Editing Transformers: Mystery of Convoy

{{Disambig3|Mystery of Convoy|Mystery of Convoy|about=the game of death and suffering}}
{{nav-fsrltf}}
{{videogame
|title=''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Mystery of Convoy''
|image=Mystery of Convoy video game cover.png
|caption=Ignore the [[TakaraTomy#Controversy|racist logo]] in the corner!
|japanese=戦え! 超ロボット生命体トランスフォーマー　コンボイの謎
|romaji=Tatakae! Chō Robot Seimei Tai Transformer Convoy no Nazo
|developer=[[ISCO]]
|publisher=[[TakaraTomy|Takara]]
|date=[[December 5|5 December]] [[1986]] (Family Computer)<br>[[June 10|10 June]] [[2008]] (Virtual Console)
|platform=Family Computer, Virtual Console
|rating=CERO: A
}}

'''''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Mystery of Convoy''''' - or, per the packaging's English-translated sub-title, '''''Mystery of Comvoy''''' <ref>Yes, the English title on the package of the game is mistakenly translated as "Mystery of Co'''m'''voy". Quality!</ref> - is a video game developed by [[ISCO]] and distributed by [[TakaraTomy|Takara]] for the [[Nintendo]] [[Family Computer|Famicom]]. The player controls [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] on his mission to find the whereabouts of the missing [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]. Along his quest, Ultra Magnus faces various [[Decepticon]] threats including [[Seeker (body-type)|Seeker]]-type infantry, floating [[Decepticon]] [[insignia]]s, the ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]'', the [[combiner]]s [[Menasor (G1)|Menasor]] and [[Bruticus (G1)|Bruticus]], [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] and a final battle against [[Trypticon (G1)|Trypticon]].

The game was followed by ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (video game)|The Headmasters]]''.

In 2008, ''Mystery of Convoy'' was made available on the Nintendo [[Wii]]'s {{w|Virtual Console}} service in Japan, up until the service was sunset in 2019. It cost 500 Wii points, or five dollars in Human money.

==Gameplay==
As a licensed game early in the lifespan of the Famicom, ''Mystery of Convoy''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> gameplay is... let's politely call it ''unrefined''.

[[Image:Convoynonazoscreen.png|left|180px|thumb|Ultra Magnus tries not to get his ass kicked by ''the first enemy''.]]

The game is a simple 2D platformer with the player making their way through ten levels, while under constant attack from various enemies. Killing enemies earns the player points and occasionally various power-ups such as extra defense or temporary flight. At every 20,000 points the player is awarded with an extra life. Many of the levels are simple horizontal fields where Magnus must go from left to right until the level stops scrolling, while the various "Time Tunnel" levels are vertical, and one of those is a frustrating labyrinth where escape depends on a very specific route through the level or else it will loop back in upon itself. At the end of each level is a boss which must be repeatedly shot in a small glowing weak point to be defeated; most cases the boss simply floats up and down on the right side of the screen while randomly firing projectiles at the player, who must navigate floating platforms to reach said weak point.

Ultra Magnus fights with a rapid-fire horizontal shooty-gun, which he can improve by grabbing the "P" power-up from certain defeated enemies, which adds a second diagonal shot. He can also transform into truck mode, which makes him fire directly upwards (he retains the second diagonal shot if he has the power-up) and makes him harder to hit, but his ability to jump is replaced with a downward-arcing forward shot (severely reducing his shot range on flat surfaces) with a very low fire rate. Naturally, this makes it a lot harder to avoid attacks, and oh boy is that a problem. Unless he's got the "B" power-up, Magnus will die from a ''single hit'' of any kind, whereas the majority of enemies require multiple hits to be destroyed.

There are also a few secrets in the game, such as special red jet enemies that appear in certain stages. If Ultra Magnus manages to kill these, [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] appears and lets him skip a few levels. Another secret is the seven hidden letters that spell out "RODIMUS", which are obtained by killing specific enemies. If the player collects all seven letters by the end of the game, they are given the option of playing through the game again, this time as [[Hot Rod (G1)|Rodimus Prime]]. Rodimus Prime has a new vehicle mode sprite, but his in-play robot mode is simply a recolored Ultra Magnus (which does look snazzy we admit), and the gameplay remains exactly the same as during the Magnus run.

This game is notorious for being ''extremely'' difficult to the point of frustration, thanks to sluggish, slippery controls and dodgy hit mechanics, in addition to the small size of Magnus's projectiles requiring very accurate aiming, as well as the copious amount of enemies who can kill you in one hit, ''and'' the color choices making it exceptionally difficult to discern important objects like enemy shots or even whole enemies from massive background elements like brightly colored mountains (seriously, look at the screenshot to the left), '''''and''''' there are "D" power-ups, which are easy to mistake for the others, that actually remove your other power-ups. On top of everything, there are no ''apparent'' continues; there is a hidden continue code, but you have only seconds to put it in or right back to the title screen you go. And for some extra salt, the difficulty gets cranked up with each subsequent playthrough, first by increasing the speed of enemies and projectiles, then by decreasing the player's acceleration. ''Yeah.'' This game is a pretty perfect example of "{{w|Nintendo hard}}".

Also the short looping music which rarely changes between stages will eventually break you. Enjoy!
{{--}}
===Stages===
{{Collist|5|
#[[Wasteland Zone]]
#[[Temple Ruins]]
#[[Time Tunnel|Time Tunnel I]]
#[[Subspace Zone]]
#[[Floating City]]
#[[Time Tunnel|Time Tunnel II]]
#[[Glacier Zone]]
#[[Time Tunnel|Time Tunnel III]]
#[[Underground Machine City]]
#[[Time Tunnel|Time Tunnel IV]]
}}

==Characters==
{{note|This character listing is augmented by a promotional video released to hype the game. Its claims as to which established Decepticons are actually in the game as common enemies are... let's go with "dubious". Those unlikely ones are presented here in italics.}}

{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
{{{!}}border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent"
{{!}}-
{{!}}style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"{{!}}
*[[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]]
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]
*[[Hot Rod (G1)|Rodimus Prime]]
*[[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]]
{{!}}}

|c2=
{{{!}}border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent"
{{!}}-
{{!}}style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"{{!}}
;Common Enemies
*[[Azak]]
*[[Burcane Ball]]
*[[Blitzwing (G1)#Transformers: Mystery of Convoy|Blitzwing]]
*[[Crack (G1)|Crack]]
*''[[Frenzy (G1)#Transformers: Mystery of Convoy|Frenzy]]''
*[[Ganzo]]
*[[Gau]]
*[[Gido]]
*[[Gosupu]]
*[[Hammer (MOC)|Hammer]]
*[[Heru]]
{{!}}style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"{{!}}
<br>
*[[Kabusu]]
*[[Seeker (body-type)#Transformers: Mystery of Convoy|Jetron]]
*[[Laggar]]
*[[Laserbeak (G1)#Transformers: Mystery of Convoy|Laserbeak]]
*[[Maara]]
*[[Marakirasu]]
*[[Pressure‎]]
*[[Rabu]]
*''[[Ramjet (G1)#Transformers: Mystery of Convoy|Ramjet]]''
*[[Ratbat (G1)#Transformers: Mystery of Convoy|Ratbat]]
{{!}}style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"{{!}}
<br>
*''[[Ravage (G1)#Transformers: Mystery of Convoy|Ravage]]''
*"[[secret guardian]]"
*''[[Skywarp (G1)#Transformers: Mystery of Convoy|Skywarp]]''
*[[Snow Commander]]
*''[[Starscream (G1)#Transformers: Mystery of Convoy|Starscream]]''
*"[[strange old man]]"
*[[Tairasu]]
*''[[Thrust (G1)#Transformers: Mystery of Convoy|Thrust]]''
*''[[Thundercracker (G1)#Transformers: Mystery of Convoy|Thundercracker]]''
*[[Tosher]]
*[[Wasta]]
*[[Zaffuru]]
*[[Zunonbat]]
{{!}}style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"{{!}}
;Bosses
*[[Devilstar]]
*[[Destron Mark]]
*[[Nemesis (G1)#Transformers: Mystery of Convoy|Destron Boat]]
*[[Menasor (G1)#Transformers: Mystery of Convoy|Menasor]]
*[[Bruticus (G1)#Transformers: Mystery of Convoy|Bruticus]]
*[[Megatron (G1)#Transformers: Mystery of Convoy|Megatron]]
*[[Trypticon (G1)#Transformers: Mystery of Convoy|Trypticon]]
{{!}}}
|nonumbering=true
}}
{{-}}

==Cheat codes==
'''''Trust us''''', you're going to want these.

{| border=1
|+Memory Address Cheat Codes
!Address
!Value
!Game Genie
!Effect
!Side Effect
|----
|0069
|3
|LATEPA
|Always have three lives
|----
|0053
|20
|AZIALA
|Indestructible 
|Music restarts every time you are hit
|----
|0053
|40
|AGIALA
|Shot Power Up
|----
|0053
|60
|ATIALA
|Indestructible and Shot Power Up
|----
|0022
|00
|AAZAZA
|Indestructible (alternate)<ref>[http://www.gshi.org/?s=v2&sys=5&gid=5678 Transformers: Convoy no Nazo (J) - NES - Codes - GSHI]</ref>
|Freezes player select, intro, and prevents level transitions while active
|----
|000074
|01
|PAEAAAGY
|Play as Rodimus Prime
|----
|}

==Tie-in material==
[[File:Famicom_How-to_Manga_Cover.jpg|thumb|160px|Story sold separately.]]
The events of ''Mystery of Convoy'' were adapted into [[manga]] form by [[Ikuo Miyazoe]] in a [[Transformers: Mystery of Convoy (comic)|one-shot special]] published on the December 1986 issue of ''[[Comic BomBom]]''. Considering how little storytelling the game has - even for the standards of a NES / Famicom title - this often-overlooked manga is actually pretty integral to contextualizing the overall events of the game... If one cares enough about ''Mystery of Convoy'' to the point of wanting to treat it as a serious narrative piece in the first place.

The game would also be backed by [[Transformers (Mystery of Convoy)|an official strategy guide]], published on ''Comic BomBom Winter Vacation Special: Family Computer Certain Victory Dojo'' Vol. 12, in January 1987.
This guide would include yet ''another'' short manga adaptation of the game's premise - albeit in a far more truncated strip format - from mangaka [[Akira Tanizaki]].

==Reception==
Despite the extreme difficulty, terrible controls, mediocre graphics, frustrating level design, and... Really, ''everything'', it might come as a surprise that ''Mystery of Convoy'' seems to have actually been a relatively well-performing title in terms of sales: while no official  figures exist, the fact that it's one of the most common loose cartridges you'll usually find in bulk lots of Famicom games (a console with an otherwise massive library - it's twice bigger than the NES, its international equivalent!) suggests that ''Mystery of Convoy'' was at least a moderate success in its home country. As mentioned, it even did well enough that Takara would follow it up with [[Transformers: The Headmasters (video game)|another Famicom Transformers game]].

What should not come as a surprise, however; is that the critical reception of ''Mystery of Convoy'' - both contemporary and retrospective - is nonetheless overwhelmingly negative. All of the aforementioned aspects, but especially the unfairly frustrating difficulty more than any other, have endowed this title with a staggering amount of infamy amongst both ''Transformers'' fans and general retro gaming enthusiasts alike, and as a result, it is not uncommon to see it listed amongst the worst NES / Famicom games.

===Legacy===
Despite ''Mystery of Convoy'''s negative reputation, this has also resulted in the title earning a small cult status of sorts. When the game was released on Virtual Console in 2008, TakaraTomy put out an official blog post talking about the game's legendary status and warning that "just because you're an adult now doesn't mean you'll be any better at it than you were as a kid. Please be careful to avoid being traumatized." ''Yes, really.''<ref>{{citesocial|quote=＜使用上のご注意＞大人になったからといって子供のときより上手にできるとは限りません！トラウマを重ねないよう細心の気構えをもってプレイしてごください。|link=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227100626/http://www.takaratomy.co.jp/products/gamesoft/blog/i0300/post_46.html|name=TakaraTomy|site=TakaraTomy blog|title=『トランスフォーマー・コンボイの謎』でレッツトラウマ|year=2008|month=06|day=06}}</ref> ''Mystery of Convoy'' would also be famously featured in a 2009 episode of the ''[[wikipedia:Angry Video Game Nerd|Angry Video Game Nerd]]'' web series, making it even more well-known to general audiences (one of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTqRx-F7ZqA the most famous clips from the series] is, in fact, taken from the ''Mystery of Convoy'' episode!).

In 2014 TakaraTomy released ''[[Q-Transformers: Mystery of Convoy Returns]]'', a mobile game based on ''Mystery of Convoy'', to tie in with their ''[[Q-Transformers]]'' toyline. It was accompanied by [[Q-Transformers (cartoon)|a cartoon]] in which the characters often discuss the difficulty and peculiarities of the original Famicom game.

==Notes==
[[File:MysteryOfConvoySprites.png|thumb|214px]]
[[File:Unused_sprites.jpg|thumb|214px|Just be glad that you don't have ''even more'' things that kill you in BS ways.]]
* Despite his Japanese name being in the title of the game, [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] only appears in-game twice. First during the start screen, when his head explodes and reassembles as the player's sprite, and later his head reappears colored gray right at the end of level 7.
* The ''[[Transformers: Alternity|Alternity]]'' story, "[[To Die Game!]]", [[retcon]]s this game as being part of a cross-dimensional game between the hyper-dimensional guardian [[Optimus Prime (G1)#Alternity|Optimus Prime]] and the equally powerful [[Megatron (G1)#Alternity|Megatron]], wherein Optimus had to choose one avatar (Ultra Magnus) to fight endless hordes of Decepticons empowered by Megatron.
* The [[Bee Team (RID)|Bee Team]] plays this game at the end of the 2015 ''Robots in Disguise'' comic book's [[Robots in Disguise issue 1|first issue]].
* This game uses a strobe effect popular in Japan at the time. Such effects have become controversial due to concern over people with photosensitive epilepsy, and fell out of use altogether following the infamous [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/EP038 "Electric Soldier Porygon"] incident in 1997. This effect was reduced for the Virtual Console re-release.
* Upon starting the game, a cover of the opening melody to the ''Transformers 2010'' theme plays.
* Ultra Magnus's robot mode sprite appears to be based on the original box art (or directly on the early deco on which said box art was based) with the white chestplate rather than the final blue.
* The game's first ending hints that the way to unlock Rodimus Prime is to "retrieve Rodimus's Energon Cube". ...Okay.<ref>[https://legendsoflocalization.com/articles/transformers-famicom-endings/ Deciphering the Hybrid Language Text in Transformers — Legends of Localization]</ref>
* While there a no credits provided for ''Mystery of Convoy'', [[ISCO]] listed the game among several other titles they developed,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20241221105520/http://www.isco-inc.co.jp/Web_izen/game_etc.htm ISCO list of games]</ref> while [[Locomotive]] founder [[Hiroshi Okamoto]] confirmed his company (a sole proprietorship he formed with his wife prior to Locomotive) was a subcontractor on the project; it was the first game he had worked on, with Okamoto acting as producer/manager, his wife as graphic designer, and an outside part-timer responsible for programming.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIwjWSVfkWA Interview with Hiroshi Okamoto]</ref>
* There are seven enemy sprites that weren't used in the final game. There was a red and orange Laserbeak that fired bullets while flying at the player, a red eyeball-spider that moved vertically and fired four diagonal bullets, and a spinning bladewheel that fired bullets at the player. The latter two were meant to only appear on boss screens. The other unused enemies didn't have routines programmed.

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170727035804/http://www.pleasesavemerobots.com/scrambledcity/moc/main.html Perhaps the most comprehensive ''Convoy no Nazo'' site online, with screencaps, hints, and .ROM files.]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_lHEfl5oPI ''Convoy no Nazo'' commercial on YouTube]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jVBzq4ud2U Takara's promotional video for the game] (using an unfinished build with cheats running)
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km9vYa2GIUI Angry Video Game Nerd's review at YouTube]
* [http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Transformers:_Convoy_no_Nazo Strategy Wiki]
* [http://archive.li/Ts6uT Game Genie codes]
* [https://legendsoflocalization.com/articles/transformers-famicom-endings/ Translations of the game's endings]
* [https://github.com/Fixatron/TFRom-Recreation Rom de-compilation and editing project]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mystery of Convoy}}
[[Category:Generation 1 video games]]