Jet Force Gemini
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| Jet Force Gemini | |
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| Developer(s) | Rare |
| Publisher(s) | Rare |
| Engine | Enhanced Diddy Kong Racing |
| Release date(s) | October 11, 1999 |
| Genre(s) | Third-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo 64 |
| Media | 64-megabit cartridge |
Jet Force Gemini (or Star Twins (スタ・ツインズ?) in Japan) is a science fiction third-person shooter game for the Nintendo 64 developed and published by Rare that was released on October 11, 1999. The single-player mode consists of several levels in which the player assumes the role of the Jet Force Gemini as they try to stop the evil plans of the bug dictator Mizar. The game is unique in that it employs the rare "co-op" style of gameplay, where two people can play the storyline mode at once. Multiplayer modes can be unlocked, including the traditional deathmatch and survival matches. Also available in multiplayer are racing games, as well as the firing range mode, which is similar to a rail shooter game. Jet Force Gemini shares elements with platform games, first person shooters, and run and gun games.
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[edit] Main characters
- Juno — The first playable character. A human male whose parents were killed by space pirates who invaded his home station. He has the ability to walk through magma safely. He is named after 3 Juno, the third asteroid to be discovered by humans.
- Vela — Juno's twin sister and the second playable character. She has the ability to survive in water indefinitely. She is named after the constellation Vela.
- Lupus — the third playable character. The twins' wardog who is outfitted with a gun mounted on his armored back and jets on his feet that allow him to hover for a short period of time. He is named after the constellation Lupus. Later in the game he's fitted with something that seems to be a small tank's base.
- Tribals — A peaceful, hut-dwelling bear-like race. The drones have captured them as slaves. These bipeds are scattered all over the game and must be rescued.
- King Jeff — The ruler of the Tribals. Jeff is the one who sets up the plot of the game, and tries to help out in anyway he can. Jeff also has a younger brother named Barry, who disappeared sometime before the drone invasion began.
- Drones — A collection of various types of insects who Mizar employs as his soldiers. They enslaved many tribals.
- Floyd — A robot who used to serve under Mizar before being shot by drones for insubordination. A player using the second controller can control Floyd to assist the first player by shooting an unlimited amount of weak energy blasts, but he must follow the first-controller character.
- Mizar — The ruler of the Drones and the main villain of the game. He is named after Mizar, a star in the constellation Ursa Major.
[edit] Other Characters
- Magnus and Midge — A pair of ambassadors from the Union, who were sent out to negotiate a peaceful cease-fire with Mizar, but to no avail.
- The Amazing Mining Mole Brothers: Fishface, Fernando, and Farmer — A trio of miners from Rith Essa. They came to Mizar in hopes of buying some captured Tribals for slave labor in the mines. Mizar, however, just doesn't want to sell them anything, much to their annoyance.
- Diamond Geezer — A mercenary robot who's willing to help out anyone...for a price.
[edit] Storyline
The game begins with Juno, Vela, and Lupus witnessing an attack on Goldwood by Mizar's forces. Soon afterwards, their spaceship is attacked and invaded by drones. Since they're the last Jet Force ship left (the fleet being destroyed by Mizar), they decide to not to wait for orders and act on their own. The three abandon ship and go off their own separate paths to stop the invasion and confront Mizar. In the beginning, Juno is the only playable character, following a set path towards Mizar's Palace. As the game progresses, Vela's and Lupus' paths to Mizar's Palace can be unlocked, as well as a co-op mode when the player fixes Floyd.
After reaching Mizar's lair, the three finally confront Mizar and defeat him. However, Mizar escapes to a nearby asteroid, were he sets course to impact with Earth. King Jeff, the leader of the Tribals, can help the Jet Force team by providing an ancient starship that can quickly catch up to Mizar's asteroid. However, the team needs to locate several vital parts scattered throughout the game, as well as rescue all the enslaved Tribals. Also, King Jeff upgrades the characters with Jetpacks that allow the characters to fly, if they can find fuel for it. From this point on, the player can play with Juno, Vela, and Lupus on any level. Lupus also gets some sort of an armoured caterpillar tracked vehicle he barely fits. The vehicle removes all damage from falls, can float with pontoons and keeps the ability to fly.
After all the Tribals are rescued, and the parts found, the Jet Force team, along with King Jeff, goes to Mizar's asteroid. After a rough landing, Juno fights through Mizar's army and finally confronts and defeats Mizar himself (whose true identity comes as a shock to everyone). However, to save Earth, Floyd sacrifices himself to destroy the asteroid. Afterwards on Earth, the Jet Force team are honored for their accomplishments.
[edit] Levels
Jet Force Gemini features a number of levels, all are different planets, spaceships or asteroids. Many levels must be unlocked after finishing a certain area or task.
- Goldwood - The forest homeworld of the Tribals, it was invaded and occupied by Mizar's drone soldiers. The Tribals were then transferred to other planets and vessels to be used as slave labor.
- SS Anubis - A bright yellow cargo vessel that Mizar captured and employed for his own uses. Named after Anubis of Egyptian mythology.
- Tawfret - Swampy marsh world which was the site of a Tribal colony, where it is constantly raining. The inhabitants live in treehouses to avoid being flooded, as well as various ruins. This planet was once a beautiful paradise similar to Goldwood, but due to a horrid incident, has been condemned to a perpetual curse.
- Sekhmet - A large, red battlecruiser filled with Mizar's drone army. This was the vessel that attacked and conquered Goldwood. It is named after a war goddess of Egyptian mythology. The ship has a large water channel, possibly for easier transport of heavy objects bound to be found in a warship.
- Cerulean - Beautiful blue desert world, it has a twisting cave system where plants live and young insects grow in cocoons. Cerulean is a shade of blue, hence the name.
- Ichor - Military base for Mizar's forces. It is a seemingly impenetrable fortress where the strongest Drones, such as the red Cyborg Beetles, are stationed. Ichor refers to "blood", which fits the level quite well; Ichor is nothing but a shootout from start to finish. Ichor's military base also houses a disco for drones.
- Spawnship - The vessel that spawns the Drone army. It has numerous watery areas that make it a more suitable place for the creation of Drones.
- Rith Essa - Tropical mining planet whose facilities Mizar has conquered in order to fuel the creation of his armies' weapons. It is a vast world, with huge cliffs, mountains, and canyons. Is also an anagram by RARE.
- Eschebone - Hot, inhospitable planet almost covered in lava. It is also the home of a huge maggot-like creature, of which the majority of the stage is inside. An anagram for nobcheese by RARE.
- Mizar's Palace - A magnificent palace shaped like a pyramid and covered with hieroglyphics. Mizar lives in the central, smaller pyramid. Mizar's palace consists of one level for each character -- the flume (Vela), the lobby (Juno), and the chasm (Lupus).
- Walkway - Planet notable for a large peak spaning above the clouds that serves as a landing pad, walkway, and a structure.
- Gem Quarry - Tribal world similar to Goldwood, used for mining gems.
- Space Station - Large, partly ruined space station, filled with dark tunnels and drones.
- Water Ruin - Beautiful planet with a large ocean and partly submerged ruins.
- Asteroid - The last level and the site of the final battle. Mizar and the remnants of his troops flee here to begin their kamikaze final strike at Earth.
[edit] Weaponry
Floyd - Floyd houses two weapons similar to the pistol with the exception of unlimited ammunition and sustained fire. Floyd can't auto-aim his weapons.
Pistol - Standard Jet-Force weapon, in other words, the basic blaster. It has limited ammunition in a way; when the ammo runs out, the pistol fires an auxiliary bullet that is not as powerful as its standard shots. The weapon fires fully automatic for seven shots, after which it will charge up for another burst, or can be fired semi-automatically which is very slow. Because it has a limited auto-aiming function, it works well for on-the-fly precision, such as during a boss battle or when the character must shoot quickly and then hide.
The pistol remains accurate even at long ranges and is ideal for sniping unsuspecting enemies.
Machine gun - Peppers the target with a steady stream of bullets that aren't very accurate but make up for in speed. Because of the sheer amount of shots fired per second, it's perfect for large groups of unarmored or flying enemies. Juno wields a machine gun in the opening scene but discards it when making a run for his escape pod.
Plasma Shotgun - An energy weapon that can be charged up for a more powerful blast. However, it takes a while to charge up. Strangely, the Shotgun doesn't work like a shotgun at all; it fires two spheres of energy side by side, while real shotguns send out a single burst of smaller projectiles in a wide and messy spray.
Not charging the weapon could be considered a waste as uncharged projectiles do little damage and charging doesn't take much time.
Tri-Rocket Launcher - A powerful, if inaccurate, weapon that fires three rockets at once. One shot with the Tri-Rocket launcher will kill anything short of a boss. However, Jet Force Gemini allows friendly fire; the player can receive damage from rockets that impact too close. The weapon comes with rapid fire.
Homing Missile - A missile launcher that can lock on a target and fires a homing missile that seeks out that target. However, the player must lock on to the target first. It can also be used without its lock-on function, but the missiles will fly straight and won't home.
Shocker - An electroshock gun under field testing. Fires an electric bolt at a target. It has a low range, and is overall impractical. Mostly used for amusement purposes against single drones and tribals.
Flamethrower - Gas-fueled flamethrower that burns its targets. This weapon also has a low range, as well as going through fuel quickly. It should be noted that targets on fire can do damage to the player, if they touch their character, but can also set their allies aflame. It's really only effective against the Zombie drones on Tawfret, who die instantly from the flames, and possibly shielded drones and termites. For some reason, the lanterns carried by some tribals are counted as flamethrower ammunition.
Shuriken - A throwing star and also the only weapon whose ammo can be retrieved after use. The Shuriken auto-aims on a selected target, slicing through the air and precisely decapitating the enemy in a single stroke (although the zombie troops will not die). The star will then skitter across the ground and come to rest or embed itself in a nearby wall or other vertical surface. Sometimes, it will actually fly back to the thrower, but only if it doesn't hit a wall along the way. Shurikens stuck too high to be retrieved can be shot to bounce them off.
Sniper Rifle - Long-range rifle with a scope, with good accuracy but low firing rate. Each single shot is more powerful than the Plasma Shotgun, and the scope allows long-distance sniping.
Grenade - These grenades bounce after being thrown, and can detonate right away if it contacts a target. Can also be used to hit targets underwater.
Cluster Bomb - When it strikes the ground, cluster bombs blow up once and split into three smaller bombs that parachute to the ground in a triangle and explode. A very wide range of sheer destruction for a single thrown weapon.
Remote Bomb - Remote bombs can be placed and then detonated from afar when an enemy of choice approaches or when the player remote-detonates it. If the detonation button is pushed while the mine is midair, it will explode as soon as it lands.
Proximity Bomb - Similar to the remote bomb, except anyone can trigger it by walking past -- even the person who placed it -- and it can't be remote-detonated. The first person that walks within range takes the hit. These can be useful when an enemy is walking back and forth in a pattern. If the fire button is held down, the proximity bomb will also double as a timed bomb. The longer the fire button is held, the longer the fuse, to a maximum of ten seconds.
Flares - While not a weapon, flares are useful to illuminate dark areas.
Fish Food - It doesn't serve a purpose other than to feed the fish on Goldwood. It does have a neat effect, though; the fish really do rise to the surface to eat it.
[edit] Trivia
- All of the main characters' names (except Floyd's) are related to astronomy.
- Floyd was originally named Pyxis, the Compass of the celestial Argo, but his name was changed because Rare thought "Floyd the Droid" was amusing. Floyd is also the name of the player's robot sidekick in the game Planetfall.
- The game was much more cartoon-like in its first stages of development. The characters had large heads and were young children.
- Mr. Pants (who appears hidden in the game) is a Rareware inside-joke of sorts; an informal symbol of Rare.
