Empire City: 1931 (1986)

Developer: Seibu Kaihatsu
Publisher: Taito, Toshiba-EMI
Platforms: Arcade, Family Computer, Nintendo Entertainment System, MSX
Genres: Shooter, Arcade
Rating: 2.7 of 5, 5 player ratings

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

Hunt down criminals through 1930s New York as a federal agent in this tense light-gun style arcade shooter.

actionhistoricaldarkcrimearcade-styletense

About

In Empire City: 1931 which is set in 1931 you are a federal agent that has to eliminate all criminal activities in New York City. You must hunt the criminals down and shoot them one by one. To locate a criminal you just have to follow the arrow on the left or right of the screen. Killing criminals is done by moving the cross hair over them. A countdown timer will start counting down if a criminal starts shooting at you. You must kill the criminal before the timer reaches zero or you'll loose a life. New bullets can be collected by shooting at the bullet boxes that regularly appear in the game as other useful objects. The criminals sometimes take hostages for protection. Rescue these hostages for additional points.

Screenshots

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More by Seibu Kaihatsu

This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.