After the aquatic brain-teasers of Risky Challenge and its life-saving Tetris blocks, the One Credit Challenge is back in action with a crazy run and gun! Biomechanical Toy (Gaelco, 1995) leaves puzzles and rising water behind to plunge us into a world of wild living toys, somewhere between a nightmarish Toy Story and a cartoon-style Metal Slug.

Developed by the Spanish studio Zeus Software, this side-scrolling shoot’em up puts you in the shoes of Inguz, an ’80s action hero figurine (with a slight Steven Seagal vibe), tasked with recovering the Magic Pendulum stolen by the criminal Scrubby. This pendulum brings toys to life, and without it, their magical world is doomed to disappear. Armed with a semi-automatic pistol, players battle through toy-themed levels: giant chessboards, a high-speed train, an office desk with a computer in the background…

Visually explosive with its vibrant colors and bold cartoon style (matched by an equally energetic soundtrack), Biomechanical Toy delivers fast-paced gameplay and an unusual strategic ammo management system for the genre. Overlooked at release due to its Spanish origins and the rise of 3D gaming, this hidden gem eventually found new life through the Gaelco Arcade 1 compilation on Evercade. A perfect challenge to discover one of the hidden pearls of ’90s arcade run and gun games!

🏆 Challenge Rules

Your objective is to achieve the highest score using a single credit.
The challenge runs from February 16 to February 28 at 11:59 PM. You may attempt it as many times as you like.

📢 How to participate?

• Launch the game (ROM: biomtoy)
• Play and try to beat the highest score
• Take a screenshot or photo of your final score
• Share your score on the Discord channel #challenges, including your username and score

⚖️ Rules to Follow

To ensure fairness:

Scores must be achieved on a single credit, without save states, rewind, cheats, or auto-fire (unless built into the game).

Gentlemen’s agreement: the use of glitches that artificially inflate scores is also prohibited.

🎁 Rewards & Fair Play

The goal of the challenge is above all to discover games, share tips, and most importantly, have fun — all within a healthy competitive spirit!

The winner will receive a game key (GOG, Steam, etc.) chosen from a list of around 100 titles.
If you have won a challenge within the last three months, the prize will go to the next participant.

Your ranking will be added to the One Credit Challenge leaderboard.
The champion of the first season will win either an RGB Dual 2 or one year of Recalbox Patreon membership.

Good luck to everyone — and may the best score win!