Gain Ground

Gain Ground is an arcade game that was ported to the Sega Master System, Mega Drive/Genesis and PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16). In 2004, it was re-released in Radica Games' TVPlay Legends Vol. II TV Games compilation. It was remade in the PlayStation 2 title Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 9: Gain Ground, which was released only in Japan. The Mega Drive/Genesis version was made available on the European and Australian Virtual Console on February 2, 2007, and was made available in North America on February 5, 2007. The game has also appeared on Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The game has also appeared on the Sega Genesis Collection on the PlayStation 2 and the PSP. On June 1, 2010 the game became available on Steam as part of the 'Sega Mega Drive Classics Pack'.

Gameplay
In Gain Ground, players control one of a set of characters at a time. There are twenty characters, each with different weapons. To beat a level, players must reach the exit point with at least one character or destroy all enemies on the level before time runs out.

Littered across the level are captive characters, which can be rescued by walking over, then escorting the controlled character to the exit point. If a player controlled character is killed, that character turns into a captive, except that they will disappear if the next active player controlled character dies, exits the level without them, or the player has no characters left in their party.

The game is over when all controlled characters in the party are killed without any reaching the exit. However, there are three continues which allow a player to restart the level with their original three characters.

There are 40 levels in the arcade version of the game. The Master System and the Genesis/Mega Drive have 50 levels in the game. The last level can be beaten without the previously stated "suicide tactics".

Characters
There are twenty playable characters in Gain Ground, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Each character has a minor, weak weapon which can be fired in any direction, and a special weapon which has different capabilities from the normal attack and which vary between characters.

The characters in Gain Ground also vary in which hand they hold their weapons. This was originally done purely for cosmetic purposes, but it was very soon discovered that this feature made it easier for some characters to shoot around certain walls and obstacles than others. When selecting a character for a situation, one must consider the character's speed, weapon type and range, and with which hands they hold their weapons.


 * "Cyber" seems to be directly inspired by the title character of the Robocop film series, only colored red instead of silver.
 * Mars' appearance and use of a bow and arrow have drawn comparisons the title character of the Rambo film series.
 * "Robby the Robot" is a subtle reference to the character from the vintage TV show, Lost in Space.
 * The "General" has been noted by players to bear more than a passing resemblance to Street Fighter series villain, M. Bison, although the character didn't appear until 1992 after this game's release. Players have nicknamed the character "Bison" due to the name, General, being rather generic.

History
Gain Ground started off as an arcade game. Released in Japan and America in 1988, Gain Ground ran on the Sega System 24 architecture. It supported up to three players at once. Each player had an 8-direction controller and two buttons.

Gain Ground was ported to the Sega Master System in 1990 and the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in 1991. Renovation Products released the Genesis version in the United States. Both coversions were handled by SIMS. In 1992, a PC Engine Super CD-ROM² version (Gain Ground SX) was released by NEC Avenue. In 2004, the game was remade for a modern audience on the PlayStation 2 as part of Sega's Sega Ages 2500 series. It's now been ported onto the Wii's Virtual Console for download. In 2006, the game was re-released as part of the Sega Genesis Collection.

Storyline
From a Gain Ground flyer: "A long period of peace has deprived the earthlings of their instinct to wage war. The Federated Government, greatly concerned regarding this ever increasing dangerous situation, developed a GAIN GROUND simulation system in the year 2348 in an effort to instigate their ever waning fighting spirit. However, suddenly without warning, the Supercomputer went berserk and took many of the citizens as hostages.  In order to rescue the POWs, three of the bravest warriors were urgently dispatched to go forth into the deadly GAIN GROUND."