Journey to Silius is a 1990 run and gun game developed and published by Sunsoft for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Tokai Engineering also supported Sunsoft in developing the title as well. It is a slightly edited version of , a Famicom game featuring a different main character sprite. Originally, the game was to be altered to utilize the Terminator movie license, but after Sunsoft lost the rights, the game was further edited into its current state. The game was later rereleased in Japan for the two-in-one Sony Playstation game, Memorial Series Sunsoft Vol.5, which also included Hebereke (known in the PAL region as Ufouria: The Saga).

Story

In the year 0373 of the new space age calendar, overpopulation of Earth has led to increased demand for emigration to space colonies. Jay McCray, the son of a scientist responsible for development of space colony #428 in the Silius Solar System (SSS), prepares to move there in order to follow in his father's footsteps. However, the space station is obliterated in an explosion, killing the entire research team and destroying all data onboard.

In his father's home, Jay discovers a floppy disk containing not only the complete SSS colony plans but a personal message from his father asking that he complete the projects should terrorists succeed in destroying the colony. To protect the colony plans and to avenge his father's death, Jay sets out to fight the terrorists responsible for the space colony's destruction.

Gameplay

Gameplay is comparably similar to the Mega Man, Metal Slug and Contra series, in that while Jay's default weapon has unlimited ammunition, his other weapons do not; likewise, most of the weapons Jay can use are acquired by defeating major enemies, and items dropped by minor enemies restore life and energy (ammunition). He also cannot shoot upward.

Sound and graphics

The game was noted for unusually strong music (composed by Naoki Kodaka) for an 8-bit title. Recorded bass tones were coded as DPCM-samples that added depth to the usual square and triangle waves by layering.

In the intro, the background music has sections that resemble the intro music from the feature film The Terminator, and the final boss also resembles a T-800 from the same movie.

The sound effects also showed up before in the past sunsoft games, specifically Blaster Master and Fester's Quest.

One of the staff in the Credits was named after the next Sunsoft video game Hebereke (called Ufouria: The Saga in certain regions). Although it was in far developement in 1990, released in Japan in 1991 and in Europe and Australia in 1995. That staff member has a role in creating most of the ingame graphics for this game.

The European version of the game which was released with cart identifier NES-4S-XXX (the XXX denotes the region of the game) features the main character Jay with the sprite from rAf WORLD.

Notes

External links

• Memorial Series: SunSoft Vol. 5 webpage
• Journey to Silius ReMiX Collaboration Project
• Journey to Silius at NES Zone
• Video demonstrating the differences between Journey to Silius and its Famicom counterpart, rAf WORLD
• NES Review at XGD