Yōjūden
Is a 1986 shooter video game developed and published by Irem for arcades. Originally released only in Japan, it consists of a mix of top-down shooter and vertically scrolling shooter gameplay. It was released outside Japan for the first time by Hamster Corporation as part of their Arcade Archives series for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in 2018, under the name Heroic Episode, with support for vertical screen gameplay on the Nintendo Switch.
Also recorded as Youjuuden · Yōjū-den · Youjuu-den · Heroic Episode
Yōjūden
- Date
- 1986
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q133883850
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Yōjūden • Publisher — Irem • Developer — Irem • Platforms — Arcade • Genre — Shooter • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer
Gameplay
Gameplay
In Yōjūden, players control a winged soldier in the fantasy land of Mule, which is under invasion by the Gule Empire; he travels through land and sea to retrieve a statue of their goddess from the Gule Empire. In the land segments, the soldier travels on foot while shooting enemy soldiers in a manner similar to Capcom's Commando, while the air segments has the soldier fly and shoot monsters emerging from under the ocean. The soldier is armed with a maser that can shoot standard projectiles and a stronger version with slower rate of fire.
Reception
Reviewing the Arcade Archives release on the Nintendo Switch, Dave Frear of Nintendo Life praised the mix of gameplay but criticized its harsh difficulty and lack of originality.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Yōjūden, revision 1305985310 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Frear, Dave. Review: Arcade Archives Heroic Episode (Switch eShop). Nintendo Life. 2018-03-14.
- 2.McWhertor, Michael. This simple but smart Switch accessory lets you play vertical games in handheld mode. Polygon. 2018-06-21.
- 3.Reseigh-Lincoln, Dom. Nintendo Download: 22nd February (North America). Nintendo Life. 2018-02-22.
- 4.Arcade Archives HEROIC EPISODE. Arcade Archives HAMSTER Corporation. 2025-02-17.
- 5.Moyse, Chris. Arcade Classics range continues with Heroic Episode on PS4 and Switch. Destructoid. 2018-02-24.
References
Citations
References
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authority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 21 August 2026.
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