Hey Arcaders!
This is absolutely one of my favorite Data East two player games! It’s a great one player game, but play with a friend- it’s crazy! Let’s check out Gondomania!
It is war with the Gondos…
Your women are held captive in the Planet of Thorns. Mount your air bike… Prepare for battle! The Gondos, a race of alien beings, steals your significant other and takes them to the planet of thorns. The premise of game is to take down the Gondos though various levels and boss fights. It takes place in a futuristic medieval world and includes dragons and soldiers.
One button activates the guns, while the other button throws a type of sub-weapon and the joystick allows the player to move in various directions. The rotary joystick allows the player to aim and fire sub-weapons in eight different directions. Similar to other scrolling shooters, Gondomania allows players to progress through ten levels. Enemies in Gondomania drop coins when they are defeated, which allows a player to purchase power-ups. This differs from typical scrolling shooters in that it requires an additional layer of strategy to decide which item to purchase and when as opposed to the typical scrolling shooter where the player receives pre-programmed power-ups. Like most Data East games, the enemies get a little weird, like the enemy soldiers that appear to be wearing purple princess dresses, but attack just as fiercely as the regular enemies. Bosses include giant mechas, a flaming Cyclops, dragons, and other oddities.
Let’s get to the gameplay!
Check out the insane two player action!
Unfortunately- there hasn’t been a release on any home systems. Very sad- this game could have been easily converted, making the the shots follow the joystick movements, like Heavy Barrel and other games like it. It can be played via emulation that way as well. It did show up on the AT Games Legends Ultimate cabinet. This is a fun two player game- check it out if you can!
As a bonus- check out the Gondomania soundtrack!
So- what did you think of Gondomania? I love defeating the enemies, and getting all the coins up at once! And stick with the knife- the game doesn’t have rapid fire, but the knives shoot very fast! Play this game if you can!
Keep playin’ like it’s 1981!
The Arcade Archives! 
Okay, I think between this one and Heavy Barrel I’m getting my interest in top down action games back again. 😀👍
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