Starblade: Operation Blue Planet

Starblade: Operation Blue Planet was directed by Higashiyama Asahi, and was created for a new arcade cabinet in production by Namco called the "Over Reality Booster System" (O.R.B.S.), a motion-based machine featured a retractable seat, air blowers, a 5.1 channel Dolby Digital audio system, and a large, globular projector screen.[2][3] The cabinet was originally designed in 1999, and was made to create a more immersive experience in arcade games.[4] Early versions of O.R.B.S. had a rotating screen that moved based on actions performed in the game, in a manner similar to Sega's R-360 motion-based cabinet from several years prior.[4] While the production team brainstormed ideas for which game to make first for the cabinet, designer Higashiyama Asahi suggested a sequel to Starblade, as he was a fan of the original and thought its first-person gameplay would work well[3] — the team thought the idea would be interesting, and began work on a new Starblade game for the O.R.B.S. cabinet.[3] Due to the shrinking arcade industry in Japan, gameplay was made to be simplistic and easy to understand for new players.[3]

The game ran on the Namco System 246 arcade board, designed after the internal hardware of the PlayStation 2.[3][5] Development was assisted by "Sadahiro", a designer for Galaxian3: Project Dragoon and its sequel Attack of the Zolgear, alongside Yusuke Watanabe and Satoshi Shida.[3] Asahi recalls development being "jerky" due to lack of staff and a small budget to make the game.[3] The team focused on making the game exciting and thrilling, and to show off the technical capabilities of the O.R.B.S. arcade cabinet and System 246 hardware.[3] The game's flat-textured look was based on an assumption by planner "Kobayashi", who thought that the development team behind Starblade would keep the original's graphical style as a sort of "ancestor respect".[3]

Starblade: Operation Blue Planet was revealed on September 20, 2001 at the 39th Amusement Machine Show (AMS) arcade game expo in the Tokyo Big Sight convention center in Tokyo, Japan.[2][6] A prototype O.R.B.S. cabinet was presented, as was a playable one-level demo of the game.[6] It was shown off alongside several of Namco's other arcade games, including the racing game Wangan Midnight: Maximum Tune and the tennis game Smash Court Pro Tournament. Namco promoted the game as being "beyond real" for its immersive gameplay experience and detailed graphics.[6] The company also stated that they would consider bringing the game overseas if demand was high.[3]

It became one of the most popular titles presented at the expo, posing a 70-minute wait time to play it.[2] Only 200 people were able to play the game, which GAME Watch cites as being due to technical difficulties with the hardware. GameSpot wrote that despite Namco's "poor" presence there, the game was one of the "biggest surprises" shown for its realistic graphics and sound effect, saying the game "couldn't have returned at a better time".[2] GAME Watch liked the game's "beautiful" graphics and ambitious arcade cabinet, particularly for its large globular dome-like screen.[7] Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi expressed interest in his game being compatible with the O.R.B.S. cabinet.[8][9] Shortly after the expo's conclusion, Namco quietly cancelled both Operation Blue Planet and the O.R.B.S. machine, a fact attributed to the latter's high cost and sharp decline in Japanese arcades.[4] Retrospectively, Kotaku expressed disappointment towards the game's sudden cancellation, saying that the game "could have been just the kind of thing the dying arcade scene was in need of".[4] Retro Gamer magazine also showed disappointment towards its cancellation.[10]