Elemental Gearbolt

A PS One Light Gun Game that was developed by Alfa System in 1997 and localized by Working Designs in 1998. It defies a number of Light Gun genre conventions simply by telling a pretty effective tragic fantasy story. And then caps it off with exceptionally atmospheric music and art.

Elemental Gearbolt opens with a scene of two dead girls getting transformed into Implacable Man magical war machines. In a nutshell, they tear across the countryside, destroying a Well-Intentioned Extremist prince's advanced technology and spoiling his Assimilation Plot. Everyone dies, the end.

Let's get a bit more in-depth. The game world is rife with Fantastic Racism. The Sulunkan, a race of peaceful Magitech masters, are oppressed by Audo overlords who invaded their world long ago. The Sulunkan do fight back, but their resistance groups are no match for the Audo. In a chance meeting, Bel Cain, a young half-breed prince, meets Nell and Seana, half-breed daughters of a Sulunkan resistance leader. They promise to meet again, but they never do (in the strict sense, at least).

Years later, Bel Cain becomes crown prince and resolves to create a new world order with super advanced Magitech, all managed by a computer made from human brains. Bel Cain doesn't realize that the computer hates its existence so much that it has created weapons capable of finding and destroying it... using the corpses of Nell and Seana (who joined the Sulunkan resistance only to be killed and taken as trophies). The things that used to be Nell and Seana they tear across the countryside, destroying Bel Cain's advanced technology, culminating in a sad, one-sided reunion... and they all die. Or do they?


 * Adipose Rex: King Jabugal is one, of the hedonistic Villainous Glutton variety.
 * Bottomless Magazines: There is no reloading. Magical guns don't run out of ammo, apparently.
 * Death Seeker: The Neural Network Computer.
 * Gray and Black Morality: There's only one character with no redeeming traits: King Jabugal.
 * Memento MacGuffin: Nell breaks her necklace in two and gives part of it to Bel Cain as a symbol of their promise to reunite.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: Bel Cain and Ialu.
 * RPG Elements: Points scored in a level can be allocated into experience, allowing Nell and Seana to gain levels.
 * Tragic Villain: Bel Cain has done (and plans to do) awful things in pursuit of his goals. But if he gets in Nell and Seana's way (as he must), his chances of survival are dismayingly low.