicsに追加". Famitsu. 2026-05-14. https://www.famitsu.com/article/202605/74723. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ John Sharp (2013-01-07). "The Making of 'Spacewar!: Video Games Blast Off'". Gamasutra. https://web.archive.org/web/20131111000508/http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JohnSharp/20130107/184362/The_Making_of_Spacewar_Video_Games_Blast_Off.php. Retrieved 2026-10-13.