Chuka Taisen (also known internationally as Cloud Master) is a whimsical horizontal shoot ’em up released for the arcade in 1988 by HOT-B and Taito. Drawing heavy inspiration from the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, you control Michael Chen as he rides a magical nimbus cloud across mythical landscapes. Instead of the typical sci-fi spaceships, you’ll be blasting bizarre enemies ranging from flying noodle bowls to stylized mythical beasts. Defeating certain enemies drops currency that you can spend mid-flight at floating tea shops to upgrade your sub-weapons.
How to Play
The objective is to survive each scrolling stage and defeat the boss at the end, using your main shot and purchasable sub-weapons. Since this is an arcade title running in the browser, you can typically control your character using the Arrow Keys for movement. Press Z to fire your main weapon and X to use your sub-weapon or bombs. Use Shift to insert coins and Enter to start.
Tips
- Visit the tea shops: Don’t miss the floating shops mid-stage. Buying upgrades like the flame wheel or multi-directional shots is essential for handling the game’s steep difficulty curve.
- Watch your hitboxes: Your character and the cloud make for a relatively large target. Focus as much on navigating through enemy bullet patterns as you do on returning fire.
- Memorize checkpoints: Chuka Taisen uses a checkpoint system. If you lose a life, you will be sent back, so learning enemy spawn patterns for tricky sections is key to making progress.
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