{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = black
|title = Karous
|background = #ffffff
|image = Karous_title.png
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [[Milestone]]
|
|releasedate = 2006
|
|previousgame = [[Radirgy|Radirgy]]
|nextgame = [[Illmatic Envelope (Illvelo)|Illmatic Envelope (Illvelo)]]
}}

Karous (jap.: カラス, ''karasu'') is a cel-shaded, vertical shmup from 2006 developed by [[Milestone]].
It was published by Sega and released November 15, 2006 in japanese Arcades on Sega’s NAOMI platform and later ported to Sega Dreamcast on March 8, 2007. It was the last Dreamcast game, that was officially licensed by Sega.

{{VideoIndex}}
__TOC__
{{clear}}

== Gallery ==
<div style='text-align: center;'>
''See [[Karous/Gallery]] for our collection of images and scans for the game.''
</div>

== Gameplay Overview ==
Karous is a vertical scrolling shmup with 5 Stages and a [[TLB]]. Each stage has boss, stage 3-5 also have midbosses.
The player’s ship has 4 different weapon systems, a regular spread shot, a sword for melee range, a shield and a D.F.S. Bomb. The shot, sword and shield can be powered up by earning experience points from destroyed enemies or collecting specific power up items dropped by special enemies. The D.F.S. gauge can be filled by destroying enemies and cancel enemy bullets with the shot or shield. When the gauge is full it can be consumed to use the D.F.S. Bomb. During the D.F.S.-attack the player ship is invincible and the player gets a bonus on experience points and score from destroyed enemies.
As soon the shield is leveled up to 20, it acts also as an offensive weapon by refelecting enemy bullets.
The overall level of the ship is displayed on the right side of the screen and also appears on the leaderboard.
The weapon power-ups dropped by carrier-enemies can be changed by hitting them with the sword. They can also turn in to speed-up or speed-down items.

Some enemies also drop items that increase your score. These look like small, blue triangles. By slashing them with the sword, they can be upgraded to bigger triangles, that are worth more points. Sometimes they also turn into special items like instant D.F.S., unlimited shield, extra lifes, weapon power-ups or a rare item that turns Bullets into score bonus (orange triangle).

=== Power-Up Items ===
----
* ''Light Blue'' (Shot)
* ''Green'' (Sword)
* ''Orange'' (Shield)
* ''Red'' (Speed up)
* ''Blue'' (Speed down

'''Item Cycle:''' light blue → green → orange → red → blue → light blue

=== Game Modes ===
----
At the beginning of the game you can choose from three different difficulty-options:
* ''Easy:'' Only the first 3 Stages, enemies shoot only destroyable bullets
* ''Normal:'' All 5 Stages, Enemies also shoot undestroyable bullets
* ''Hard:'' All 5 Stages + TLB, Enemies shoot more and also bigger undestroyable bullets

Every stage has a hidden bonus with the shape of the Milestone symbol. It can be unvieled by attacking a certain spot in the stage with a specific weapon (Shot in Stage 1 & 2, Sword in Stage 3 and Shield in Stage 4 & 5). Collecting all hidden items is a requirement to unlock the TLB fight. The other requirement is to beat the Stage 5 Boss before he times out.

=== Controls ===
----
* '''A:''' Shot
* '''B:''' Sword
* '''C:''' D.F.S.

The 2025 Ports also offer a rapid-fire option.

== Characters ==
* ''Karous (カラス)'' – Player's ship pilot
* ''Shigi (シギ)'' – Navigator
* ''Akahara (アカハラ(赤原))''
* ''Hakugan (ハクガン(剥眼))''

== Scoring/Strategy ==
The main strategy is to fill your D.F.S. - gauge as quick as possible and use the D.F.S. to absorb bullets, destroy enemies for score and level up your preferred weapons early. High scoring requires a very aggressive playstyle.

Also try to make use of the score items as much as possible by "juggling" them and picking them up at their maximum worth.

Bigger enemies, midbosses and bosses have destroyable parts, so you want to destroy them piece by piece.

You can earn a lot of points from bossfights, by destroying single parts and absorb bullets with your D.F.S. The bosses can be milked, but time out pretty quickly so if you take to long you won’t earn points for destroying the boss.

This also makes it pretty easy to dodge the bossfights by sitting on the bottom of your screen and hiding behind your shield.

== References ==

# 1CC Log for Shmups (https://1cclog.blogspot.com/2015/09/karous-dreamcast.html)

Karous

2026-03-16T19:30:30Z

Zoydo:

2026-03-15T16:08:32Z

Zoydo: /* Gallery */

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = black
|title = Final Soldier
|background = #f8f8f8
|image = Finalsoldier_title.png
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = Now Production
|
|publisher = Hudson Soft
|
|music = T.S. Kiyoshi
|
|program = Papa Tomohide

|releasedate = JP: July 5, 1991

|previousgame = Super Star Soldier
|nextgame = Soldier Blade
}}

== General Information ==
Final Soldier is the second game in the Super Star Soldier Series on PC Engine. It was developed by Now Production and published by Hudson Soft in 1991. Final Soldier was released on July 5,1991 in Japan for PC Engine

== Story ==
Earth is attacked by a time travelling, biomechanical alien race, called the “Gader’el”. The player takes control over the time travelling spaceship “The Dryad” to fight back and destroy the alien hivemind.

== Gameplay Overview ==
Final soldier is a vertical scrolling shoot-em-up with 7 stages. Each stage has a boss and a midboss, except stage 7 which is just a single bossfight with different phases and enemy attack waves in between.

The players ship starts with a vulcan shot as default. By picking up different power-up items the shot type can be changed. By picking up multiple items of the same weapon type, the shot can be upgraded up to 2 levels. By picking up an “M”-Item the ship gets a secondary missile weapon. There are also red containers that can be collected and then serve as an option weapon that follows the players ship. The options can be sacrificed to release a screen clearing bomb attack. Options can only be stacked up to 2.
The shot layout of the different weapons can be customized in the set-up menu.

The players ship has 3 speed levels, that can be chosen as desired.

The game has 3 difficulty settings, which can be chosen in the set-up menu.

Caravan mode can be accessed from the start menu. Final Soldier has a 2 minute and a 5 minute caravan stage.

== Controls ==
* '''I:''' Bomb
* '''II:''' Shot
* '''Run:''' Pause game
* '''Select:''' Change ship speed

== Strategy/Scoring ==
In normal mode scoring is pretty basic. The play player earns points for shooting enemy formations and destroying bosses.
The best strategy for survival is to make maximum use of the bomb attack by always using a bomb, as soon a new option-item appears on screen and can be collected. By “chaining” the bomb attack, the player can benefit from invincibility for the time period of the bomb attacks.

In caravan mode the player can earn bonuses by shooting certain enemies simultaneously with the multidirection vulcan weapon.
There are also many destroyable blocks throughout the caravan stages that can be shot for points. The caravan stages also have hidden bonuses, that can be discovered by shooting certain spots in the stage or specific enemies.

== Ports/Releases ==
* ''Wii Virtual Console:'' 2007 (JP), 2008 (NA/EU)
* ''Playstation Portable:'' 2008 as part of the Soldier Collection (JP)
* ''Virtual Console Wii U:'' 2014 (JP), 2017 (NA)

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Finalsoldier_case_front.png
Finalsoldier_case_back.png
Finalsoldier_hucard_front.png
Finalsoldier_hucard_back.png
</gallery>

== References & Contributors ==

# PC Engine Software Bible (https://www.pcengine.co.uk/HTML_Games/Final_Soldier.htm)
# Star Soldier wiki (https://star-soldier.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Soldier)

2026-03-15T15:50:56Z

Zoydo:

{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = black
|title = Final Soldier
|background = #f8f8f8
|image = Finalsoldier_title.png
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = Now Production
|
|music =
|
|program =
|
|art =
|
|releasedate = JP: July 5, 1991

|previousgame = Super Star Soldier
|nextgame = Soldier Blade
}}

== General Information ==
Final Soldier is the second game in the Super Star Soldier Series on PC Engine. It was developed by Now Production and published by Hudson Soft in 1991. Final Soldier was released on July 5,1991 in Japan for PC Engine

== Story ==
Earth is attacked by a time travelling, biomechanical alien race, called the “Gader’el”. The player takes control over the time travelling spaceship “The Dryad” to fight back and destroy the alien hivemind.

== Gameplay Overview ==
Final soldier is a vertical scrolling shoot-em-up with 7 stages. Each stage has a boss and a midboss, except stage 7 which is just a single bossfight with different phases and enemy attack waves in between.

The players ship starts with a vulcan shot as default. By picking up different power-up items the shot type can be changed. By picking up multiple items of the same weapon type, the shot can be upgraded up to 2 levels. By picking up an “M”-Item the ship gets a secondary missile weapon. There are also red containers that can be collected and then serve as an option weapon that follows the players ship. The options can be sacrificed to release a screen clearing bomb attack. Options can only be stacked up to 2.
The shot layout of the different weapons can be customized in the set-up menu.

The players ship has 3 speed levels, that can be chosen as desired.

The game has 3 difficulty settings, which can be chosen in the set-up menu.

The caravan mode can be accessed from the start menu. Final Soldier has a 2 minute and a 5 minute caravan stage.

== Controls ==
* '''I:''' Bomb
* '''II:''' Shot
* '''Run:''' Pause game
* '''Select:''' Change ship speed

== Strategy/Scoring ==
In normal mode scoring is pretty basic. The play player earns points for shooting enemy formations and destroying bosses.
The best strategy for survival is to make maximum use of the bomb attack by always using a bomb, as soon a new option-item appears on screen and can be collected. By “chaining” the bomb attack, the player can benefit from invincibility for the time period of the bomb attacks.

In caravan mode the player can earn bonuses by shooting certain enemies simultaneously with the multidirection vulcan weapon.
There are also many destroyable blocks throughout the caravan stages that can be shot for points. The caravan stages also have hidden bonuses, that can be discovered by shooting certain spots in the stage or specific enemies.

== Ports/Releases ==
* ''Wii Virtual Console:'' 2007 (JP), 2008 (NA/EU)
* ''Playstation Portable:'' 2008 as part of the Soldier Collection (JP)
* ''Virtual Console Wii U:'' 2014 (JP), 2017 (NA)

== Gallery ==
<gallery>

</gallery>

== References & Contributors ==

# PC Engine Software Bible (https://www.pcengine.co.uk/HTML_Games/Final_Soldier.htm)
# Star Soldier wiki (https://star-soldier.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Soldier)

File:Finalsoldier title.png

2026-03-15T15:50:31Z

Zoydo:

== Licensing ==
{{Non-free game screenshot}}