Video Game / Under Defeat

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The Empire and the Union are in the midst of a long-standing war, and it seems that a ceasefire is to take place soon. However, just days before the ceasefire, the Union prepares new weapons and gears up for more combat, forcing the Empire to fight back.

The game plays like a typical vertical shooter with 3D graphics and a tilted perspective, with a few twists. When not firing, you can tilt your helicopter up to about 30 degrees in either direction to fire at offset directions. You also have an Option that can be charged up by releasing the fire button and letting the Option gauge fill up, at which point the Option will seek out and fire at targets for bonus points; your Option can alternate between three different types (gun, cannon, rocket) through powerups.

In 2012, G.rev released Under Defeat HD on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Under Defeat HD is an Updated Re-release featuring a new mode, the New Order mode, which uses a 16:9 game window, adds a few more tweaks such as dual-analog controls, and features an arranged soundtrack. Under Defeat HD was released in Japan, the United Kingdom, and North America (on PS3 only) in 2012, throughout the rest of Europe in 2013, and in North America on Xbox Games on Demand in 2014. This version would later be ported back to arcades as Under Defeat HD+.

On April 6, 2024, G.rev, City Connection, and publisher Clear River Games announced another modern port of the game is slated to be released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows via Steam. This new port includes all of the features from the previous HD version in addition to a faithfully recreated Arcade Mode, a New Order Mode+ with new gameplay elements, subtitles for the in-game dialogue, and an extra remixed soundtrack composed by Shinji Hosoe and his company at Super Sweep. This version was released on December 5, 2024 in Japan, with Western versions (including the Steam version) following suit on February 6, 2025.

Under Defeat provides examples of the following:

• 2½D: Helicopter movement (relative to the screen) is in two dimensions, but visuals are rendered in 3D. Additionally, shots from ground targets take time to reach your altitude, and your center gun will adjust to hit targets on the ground.
• Abandon Ship: At the end of the Stage 2 boss fight, when you target the ship's command tower, the ship's commander urges his crew to evacuate immediately, waging a Last Stand on you to buy them time.
  "Attention all crew members: Evacuate immediately! We abandon the ship! I say again..."
• Action Girl: The protagonists of the game are Adele Friedrich and Wilhelmine Muller, who are exceptional helicopter pilots.
• All There in the Manual: The two female pilot characters remain unnamed throughout the game. Their names are only found on dogtags included with the soundtrack, where Player 1 is named Adele Friedrich and Player 2 is named Wilhelmine Muller.
• The Alliance: The Union. Unusually, the Union serves as an antagonist force.
• Arcade-Perfect Port:
  • The Dreamcast port, naturally, as the Dreamcast's hardware matches the Sega NAOMI's.
  • The same cannot be said for the HD ports in arcade mode; while they are mostly are mostly accurate, there are some differences such as timing differences in enemy appearances and attacks, as well as a wealth of slowdown on the Final Boss not seen in the NAOMI or Dreamcast versions, especially with the game in vertical-monitor mode.
• Arrange Mode:
  • The HD versions of the game have New Order Mode, which renders the game in 16:9 aspect ratio, widens the maximum angle that your helicopter can pivot, and allows for the use of twin-stick controls (although traditional single-stick controls can also be used, just like in Arcade Mode).
  • Unlockable in the 360/PS3 version and available from the start in the City Connection version is New Order+ Mode. Pivoting the helicopter causes the scrolling to slow down and stop, but also causes an on-screen gauge to increase. When it maxes out, a wave of medium-sized mooks appears to attack the player.
• Battleship Raid: There are several battleships in Stage 2, but the most notable one is the massive boss battleship that serves as the boss.
• Bittersweet Ending: A ceasefire between the Empire and the Union is called, but a few days after, a faction of the Union forces break the ceasefire and destroy the VKL5.03 (P) helicopter and its crew.
• Cap: You can have up to six bombs; collecting excess bombs will grant you 10,000 points each.
• Charged Attack: The Option is charged up by releasing the fire button until the gauge fills up with green, and then firing again. After the Option is either shot down or runs out of ammunition, it has a cool down period before it can be charged up again.
• Critical Status Buff: Your Contribution bonus at the end of each stage is doubled if you have lost one life. If you have lost two lives, meaning that on default life settings you have no lives left, then it is tripled. As such, if you want to maximize this bonus, you need to die twice in Stage 1-1 and play the rest of the game on only one life. Keep in mind that there are no extra lives throughout the entire game!
• Dynamic Difficulty: The game has a "rank" system, but how it works is largely a mystery to even experienced players.
• The Empire: The Empire. Unusually, you play as plots hailing from it.
• Expy:
  • The Empire is a stand-in for Nazi Germany, with the pilots' uniforms and use of German reflecting this.
  • The Union is a fusion of World War II Allied and non-German Axis powers.
• Fanservice: During the first loop, every level ends with a picture of the pilots in uniform. Over the second loop they are first portrayed with more casual looks, then in swimwear, and at the end, barely covered by towels (albeit tastefully).
• Good Republic, Evil Empire: Inverted. This time, the Union are the bad guys while the Empire is good.
• Hard Mode Filler: Complete all five stages with an average Contribution rating of 95% or higher to access the second loop.
• Hidden Mechanic: The Score Screen after each stage features a bonus based on the percentage of "Contribution" enemies you destroy, but the exact working of this mechanic is not made explicit. Rather than the game calculating your bonus based on the percentage of all enemies in the stage that you destroy, certain targets are designated as "Contribution" enemies; these are things like targets unique to each stage (such as the dormant turrets in Stage 1 and the battleship bridges in Stage 2), tanks that are of a slightly different coloration from other tanks, and one-off hard-to-intercept harmless targets (such as the LUV at the end of stage 1), and are worth a moderate amount of points, usually 1,000-2,000 points. Destroying all Contribution targets doubles the Contribution bonus.
• Level in Reverse: The 2nd-loop stages take the 1st-loop stages and mirror them horizontally.
• Long Song, Short Scene:
  • The arranged versions of the original tracks have extra sections, and most likely in a given stage you won't get to hear the whole track unless you pause the game.
  • The New Order stage 1 track, "Don't look back!", has a breakdown section at the end of the track that is not heard if, again, you don't pause the game, even if you time out the endboss.
  • It should be noted that this can be averted in New Order+ mode with its scroll-stopping mechanic. Drag the stage out long enough and you can hear every stage track in its entirety.
• 1-Up: Averted. There are no extra lives at all, so make every last life count!
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: The Final Boss is the only enemy to speak directly to the player (more specifically, to the Empire forces in general), speaking in German rather than their native English to demand a surrender.
  "Soldiers of the Empire. Shut down all attack systems and surrender. Repeat, shut down all attack systems and surrender."^note Official translation from German from the City Connection ports
• Putting on the Reich: The Empire is effectively WWII-era Germany in all but name, distinctive military uniforms and all. In a twist on this trope, you're fighting for the Empire.
• Remixed Level: The second loop features the same five states but at different times of day and mirrored horizontally.
• Scoring Points: In addition to the standard "kill enemies for points" formula, there are a few gimmicks. More information can be found here, but here's the gist of it:
  • Destroying an enemy with your Option doubles the point value of that enemy.
  • At the end of each stage, you get some bonuses: the "Contribution" bonus for destroying specific targets within the stage, the timer bonus, and the bombs remaining bonus.
• Silence Is Golden: Stage 5, which is the ruins of a major city, begins with a somber track and no sound effects, before the track picks up and the sound effects come back.
• Smart Bomb: Three per life, with more obtainable through bomb pickups.
• Tank Goodness: A large plurality of enemies, especially ground enemies, comprise tanks.
• This Is Not a Drill: Spoken verbatim by a loudspeaker in Stage 2, as an order to Union forces:
  "Enemy attack! Battle stations, battle stations! All hands to battle stations! This is not a drill! I say again: This is not a drill!"
• Time-Limit Boss: Each boss is on a timer. You get 1,000 points for each whole second left on the timer when the boss is defeated. Timing out the boss will cause it to self-destruct, but you'll get no bonus.
• Violation of Common Sense: Your Contribution bonus at the end of each stage is doubled if you've died once, and tripled if you've died twice. Therefore, the best way to score is to burn two of your lives in the very first stage...which, on default life settings, means you have to play all 5 stages (10 if you reach the second loop) with only a single life, with no opportunity to earn more.