Night Trigger

Night Trigger is a 3D light gun rail shooter developed and published by ACS. Released in 1998 for Arcades (ACS TGX2 Modeller System) and the PlayStation as an exclusive title.

Gameplay
The main objective of Night Trigger is to shoot as many on-screen enemies as the player can using a gun controller wired into the cabinet or console. The game uses light-based gun controllers, which uses a built-in optical sensor into the gun, to receive its input from the light emitted by on-screen targets.

From time to time, various enemies appear on-screen which attack the player in various ways, which the players then must shoot in order to move on to the next screen or else they suffer from damage. Compared to ACS' other light gun shooter, Gunblazers, Night Trigger's enemies consists of horror-themed abominations such as zombies, imps, demons and other monsters.

Most enemies in the game attack with melee attacks such as biting, clawing and slashing, though some enemies that attack with throwing weapons and/or projectile attacks have visible ammunition that the players must shoot to avert damage. Similar to Sega's House of the Dead series, enemies show visible bodily damage when shot on specific body parts.

Sometimes, in the middle of the action, civilians can be seen appearing and leaving the premises, and sometimes being attacked by the monsters. Shooting at civilians would lead to a score penalty and the player losing a life. Saving a civilian from a zombie attack would sometimes lead to the civilian giving the player life bonuses.

In-game, players utilize handguns, each holding a capacity of six bullets. When all six bullets are spent, the words “Reload” will flash on-screen, and the player will be unable to shoot enemies. To reload their gun, players simply have to shoot off-screen to reload.

Aside from the standard handguns, players can also use Molotov cocktails that are capable of clearing off swarms of on-screen enemies and deals a significant amount of damage to bosses. In the arcade version, players can use these bombs by pressing the Start button. Each character starts off the stage with 3 bombs by default, which they can refill by shooting boxes scattered around the area to reveal bomb pickups.

Each player starts off with three lives by default, as denoted by a set of three hearts located on the corner of the screen. Upon taking damage from either being attacked by an enemy or shooting a civilian by accident, the player loses a life. The player can replenish their lives by either shooting boxes scattered around the area to reveal medikits, getting end-of-level bonuses, or rescuing certain civilians.

The PlayStation home port of the game is compatible with both Namco’s GunCon and Konami’s Justifier/Hyper Blaster light gun peripherals.

Story
October 31st, 1999. Strange occurrences have been taking place within the small village of Edsville, USA. Various people from the village began to disappear, while others died mysterious deaths. According to eye witnesses, these murders were not perpetrated by humans, but by inhuman abominations.

One day, Robert Hogan and Jenny Miles arrived in the village to investigate the disappearance of Jenny's parents, with the trail leading them to a seemingly abandoned mansion in the village outskirts. Armed with handguns and some Molotov cocktails, they storm through the mansion looking for answers.

The two would later discover that the murders in the village were caused by the cult known as the Order of Sin, with their goal being to awaken all seven Beasts of Sin and cleanse the world by wiping out all of humanity. However, this is only one amongst many other secrets they unveil throughout their journey.

Player Characters

 * Robert Hogan

The Player 1 character. A seemingly normal middle-aged man, he is in fact the grandson of the legendary hunter Herman Hogan.


 * Jenny Miles

The Player 2 character. Robert's fiancee whose parents had mysteriously disappeared one day, prompting her to go to the mansion.

The Beasts of Sin

 * Iram

The Beast of Wrath. A large but short-tempered demon engulfed in flames.


 * Miluina

The Beast of Gluttony. An acid-spitting giant worms that devours its victims.


 * Fastus

The Beast of Pride. A ghost knight who attacks with speed and confidence.


 * Avaritia

The Beast of Greed. A figure shrouded in shadow and the strongest of the Sins.

Others

 * The Order of Sin

A mysterious cult who worships the seven Beasts of Sin. Their goal is to awaken the seven Beasts in order to wipe out humanity and free the world from all of its sin.

Acts

 * Act I: The Arrival

Robert and Jenny arrive in the mansion, only to realize that monsters have taken over.

Boss: Iram


 * Act II: The Panic

The Order of Sin reveals itself to the couple, intending to kill them by all means necessary.

Boss: Miluina


 * Act III: The Truth

As they progress through the mansion, Robert uncovers several facts about his family's past.

Boss: Fastus


 * Act IV: The Sin

The couple's final stop is the Order's altar room, where they will face their biggest foe yet.

Boss: Avaritia

Trivia

 * Each of the four bosses were patterned after the Seven Deadly Sins. While lust, envy and sloth aren't represented in the game, all three of them would later appear in the game's sequel, Night Trigger II.
 * The arcade version features the ability to change the blood color via an option in the test menu. In the console, the blood color is set to green by default, but red blood can be turned on via a cheat code.
 * In most promotional material for the arcade version and even within the game itself, Jenny Miles' name is translated incorrectly as "Jenny Mires". This would later be fixed in the PlayStation release.