Transformers: Mystery of Convoy

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Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Mystery of Convoy
Ignore the racist logo in the corner!
戦え! 超ロボット生命体トランスフォーマー　コンボイの謎 (Tatakae! Chō Robot Seimei Tai Transformer Convoy no Nazo)
Developer	ISCO
Publisher	Takara
Platform	Family Computer, Virtual Console
Release date	5 December 1986 (Family Computer) 10 June 2008 (Virtual Console)
Rating	CERO: A

Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Mystery of Convoy is a video game developed by ISCO and distributed by Takara for the Famicom (the Japanese version of the Nintendo Entertainment System). The player controls Ultra Magnus on his mission to find the whereabouts of the missing Optimus Prime. Along his quest, Ultra Magnus faces various Decepticon threats including Seeker-type infantry, floating Decepticon insignias, the Nemesis, the combiners Menasor and Bruticus, Megatron and a final battle against Trypticon.

The game was followed by The Headmasters.

In 2008, Mystery of Convoy was made available on the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console service in Japan, up until the service was sunset. It cost 500 Wii points, or five dollars in Human money.

Gameplay

Ultra Magnus tries not to get his ass kicked by the first enemy.

The game is a simple 2D platformer with the player making their way through 10 levels while under constant attack from various enemies. Killing enemies earns the player points, occasionally various power-ups such as extra defense or temporary flight, and at every 20,000 points the player is awarded with an extra life. Many of the levels are simple horizontal fields, while two are vertical and one is a frustrating labyrinth where escape depends on a very specific route through the level or else it will loop back in upon itself. At the end of each level is a boss which in almost all cases simply floats up and down on the right side of the screen while randomly firing projectiles at the player.

Ultra Magnus fights with a very short-range gun and can transform. While transforming lets him fire upwards and makes him harder to hit, it makes his forward shots arc downwards and takes away his ability to jump. Unless he's using the "B" power-up, Magnus will die from a single hit of any kind, whereas the majority of enemies require multiple hits to be destroyed.

There are also a few secrets in the game, such as special red jet enemies that appear in certain stages. If Ultra Magnus manages to kill these, Bumblebee appears and lets him skip a few levels. Another secret is the seven hidden letters that spell out "RODIMUS" which are obtained by killing certain enemies. If the player collects all seven letters by the end of the game, they are given the option of playing through the game again, this time as Rodimus Prime. Rodimus Prime has a new vehicle mode sprite but his in-play robot mode is simply a recolored Ultra Magnus and the gameplay remains exactly the same as during the Magnus run.

This game is also notorious for being extremely difficult to the point of frustration thanks to dodgy hit mechanics and sluggish control in addition to the small size of the projectiles requiring very accurate aiming, the copious amount of enemies, and the lack of color making the player unable to discern important objects from each other like an enemy shot from a mountain in the background.

Stages

1. Wasteland Zone
2. Temple Ruins
3. Time Tunnel I
4. Subspace Zone
5. Floating City
6. Time Tunnel II
7. Glacier Zone
8. Time Tunnel III
9. Underground Machine City
10. Time Tunnel IV

Characters

Cheat codes

Strategy guide

Main article: Transformers (Mystery of Convoy)

Notes

• The English title on the package of the game is mistakenly labeled as "Mystery of Comvoy".
• Despite his Japanese name being in the title of the game, Optimus Prime only appears in-game twice. First during the start screen, when his head explodes and reassembles as the player's sprite, and later his head reappears colored gray right at the end of level 7.
• The Alternity story, "To Die Game!", retcons this game as being part of a cross-dimensional game between the hyper-dimensional guardian Optimus Prime and the equally powerful Megatron, wherein Optimus had to choose one avatar (Ultra Magnus) to fight endless hordes of Decepticons empowered by Megatron.
• The events of this game were adapted into manga form twice. First by Ikuo Miyazoe in a special titled "Famicom How-to Manga: Transformers: Mystery of Convoy" and published in the December 1986 issue of Comic Bom Bom. Then again, in a far more truncated strip format by Akira Tanizaki for the Transformers (Mystery of Convoy) strategy guide in the Comic Bom Bom Winter Vacation Special: Family Computer Certain Victory Dojo Vol. 12, in January 1987.
• In 2014 TakaraTomy released Q-Transformers: Mystery of Convoy Returns, a mobile game based on Mystery of Convoy, to tie in with their Q-Transformers toyline. It was accompanied by a Mystery of Convoy Returns cartoon in which the characters often discuss the difficulty and peculiarities of the original Famicom game.
• The Bee Team plays this game at the end of the 2015 Robots in Disguise comic book's first issue.
• This game uses a strobe effect popular in Japan at the time. Such effects have become controversial due to concern over people with photosensitive epilepsy, and fell out of use altogether following the infamous "Electric Soldier Porygon" incident in 1997..
• Upon starting the game, a cover of the opening melody to the “Transformers 2010” opening plays.

References

1. ↑ Transformers: Convoy no Nazo (J) - NES - Codes - GSHI

External links

• Perhaps the most comprehensive Convoy no Nazo site online, with screencaps, hints, and .ROM files.
• Convoy no Nazo commercial on YouTube
• Takara's promotional video for the game (using an unfinished build with cheats running)
• Angry Video Game Nerd's review at YouTube
• Strategy Wiki
• Game Genie codes
• Translations of the game's endings