Introduction to SYNAPTIC DRIVE by the Game Director

Synaptic Drive for Nintendo Switch and Steam will be released on the same day, May 28, 2020! The game is available in 7 different languages.

SYNAPTIC DRIVE English version information here!
https://yunuo-games.jp/synaptic-drive-eng/
https://twitter.com/SynapticDriveEN

シナプティック・ドライブの情報はこちらで！（Japanese）
https://yunuo-games.jp/synaptic-drive/
https://twitter.com/SYNAPTIC_DRIVE
https://twitter.com/KenjohKohji/status/1249479682124218370?s=20

*The images are the Japanese version, but it is available in 7 languages.

SYNAPTIC DRIVE is a competitive shooting action game, available in 1v1 and 2v2 modes, playable online or offline, with friends or CPU opponents.
Choose from over 100 different weapons and equip them on over 10 unique fighters!

Duke it out in a bird's-eye view to see all the action! There's no blind spots here, both sides can see it all!

Select weapons based on the arena and the enemy's strategy. In an online battle, both players will blind pick there loadout, but the opponent's most frequently picked equipment will be shown. Use that info wisely!

Battles are decided by more than just your equipment! Use careful strategy based on the opponent and stage, or pick your favorites and go guns blazing!

There's loads of different types of weapons types you can use; High powered single shots, rapid fire, homing projectiles, traps, and more!

With over 100 different weapons, it might seem like some of them are useless, but we're testing all of them and tweaking them to make sure they're all balanced.

We also intentionally included similar weapons. For example, two weapons might have a similar trajectory, but a different effect on impact. There's also some weapons similar at a glance, but with tweaks to better suit specific roles (Better against air opponents, better for combos, etc.). Some of them might be a bit hard to use effectively.

The base fighters have a lot of style! In addition to their abilities, like nimble movement, good air maneuverability, and lots of health, they each have unique special moves (ground or air dashes, multi-step jumps, triangle jump, fast fall, etc.) as well as melee attacks and Ultimate attacks.

We said the number of fighters is over 10, but since you can equip two chips to tweak your body stats, there's a whole load of different combinations! You can choose chips to cover your weaknesses or enhance your strengths, depending on what strategy you want to focus on.

Most of the attacks are auto-aimed, so you won't have to worry about focusing on hitting shots too much and can keep moving. However, some attacks such as wire need to be manually aimed, so be careful!

The four basic attack methods are as follows:

1. Gun
The main weapon. It's fast and aims automatically. Each gun has a normal and charge shot, and there's a few that act pretty differently charged up.

There's a lot of different varieties of gun, and they all behave differently. Shotgun, medium range, long range, split shots, wall bouncing shells, homing shots, time difference, stealth, explosive, and even combo oriented types.

2. Wire
A trail of light is emitted on the ground, and a explosions rage out on the line! You can control the trajectory of the line with the right stick, and the timing is automatic. It's like controlling a whole 'nother fighter! There's also close range and auto-aiming varieties, making this weapon important in advanced strategy.

3. Trackers
These tracking rounds will explode if close to an opponent. Knowing not to run into them is already an advanced strategy! There's also special types, like mines that are just laid as traps, and types that relentlessly home in on enemies.

Melee Attacks
Short range bare knuckle, body and, blade blows! It varies from fighter to fighter. You need to be careful in using it, as there's no invincibility and it leaves you quite open. Each fighter has a different range and trajectory on there melee. You can also choose a shield to block enemy gun attacks.

Ultimate
A special move you can only use once your gauge is full. Each fighter has two you can choose from, like the Cocute Stream, Photon Tornado, Cerberus Bites, Shin-Kuu-Reppazan, and more!

It's important to know your effective range in battle, and how to get into (or out of!) optimal range. In a lot of cases, ground combat is the most important. Careful footwork will get you far in the ground game, but sometimes you have to take it to the air.

Advanced movement like dashes and multi-step jumps (double jumps etc.) is limited by a gauge that will recover over time. It's got a limit, so you know it's strong. Samonji unfortunately does not have any such abilities.

As you can see from the official media, the game's quite fast. Speed isn't everything however, some fighters are slow but hit like tanks, and can take a beating while closing in.

If you think of fightin games, there's many great games played around the world like Smash Bros, Street Fighter and Splatoon, but I think Synaptic Drive has a different flavor than them.
With SYNAPTIC DRIVE, I've put a lot of thought into what to make since Custom Robo, and I've created a new game I believe all current players will enjoy.

Both the Nintendo Switch and Steam versions are reasonably priced, so we hope you'll enjoy them.

-Number of players
1v1 and 2v2 matches are both possible; 2v2 is a team death match where two teams of two duke it out. When both teammate's HP is gone, it's game over!

-Online games
Players have rating points (RP) which increase as they win games and decrease as they lose. In online matches, players with similar RP will be matched together.

You can choose to play both 1v1 and 2v2 online, but if your having a hard time teaming up with randos in 2v2, Battle Buddy is for you! You can team up with friends to play online against foes!

-BattleBuddy
In SYNAPTIC DRIVE, we call our friends 'Battle Buddies'. It's cross-platform friendly, so it's got it's own terminology to distinguish it from on-platform friends.

It's easy to become Battle Buddies! You can exchange a dedicated ID, or send an application to become a Battle mate after an online battle.

You can play private games with your Battle Buddies with custom rule sets, and even a spectator mode. For example, four people can get in one lobby, have two people fight and two watch.

-Spawn select

At the start of a fight, you can set your spawn point at will. You don't know where the enemy is until the start! You can both take the center, or be careful and stay on the edges. IF you overlap, the smallest fighter will take more telefrag damage!

-Tutorial

When you launch the game for the first time, you'll get a prompt to star the tutorial. If it's too much to ask (or you want to jump right in to the action) you can skip it and do it later.

-Electronic Manual

An electronic manual is also included, but you don't have to read it. If you've got any questions, it's there for ya! There's quite a lot of stuff, so read the manual if you have any questions.

You can also read the backstory of the characters and lore of the world. Read it while taking a breather between bouts.

Fighters and weapons can be unlocked through arcade battles and online modes by earning experience, or unlocked over time since the original release date, May 28, just like certain arcade games.

Time releases start pretty quick, so if you buy on release day you'll be able to get all the new gear in real time! If you buy it later, it all comes in bulk, so you won't miss anything.

Thanks for reading!