Video Game / Cannon Spike

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Cannon Spike, known as Gun Spike in Japan, is a 2000 shooting game from the Japanese developer Psikyo, created under license from Capcom. It holds the distinction of being one of the last games released for the Sega Dreamcast, and wasn't released in Europe at all until 2002. Despite reasonable exposure at the time of release, including a cover story◊ in the enthusiast magazine GameFan, it's largely fallen into obscurity. Thankfully, any interested parties can now enjoy this title thanks to Emulation for Arcade (MAME) as well for Dreamcast (Chankast, NullDC, etc.).

As one might expect from seeing the name Psikyo, Cannon Spike is a twitch shooter. As one of seven characters — Cammy, Charlie, Baby Bonnie Hood, Mega Man, a futuristic version of Arthur, or original characters Shiba Shintaro and Simone — you blast through multiple Capcom-themed stages, firing guns on full-auto while zooming around on rocket skates, skateboards, or in B. B. Hood's case, an old scooter. Two-player co-op is available.

Cannon Spike's old website can be seen here thanks to the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. The Other Wiki made a modest article about this game here, whereas a more in-depth look courtesy of Hardcore Gaming 101 can be found here. The Capcom Wiki additionally has an article about this game here, along with individual character articles for Shiba and Simone.

Shiba, Akaby, Simone, Beauty, Kabuki, and the previously nameless Killer Ball enemies would all make their Capcom crossover debuts in Teppen (2019), with the appropriately titled 18th card pack Operation Cannon Spike, which also included Cammy, Arthur, and B.B. Hood with their designs from this game.

Tropes:

• Anachronism Stew:
  • The game is set in the future (20XX to be specific), but Arthur is from medieval times, whereas Cammy, Charlie, and B. B. Hood hail from the present (Comic-Book Time notwithstanding), and Mega Man comes from an Ambiguous Time Period that may or may not be the same future that Cannon Spike belongs to. Despite this (among other oddities), they're all working together as part of the same team.
  • And between the SF characters, Charlie comes from Street Fighter Alpha, but Cammy's outfit is her Delta Red attire from II and beyond — a period some time after Charlie's death in the Alpha series (though background materials for the later Street Fighter IV would hint he was responsible for saving Abel five years prior to IV, followed by Charlie actually returning in the flesh for Street Fighter V). Cammy's alternate costume, however, is her Killer Bee attire from Alpha, depicting her from back when she was one of Shadaloo's Dolls, but that's more of an Easter Egg.
• BFG: Arthur's gunlance Excalibur.
• The Brute: Kabuki, one of the bosses of the game.
• Bullet Hell: A worthy trope from one of the Trope Codifier companies, Psikyo.
• Competitive Balance: The playable characters differ in terms of speed, firepower, and melee.
• Cool Board: Cool Hover Board in this case. Shiba has a anti-gravity board that he uses to move on across screen with Implausible Boarding Skills.
• Costume Evolution:
  • Cammy's outfit is her classic Street Fighter II look with some extra flourishes such as gun holsters and rollerblades, which would go on to inspire her Street Fighter V appearance. A later update for SFV would, in turn, bring back her and Charlie's Cannon Spike designs as extra costumes.
  • Speaking of Charlie, he now sports a black undershirt beneath his famous yellow flak jacket and wears his glasses all the time instead of putting them away pre-fight (a trait that would carry over to SFV).
• Crossover: A boldly plotless Shoot 'em Up starring characters from Street Fighter, Mega Man, Darkstalkers, and Ghosts 'n Goblins (sort of), blasting their way through multiple levels based on various Capcom franchises.
• Cyborg: Simone. A cyborg with superhuman strength, she works along with Arthur to complete her mission.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Just like in the Japanese releases of their respective games, Charlie, B.B. Hood, and Mega Man are "Nash", "Bulleta", and "Rockman", respectively.
  • Subverted with Vega, who is referred to by his Japanese name (Balrog) in the American and European releases.
• Elite Army: As refering in game's story:
  ...To combat the terrorists' robot soldiers, the World Union for Peace organizes a special force equipped with specialized "Motor Boots" for ultimate mobility. It is up to this Anti-Robot Special Force led by Cammy to enter into battle and rid the world of the robot menace.
• Episode of the Dead: There's a scene where your character fight zombies and the bosses are giant mutant monsters, an obvious Shout-Out to Resident Evil game series.
• Evil Costume Switch: If the player chooses Cammy, pressing up or down allows them to select her Shadaloo's Doll costume from the Street Fighter Alpha series.
• Expy/Shout-Out:
  • Two of the characters strongly resemble characters from other Arcade Games by Capcom. Simone is a lot like Linn Kurosawa from Alien vs. Predator, and Shiba is a redesign of Siva from Three Wonders (who players might recognize as one of the many Special Partners in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes). Arthur doesn't count despite appearances; as his ending shows, it really is him.
  • Though the comparison had already been made beforehand, the addition of rollerskates to Cammy's design makes her look even more like Alita/Gally in her Motorball outfit◊.
  • Shiba bears some resemblance to Naruto Uzumaki, particularly with the spiky hair, goggles, and predominantly orange-and-blue color scheme. Considering the Naruto manga began publication in September 1999 and Cannon Spike was released over a year later in November 2000, this might not be a coincidence.
• Fanservice: For Capcom fans.
• Final Boss: Psychiccer Sting, the leader of the terrorist group that A.R.S.F. has to deal with. He's a Lightning Bruiser who fights with a weaponized cane and has the ability to create clones of himself.
• Genre Mashup: The game plays as a hybrid between a Shoot 'em Up and a Beat 'em Up. While characters primarily attack with bullets and bombs from afar, several other mechanics in Cannon Spike focus more on melee/close-range combat in the vein of a beat 'em up. Cammy and Charlie in particular are even able to bust out actual special moves from their games like Spiral Arrow/Cannon Drill and Flash Kick/Somersault Shell.
• Market-Based Title: Known in Japan as Gun Spike. The original title might be a call-back to Psikyo's earlier Gunbird games (the second of which had Morrigan Aensland as a Secret Character), whereas the change for international markets was presumably to better tie into Street Fighter and/or market Cammy as the game's leading lady.
• Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Much like with the Capcom vs. games, except the villains are mostly original characters.
• Meaningful Name: "Cannon Spike" is named for one of Cammy's moves in the Street Fighter series; it's her signature move where she performs an upward kick at her opponent. Cammy just so happens to be The Leader of the A.R.S.F., making her The Protagonist of Cannon Spike by proxy.
• Mighty Glacier: Arthur; as expected of this game's exaggerated version of his golden armor, he moves slow but packs quite the punch.
• Ms. Fanservice: As usual, Cammy's ass is on full display. There's also Simone with her well-marked Battle Ballgown and Cat Lady Beauty with her Navel-Deep Neckline.
• Mythology Gag: Naturally, there's a ton of these to other Capcom games. Among them:
  • The game is set in 20XX.
  • Protagonists hail from franchises such as Street Fighter, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Mega Man, and Darkstalkers, complete with several of their actual in-game techniques available for use mid-mission. Even the original characters are based on certain games.
  • "Mission 2: The Occupied Town" features the return of the SonSon supermarket that served as the backdrop for Ryu and Guy's stage in the first Street Fighter Alpha (an ersatz of the real-life Lawson convenience store chain, with a green sign instead of blue).
• Powered Armor: This game's interpretation of Arthur's Knight in Shining Armor status is a golden knight Mini-Mecha with a gunlance. As revealed by his ending, the original Arthur from Ghosts 'n Goblins is piloting the mech, and it appears to be a substitute for his usual armor power-ups, as Arthur's shown only wearing his boxers when he ejects.
• Rule of Three:
  • There are three buttons to use: Mark (used to lock onto a targeted enemy), Shoot (self-explanatory), and Attack (a close-range strike, usually more powerful or with greater knock-back compared to ordinary shooting). In addition to these basic commands, each character also has a ranged special attack (unleashed by pressing Shoot and Attack simultaneously), a close-range special (Mark and Attack simultaneously), and a super special (all three buttons simultaneously).
  • Also, one of the Boss Battles is made up of three robots: Rick Blue, Bob Green, and Ken Brown.
• Secret Character: Mega Man and Baby Bonnie Hood in the Dreamcast version. Only you have to press left or right respectively after the last seen character on screen (Charlie on the left, Simone on the right) at the Character Selection screen.
• The Stoic: Simone.
• World of Action Girls: Cammy, Simone and B. B. Hood are all capable ass-kickers in their own right. As is the Dark Action Girl, Cat Lady Beauty.
• You Don't Look Like You: One of the bosses (who looks suspiciously like Marilyn Manson) is known as "Fallen Balrog" and then "Revenger Balrog" for the rematch. Despite what the name suggests, it's a "darker" redesign of Vega, the Spanish ninja originally known as "Balrog" in Japan, complete with two Wolverine Claws instead of one. Why this version of Vega is such a drastic departure from the beauty-obsessed, conventionally handsome Street Fighter character is never explained.
• Year X: The game is set in the indistinct year of 20XX, though it's unclear if this is meant to be the same 20XX as seen in Mega Man (Classic) or another possible future.