Panzer Bandit

Panzer Bandit is a 1997 Japan-only Beat'Em Up developed by Fill-in Cafe and published by Banpresto for the PlayStation. The game is a mix of 2D sprites with 3D backgrounds, with sprite-based characters running in a 2.5D environment. The game plays similarly to Sega Saturn's Guardian Heroes, except with only 2 planes of movement to jump back and forth. Each character has three basic attack options: two melee attacks and one energy draining special. There are special moves done with button combinations, as well as powerful Hyper attacks, both of which cost energy as well (which is recovered by racking up big Combos).

Set in a not-so distant future where the natural sources of energy are disappearing due to human consumption. Then along it comes an evil organization known as Ark, with their whale-shaped air fortress and gang of robot Mooks seeking to claim the remaining sources of energy to, obviously, Take Over the World. Good scientist Kron confronts the heads of Ark: the Mad Scientist Farado and his ally Golden, but can't do much to stop them. Thus, he gathers a 4-man team (comprised of Kou, Ein, Kasumi and Miu) in order to get back at Ark and stop their plans.


 * Action Girl: Kasumi.
 * Airborne Aircraft Carrier: Shaped like whales.
 * Airborne Mooks: The very annoying flying Elite Mooks from later stages.
 * All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Right after the first four main missions, Farado ends up raiding the Home Base, setting up the 5th stage.
 * Ambiguously Brown: Jin.
 * Anime Theme Song: Accompanied by a nice anime intro.
 * Ax Crazy: 4th boss Mudou, which seems unable to stop cackling. Farado seems to go nuts after his first defeat, too.
 * Badass Adorable: Miu.
 * Badass Biker: Ein, during the credits roll.
 * Beard of Evil: Farado.
 * BFS: 2nd boss Jingoro carries one.
 * Big Bad: Farado
 * The Dragon: Senka.
 * Blow You Away: Several of Senka's special attacks, including one of her Hypers.
 * Boss Rush
 * A Boy and His X: Kou, Jin and Kasumi are accompanied by a Robot Buddy each. In Kasumi's case, a fox-shaped one.
 * Catgirl: Senka.
 * Charged Attack: By holding the attack button, one can charge-up Kou/Jin's energy ball, which increases in size and deals more damage/hits.
 * Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Golden, who only appears in the Attract Mode intro as an ally of Farado, is nowhere to be seen in the game proper.
 * Collapsing Lair: The Final Boss fight starts while the air fortress is exploding.
 * Cool Airship: Whale-shaped airships!!
 * Cyborg: Ein.
 * Dark Action Girl: Senka.
 * Dramatic Thunder: Farado gets one after his first form's defeat.
 * Dumb Muscle: 1st boss Gustaff.
 * Elevator Action Sequence: The 8th and final stage is comprised entirely of a descending elevator as one faces each one of the bosses in quick succession.
 * Everything's Better with Monkeys: Mecha-Monkeys appear as Giant Mooks and Mini Bosses.
 * Everything's Better with Spinning: Miu's mecha and 6th boss Shiden.
 * Evil Counterpart: Jin is one to Kou, and actually plays identical to him save one different Hyper.
 * Five-Man Band
 * The Hero: Kou.
 * The Lancer: Kasumi.
 * The Smart Guy: Dr. Kron.
 * The Big Guy: Ein.
 * The Chick: Miu.
 * Frickin' Laser Beams: Ein uses them in both Special (which can be aimed low and high as an anti-air) and Hyper variant. Tsubai, being his Expy, has also extensive use of them.
 * Gatling Good: Tsubai has them build into his arms.
 * Gentle Giant: Ein, as seen in the animated intro when he covers a flower from being crushed by debris with his own body.
 * The Gunslinger: Ein.
 * Guns Akimbo
 * Hellish Pupils: Jin.
 * Humongous Mecha: Farado's One-Winged Angel form, as well as Shiden.
 * Kid Hero: All main characters except Ein.
 * Knife Nut: Kasumi.
 * Lean and Mean: Farado is quite the skinny one, specially compared to pretty much any other character.
 * To Be Continued: The ending ends in a "To Be Continued...", which is unlikely to ever happen...
 * Life Drain: One of the attacks of 4th boss Mudou consists of a small black orb that steals life and turns it into a collectable (for him only) pickup.
 * Limit Break
 * Mad Bomber: Ein and Tsubai. Farado's Spider Tank vomits them as attacks.
 * Mad Scientist: Dr. Farado.
 * Mecha-Mooks
 * Mini Boss: Several.
 * Mini-Mecha: Miu rides one, which can get easily trashed (forcing the player to walk around with the weak Miu until the energy bar fills up again and she can summon a new one). Several Mini Bosses are pretty much this, ridden by Mooks.
 * Mirror Boss: Jin and Tsubai are pretty much copies of Kou and Ein (Jin is 100% a Palette Swap).
 * Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. Farado.
 * More Dakka: Ein, to the extreme. One of Tsubai's Hyper has him opening several parts of his armor to reveal a dozen guns.
 * Won't Work On Me: Shiden, which makes him a very annoying boss.
 * Paper Fan of Doom: Senka uses one, though entirely as her deadly Weapon of Choice.
 * Powered Armor: Gustaff is clad in a massive armor.
 * Playing with Fire: Several characters' hypers.
 * The Rival: Jin to Kou.
 * Rocket Punch: Shiden can extend his punch in a similar manner.
 * Rolling Attack: Mudou's specialty.
 * Secret Character: All the bosses can be unlocked for both Story and Vs. Mode.
 * Ship Level: Stage 3 includes a harbor and ship areas.
 * Shock and Awe: Senka and Shiden.
 * Simple Staff: Used by one type of Mini Boss.
 * Smoking Is Cool: Ein's cigar, always on his mouth.
 * Spider Tank: Farado's first mecha.
 * Sprite Polygon Mix
 * Storming The Whale-Shaped Air Fortress: Starts in the 6th stage.
 * Transforming Mecha: Kou's Robot Buddy transforms into a sword for one of his hypers. Jin's black-swapped clone robot turns into a Sinister Scythe, though the hyper is the same.
 * The Unintelligible: Mudou.
 * The Voiceless: 5th and 6th bosses, Tsubai and Shiden.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Jin and Jingoro.
 * Worthy Opponent: Jin sees Kou as the only one worth fighting.
 * Wrestler in All of Us: Miu's repertoire includes a multi-directional piledriver.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Kou and Senka.