Exploring the Neo Geo - Part 2

As an avid fan of arcade games it's inevitable I'll have played some Neo Geo games at some point. I did, however, miss out on many of the system's earliest releases owing to my allegiance to Sega's magnificent MegaDrive which was of course ousted as the most powerful home console by SNK's powerhouse (as well as arguably the SNES but that's a topic for another time). Still, time heals all wounds as they say, and here is where I've been taking a look at some of the very earliest games that were released on the Neo Geo hardware to see if they really were better than those available on my beloved MD. Four of the first five I looked at in 'Part 1' were decent enough and now I'll take a look at another five, including:

Fatal Fury (1991)

One-on-one fighting games are arguably what the Neo Geo brand is best known for so it's a wonder it's taken me this long to finally play one! Well, I've played a few before but this is still a first for Red Parsley! I believe this is one of the cheapest AES carts around and that's presumably because it's sequels are so much better, but I still enjoyed this original. I was surprised to find that only three characters are selectable but it still plays well enough in the same sort of way as the original Street Fighter 2 does compared to later games. The graphics and music are quite nice with each fighter's stage fairly memorable. The room for improvement is clear to see but it's a good start for the series and least it actually is one-on-one, unlike those stupid tag battles that tarnish many of the later incarnations. The absence of Mai is hard to get used to though...

The Super Spy (1990)

Another 'shooting gallery' type game. There's actually a surprising amount of these for the Neo Geo and, unlike the first one, this effort is viewed from the eyes of a CIA agent who has to take out masked hordes of terrorists who occupy office blocks, warehouses, and various installations. He has the choice of several means of attack, from his fists/feet to a knife and of course a gun, and they don't offer a bad selection of moves considering the rather restrictive interface. The presentation isn't the greatest but it is very arcadey and there's some decent speech too. Unfortunately I just didn't enjoy this one much. It seemed a bit random as to whether my attacks landed or not and playing it just seemed like a bit of a chore. This kind of game is rarely much cop without a light-gun though I suppose which is an accessory the Neo Geo would've been great for, surely?

Super Baseball 2020 (1991)

Ah, you Americans have made some great and not-so-great contributions to the world but I've never understood the popularity of baseball. I've even tried to like it but I just couldn't manage it. This game is set in the future though. Could it look at the sport from a more 'explosive' viewpoint? Well it certainly looks more interesting. There's several teams to choose from including ones with robots and female players (buxom, scantily-clad babes, of course) and the field has been overlaid with a grid. The lively sound effects and speech help create a decent atmosphere too and the rules (which I'm not totally familiar with) are simplified, albeit slightly altered too, presumably as a result of the futuristic setting. To my surprise this is actually rather enjoyable and, although it was also converted to the MegaDrive, it will be this version I return to.

Blue's Journey a.k.a. Raguy (1990)

Wow, another real rarity - a Neo Geo platform game! Every console needs at least one good one though, so does this one fall into that category? It's certainly not the most original game of its type, borrowing visual styles and gameplay ideas from some other games, but there's no denying that it wraps them all up in a pretty splendid adventure. The graphics and sound, while fairly typical of this cutesy style of game, are delightful. It's all happy and colourful with really nice backgrounds, amusing sprites, catchy music and great effects. The gameplay is also up to the same high standard with nicely-designed stages, secrets, and lots to collect. For reasons I'm unable to fathom this game has always been looked down on, but under-appreciated or not, it's great fun and a nice change of pace. Perhaps my favourite game yet!

Ghost Pilots (1991)

Aside from the masses of one-on-one fighting games it's perhaps shmups that the Neo Geo is next best known for and this was the first one. It's not remotely original, clearly 'influenced' by such classics as Flying Shark and Capcom's 194x series, but as we know well, that doesn't necessarily make it pants. It looks really nice for one thing. It may be set over the usual jungles and rivers but the backdrops are superbly drawn and the attention to detail is great as well. One problem I've heard is that it's too hard but I didn't find it too bad and it supports two-player action too. I suspect I'll find a better vertical-scroller on SNK's mighty hardware but this one is perfectly enjoyable and addictive for now!

Verdict:
The Neo Geo, huh? The very utterance of the name makes gamers of a certain disposition snap to attention, such is the respect it still commands. It certainly is a legendary system for sure and it's a status the machine earned quickly. It was a remarkably long-lived console too, still receiving full retail releases over ten years after its launch. This is partly down to the fact that it was a rather powerful machine, and that is evident even with these very earliest of releases.

Whilst most of them are of a similar style to the games I had on my MegaDrive, the quality here is noticeably higher, at least from a technical standpoint. Whilst Sega's machine could (and in some cases, did) have a good stab at some Neo Geo conversions, they were never as impressive as they are here. Arcade games, more often than not, always had a certain air about them, an aura or sheen that just couldn't be replicated on home consoles, but the Neo Geo saw the end of this, simply because its games were arcade games, the PCB's quite literally transferred from arcade cabinets to the large cartridges the Neo Geo used.

This complete dominance of the arcade world over this console did of course have some disadvantages too. Almost all of the games were short, sharp, adrenaline rush experiences, battering your senses for the ten minutes or so that you would last, and there's certainly nothing like RPG's or strategy games to be found in the system's software library. What is here, however - fighting games, platformers, shmups, run 'n' gunners, etc - is of such a consistently high standard that using the console really is a unique experience.

However, considering the immense cost of both the hardware and software in its earlier years combined with the console's complete lack of 3D abilities in its latter years, it was only ever going to be a niche system appealing to so-called 'hardcore gamers'. Indeed, it would've been completely impractical for a teenager such as myself to have a Neo Geo as a sole console, but if I'd had super-rich/irresponsible parents, good lord it would've been.... awesome!

Exploring the Neo Geo Part 1

First Look #8

Kamui by SiterSkain (1999) - PC

After recently dipping my toe into the previously untested waters of doujin shoot 'em ups, I was immediately recommended this game which, as it turns out, is not free like many games of this type. So, pending purchase of the full game (which is rather tricky to find as I understand it), I'll take a look at this two stage trial version, and first impressions are very good. It's a Japanese game and even the menus and everything are in Kanji but it's not difficult to work things out, and the presentation is great. The game itself is a 'bullet-hell' vertical scroller (as many doujin games are) and has a nice visual style, looking a little like a SNES game with lots of sprite-scaling going on, and at the same time also looking like a modern shmup with millions of bullets all over the screen, giant battleships moving around, and lots of flashy weapon effects. There are few power-ups as far as I can tell but your ship does have an awesome rechargeable 'thunder cannon'. The action isn't particularly original but it is hectic, relentless and, more importantly, well-designed, with nice music and graphics. I'm not sure how much this fine game costs but Kamui is as good as many full-release shmups I've played. Give it a try if you haven't already!

RKS Score: 5/5

Download the two stage trial version here

Early Driving Games #4

Antarctic Adventure (1984)
By: Konami Genre: Racing Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: MSX First Day Score: 26,190
Also Available For: NES, Game Boy, Colecovision
Download For: Wii Virtual Console

Okay, so it's not really a 'driving' game but this amusing little title does feature racing through its entirety. As you've probably already determined, however, it is not vehicle-based racing. No, the action here instead sees a fleet-footed penguin called Penta trying, for some reason, to circumvent our most southerly of continents by racing from one research station to the next. Penta went on to great fame, especially in Japan where he became Konami's mascot, and his first game is an interesting one. There are ten stages to challenge him, with the stations representing the various nations that lay claim to the icy continent, but the way between them is increasingly fraught with danger. The Antarctic is hardly the safest place in the world to begin with but the paths down which Penta must travel are littered with holes in the ice.

Luckily you can increase or decrease Penta's running speed at will and he is also able to jump holes, but that doesn't help him when one of the pesky sea lions pokes his head out of a hole! Contact with one of these pinnipeds or an ice hole will reduce Penta's speed back to zero (and jolt him around a little too) before allowing him to set off again. He can collect fish, which frequently come flying out of holes in the ice, and flags for bonus points, but there is a rather strict time limit too. If you manage to successfully guide Penta through all ten stages, the game will loop back to the beginning, so it seems the object here is very much the pursuit of high-scores! Is it worth dedicating that much time to though? Well, being an early MSX release, Antarctic Adventure is understandably a bit basic, and not just its presentation either.

The sound is almost solely represented by a nice but solitary tune and the graphics aren't bad for their age. Penta is a very likeable fellow and amusing too as he waddles along flapping his stubby wings as he jumps! His game plays a lot like those old lane-changing LCD games and accordingly it's great fun but only in short bursts as it's very repetitive too. This is mainly down to the graphics which change very little from one stage to the next with the main difference merely being additional holes to avoid. The time limit is too strict as well - even on the first stage you pretty much have to run full-speed all the way and make very few mistakes. The running and jumping action is very pleasant and well-enough designed, it's just needed to be a little easier and more varied. Still, if you like the sound of it, give it a try. Then try the similar but more varied Pen Pen for the Dreamcast!

RKS Score: 6/10

Master System Shmups #6

Quartet (1987)
By: Sega Genre: Shooting / Run 'n' Gun Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Sega Master System First Day Score: ???,???
Also Available For: Arcade, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum

In the late 80's when I was a proud owner of a Master System I only had a handful of games but I was immensely fond of them. Inevitably though, there were others I used to see in magazines that intrigued me and one of them was Quartet. So little did I know about it that, even until recently, I thought it was a platformer, but once again my humble little blog does its job and rights another of my oversights! Like many early Master System titles, this one was originally an arcade release which was released the previous year as a game that could be played by four players simultaneously. Finally getting around to playing this conversion, which supports only two players, reveals that, while it is a game that features some platforms, and you can walk on them, it's actually more of a shmup than a platformer.

I suppose some shooting of some sort is usually required to get rid of pesky aliens and sure enough, your goal here is to rid 'space colony Number Nine' of the 'vile parasites' that have infected it! Of the four selectable characters from the arcade game, only Mary and Edgar make the cut here with players one and two taking control of them respectively. To begin with you guide them across the landscapes run 'n' gun style, jumping and shooting the endlessly spawning enemies as you go. Most of them leave items behind which you can collect for bonus points but there is one item in particular you should look out for. Located somewhere in each of the six rounds is a jet-pack and after grabbing this the game turns into a side-viewed shmup! Whether running or flying, however, the objective remains the same - defeat the boss at the end of each round to unlock the exit to the next before ultimately reclaiming Queen Cynthia's casket!

Before you can access that sixth and final round though, you'll need to find the 'Star Power' on each round. These are fairly unremarkable-looking stars but they are nonetheless essential if you want to finish the game properly. To that end they are rather predictably hidden, usually appearing when you destroy a certain enemy. Other items to keep an eye open for include a shield and a clock to freeze the enemies, both of which only last a short while, and there's also a smart bomb and weapon upgrade. These are all found seemingly randomly through the rounds which do not scroll automatically. Indeed, you can move in either direction at whatever pace you like, but you can't get too comfortable as there is a time limit of sorts. There are numbers beneath your character's name and I initially thought these were the score. When I looked more closely, however, I noticed that it was decreasing!

That's right, it's actually a time-limit which decreases even more quickly if you are hit by any enemies. Being hit when you're equipped with the jet-pack will also knock you to the floor too, where you'll have to continue on foot unless you can reach the jet-pack which remains at location where you were hit - particularly inconvenient if you were near the top of the screen! Indeed, this can be a pretty tough game, at least to start with. There are eighteen types of non-boss enemies and, while they only take a single shot to take down, they are also infinite, continually respawning from the same spot over and over, and they get faster and more aggressive as you progress through the rounds. Once you've learnt the location of the Star Powers, it's best to just leave these pesky things alone when possible.

The first round is only a few screens long but they do get quite large. After the first one they are also split into several sections. Passage between these is via the 'warped doors' (which look fairly symmetrical to me). Their main purpose is to provide a little variety and that they do - although there's perhaps an over-abundance of blue, the backgrounds change regularly and new enemies are introduced each round as well which means there's always something new to see. The sprites are all small (even the bosses by bosses standards) but they are quite detailed and there's very little flicker or slowdown - this is probably one of the better-looking of the early Master System releases. The music is unfortunately less impressive with an average but repetitive tune playing throughout but I suppose you can't have everything!

As a Master System game I've wanted to play for a good while, the time I've spent with Quartet over the last few days has been enjoyable, but as a conversion it's a little less impressive. In most other versions, you see, you can select which of the four characters you want to play as and each has their own strengths and weaknesses, but here you can't even choose from the two that were left in. If you can live with that though, this is a pretty interesting and playable game. The mixture of genres works well and it's good fun running and flying around, weaving in and out of the infernal enemies, especially when joined by a friend. It's certainly not the biggest game ever - a skilled gamer could finish it in ten minutes, but it will last most of us a lot longer than that. Quartet certainly isn't the flashiest game ever but it's well worth playing.

RKS Score: 7/10

Budget Games #5

Spiky Harold (1986)
By: Andrew Rogers / Firebird Genre: Platform Players: 1 Difficulty: Hard
Featured Version: ZX Spectrum
Also Available For: Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC

He may have been a household name for many years now but Sonic wasn't the first hedgehog to star in his own game. Take this fairly well-known budget classic for example, which was released on the 'big three' 8-bit micros some five years before the blue blur first appeared. Harold is a much more traditional hedgehog than Sonic ever was though, for instead of taking on evil dictators and destroying machines of war, Harold is instead more occupied with gathering food for his winter hibernation. It is this vital survival process that forms the premise behind his game which takes the form of a flick-screen adventure where you must simply help Harold collect enough food to hibernate in peace and comfort. This is, however, easier said than done as you probably guessed!

Harold's potential winter pantry is spread over fifty-seven screens, each of which contain one foodstuff. Most of the screens are in caverns beneath the hedgerow which can get quite cramped. There's also an abundance of unpleasant creatures such as wasps, bats, snails, etc, and other hazards trying to stop him. Actually, they're not really, they're just going about their business I think, but they're usually in Harold's way and sure enough, contact with any of them will cost him a life and return him to the point of entry. He may also come across an occasional coin which will give him an extra life and, curiously, a glass of wine which makes him drunk, or in other words, reverses the directions on the joystick for a short while. Not really sure what the point is but still!

Just about the only think I really knew about this game before playing it for this feature (other than the fact it featured a hedgehog, of course) it that it's uncompromisingly difficult, and this has not proven to be an exaggeration! You may start the game with a surprisingly generous quota of lives but you'll soon start to lose them. Control of Harold is pretty good and the collision-detection is great, but the gameplay requires pixel perfect accuracy so some screens take many lives to pass. This was of course common in games like this but many of Harold´s screens are particularly difficult to cross due to the movement of the enemies, not to mention the size of Harold himself. The graphics are quite nice though and feature no colour-clash and if you've got the patience to stick with it (and turn the awful sound down), Harold's quest is a pretty enjoyable one, but it may be too frustrating for most.

RKS Score: 6/10

Awesome Nature #5

Taiga
Type: Forest  Lives In: Canada, Northern Europe, Russia  Conservation Status: Vulnerable

Nope, it's not an obscure way of spelling the largest cat's name. The Taiga is actually an entire biome largely made up of vast swathes of forest that stretch across the entire northern hemisphere from Alaska, across Canada, continuing on the other side of the Atlantic across Scandinavia and the entire length of Russia. As you might imagine, that equals an extremely large number of trees! Many of them are pines and conifers but there's also some broad-leaved varieties too. In total, the trees found here make up some 29% of the entire world's forest cover which consequently makes a huge contribution to the very composition of our atmosphere. It also means the Taiga supports a large number of plant and animal species so it's a vital ecosystem to preserve. Considering how much of the planet's surface it takes up, it's surprising how many people don't even know the Taiga exists, but now you do know, try to see it for yourself!

Why It Is Awesome: It changes the whole atmosphere!

The extent of the Taiga...

Computer Platform Games #2

Switchblade (1989)
By: Core Design / Gremlin  Genre: Run 'n' Gun  Players: 1  Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Atari ST  First Day Score: 9,240
Also Available For: Amiga, PC, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum

Whether you love or hate Rick Dangerous, there´s no question that it was a memorable game. Anyone wanting more of the same would have to wait for its sequel which would arrive a year later, but released the same year as Rick's first adventure was this game. It's similar in looks and gameplay so it comes as so surprise to find that the same team was responsible for both games, but the setting has changed. This latter effort takes place ten thousand years in the future rather than the recent past, and it appears to be an anime-influenced future 'cyber world' called Thraxx where the Undercity is now ruled by the evil Havoc who has shattered the Fireblade and filled the city with his minions.

It's down to you to flush the Undercity of this filth and simultaneously find the sixteen pieces of the Fireblade, the source of the Bladeknight's power, and rebuild it to ensure lasting peace. You do this as Hiro, the last of the Bladeknights. He has as much stealth and cunning as you can muster as well as a programmable cyber-arm. Only when the Fireblade has been reassembled will you be able to take on Havoc and help Hiro gain revenge for the death of his people. You'll start this flick-screen adventure above ground but after only a few screens you'll enter the underground depths of Undercity, a vast, sprawling labyrinth of rooms, tunnels, and passageways. A labyrinth it is too as only sections you're in or have previously been in will appear - all other sections are hidden until you enter them.

This of course means there's lots of secrets and sneakily-concealed areas which often require some exploration or experimentation to find. Hidden or not though, all areas of Undercity are patrolled by the hideous servants of Havoc, contact with whom will deplete Hiro's energy meter. To begin with he can only use his fists or feet against them but there are six power-up weapons available as he makes his way through the game which are mostly sword or projectile-type weapons. They will all have differing ranges and some projectile weapons also have limited ammo. The effect of some of them (including Hiro's default attacks) is also slightly different depending on your use of the charge bar. More ammo can be collected of course, and other things to look out for include speed-ups, a temporary shield, flasks and orbs which award you with bonus points, and increases to your power-meter.

It's also worth looking out for Fireblade fragments, of course, and successful recovery of all sixteen pieces bestows a sizeable bonus upon Hiro as well as the option of using the Fireblade as a seventh weapon power-up. It will be a while before that becomes possible though as Switchblade is a pretty big game. It consists of five levels but, although ending with a boss fight, each level continues on from the last so there's no real break between them. This extends to the look of them. The graphical style is similar to the distinctive look of Rick Dangerous before it - everything is neat and nicely drawn with small, squat little sprites, and I can't imagine it really pushes the 16-bit CPU of the ST very hard - but unlike Core's previous game, there's almost no variety between the levels, and unfortunately that's as far as both graphics and gameplay are concerned too.

The grey bricks, crates, girders and ladders that you'll first see upon entering Undercity are still prevalent an hour later as you approach the climax of the game. This was very disappointing to find as even the much shorter Rick Dangerous has some variety between its levels, graphically. One improvement made here is the audio - the sound effects are pretty anonymous but there is at least in-game music courtesy of Ben Daglish, and it's great! Playing the game will also feel familiar if you've played Rick's game. There's less trial-and-error frustration involved here, at least with regards to completely hidden traps and the like, but exploring the levels is done in pretty much the same way - jumping around multi-tiered sections and nipping up and down ladders. Hiro also moves in a similar way to Rick but since he has an energy meter rather than one-hit deaths, it's a little easier too.

Overall though, I'm not sure if Switchblade represents a forward or backwards step. Rick Dangerous got a mixed response due to its immensely unfair but addictive gameplay while Switchblade was apparently unanimously praised, but in my opinion the latter doesn't possess either of the former's most notable qualities - it's fairer but less addictive since the whole game is pretty much the same as the first five minutes. I know it suits the story to have the whole city looking pretty much the same, but it doesn't do much for the player's desire to see it all. This, combined with a very annoying 'hit mechanic', which sees Hiro shunted backwards every time he takes damage, means I have less compulsion to continue playing this than I do Rick Dangerous. It's far from a terrible game, and uncovering all the hidden areas provides some motivation to play it, but it could've been so much better with a bit of variety.

RKS Score: 6/10

Crap Games #4

Greendog - The Beached Surfer Dude! (1992)
By: Sega Genre: Platform Players: 1 Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Featured Version: Sega MegaDrive / Genesis First Day Score: 271,000
Also Available For: Game Gear

At the peak of the game mascot craze it wasn't just sentient animals who got their chance to be heroes. This effort, starring the laid back 'surfer dude' of the title is very much an American take on the subject and it's a game I always remember as being crushingly average. Okay, so it didn't exactly get ripped to shreds by the critics of the day but I don't recall ever having heard it spoken about with much enthusiasm or affection either. It always seemed to me that it was a game that had potential but, in the end, might as well have never been made. I never played it for these reasons but it does look quite intriguing so it's time for the Crap Games series to return to the poor old put-upon MegaDrive and see what this thrill-seeking nincompoop can offer.

The backstory reveals that Greendog, ever in search of new and exciting surfs, is knocked unconscious by a freak wave in the Caribbean. He awakens in a strange but vivid dreamworld and finds himself wearing a magical but cursed Aztec pendant that can't be removed and which dooms him to be perpetually attacked by all wild creatures in his vicinity. The only way to lift the curse is to find six pieces of a sacred Aztec treasure which has been lost across the Caribbean islands. And so begins another side-viewed platform adventure which as you may have guessed is set over six levels - one per piece of treasure. They take in the delightful paradise islands of Grenada, Mustique, Curaçao, Jamaica, Saba, and St Vincent and each is split into two parts.

The first part of each level takes place on the island's surface while the second part takes place in caverns/passageways. Each of these underground sections alternates between either a standard platformy stage with a totem pole-like boss at its climax or an obstacle course which is undertaken on a skateboard or in-line skates. Splendidly, you also get to take control of Greendog as he makes his way between levels too, and this takes the form of a short airborne section on his strange pedicopter-like contraption which comes complete with extendible boxing glove! During all these sections, the probably-moronic beach bum is only wearing shorts so you would think him particularly susceptible to attack, and this proves to be the case. Almost all enemies encountered in the game cause him some degree of harm and there's quite a menagerie too.

Indeed, most of the enemies are birds and beasts of a tropical variety, such as parrots, frogs, crabs, fish, etc, but later stages also introduce some human enemies like Caribbean women with fruit hats, tourists with cameras, and tribesmen who are all apparently angry to have a 'radical dude' like Greendog in their midst. The only weapon he has with which to see them off is his boomerang frisbee thingy. Many of them, as well as some inanimate objects through the stages, release various junk foods when hit which replenish his energy levels, but there are a few other items too which give him a homing frisbee, a shield, a clock to freeze the enemies, or a mini-umbrella for his head (all for a limited time). Most amusingly there is also an occasional canine companion who chases and takes out enemies for a short while!

This is all well and good, but does the game deserve its place in the 'Crap Games' feature? Well, to be honest I'm not sure. The 'front end' is superb, for one thing. The presentation is great (there's even an intro) and the graphics are mostly nice too. The sprites are reasonably drawn, although the animation is somewhat lacking, but the background and foreground scenery graphics are great. The underground sections aren't bad, although a little dull and repetitive, but the 'surface' sections are gorgeous! They include beaches, tropical forests, and underwater areas and they all look delightful. Even better is the audio. The effects aren't bad but the calypso-style music is fantastic and well worth listening to on its own!

Exploring this lush Caribbean world with the tube-riding cretin is therefore a pleasure, surely? Well, I can definitely say it's not as bad as I was expecting, but there are still a few problems. Perhaps the 'biggest' one is just that - Greendog himself is quite a large fellow which means it's often hard to avoid enemies or traps when he's leaping about the place. Control of him is also quite sluggish and he moves almost in slow-motion at times. This effect is significantly worse in the underwater sections where his movement is slowed down to almost nothing, and the collision-detection also seems to be a little hit-and-miss. That said, it's not the most unfair game of all-time either. His energy meter is quite generous and there are always plenty of junk foods to fill it back up with again.

The stages are quite nicely designed with a decent attempt made to add some variety to them. The underground sections feature lots of traps and hazards like spikes and springers, the fourth stage features sections on in-line skates (complete with half-pipe!), and there's a couple of secret areas with bonuses here and there. Overall, it seems like Sega really made an effort with this game and it so nearly paid off. If you can put up with its shortcomings, Greendog is certainly a treat for the eyes and ears, but the fact remains that if it had poor graphics and music it would be a wholly insignificant game - at best a thoroughly average platformer, at worst a blatant demonstration of poor design. It's just a shame there wasn't a sequel where Sega could've ironed out the flaws here. So, not crap, but not great either.

RKS Score: 6/10

Puzzle Games #8

Clu Clu Land (1984)
By: Nintendo Genre: Maze / Puzzle Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Nintendo NES First Day Score: 14,780
Also Available For: Famicom Disk System, Game Boy Advance
Download For: Wii Virtual Console

For many years now, I've been highly intrigued by this game whilst simultaneously knowing almost nothing about it. I'm quite sure that it's the unusual name that grabbed my attention but perhaps it's time to learn some more about it. My first attempt yielded little of note so it's time to do some checking. Returning, armed with the necessary details, I have more luck and it turns out that the name isn't the only unique thing about Clu Clu Land. For those as clueless as me, it's an action/puzzle game starring a bubble fish called... umm, Bubbles. This creatively-named orange blob, who doesn't actually look much like a fish, must make her way through twenty single-screen stages spread over five levels which don't appear to be submerged in water. Each stage is timed, viewed from overhead, and features a grid-like layout. Nothing too strange there, you might think, and you'd be correct.

Each stage, however, is filled with what looks like dots. It turns out that these are poles and in order to make her way around each stage, Bubbles must grab a pole with one of her hands (another classic fish attribute) and swing round it to change direction. Her reason for doing so is to recover the many gold bricks that were stolen by a group of nefarious sea urchins called the Unira. These gold bricks have apparently been arranged by the Unira to create a particlar shape on each stage, but each brick will only appear once Bubbles passes between the two corresponding poles. To complete each stage she must reveal the entire shape which is random each time you play. Of course, the Unira aren't just sitting idly by watching her ruin their work - there are at least two of them patrolling each stage and contact with them results in the loss of a life. Bubbles can temporarily stun them with her sonar wave and push them into walls to eliminate them.

Replacement Unira's soon emerge from the 'black hole' though, one or more of which are present on each stage. Unlike the Unira, Bubbles can't withstand the crushing gravity of these quantum singularities. The only collectibles are fruits and bags of cash which can be collected for points and clocks which freeze the Unira for a short while so, like most mazey puzzley games, things are kept nice and simple. As you advance through the stages, things do get a little more complex though. The number of black holes increases and some stages require the gold bricks to be passed over twice before they are revealed, and there is also an increasing number of elastic bands between posts which spring Bubbles back the way she came. It remains a simple game to play though, and is great for high-scores. There's an occasional bonus round and bonus points are awarded at the end of each stage for time remaining, Unira's crushed, and gold bricks revealed (which seems a bit pointless since you have to reveal all of them on each stage in order to finish it!).

Much like Ice Climber which I also took a look at recently, Clu Clu Land was a very early release for the Famicom and NES, but unlike its platforming counterpart it's aged pretty well. Its graphics are also basic, perhaps even more so. The shape of the 'arenas' and the colour of their surroundings change now and then but that's about the only variety and, while the music and sound effects are quite good, there's also little variety there. I suppose you could say the same about the game generally but its original and addictive gamplay, not to mention the random element of the stages, means it rarely gets tiresome. The controls take a bit of getting used to since Bubbles has to grab the poles with her hands rather than simply turn in another direction, which means you need to press the desired direction slightly earlier. Once you grown accustomed to this though, the game is great fun. It may borrow from a couple of other games but it at least does something interesting and it definitely adds a lot of its own ideas. The result is a unique and refreshing game which I'm very glad I finally tried.

RKS Score: 8/10

PC Engine Platform Games #3

PC Kid a.k.a. xC Genjin, a.k.a. Bonk's Adventure, a.k.a. BC Kid (1989)
By: Atlus / Red Company / Hudson Soft Genre: Platform Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: NEC PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 First Day Score: 64,470
Also Available For: Arcade, NES, Game Boy, Amiga
Download For: Wii Virtual Console

I suppose I can only cover PC Engine platform games here for so long before I get to this famous rock-head who rose to prominence as the mascot for NEC's mighty console, but he actually started life as a comic character in a Japanese games magazine. His popularity swiftly enabled his promotion though, and the result has come to be known by a good few names including PC Genjin (this Engine version), Bonk (American TurboGrafx versions), BC Kid (Amiga), FC Genjin (Famicom), GC Genjin (Japanese Game Boy release) and so on. However, the name I was always most fond of was perhaps the only combination of letters known to man that wasn't an official name - PC Kid! This is the nickname the Japanese games received, at least here in the UK, and it's the only name I've really known the slap-head by, but his series of games is one that I'm ashamed to have never properly played. Until now.

Before the days of Red Parsley, the bulk of my PC Engine gaming had been shoot 'em up-related which inevitably caused me to miss out on games like this. I know, I only have myself to blame, and it's not like I wasn't aware of Pithecanthropus Computerus Kid (to use his full name) - a caveboy with a giant head is hardly the most inconspicuous character ever! Indeed, his game world is equally unusual, predominantly featuring a pre-historic theme, beating both Chuck Rock and Joe & Mac to the punch. The main bad guy is predictably a mean dinosaur. Specifically, he is called King Drool and he has kidnapped Princess Da, a small pink creature to whom PC Kid apparently feels some affinity. Standing between him and his epic battle with King Drool for the right to do... something... with Princess Da are five long levels set over punishing enemy-ridden landscapes.

Most of the five rounds are divided into several stages, up to seven in fact, and they take in a wide variety of locales including various deserts, waterfalls, underground caverns, swamps, high up tree tops, icy and underwater areas, and a distinctly un-prehistoric looking castle. There are an impressive forty-eight different characters in total to be found through the game and a majority of these are of course enemies. Most of them are animals or dinosaurs of some sort and they all cause PC Kid to lose some of his energy, represented by hearts at the top of the screen, when they touch him. Many of them are appropriate to their surroundings too, such as lizards and cacti in the deserts, dragonflies and electrical fish in the tropical waterfalls, and strange bugs in the caverns. Of course, being a platformer, they are all taken out the same way - with PC Kid's enormous, shiny bonce!

That's right, PC Kid's dispenser of justice is his own great big head! Using this indestructible body part he can 'bonk' the enemies (presumably from where the US name arose) into submission. Some are defeated by one strike, others by two or more, and the large bosses that await at the end of each round take many, but luckily he can also launch a more powerful head-first dive from mid-jump to cause more damage. The only power-ups available really are the chunks of meat found laying around periodically. Collecting one small meat gives PC Kid the ability to head-butt the ground and stun and nearby enemies. Collecting a second meat while already in possession of one will give him thirty seconds or so of invincibility, while collecting a large one will jump straight to the shield.

There's a few other collectibles around though. Most of these are various fruits which replace lost energy, smiley faces for points, and there's three types of hearts. Small or large red ones will also replace lost energy, with the amount varying accordingly, but the rarer blue heart will increase your total energy level by one heart. Despite the fairly small amount of power-ups, there's actually quite a bit of variety here. There's some secret areas leading to bonus stages where fruits or points can be earned, and the stages are filled with lots of features like moving platforms, collapsing bridges, quicksand, uprooting trees that carry you along, and three types of flowers which can be jumped on and act as springers. Some bounce you further than others while some reward you with fruits. Some of the stages are pretty tall too, and PC Kid can climb up walls and reach higher areas by biting the wall and inching his way up!

This was certainly an eye-catching game in its day, and even fairly original too. This is partly down to the game's healthy sense of humour which, as well as giving PC Kid lots of amusing facial expressions, also added some nice touches to brighten up the already enjoyable stages. For example, during the first round you'll come across a large sleeping dinosaur. If you manage to wake him up he'll open his mouth and seemingly eat you, but then the game continues in his interior! It's things like this that make PC Kid such a distinctive and appealing game. It's quite tough going for a cutesy platformer though, and rather large too, so it should last a long while, especially since the final stage ends with the kind of boss rush more usually associated with shoot 'em ups! As you may have seen, the game is also something of a looker. As well as its unique humour, it was also for it's supremely bright and colourful graphics that PC Kid first gained attention.

The music and sounds effects are surprisingly average for a game of this type, but those graphics really are superb. The detail in the backgrounds isn't amazing but the foreground graphics are detailed and the sprites are nicely animated and full of character. Of course, even graphics as nice as these wouldn't hold the attention for long, let alone spawn numerous sequels and remakes, if the game was annoying to play, so luckily it's not. Control of PC Kid is fine and, although there are a few frustrations here and there, it's mostly a very appealing and addictive game. It many ways it understandably plays like a bog-standard platform game of the era, but all the humorous and creative touches set it apart from the crowd. Plus, for that same reason you'll continue plugging away to see what awaits on the next stage, and the difficulty is paced in such a way that you won't get there too quickly, but you won't get annoyed and give up either. So, a top debut for Hudson's 'other' mascot, and I've got the sequels to look forward to yet!

RKS Score: 8/10

Top Five Mafia Films

It's been around for a long time now but the Mafia, Cosa Nostra, Mob... whatever you want to call it, is still a fascinating subject to most of us. Of course, the closest a vast majority will get to it is through the films, TV shows, books, etc, offered by some talented individuals. Some of these are fact, some are fiction, but most are a mixture of both. Regardless of their accuracy, the subject is one which is both entertaining and tantalising. After all, not many of us enjoy being "an average nobody and having to live their lives like a schnook". There have been many superb films on the subject but these are my personal favourites. Incidentally, if anyone else has others in mind, let me know. Maybe I haven't seen them!

5. Bugsy (1991)

This is the film I've seen most recently out of the five on this list and it was one I enjoyed a lot. As is often the case, it's based on a true story and follows the story of New York mobster, Bugsy Siegel (Warren Beatty), and his attempt to transform Las Vegas from a dusty little town into the 'Entertainment Capital of the World' that we now know (and love?). Of course, it takes some sizeable liberties, including the omission altogether of the man most responsible for setting everything in motion, but it's still a superbly scripted film with great performances by Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, and lots of others. There's not as much killing or racketeering as many other films of the type so even the missus might enjoy Bugsy!

4. Casino (1995)

Another Vegas-inspired tale and one which sees De Niro and Scorsese teaming up yet again. This time the city is already the bustling neon-drenched Sin City familiar to us all by the time we're introduced to top gambling handicapper, Sam 'Ace' Rothstein (De Niro), who's asked by organised crime associates to run the Tangiers casino for them. With Sam's natural money-making talents and his boyhood friend, Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) watching his back, they're soon raking it in. However, as the film's tagline says, no one stays at the top forever! Featuring a superb, eye-opening script and some fantastic acting, especially from Pesci, as psychotic as ever, and a career-best turn from Sharon Stone as Sam's alcoholic wife, Casino is as epic (not to mention violent) as they come!

3. The Godfather (1972)

This first film or the second? They're both thoroughly engrossing films without question, but the original just edges it for me. Embarrassingly, I didn't actually see it until a few years ago at the insistence of my good friend, Luke. It's the only film on this list that isn't at least based on a true story, and it does take a while to get going, but the impact it leaves behind is immense and I'm now very grateful to Luke for making me watch it! It features career-defining performances from several top actors and some glorious set-pieces. I'm sure many would place this classic in the number one spot and I can understand that - it is a magnificent display of film-making and story-telling, after all.

2. Donnie Brasco (1997)

The most recent film on the list and another true story which is perhaps the most accurately portrayed 'true story' of all Mafia films. No doubt the FBI tried on many occasions to infiltrate the Mob and this film tells the tale of their most fruitful attempt. Starring a superb Johnny Depp as Joe Pistone (undercover codename - Donnie Brasco) and an even superber Al Pacino as ageing mob soldier, Lefty, who takes Donnie under his wing, the film depicts a way of life far from the glamour and riches that many others portray, but it's still an immensely entertaining film with lots of memorable scenes and dialogue which does a fantastic job of conveying the pressures and temptations of undercover work.

1. Goodfellas (1990)

Talking of glamour and riches, that's exactly what this classic film portrays Mafia life as. It follows the life of Henry Hill from young teenage kid up to his middle-aged years, and what a life it appears to have been! Hill, played by Ray Liotta, dreamed of being a gangster from a young age and he doesn't have to try to hard to become one - he soons finds himself part of Paulie's crew pulling off cons and robberies left, right, and centre. Of course, there are some lows and well as the many highs but this is a magnificently directed, scripted, and acted film with top-drawer efforts from Scorsese, Liotta, De Niro, and the amusingly crazy Joe Pesci. Seldom has gangster life looked so intoxicatingly appealing.

Doujin Shmups #1

Storm Caliber (1999)
By: S.S.P. Genre: Shooting Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: PC First Day Score: 19,484,280
Also Available For: Nothing

Hello and welcome to another new feature here at Red Parsley! I've been meaning to take a look at some 'doujin', or fan-made shmups for quite some time but it's not a scene I know a great deal about yet so please bear with me if you'd be so kind. But what made me start the feature now, you ask? Well, upon the recent acquisition of a new laptop, I was tidying up my existing PC to prepare for a back-up and transfer of data. I had a quick look in the 'games' folder, which I seldom venture into, and a folder called 'Storm Caliber' caught my eye. Strangely, I don't even remember putting it there but I gave it a try anyway. I didn't even realise it was a shoot 'em up at this point but it wasn't long before it had ensnared me.

There's no back story that I can determine but that doesn't matter too much. After choosing between the two different attack craft that are initially available you get thrown straight into the vertically-scrolling action. The available craft are the usuals - the red 'balance type' ship is slower but with a greater range weapon, the blue 'speed type' ship is faster but lesser range weapons. Whichever you choose you are immediately thrust into the first of the seven stages that make up the game. Each takes place over the same star-field backdrop and are filled with masses of enemy ships. We're in 'bullet hell' territory here too so the screen is quickly filled with millions of enemy shots, some in patterns, others not.

There are three types of enemy ships. The smallest and most numerous are downed by a single shot but there are also a surprising number of larger more powerful vessels too. The third type is of course the giant battleship that awaits you at the end of each stage. The two fighters are both armed with the same basic weapon but they deploy them slightly differently. The blue ship concentrates its fire forward while the red one covers more of the screen but with the resultant reduction in power. There are no other weapons to collect but the default one can be powered up by collecting the relevant icons and you can also add to your ship's meagre stockpile of bombs. These differ from ship to ship the same way.

Regardless of ship, the bombs not only destroy most enemies, but also turn all bullets that are on the screen into collectible stars for bonus points! Your ship is offered a degree of protection by a shield, which can also be topped up, but in one of the game's most interesting features, you can also turn it into an offensive weapon. This is a very handy technique known as 'bullet grazing' which sees your ship channel a portion of its shield power into a defensive volley of homing missiles when it is grazed by an enemy bullet. Obviously you can only take advantage of this while you have shield energy and using it too much will leave your ship defenceless but the shots are pretty powerful so it's well worth using them as often as you can.

Like many doujin shmups, Storm Caliber is rather lacking in variety - the first three stages don't differ much to begin with but they are then repeated with tougher enemies for the next three stages before the final stage which is a very short one leading up to the final boss. It's also a surprisingly easy game for a game of the bullet-hell type which are notorious for being insanely hard (although it's still far from a walk-over). The graphics are pretty repetitive too - the starry backdrop is unchanged through the entire game and the sprites vary little from one stage to the next. None of this should suggest that we're in the presence of a bad game though, as the idea behind Storm Caliber is to amass as high a score as possible.

This is achieved by destroying enemies in quick succession to increase the score multiplier, and the best way to do this is to use the bullet-grazing technique. There's plenty of ways to keep increasing your best score and there's more to the game than it initially appears. Only three stages are available to start with, for example, and there's also a couple more ships hidden away too. Of course, good or bad, you'll only have any interest in this game if you're into shmups but there's a lot here for fans to like. The graphics, though repetitive, are crisp and fast-moving and there's no slow-down, even when the bullet-count gets ridiculous (although this may depend on your PC specs). The sound is even better with lots of loud sound effects and some fantastic music, and it's exciting, addictive, and enormous fun to play. With a bit more variety, especially graphically, this would rank among the most enjoyable vertical-scrollers I've played which is no mean feat for a free, homebrew game. There's certainly nothing to grumble about here though, and overall this is a cracking little game which I'm very happy I accidentally discovered!

RKS Score: 8/10