LED Storm (Arcade)

LED Storm
Also known as: Mad Gear (JP/later US) Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Platform: Arcade (Capcom Last Duel hardware) Released in JP: February 1989 Released in US: 1989? (LED Storm), March 1989 (Mad Gear) This game has hidden developer credits. This game has unused graphics. This game has revisional differences.

To do: Document the prototype, which is VERY different from both the final and location test versions.

LED Storm is not about surviving a hail of laser fire. It's more of a Bump 'n' Jump-type racing game with bigger sprites and powerups.

And pits. Lots of pits.

Sub-Pages

Version Differences Ever wondered why all the home ports feel like a completely different game?

Dev Credit

A small credit is in the audio CPU at 0x0000D:

Prog. Saka

Unused Graphics

Used	Unused

The characters in the game's attract mode all have multiple frames of animation, but only Mohikan actually uses them. The rest are static images.

Used	Unused

Snake is Fred's rival. Oh, Fred is the protagonist, by the way, not that you get to see him outside of this cast roll.

Used	Unused

Hougan has a case of the road rage. Maybe it's the striped shirt.

Used	Unused

"Arnold", who is clearly not based on any actor living or dead, has the most animation frames of anyone besides Fred. The shades are actually a separate sprite. Note that the third unused frame uses an incorrect gray color for the border.

Used	Unused

Vebroag's unused frame uses a very different character design! Some of the graphics were overwritten, but you get the gist of it.

Just a little unused subtitle that says "Mad Gear".

(Translation: CounterDiving)

An unused graphic that says "Ultra-Magnetic Swift Attack". Doesn't really apply to anything in the game, but it sounds rad as hell.

(Translation: CounterDiving)

An unused dollar sign graphic is in the game's CHR ROM bank. There's technically a cash prize at the end of the game, but it's really just a point bonus.

It's a frosty mug of beer! Don't drink and drive, kids.

Unused graphics for the bonus point balloons, which always give 10,000 points in the finished game.

A simple yellow road barrier. These appeared in the location test version LED Storm Rally 2011 with a different design, and it looks like they were going to keep them in the game but ultimately decided not to.

An unused falling animation for the cars found in the two desert levels. Even if you force those cars over a pit, they'll just keep on driving as if they're on solid ground.

The yellow race cars have animations for jumping and driving on a slant which were probably meant to be used in the Thunder Road stage. They're always upright in the final version.

Alternate Credits

To see these, the player has to complete the second loop of the game and have the last digit of their score be 0. This is harder than it seems, as every time the car explodes the player is awarded 1 point. So either get through the entire game without exploding (good luck) or make sure your number of explosions is divisible by 10. Simple, right?

Normal	Alternate

An additional set of special thanks is only in the alternate credits sequence:

(Source: http://eienken.web.fc2.com/game-tips/madgear-ledstorm/madgear-ledstorm-stage.html)

Revisional Differences

Original US	Japan/Later US

The first US release was LED Storm. In Japan and for later American releases, the game was retitled Mad Gear, with the title logo receiving a fancy new backdrop and Japanese subtitle to go along with it. If you look closely, you'll notice that LED Storm's title screen is surrounded by a weird off-black color, this was fixed in Mad Gear. The copyright year was rather conspicuously updated as well, now using the game's regular font as opposed to a unique one due to Capcom apparently not being bothered to draw a 9.