Tempo

n/a

Tempo
System(s): Sega 32X
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega, Red Company
Sound driver: SMPS Z80 (modified)
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Official in-game languages: English Français Deutsch Español
Release Date RRP Code JP 1995-03-24 ¥7,8007,800 GM-4009 US 1995 $69.9969.99 84504 BR 1995-05 152070

Tempo (テンポ) is a 1995 action platforming game developed for the Sega 32X by Sega and Red Company. It was the first game in Red's Tempo series, and was followed by Tempo Jr. and Super Tempo.

In the game, you control a grasshopper named Tempo, who uses the power of music to rid the world of Rythmia from the minions of the music-hating King Dirge Sound on the television show The Major Minor Show. You defeat enemies by either jumping on them, falling on them, or kicking on them, and you can stun them by shooting music notes at them. When in midair, you can glide slowly downward, destroying any enemy that touches your feet. If you find a special DANCE panel, you can summon your butterfly friend Katy to assist in killing enemies and opening up secret paths.

Gameplay

The game plays like a straight platformer. causes Tempo to kick, causes Tempo to jump, and causes Tempo to shoot musical notes from his hands. While in midair, holding will cause Tempo to slowly float downward using his wings. Enemies are mainly killed by hitting them with your feet; kicking an enemy gives you +100 points each time, while jumping on them gives you +10. Shooting music notes will stun enemies (but won't affect the score you get when you destroy them). Two powerups available in the level will cause Tempo to shoot two notes at a time or eight notes in a circle each time; the powerups will fall from Tempo to nearby ground whenever he is hit.

Finding a panel that says "DANCE" on it will cause Katy to appear. Katy will automatically kill enemies if Tempo stuns them with a note. If you find a panel that says "KATY" while Katy is following you, Katy will destroy a nearby obstacle, opening up a secret path. The "DANCE" panel will also kill every enemy on screen at the time.

Health is measured by a health bar at the top left corner of the screen. You lose a certain amount of health with each hit, depending on the enemy or obstacle you hit. Once your health reaches a dangerously low point, Katy will flee. You can regain health by collection music notes scattered around the level. Green, red, and orange notes will refill a certain amount of health; the amount decreases with each respective color. A large yellow music note will refill your health once. Some platforms, such as the electric drums in Hi Fi Performance, will give you music notes of decreasing heath value each time they are jumped on.

In each level there is a set of diamonds blocking an alternate path that will electrocute you when touched. A nearby flower encased in ice will cause the diamonds to turn into music notes when touched.

In each level there is a series of trophy-like platforms similar to the one shown when Tempo starts the level; standing on these will warp you to a different part of the level. These platforms usually come in pairs, so standing on one will always take you to the other.

Levels

The game's stages are divided into three different (literal) levels; hitting up and down on the stage select screen allow you to choose the level to choose the stage to play from, though you must beat all the stages on one level to be able to go to the next.

Ground level

	Indigestion Performance
	Fight your way through the mouth and into the belly of a large monster to fight a boxing glove in a boxing ring.
	Hi Fi Performance
	A digital maze of conveyor belts, electric drum pads, electroshock televisions, and dancing bug monsters in the background frame this gimmick-filled area, ending with a fight with a pair of headphones.
	Downtown Performance
	An urban city filled with basketball-playing enemies, skyscrapers that rise and fall, and lots of city-related gimmicks leading to a fight with a giant shoe.

Second level

	Circus Performance
	Jungle Performance

Top level

	Winter Performance
	Final Performance

Production credits

• Designer: Keisuke Abe
• Character Animation Design: Keita Komiyama
• Producers: Hiroshi Aso, Yukihiko Hojo (RED), Mike Larsen
• Assistant Game Designer: Ryoma Kaneko (RED)
• Assistant Producer: Bill Person
• Lead Programmer: Tsukasa Aoki
• Player Programmer: Yuzo Iwai
• Enemy Programmer: Naohiro Hirao
• 32X Programmer: Masanaga Uekusa
• Miscellaneous Utilities: Tomonobu Takahashi
• Object Graphics: Hiroyuki Hirama
• 32X Graphics: Masahiro Kumono
• Background Graphics: Yuta Ihara, Mototaka Nakatsu
• Graphics Assistant: Akira Soejima, Yasuhumi Yamaguchi
• Assistant Map Designer: Hito Ii (RED), G. Chatani (RED)
• Product Manager: Ami Matsumura-Blaire
• Lead Testers: Norihito Sekine, Jeff Junio
• Assistant Lead Testers: Lorne Asuncion, Don Carmichael, Mike Herauf
• Music: Chamy
• Composer: Hiroyuki Hamada
• Sound Effects: Masaru Setsumaru
• Sound Programmers: Atsumu Miyazawa, Akio Setsumasa
• Vocals: Dawn Marie Moore, Jerick De Perio, Bob Timbello (RED)
• Choreography: Hiro Kurosu
• Choreography (Dance Assistant): Yukiko Tsukamoto
• Supervisors: Takashi Shoji, Takeshi Niimura, Ryoichi Hasegawa
• Presented by: Sega 1995, Red 1995

Source:

In-game credits

• Assistant Lead Tester: Lance Nelson
• Testers: Arnold Feener, Ly Ly, Joe Cain, Jeff Hedges, Dana Green, John Amirkhan, Janine Cook, Kerry Kirkham, Phil Co, Peter Clark, Richie Hideshima, Maria Tuzzo, Sean McInnes, Rachael Bristol, Christine Watson, Sean Doidge, Len Jung, Crisi Albertson, Erik Larsen, Robert Buckingham, Amber-Leigh Junier, Sam Saliba, Noah Mackenzie, Atom Ellis, Howard Gipson, Steve Bourdet, Jeff Loney, Ed Riel, Nicole Tatum, Chris Lucich, Tony Lynch, Lloyd Kinoshita, Dan Webber, Steve Rapp, Chris Charles, Charles Artoux, Eric Simonich, and Todd Morgan
• Manual: Wendy Dinsmore

Source:

US manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Tempo/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) #1995-04: "April 1995" (1995-03-08)

Artwork

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  Logo (JP)

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  Logo (US)

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  Cover art (JP)

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  Cover art (US)

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  Cover art (BR)

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  US prototype cover

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 50 Electronic Games (1992-1995) (US) NTSC-U 42 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 75 GameFan (US) NTSC-U 82 Game Players (US) NTSC-U 47 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 85 MAN!AC (DE) NTSC-U 60 Mega Force (FR) PAL 69 Next Generation (US) NTSC-U 25 Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J 71 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 58 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 72 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 74 Video Games (DE) NTSC-U 64 VideoGames (US) NTSC-U 70 VideoGames (US) NTSC-U 80

	64
Based on 16 reviews

Tempo

32X, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

32X, US
Cover
Cart Manual

32X, BR
Cover
Cart

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 14e5c575 MD5 30989c83d4e4ea3c35a1f3e2620b8465 SHA-1 6673ba83570b4f2c1b4a22415a56594c3cc6c6a9	3MB		Cartridge (JP/US)
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		1995-02-07					Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		1995-02-06					Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		1995-02-06					Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		1995-02-04					Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		1995-01-26					Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		1995-01-24					Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		1995-01-21					Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		1994-12-29					Page