Lost In Translation/Motos

About The Game
Motos is an arcade video game where the object is to bump your enemies - space bugs - off the solar base using Motos, your ship. When you bump all of them off, you move to the next base or round. If Motos is knocked off the base, you lose one life. The game is over when you lose all your lives.

You can collect power parts or jump parts lying on the solar base by simply having Motos touch them. The collected parts will be displayed in the lower left corner of the screen and you can use them in the next round. Motos can be outfitted with no more than 7 power parts; the more power parts added, the more powerful Motos is. However, Motos can only be outfitted with only 1 jump part per round. With a jump part, Motos can jump over two squares by moving the joystick in the desired direction and pressing the Jump button. One jump on a square cracks the square and a second jump in the same spot makes a hole in the solar base.

You can outfit Motos with these parts in the Power Parts or Jump Parts screen displayed at the beginning of each round. Select the number of parts you want by moving left and right with the joystick, and lock them in place by pressing the Jump button. You can use the selected parts for one round only; they will not be available in subsequent rounds.

Linger too long on the playing field and Shooting Stars will begin to fall periodically onto the solar base. The Stars are aimed at Motos, and when they miss they crack a square or break a hole in the solar base (like they do to the base behind the Motos logo in the attract mode's title sequence).

Trivia
The arcade version was released after the video game crash of 1983/84 and didn't get much attention, most likely appearing only in Japan. The only known U.S. appearances of this game are for home platforms (see Ports below).

Cast Of Characters

 * Motos - This is you.
 * Red Pupa (First appears in Round 1) - weighs in at 380 kg (836 lbs) and travels 20 km/h (12 mph).
 * Blue Pupa (First appears in Round 2) - weighs in at 380 kg (836 lbs) and travels 20 km/h (12 mph).
 * Polar (First appears in Round 2) - weighs in at 400 kg (880 lbs) and travels 20 km/h (12 mph).
 * Spirus (First appears in Round 4) - weighs in at 2,900 kg (3.19 tons) and travels at 40 km/h (24 mph).
 * Fire Bug (First appears in Round 7) - weighs in at 3,800 kg (4.18 tons) and travels at 45 km/h (27 mph).
 * Mega (First appears in Round 9) - Weighs in at 7,500 kg (8.25 tons) and travels at 10 km/h (6 mph).
 * Taitorian (First appears in Round 11) - weighs in at 4,100 kg (4.51 tons) and travels at 55 km/h (approximately 25 mph).
 * Fire Bee (First appears in Round 13) - weighs in at 3,200 kg (3.52 tons) and travels at 70 km/h (42 mph).
 * Lady Bug (First appears in Round 17) - weighs in at 5,120 kg (5.632 tons) and travels at 60 km/h (36 mph).
 * Black Pupa (First appears in Round 18) - weighs in at 400 kg (880 lbs) and travels 20 km/h (12 mph).
 * Beetle (First appears in Round 18) - weighs in at 5,800 kg (6.38 tons) and travels at 55 km/h (25 mph).
 * Giga (First appears in Round 29) - The heaviest of all enemies, weighing in at 13,400 kg (14.74 tons); travels at 20 km/h (12 mph).
 * Beecon (First appears in Round 2) - Scores you points whether Motos or an enemy bug bumps it off the solar base.
 * Nabicon (First appears in Round 3) - Most of these unleash Blue Pupa at regular intervals.

Shooting Stars
They fall periodically onto the solar base if you take too much time in a round. They are aimed at you and when they miss, they crack square or break a hole in the solar base.

The music that plays during game action in the attract mode also doubles up as the game's ending music (after clearing Round 62).

Scoring
You score points by bumping enemies off the solar base :

Tips and tricks

 * Make a hole in the middle of a Nabicon and Blue Pupa won't be able to come out of it.


 * Some Nabicon can be destroyed when Motos is outfitted with five parts. You can tell this when the Nabicon shakes as Motos bumps it. Bump a Nabicon more than ten times and it is destroyed, scoring you an enormous number of points (see Scoring above).

Easter Egg

 * 1) Enter service mode.
 * 2) Set coin A to 1 Coin / 1 Credit, set coin B to 1 Coin / 4 Credits, set Freeze to On, set Lives to 1, set Difficulty to Rank C, set Demo Sounds to Off, set Level Select to Off, set Bonus Life to 10k.
 * 3) Press the service switch to display the grid and press (all together) Right+Button1+Start2. '(c) NAMCO LTD. 1984' will appear on the screen.

Staff

 * Game Designer:
 * T. Okadaman


 * Programmer:
 * Kosei Matz


 * Music Composer:
 * Norio Nakagata


 * Graphic Designer:
 * Satoru Chan


 * Engineer:
 * Sig-El


 * Debugger:
 * M. Taguchin


 * Supervisor:
 * Sing Kozima

Ports

 * Consoles :
 * Sony PlayStation (1998, "Namco Museum Encore") (Japanese only)
 * Sony PSP (2005, "Namco Museum Battle Collection")


 * Computers :
 * Amstrad CPC (1987)
 * Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1987)
 * Commodore C64 (1987)
 * Sharp X68000 (1989)
 * PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (1998, "Microsoft Revenge of Arcade")