Experience Tecmo’s formative years with Arcade Archives’ Senjyo

Tanks a Lot

For this week’s addition to the Arcade Archives, retro-funsters Hamster have gone way back to the early gaming years of Tecmo, with a revisit of the developer’s tank-based blaster Senjyo, now available to download on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Released to the fledgling arcade market in 1983, Senjyo, (or “Battlefield“), sees players manning the cannon of a hi-tech tank, charged with taking down an attacking force of alien invaders. The player can rotate the tank through a 360-degree landscape, utilizing radar to locate the attackers. Senjyo was highly praised in its day for using parallax scrolling and forced perspective to give the illusion of 3D visuals, though some players were frustrated by the sluggish movement of the tank itself.

Check out the action in the video below, courtesy of YouTuber Old Classic Retro Gaming.

Senjyo would head to western arcades in 1984, arriving just in time for the market crash. Undaunted, developer Tehkan would eventually return with several sizeable hits for the home and arcade market, eventually changes its name to the more localization-friendly “Tecmo”. As I’m sure nobody needs reminding, Tecmo would merge with Koei in 2009 to form Koei Tecmo, which is today best known for franchises such as Dead or Alive, Dynasty Warriors, Monster Rancher, and Fatal Frame.

Senjyo is available to download now on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, priced at around $8.