LED Storm

Another older Capcom game, and one that was included in Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium, marking its very first appearance in a Capcom collection. The history of this game is quite interesting. The first version of the game barely got released anywhere, and I didn't even know it existed until not too long ago. But the later version that was released is the one I have known about for years. I have heard varying accounts of the story of the early build. Somebody said on YouTube that it was officially released but was quickly replaced by the later version, and others have said that the early version was for location testing and didn't get a national release. However the early build is the version that was released on Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium. LED Storm got a few home computer ports, and they all seem to be based on this early version, rather than the later one. But let's move things along. LED Storm is an interesting game in more ways than one, but I'm not sure I would say it is an all time favorite of mine. There are some things I find very appealing about it. For one thing, I don't know if this is in the later version, but the early version has a "P. Takashi" listed as one of the planners. I believe this is "Piston Takashi", the pseudonym that Takashi Nishiyama used when he worked at Capcom. I don't remember if his name was in the credits for the later revision, but I read on the Capcom Wiki that Akira Nishitani is responsible for the later version, so perhaps that earlier version was the last game Takashi Nishiyama worked on before he joined SNK, or maybe it was still in the middle of development when he left, and that's why the revised later version exists. I have managed to beat the game on a single credit more than once, including recently on the aforementioned Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium this morning, though it took more than one attempt. Another interesting thing about LED Storm is that the music is by Mega Man 2's main composer, Takashi Tateishi (OGERETSUKUN). And a lot of the tracks in LED Storm sound similar to what he would later do in Mega Man 2. Almost as if these are early or rough drafts of MM2's tracks. I recently sent him a note on social media asking about this, and he responded sooner than I expected and said that LED Storm was the very first game he worked on for Capcom, and that the reason the music in LED Storm and Mega Man 2 sounds so similar is because both games were being worked on at the same time. But let's talk about the game itself. It's an overhead driving game, similar to Bump-n-Jump by Data East. And at least the earlier version that Nishiyama was at least involved with is also reminiscent of Knightrider in a way. It's like the lovechild of Bump-n-Jump and Knightrider. Both versions of the game (the early one and the later one) have the same tracks by Takashi Tateishi in them. If you listen to some of the music tracks and are familiar with Mega Man 2's music, you should probably know where I am getting at here with the similarities.

Original:



Later revision:



As I said, the original is available in Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium, which I needless to say found surprising that they chose that instead of the later one. And you can buy the game individually for $4 plus tax, and I believe the price is the same on all 4 platforms (Switch, PS4, Xbox, Steam).