Famicom Friday: Wing of Madoola

A SunSoft game that is not very common, but still pretty cheap to get because it's not very popular.


One of the reasons why it might be overlooked is that it's classified as an action-rpg game, but I would say it is 95% action. The only RPG element is that you pick up weapons and upgrades. Use them by pressing Start and then Select to change weapon.

You progress through the stages and enter rooms where you can find these items. One of the rooms has a miniboss that you have to defeat in order to get through the exit. It is hard but not unfair. You continue by pressing Select+Start at the start screen. I won't call it a cheat because the game is unplayable without this. Maybe it is even mentioned in the manual (I don't have the manual though).


The game is entirely in English. Apart from the Select+Start trick, there isn't anything else that needs to be known. The last stage can also be a little tricky from what I read on Strategywiki, because you collect the Wing of Madoola item that allows you to fly by pressing down+jump.

When you continue you get to keep all the items you picked up, so you never have to visit a room twice for items. Still it is very difficult because of the myriad of enemies that appear. I really enjoy these kind of "enemy bombardment". :) See my previous reviews of games such as Ninja Crusaders and Demon Sword.

I read at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wing_of_Madoola) that the game has 16 stages. I was stuck on stage 12 for over an hour (see some of my game play in the video below) and then I accidentally pressed Start without pressing Select and lost the chance to continue. Arino on Game Center CX did this mistake too on stage 12... But I understand him. Stage 12 is the most difficult stage, according to Strategywiki... After getting beaten so many times you start to go cross eyed.



The Game Center CX video recommends to go back to stage 10 where there is a spring to recover health, then play through stage 10 and 11 without taking too much damage, in order to get to stage 12 with more health...

While the game has this continue function, it doesn't have any password or save function, so it needs to be beaten in one sitting. As long as you remember to press Select+Start you can keep on replaying older stages too to get items on them you missed and then jump forward again.

I recommend exploring all areas to make sure you don't miss any items. Some stages are a bit like mazes and have a Metroid feeling to them but they are actually not that big. If you don't feel patient, you can of course look at the maps on the strategywiki article.

It is still a fun challenge and I hope to go back to it some day when I have more time. Arino on Game Center CX beat it, eventhough he had to replay from the start twice. He had of course full help of his staff that told him what to do and even replayed old stages for him, but the game is clearly beatable while providing a nice challenge.

We have this game for sale at our webshop: http://japanspelshop.se/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=2550

Famicom friday, 5 games

We've had a little more free time recently so Fredrik could take up Famicom Friday.
There are some games that have been laying around for a while that he's been curious about.
All of the games are for sale at our shop, you can reach the items through the title links below.



First the puzzle game Ochin ni Toshi Puzzle Tonjan. A pretty uncommon game, and puzzle games can sometimes be surprisingly fun. However, the game felt very simplistic so it was probably made for kids.


Then he tried Super Chinese 2.



There are three Super Chinese games for Famicom. There are also three games on Game Boy ("Super Chinese Land") and three for Super Famicom ("Super Chinese World). We have a gameplay video of the first game on Game Boy, too.

The first game on Famicom and the first game on Game Boy are full action games, and they seem to be completely in English. The rest of the games have some RPG elements. A fun thing with these games is that they fully support 2 player co-op mode.

But this Famicom game turned out to be pretty hard to play if you don't know Japanese... I suppose it is playable with a guide, but it would take a very long time to get into it. So Fredrik didn't play for long, since he wouldn't understand the story anyway ...

So he went on to some Namco games instead. Namco made many very enjoyable games based on their arcade games and you know you will always get some decent gameplay, even if the games may lack depth.



Dragon Ninja was more fun than expected. It is also called Bad Dudes outside of Japan. The initial feeling is that the movement is stuttering and unresponsive, but you will get used to it very quickly. It has a great "Double Dragon" feeling to it, and the fighting gives satisfaction. A charming and surprising little addition is the "I'm bad" speech when you defeat a boss. The game seems to have unlimited continues so Fredrik kept playing for several stages.



Quinty is a simplistic but perfectly playable little action game. It is also known as Mendel Palace in the US. Like with many Namco games, the Famicom games seems to be entirely in English. It also has unlimited continues. We recommend playing in 2-player mode. You won't get blown away by it, but it's always nice with co-op mode.



Lastly, he played Burger Time. He tried it before but never made it very far. So this time he decided to give it some more time.

Typical for these arcade made games is that they were made to NOT be beatable... It is a difficult game if you don't learn the enemies' movements, much like in Pac-Man. They often don't move directly towards you, but move right and left instead. After a couple of tries, he made it to stage 3. Must have been tough, though, seeing as he had nightmares about the game that night!

Hana no Star Kaidou - a reappreciation

My colleague Fredrik wrote about this game earlier after playing without a guide. After reading other people's reviews, it was easy to agree that it's a bad game. But we found out that many gamers (especially from the US) don't have enough patience with games like these.

The game is about a famous japanese pop star duo and you control both of them at once. There is no GameFAQ for this game but we found another page with useful information. The game is definitely more fun and playable once you figure out how to play.

* Instead of going right towards the wall on the first stage, you can go up the stairs to the left, making it possible to proceed to the next level (pressing up+right+left+fire button).

* You can walk up to an enemy after you stun them and press up. It gives you items that increase your hearts (time) and a cassette tape needed to enter the studio.

So the game isn't as impossible as we thought. You just have to know about these two things. But it's still a really weird game. You can buy it from us here when it is in stock.

Cobra Command, famicom

Helicopter games are rarely worth anything, no matter if they are scrolling or not. The only exception I can think of is Kyuukyoku Tiger (Twin Cobra). But that game is exactly like any airplane shooter.

For all Apple fans, I remember I played a helicopter game on Macintosh sometime in the early 1990s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvh0agHVLHQ . 

Anyways, I played a bit of Cobra Command for a Famicom Friday, then read about how to play it properly and went back to play some more. It helps to learn what the game is about. First, you rescue hostages. You have to rescue all hostages in one area before you can continue on the level.  In the rescue hostages theme, the game probably takes from Choplifter, a simplistic game that does have its charm (also available on famicom, and is cheap like all helicopter games).

You can land on supply depots, as I did twice in the video. There you will get weapon upgrades or other upgrades. Go into the equip menu by pressing Select. The Start button is used to turn around the helicopter.


Most youtube videos have different colors for some reason, but this is how the game looks on my AV modded famicom.

Cobra Command has nice graphics, advanced levels, good looking enemies and stages, and a good strategy element. However, the controls are difficult. The helicopter is sensitive and quickly moves you into a wall for sudden death. And when you move helicopter forward it becomes strangely slow to the point that it will become difficult to avoid enemies. I try to counter that by tapping the forward button, but you can also fly backwards if you feel certain there are no obstacles.

If you can learn the controls and accept them, the game is enjoyable. I read that it has only 6 stages and is beatable without being overly hard. You start with four lives and get more from the supply depots. If you die all lives, there are 2 or 3 continues. I only played the first stage though. I rate the game "decent".

The Japanese version has Japanese text. From what I read on gamefaqs, some hostages give you messages but these messages are virtually useless. So I rate the famicom game 95% playable. As you see in the video, all the names of items in the menu are in English.

Kamen no Ninja & Fudou Myououden, Famicom

Full title is Kamen no Ninja: Akakage, and Fudou Myououden is also known as Demon Sword in the US. None of the games were released in Europe. I've played and written about a game called Ninja Crusaders for Famicom earlier. It was a lot of fun so I hoped these two ninja games would be fun, too.


Kamen no Ninja
Here is some information about Kamen No Ninja from a GameFAQs walkthrough:

Kamen no Ninja: Akakage is a relatively straightforward platformer for the Famicom. The enemies are pretty simple, the stages are short, and to top it off, you have a wide variety of great weapons/items to use! The game is quite linear with the exception of one point late in the game, so you really only need to keep moving right to beat it. Even the boss enemies (the ones with health meters) can all be defeated with the same strategy or the same couple of weapons in your arsenal. Nonetheless, this really isn't a bad game, so I would recommend it to any 2D platformer fan.
-- http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/578587-kamen-no-ninja-akakage/faqs/58865

Personally, I don't like this kind of simplistic platformers. The graphics are simple, just walking from left to right doesn't really do it for me. The music becomes annoying after a while and the game doesn't feel very well thought-out. But as the article says, it's a decent game if you like this kind of games. You can currently buy it in our webshop, link here. When I played, I got tired of it pretty quickly. Here's a YouTube clip I recorded:




Fudou Myououden

The second game was much more exciting! Fudou Myououden is an extremely challanging game, with significant inspiration from Ninja Gaiden. The enemies are thrown at you from every direction. The game is also 3M big and the stages are long. You have unlimited continues and collected magic is saved after you die. With a password you can also keep everything you've collected.

The game is still really hard. For this reason, the game was remade for the american audience. Instead of dying after just one hit, you got a health bar. The stages are made shorter and six stages were removed. The game felt somewhat slower though, and some enemies were easier to beat. My guess is the US version couldn't store as much data, so some had to be removed.

To use magic, press Start and then Down button. Unfortunately, I didn't understand this until stage 1-3, after desperately fighting my way ahead for two hours. After I discovered this, things got easier. By then, I had learned a lot of timing, as you can see in the beginning of the following video:



I made it all through stage 1-4 without any problem but at 2-1, I gave up. I've seen that walkthroughs on YouTube are about 55 minutes long, and that is probably the time spent without dying. For a Famicom game, it's a really long game.

To compare it with Ninja Crusaders, which can be completed in 20 minutes without dying, a more realistic time is about 6-10 hours. So I guess Fudou Myououden therefor would take at least 30-40 hours, and getting enemies thrown at you all the time becomes exhausting. You will need luck and good powerups to complete the stages.

It is a good game in many ways, it has nice graphics, good sound, great controls, fun powerups and the magic adds a strategic element. Reading other reviews, I notice people saying a combinaion between the easier US version and the more good-looking, longer japanese version would be better.



It's funny how I made it to the end of the stage during my last attempt seen in the video, but died when I went back.

To complete the Japanese version you really need to improve your ninja-skills. You'll have to learn exact timing, be an expert at collecting powerups, struggle with mini bosses to get higher magic. But what's most important is to play, play play, and die, die, die. I think people who enjoy Ninja Gaiden might enjoy this. This game was recently sold, but keep an eye out in our Webshop or make a request.

Fudou Myououden is kind of a sequel to another game called Legend of Kage which is much shorter and easier. So if you enjoy ninja games, that is also a game I can recommend.


External links:
* http://lvls.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/cultural-anxiety-demon-swordfudou-myououden-nesfamicom/
* http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/legendofkage/legendofkage.htm

originally posted by Japanspel at swedish blog japanspel.wordpress.com, translated by Kristin Loman.

Moonwalker, Mega Drive: Thriller Dance

I recently uploaded a video of Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, as you may have seen. From that video I clicked on a related video by AVGN, although I had seen it before. His video is actually a reason I make my own because he always make games look worse than they are and that bring down their value.

He shortly mentions something that I missed earlier, about how "some versions of the game" has the Thriller dance. Hmm, so I looked it up on the internet forums (and gamefaqs), and it says that there is a "Rev 0" that has the Thriller music which for copyright reasons was removed from later versions.

A forum post says that the two versions are exactly identical otherwise, and their boxes, carts and manual are also identical.

I suspect that one could open up the cart and see a difference on the chip, but the problem is that Japanese carts have a label on the backside that you have to remove to get to the screws.

The forum says you have to play up to a point where there are zombies, and then execute the Dance Attack (hold the A button for a while) to see what music will play.

I actually have two copies of the game because no one ever bought them.
It is usually just a problem for me as a seller when a Japanese game is rare and expensive, while the PAL version is more common.

It took around 15 minutes to reach the zombies and I did it for both games. This is the video for the second time. I have improved playing the game, and didn't die, LOL. Although I almost died once, when I got stuck behind a boss...

_

Anyways, both games have the same music: The Thriller music. Supposedly, if you have a later cart, you will only hear the "just another part of me" music.

The webforum says that on later zombie stages you will hear a different part of Thriller being played. But I don't enjoy the game that much that I want to play that long.

After doing this,however, I noticed that if you just start the game and let the intro demo play for 3 minutes, you should hear the music too!
_

Rolling Thunder 2, Mega Drive

Last Friday I had a Mega Drive Friday.

I spent most time with this game, Rolling Thunder 2.
5 hours Friday, and then 5 hours Saturday.

The Japanese version is entire in English, which is nice for me. It has a story mode where you are two agents who have to save the world like James Bond, but you can play as either man or woman. They are equal in every way. I think the girl is nicer to look at, but she has this odd sound when she gets hit. If you have a friend you could also play the game 2-player co-op boy and girl, which I read is fun.

_
The game is basically a platformer game with slightly special controls and some strategy elements. One feature is that when you run into an enemy, you will flash as if hit, but you don't actually take any damage. Use this as a strategic advantage, for example you  can jump into an enemy in a pit.

What I like about games is when there is some strategic element and not just plain run-and-shoot shooter or run-and-jump platformer. You have to think about how to best beat the enemies, without wasting bullets or time. You can also go into doors to hide from enemies at times.

Some people find it annoying that you can't jump and shoot at the same time, but I think a gamer will get used to it quickly. It is part of the gameplay and I think it makes it more interesting to try a different style of playing. It also adds to the feeling of realism.

With the three button MD1 controller it is difficult to do things like jump straigh up or simply duck, at least for me. I still wanted to play the game with a real controller and not with my HORI mega controller, so after a while I changed from the MD1 to a 6 button MD2 controller that works better than the MD1 controller. One thing I like about the MD2 controller is that it feels soft to press the buttons but it isn't flimsy. MD controllers also don't seem to wear down the way famicom or SNES controllers do.

The game is hard in places but it is never unfair.  Sometimes there are deaths you can't avoid the first time, but anyone who appreciates the classic platformers like Contra, Mega Man, or Ghost n Goblins (or I could mention Shinobi for once, since this is on MD) should be happy playing. You always make progress, there is continues on each stage, and there is ammunition here and there . Even when you run out of ammunition you will fire one slow bullet at the time and that is enough to last you a little while. 

What took the longest was the boss on level 8 that I played for 2 hours or so until I found how it could be beaten in 10 seconds. Level 9 and 10 took around 45 minutes each. Then the last level 11 took 3 hours because the final boss has a complicated pattern where I died every time (beam goes like this: 1. up, 2. up, 3. down, 4. up, 5. up, 6. down, 7. up, 8. down, and then no 9 is the same as no 1 and it loops from there). To look at my papers I had to pause all the time.

_
It may not look hard but that's because I had learnt where all the enemies are so I could shoot them before they had a chance to hit me.
As you see, I discovered a secret door before the last boss. There are other secret doors around the stages. You have to press Up everywhere to find them.

When you beat the game, you will be told you have to play again to beat the boss once and for all. You then start again with a password for hard mode. I am not going to do that now, so technically maybe I didn't beat the game fully. You do see the staff roll, and the ending says like "you won, but he will be back unless you play hard mode". It isn't as in Ghost n Goblins where it says "you have to play all over again to win". I'll consider the game beaten but not 100% beaten.

I think it is a lovely game. You play in different stages, such as Egypt, on a street, and inside a giant laboratory. It is nice with a game that feels as if it is for adults, playing like James Bond rather than a cartoon with an oversized head. The music is very nice and the graphics is pleasant to look at. It is fast paced and has appropriate sound effects. I recommend it and I think it has good replay value.

More information:
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Thunder_2
* http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/rollingthunder/rollingthunder.htm
* http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/rolling-thunder-2-review/1900-6184778/

If you enjoy the difficulty, the gameplay, the strategy element, and the 2-player coop mode, you might want to check out Ninja Crusaders that I wrote about a while ago.

Ninja Crusaders on famicom

For some reason, Ninja Crusaders isn't popular. It is less common than the Ninja Gaiden games and unlike Ninja Gaiden it is beatable. I have personally not tried out Ninja Gaiden yet because the reported difficulty would probably make me frustrated. Also, Ninja Gaiden doesn't need another review. Everyone knows about it and me spending 20 hours of frustration wouldn't be useful to anyone.

Lets see why people chose not to buy Ninja Crusaders then.

Released in Japan and the US in 1990. (no PAL release)

This time I will play on one of the AV modded famicoms that we sell. Looks nice, doesn't it?

The first thing you'll notice in the game is that you die a lot. Here is one of my first attempts at playing.



You have infinite continues, but every time you die you start from the beginning of the stage.
With the exception of the boss. That is only time that it is useful to have several lives. Luckily, the endbosses in the games aren't impossible. They may take a couple of tries but follow a simple pattern.


A gamefaq reviewer complains how the game is a memorization task more than a skill.

Once you hit level 3-2, the game becomes a task of memorizing the position of enemies. Enemies come at you so fast and are so strategically positioned, that you will never be able to react to them in time. And because one hit kills you, you will be sent back to the beginning of the stages many times until you are able to remember where everything comes from. This isn't that bad until you reach the last few levels. Every move the ninja makes must be executed perfectly, and I mean within mere millimeters of perfection. Otherwise the enemies won't line up right, or they will come from the wrong angle, and you will be taken down without any chance for avoidance. There is no margin of error.   --
http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/587487-ninja-crusaders/reviews/review-26044

He is right in one way. In another way I enjoyed playing because the levels are short but you need skill to beat them. That's how I think ninja games should be.

Here is an example of me playing to reach the boss of one level. I started off dying a lot, the gradually improved. And, as the reviewer said, a simple mistake will kill you, so you can't rely on memorization alone.



You get extra lives in a funny way: you pick up a weapon that you are already holding. This is why in the video I never seem to get game over. At every new start, I can take the weapon I am holding, that I keep in death, and get 1-up.

I am also happy to say that the game is beatable. It took me around 6 hours and I am not a hardcore gamer. The last stage, 5-2, was most difficult and took maybe 2,5 hours. Here are my first attempts. Pretty pathetic. I actually laughed out loud at how impossible it seemed while I was playing. Every new enemy is like a certain death the first few times.


It reminds me of Holy Diver on famicom that I played (or should I say "suffered") around 2 years ago. A game so brutally difficult that I feel bad thinking about it. All stages are three times as long as in Ninja Crusaders.

Anyways, here in Ninja Crusaders after 2,5 hours of 5-2, I had improved. The video shows how I beat the last stage and boss. Spoiler warning if you don't want to see it. It is funny how short the stages really are once you know them.



The end screen answers my challenge question. The game has no Japanese text.
After you have beaten the game, you can restart and the enemies are twice as hard.

As I started writing the review, I saw the review that explains you can transform into FOUR DIFFERENT ANIMALS and that this is crucial for beating the game. (wtf I didn't know that !?)

Each of the Animals is very unique and doesn't require ''ninja magic points'' or anything of that nature. This is a good thing because turning into your animal form is crucial to success in many areas. In fact, there are certain parts of the game where only one particular animal transformation will allow you to succeed. Just hold down the attack button for about 3 seconds and -POOF- you're a beastie! The animal you become depends on what weapon you have. The shuriken turns you into a tiger, the morning star turns you into a giant scorpion, the bo turns you into an eagle, and the katana turns you into a dragon.   -- http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/587487-ninja-crusaders/reviews/review-26044

I did find the tiger transformation but I found it useless. A short clip here:



I usually had the shuriken and never transformed to other animals.

Ninja Crusaders has a 2-player co-op mode. That's right, you can play 2-player co-op in this ninja game. I wonder if it doesn't just make things harder? The gamefaqs reviewers liked this option anyways. If one player transforms into a bird, the other one can ride on him.

A fun game, and the most fun I have had dying in a long time. If you appreciate a good challenge that is beatable for most (unlike Ninja Gaiden), I recommend it. A fine little game that can be beaten in a day, just as I want them. Once you are good enough, the game can probably be beaten in less than 20 minutes.

Dracula X (Castlevania) on Sega Saturn, short review

Another tribute to the Sega Saturn? You may be surprised to find that I didn't actually like playing Dracula X on Saturn. The game has great reviews elsewhere, but I'll tell you why I didn't like it.

Sold for 448 SEK (70$, incl tax)

Castlevania (known as Symphony of the Night on playstation) is a game in Metroid-style. The main challenge of the game is to find your way around, and to buy the right weapons and items. You use spells, buy items, and transform to an animals at times. It certainly is a great game, but I was disappointed because it will be impossible to play it without a guide. It is hard enough to find where to go, and then everything is in Japanese. All items and weapons. Unless you have played the playstation version, I don't think you would be able to play through the Saturn version without a walkthrough.

The gameplay itself isn't actually that hard. Almost all enemies are easy enough with the upgrades you'll have when you face them. There are also many save points that restore your health.

Technically, the game has great atmosphere and music. It does suffer slowdowns at times. Personally slowdowns don't bother me, maybe because I have played so much game boy and NES/famicom, but I often read that others find slowdowns very annoying.

The start is cool, where you revisit the end of a previous game to beat Dracula (or whatever his name is), and only after that do we see the intro and get the new story going.

I recommend this game to anyone who can play it or who has lots of time. I couldn't play it and soon got stuck.

Here is a video I made with some gameplay around 15 minutes into the game (not counting the intro). I entered the shop at around 04:20 and it made me confused.

Wit's & Family Pinball on famicom

Last week I played a game called Wit's. Not very common, I think I have had it once or twice before. Unknown to most. The main problem may be the name and the label that don't say anything about the game. I had myself forgotten what it was about when I put it in the console. They should have called it Psycho Snakes or something. What is "wit's", or who is "wit"?

Around 10$ for this - 65 SEK

The game is basically a Snake clone (see wikipedia article) for two players to race against each other. In 1 player mode, you play against the computer in a campaign mode. This mode is not that difficult. It took me a few minutes to figure out a good strategy, and then I quickly made it to the last stage. I died there and had to restart, and it took me 45 minutes to get there again, but then I beat the last stage.

_

A little explanation might be needed for the controls. With A you speed up. With B you make a short jump. You only get one jump, at least in 1-player mode.
My guy is the one who starts on the left side. Also I forgot to cut out the first 1:50 minutes, sorry about that.

The most difficult stage is 5, where there is ice and you glide around. The faster you go, the more you glide. Level 5-5 is the fastest. Stage 4 with the water was also difficult because when you get the faster boats on 4-4 and 4-5 there is little room to move around. If you die your lives, it is game over with no continues. You get one new life for every stage though.

This game is actually not primarily a 1-player game. It was most likely made with the intention of being a party game. You can play 2-player vs mode, or 2-player coop (probably difficult!), a 3-player vs mode if you have a famicom extension controller. Or something like a joyball which is actually more usable than you might think, and can often be found cheap because people are suspicious of it.

There is even a 4-player vs mode in Wit's for which I think you need a 4-player adapter. I have never seen a famicom 4-player adapter for sale actually so I don't know for sure how to play that mode.

I think the game is fun. The computer AI wasn't challenging but I felt good after beating it. Famicom games that are made to be multiplayer are uncommon, so it is worth trying out. Even though it is uncommon it can usually be found for a few dollars.

Second game I played was Family Pinball.

78 SEK, 12$

There's some handwritten notes with the game. Are they cheats? Passwords?

I want to mention first that pinball is one thing I don't enjoy playing, in general. I never can understand if it is luck or skill that decides the game. I also really hate whenever the ball drops! The pinball game I've enjoyed most so far in my video gaming was Necronomicon on Saturn (watch my video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkZNU8uCtBc).

Anyways, Family Pinball has a normal pinball game that is called Pac-Man. It seems to have a highscore but doesn't actually save scores. I kept on dying, and I'm not sure how to evaluate pinball games. Maybe it is a good game. I think the key is to master the hitting of the board (the "tilt"). It really makes the ball bounce when you press the buttons to hit the board left or right.
When you get the item on the right the controllers change function, which is why I kept on dying after taking it.

The second mode is a game where you play two players against each other on the board. This is original, to me at least. One of the players (you or the computer) takes the upper part, and the other player takes the lower part. Then try to make the ball drop on his side. Again I think that mastering the board hitting would be good here. A silly game but not too bad.

The third mode is something I call "pachinko" mode. The ball goes up and then it drops down, hopefully into one of the holes. I saw in the manual that you are supposed to form patters of the holes the ball enters to get a good score. Such as a square. The number 1 has something to do with the score too.

The fourth mode was hilarious form of air hockey, or maybe shufflepuck. It was silly but I had fun with it. With A you make the paddle turn one way, and with B it turns the other way. And: You can't move the paddle while you turn it. It is harder than you might think, but I did manage to score a few goals. I suppose this might be fun 2-player against each other.

Here is a video of me trying out the different modes. In the vs modes I am red, the one who is always losing.
_

A few silly game, but nothing wrong with that. You could possibly play an entire 3-set of Hockey before a modern console booted up, opened the game, shown all intros, logged in you, downloaded upgrades, shown more info screens, etc. This game made me smile anyways, even if it didn't make much sense. The game can usually be found cheap, complete in box.

Magic Carpet on Sega Saturn

When I was young my friend had a game called Magic Carpet on his PC. The game was released in 1994, and I think I played it around 1995. I remember we had a lot of work installing it.

The game was made by Bullfrog, a company that made several highly original games. With unique ideas and gameplay they were a true innovator. Their titles were primarily for PC, although they were also released on many other consoles: Populous, Syndicate (I have written about that game earlier), Dungeon Keeper, Theme Hospital (Very humorous, my sister loved it) and Theme Park (I played this for hours, very fun!) are still enjoyable today. In fact I know that people still play them and they are talked about.

Magic Carpet was never was a big hit on the PC or any other console. I think it was marketed as an action-paced shooter, while in my opinion the gameplay is more of a strategy/puzzle game with action elements. Most of the time it's about collecting the Mana you need to get to the next level.

I have now found out that Magic Carpet was released on the Saturn, and got a hold of the Japanese version.

See, it has support for the analogue Saturn controller ("3D controller") too.

I've played about 20-30 hours during the Christmas holiday but only made the first 15 levels. It takes such a long time to beat each level. According to Wikipedia (Magic Carpet), there are 50 levels, so I have decided to focus on other games instead. Also, although I was fascinated by it when I was 14 years old, I have to admit that it is tiring.

The purpose of the game is to collect enough mana on each level to get to the next. The needed amount is shown as two white marks next to the castle icon. You store mana in the castle you build and have to upgrade the castle when it gets full.

You have a primary and a secondary spell you can throw. When you kill enemies, mana blobs will appear, and you have to mark them with your color. Then your balloon will leave your castle to collect them. Usually you have to compete with other wizards for the mana. The game supports multiplayer too, but in this video the wizards are AI controlled.

When you have killed all enemies on a stage, the mana is running out and you have to attack enemy castles to get the rest of the mana you need. When a castle explodes, it releases a bunch of mana all around that you can collect.

Here is a video of me playing level 10.



I died twice in the beginning. Third time begins at 02:10. I also cut away the rest of the video because it got long. In the end I had to attack the enemy castle to take his mana, and after I had enough I could exit the level. Some things you need to know to play this game:

• Press L+R to see the map. In the map, press C to see all character stats.
• DO NOT press X or you will destroy your own castle one level.
• When your castle is full of mana, you have to upgrade it.
• At 15:40 I picked up a jar with the useful lightning spell.
• If you die without a castle you have to restart the level. If you die with a castle you simply respawn at your castle. In the castle you will regain health and mana power.

The main problems with the game are:

• It is slow. If things moved faster and the levels were shorter it would have been more fun.
• The 3D graphics look old. You can't see enemies until they're close, and everything looks blocky.
• The balloon thing is fun, but it is boring to have to wait for the balloons to arrive. They could have moved two or three times as fast.

If they ever remake this game, fixing these things would make an excellent game. Maybe they could add better music too.

Jackie Chan on famicom

I think I should stop making Famicom Friday because it will slow down the blogging if I only post famicom games on Fridays. I am a high energy blogger. "More talk, less smileys." Here is a blog post about Jackie Chan that I wrote almost a week ago.

If you have played the original Kung Fu on NES, or The Kung Fu on Pc Engine, you may not be interested in another Kung Fu platformer.  However, Jackie Chan is an excellent game.

As is my new years promise, I decided to see if I could beat it. I haven't played it before. The challenge is to beat it without looking at info, walkthroughs or youtube videos.

The first feeling one gets is how difficult the controls are. Jumping on the clouds should normally not be a problem, but here it requires some skill to do. However, it doesn't take long to learn the controls and they aren't bad per se, just a bit unusual.

Here is a gameplay video I made of the first few stages.

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The game is not very difficult, but since you are likely to die several times on the last end bosses, you'll probably get some game overs and need to restart the game.

The last boss was difficult. After you beat the first end boss, who is our arch-nemesis of the game, you leave her castle. But then on the way down, a freak spider appears out of nowhere. If you die on the spider, you also have to replay the end boss and the dragons before her.

After a while I decided to get some help on how to find the bonus bells for extra lives.
Thank you Selmiak's website: http://selmiak.bplaced.net/games/nes/index.php?lang=eng&game=Jackie-Chans-Action-Kung-Fu
I had no idea on even how to locate them, since I don't have the manual.
With the help of this, I end up with around 15 lives before the endboss. I still had to do this 3 times before I on my third attempt with 15 lives was able to beat the game.

You can play through the earlier stages in around 30 minutes so it isn't too bad. In fact it is fun. I was also happy about how quickly the bosses could be defeated. I hate ridiculously long boss battles.

The bonus stages are fun too. I made a video with the ones I encountered during the last play through. The one with bubbles is the most interesting, I could play a game like that for hours if there is one (does anyone know if there is one?).

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I read walkthroughs too on gamefaqs. They don't actually tell you how to beat the game, but I learnt that there is a "psycho wave", a special weapon you active by holding B. That was somewhat useful.

Here is a video of my last attempts. I turned off the recorded when I played the spider actually because I was sure I would die and have to restart. But it turned out that the spider is quite easy when you realize that you move much faster left/right than up/down, and that will make it easy to avoid the boomerang. Too bad to have a cut video but I still feel satisfied with my accomplishment. 

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The game is a bit like Kung Fu Master that I had as a kid on Game Boy. It is quite easy and can quickly be beaten but still gives you some satisfaction. You can give yourselves mini challenges such as beating the game as quickly as possible, or with as many lives remaining as possible. Also, if you don't know about the bonus bells it is actually a hard game that would probably take a week or more to beat.

There is the especially long water rafting stage that will eat away your lives if you don't find the bonus stages. The developers were probably kind to put in extra bonus stages on that stage.

As mentioned, the controls feel weird the first time.
When it comes to attack, you have the normal jump-kicking and punching. There is also the unnecessary special attack that you activate by pressing Up+B. This thing is just not useful. You get the special attacks randomly, you often activate them by mistake when you jump and they just don't have any purpose.

There is a secondary special attack too! Hold B to create a "psycho wave". It is useful against a few enemies.

I think the music is very nice and cheerful, the graphics are better than average for the NES, and I liked how coloful and fun all enemies looked. You might compare the game to Duck Tales on NES. It is well worth the 50 SEK (9$) this game often is sold for.

Next blog post will be about two Mega Drive games and then I have prepared one about two unusual famicom games.

Famicom friday: Rockman 3 / Mega man

My Famicom Friday is about me taking a game I am curious of, and playing it to see what I think. Recently I have also decided to play it to the end, or at least as much of it as I can stand. This week I decided to have a go at Rockman 3, also known as Mega Man 3.

Why did they change the name from Rockman to Mega Man? Could be that they felt Rockman doesn't sound cool. Or could be a trademark reason. In this blog post, I will refer to this specific game as Rockman, but I also refer to the general series as Mega Man.

I thought I should break my NES/Famicom Rockman virginity, because I haven't beaten any of them. I have actually beaten the first three Mega Man games on Game Boy. The first one was super hard, the second very easy, and the third a little more difficult.

I once made it far into Rockman 2, where I played against a dragon. I had to quit then, and as so often I then never picked it up again. There were other games and beating games were not a priority at that time.
The reason why I now chose Rockman 3 is because I don't have the first and second game currently, and because I think Rockman 3 is shorter than Rockman 4 and Rockman 5. The later they got in the series, the more complex and long the games got.

However beating famicom games is now my new years promise. In my Rockman 3 challenge I have two goals:

• Determine how much Japanese text the game has
• Beat the game, not using guides unless necessary.

Introduction to Rockman/Mega Man gameplay

If you have played rockman/mega man before you can skip this section.
To play Mega Man you need to know the following:

• You can play the stages in any order. At the end of the stage there is a boss. If you beat the boss, you get his special weapon. 
• Equip the special weapon by pressing Start and select the weapon you want to use. This will use up the special energy of the weapon. To fill up the energy, equip the weapon when you see an energy capsule. 
• Every boss is especially weak against a certain weapon. To beat the more difficult boss, beat the easier bosses and get their special weapons, and then try it on the difficult boss. 
• The Mega Man games are sometimes referred to as being very difficult. However, they are only hard in one way. Most of the difficulty can be overcome by learning where the enemies are and learning the boss movement. As such, the games are definitely beatable for most gamers if they spend enough time with it. Mega Man games also have infinite continues, although you'll have to replay the stage you are on.

Playing

I rather quickly beat the first three bosses I attempted. Here is a video of my first time playing. I died a lot and I once got game over but it wasn't too hard and this video is almost uncut.

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I don't want to spoil the game for you so this will be my only gameplay video.

After that, one of the later bosses was very difficult. After some 2 hours on his stage I beat every other boss and then got back to him. Turns our he was vulnerable against the Tornado attack.

After the initial 8 bosses are done, you get to play 4 of them again with harder levels. Some of them are quite difficult, especially the one in the lower-right corner. This was probably the most difficult part of the game for me. After that, you'll see some text and will go to Dr. Wily's castle to play the Dr. Wily stages.
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The bosses here are of a different type and are more tricky. The stages themselves are however not that difficult. On one of them, I used a trick to stack up on Energy Tanks by picking them up, getting game over on purpose. Then you get to keep the energy tank and can pick up more again.

After the Wily stages are done you have to play all the bosses again. This time you have all the special weapons and with some trial and error you can write down which boss is vulnerable against which weapon. Unless you want to beat them with your normal blaster, this section is more about clever strategy than being a hard core action player.

Finally, you'll get to play against Dr. Wily himself. Luckily, if you are game over on Dr Wily you don't have to replay the bosses. And after Dr Wily, you'll have to play Dr. Wily again in another machine. As earlier, beating him is more about finding the proper attack than button mashing.

Here is a video of the cut scenes on the end stages. It doesn't contain any gameplay, so don't worry about spoilers in case you want to beat the game on your own.

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Conclusion

Playing Mega Man games is not something I enjoy that much. It is a frustration of playing every stage so many times, and also knowing that you have no way around it. It is like "sigh, boss 1 beaten. Have 7 left, then extra bosses, Wily Stages, Wily, and whatever else". Most of the difficulty comes from not knowing how to beat a boss, and this takes time and feels frustrating. I spent 2 hours on Dr. Wily until I discovered there was a way to beat him with no hardship. If I told you, you would beat him the first time.

However, I also feel a great satisfaction at having beaten it. A couple of days later I still feel truly happy that I accomplished it, all on my own. I didn't use any guides and no previous knowledge of it, with the exception of heaving played Rockman 2 and the first three Game Boy games.

It took played for 2 days and an estimated 15 hours. Would have been shorter if I hadn't made the mistakes I mentioned earlier. Could also have been longer. It is a matter of luck sometimes, if you pick the right weapon the first time or have to replay until you do.

Having played most stages during a period of several hours in the night, I don't remember that much about each specifically. After a while, they all feel the same. A bit tedious, but still rewarding once it is done. That's why I have mixed feelings about the Mega Man series. Not something I love in the way many other gamers do. A classic series none the less that holds a special place in most NES/famicom gamers hearts.

Bonus

Here is a video from a Swedish collector that may have the worlds most impressive Mega Man collection. Including many sealed and graded games for all kinds of consoles.
_ (video by http://www.gaminggrannar.se/ )

She actually inspired me to give the games another chance. I know she prefers the first Mega Man game on NES because it is the shortest, and that part 6 is her least favorite because it is the longest. I'm glad that even she thinks the games feel too long sometimes.

Thanks for reading! Next week's famicom friday game will be: Jackie Chan.

Ganbare Goemon on famicom

The Ganbare Goemon series (aka "Mystical Ninja") has a few supporters in the west, but not many. The series was never hugely popular and most games were only released in Japan. The first game in the series was on the famicom ("NES") in Japan. It sold in 1.2 million copies and was around the 20th most sold famicom game in my calculations and sources...

For comparisment, Gradius sold 1 million, Excitebike 1.4, and Super Mario Bros 3 sold 3,9. I don't think the source (http://www.samurainintendo.com/japan/historyranking.html) is 100% trustworthy because there is no way Jackie Chan sold that much, but okay, Ganbare Goemon still sold a lot. I have had the game many times.

Personally I enjoy simpler games so I appreciate the famicom Goemon. I also enjoyed playing through one of the Game Boy exclusive versions. This one that was only released in Japan, until a later Konami GB collection.

There were also 4 games on the Super Famicom. Ganbare Goemon 1,2,3 and a fourth I can't remember the name of.
The games can be confusing until you know how to play. The purpose in each level is, I think, to take three "house" items and then you can progress to the next level. You can either find the house item laying around, or you can buy them in a shop for money. You can easily collect money by jumping over stuff, so it is a matter of how you spend your time.

I enjoy the freedom of the games in how you can walk around freely to discover things. The levels have hidden undergrounds and secrets that can be discovered and it is nice to see a game that feels big on such as small system. It could be mentioned that Goemon was the first famicom game that was 256kB big, when it was released in July 1986.

A game like Super Mario Bros was only 40 kb, while The Legend of Zelda was the largest famicom game at 128 kb just six months earlier on the disk system.

I made a video of the first game. Not great quality but okay. I had found all houses by 04:45 but couldn't find the exit until 09:10, maybe you want to skip those minutes.
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When you die you are game over, but the game is fair in that you can easily get more gold and buy health when you run low. It just takes some time. 

A month later I tried out Goemon 2 also on famicom. This game is more uncommon than the first game.
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Here you can see me just collecting money for a minute... I don't mind, I think non-linear games are more interesting.
The games have the typical nice looking Konami graphics and music, and gameplay is  excellent. There is quite a lot of Japanese text but you may be surprised to know that you can still play it with no problem. I don't even know what all items do, so I bought them all. There are probably guides for what the items do.

If you like more advanced gameplay and nicer graphics, the Super Famicom had several interesting goemon games. Those games also have a platforming mode in combination with the top-down perspective. I am not that big of a SFC player so I haven't played them much, but I know there are several goemon fans in the world.

Later, the N64 had two games, I think. They are in 3D. I have not tried them either. N64 is probably my least favorite console. In addition to these action games, there were several spin off games in various genres and on different consoles. More info at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganbare_Goemon

If you don't have a famicom console and want to try the original goemon game you could also get the Famicom Mini re-release for GBA. GBA is region free.

I sold this a while ago for 149 SEK (25$ ?). Famicom mini games are very pretty.
 

The Simpsons: Bart's Nightmare (Super Famicom)

 

My colleague fredJ uploaded these videos recently, where he tried to complete the game. Youtube has limited our videos to 15 minutes, as mentioned in the blogpost of Magic Knight Rayearth on Saturn, so the video is cut in smaller pieces. Also, the game has a lot of uninteresting passages that were cut away so that you won't get bored. It took around 1:30 h to play the game from start to finish, and of these 30 minutes was cut away, for a total of around 1h video time.

Played on original super famicom hardware.



My colleague says:

When I was a kid I wished for this game, and since it was relatively cheap I got it for birthday or something. A friend told me what a loser game I got, but I thought it was alright, even if it was very hard. It was frustrating but slowly I learnt some tricks on how to beat the courses. I manage to beat it a couple of times. It wasn't many but I did it completely on my own and am proud of that.

The Japanese version is probably quite rare because we haven't had it before. Since this is the Japanese version it is in full NTSC and 60 Hz, unlike PAL 50Hz. Also, it really is easier to play a game in RGB rather than the crappy antenna cable most people had back in those days.

The game has some fun mini-games and a varied main street. While frustrating, it doesn't get boring and I liked the concept of being able to walk around freely. You can also always recover in the sense that if you fail you can play the same level again and again. But you probably *will* have to play some mini-games many times to learn the tricks to beat them, and until you have figured them out, you will probably hate it. Everything in these videos are played from memory actually. There's probably better ways to do certain things but maybe you'll pick up some other tricks you didn't know even if you have played the game before.

Here you'll see some tricks that you probably have to know to play the game. These things are in the manual so they are not spoilers.

• When the Z meter is empty, you are game over with no continues.
• Quickest way to fill up the Z bar is by riding the skateboard a long time. You can also use bubblegum and get Z's up there.
• Jump over three fishes for three pillows. The will give you an entire extra life bar! This is probably important if you want to complete the game.
• You have to jump on the papers. I don't actually know any way to find them for sure. Just walk around, try to get points and avoid getting hurt.
• Shooting on the TV *may* make a paper appear, and following the question mark when it appears.

Also should comment on "bartzilla" that starts at 10:30 in the video above. Some people don't understand the controls. They are simple: Press A to shoot at the train, Down to shoot down, Forward to shoot forward, Up to shoot at the other side of the rails, X to shoot the jet plains, B to shoot at tanks. And don't shoot a laser shot until the previous laser shot has hit its target. Also, don't shoot the car at the end.



My colleague played some more courses but also failed on some. For brevity, he cut away most parts of the courses he failed, for example the House Climb several times even though he always beat it easy in his PAL version. Either he was unlucky here, or the NTSC version is harder.

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The last course, which is the second Indiana Jones course. He also played it in video 1, but failed. He also learned that the green demon doesn't actually kill you unless you hit at him. He died twice and was pretty nervous, he says:

"I knew I could beat it if I didn't make mistakes. This is probably the most difficult of the courses in the game. I had to paus to think, unpaus, etc alot and I didn't keep the recorder on for that that, so you'll only see the end of that course."

Yay, he completed a game. =)

The Japanese version is probably exactly the same as the American version because all the text is in English.

Not a great game, but actually not a bad Simpsons game and it has several original themes. Most people on forums have as a complaint that the game is too difficult, especially the second Indiana Jones level.  But it is definitely beatable if you know some tricks, as the video shows.

2 player game recommendations

Article by Kristin

We play a lot of games. A lot of them are good, some are not so good, some are downright bad, but there are a few games that we like for a special reason: the co-op feature!

It might not sound like something very special but back in the days of 8 bit, it was not very common. Many games have a 2 player option but that doesn't necessarily mean that you can play simultaneously. Most of the time, like in games like Super Mario Bros or Gradius, you just take turns in playing, and player 2 has to wait for player 1 to lose a life.

So here are some good 8-bit 2-player co-op games that we highly recommend.


Battle City (Famicom)

Not many people might know about this action game but it's really worth a try. You play as two tanks and the mission is to defend the eagle at the bottom while taking out all of the enemies.
We don't have it for sale right now, but if you are interested you can make a request in our webshop and we might contact you the next time it's in stock.

Here is a video from our YouTube channel, you can skip to 00:20 to see our gameplay:



Salamander (Famicom)

This game is called Life Force outside of Japan and has been a well-known favorite for many of us who grew up with the NES. Our most recent cart only auction of Salamander ended at 106 SEK. There is sequel to this game called Salamander II for Sega Saturn, Playstation and Arcade, which was unfortunately never released outside of Japan.

Salamander is a spin-off to the Gradius series and combines horizontal with vertical shooting action. It is similar to Gradius in many ways but has more smooth controls and you won't have to start from the beginning each time you lose a life! And yes, the Konami code works here as well, on the start screen. You might need it before you learn to master this game!

We don't have our own video of this game online yet on our channel,
but here is a clip from someone else playing the western version in co-op mode:




Twin Bee (Famicom)

This Japan-exclusive shooter title is really popular in Sweden and it sells very well from us at Tradera. There are many sequels as well, for example on Sega Saturn and Super Famicom.

We currently have the Famicom version for sale, you can order the game from our webshop. Here is a video from our youtube channel, but in this video we play as 1 player for the FDS version.



Bomberman GB (Game Boy)

If you put your Bomberman GB in your Super Game Boy you can play 2-player with the second SNES controller. This Game Boy game can be played up to four player with a SNES super multitap.

We recently sold this item on Tradera, here is a link: www.tradera.com/item/300201/192308627/bomberman-gb-till-game-boy.
And here is a video from our youtube channel, recorded from an original Super Gameboy:



Puyo Puyo (Game Boy)

This is a classic puzzle game which has been released on multiple console systems over the years. Unfortunately it has not been very popular outside of Japan, and we think it deserves more attention. We currently have this game for sale on Tradera: http://www.tradera.com/item/300201/192308643/puyo-puyo-till-game-boy.

Here is a video from our youtube channel, recorded from an original Super Gameboy:

Bomberman for game boy

I enjoy game boy games and there are several bomberman games that are available. One of them is Bomberman Red for GBC, that I played to the end.

One nice thing with bomberman games is that they aren't that hard to beat. One of perhaps bad things is that they are repetitive. But you could say that it is nice with a game where you don't have to think too much. Just play and keep on playing.

The basic bomberman gameplay takes a couple of hours until it feels natural. In the first hours you will die many times from your own bombs, but after a while you'll improve and after that you'll be able to master any bomberman.

The first bomberman was released in 1983 for a couple of early computer systems in Japan such as MSX. The famicom version was relased in 1985, and it was also released on the NES in the US in 1989. It was not relased in Europe. But it was relased as a game boy game which was mostly the same, except with a smaller screen and a password function.

I played a bit of it yesterday with Super Game Boy.



I chose green as background to match with the original bomberman...
As you can see, my way of playing is to play safe. Avoid the risk of blowing yourself up.

I think there are 100 levels. After a while I got tired of playing it though.

More information about the game on the video page.

The game boy game is very cheap (2-3$). The famicom game that looks almost the same is around 6-7$. The games are completely in English.

Later there were many many bomberman games. The Super famicom (SNES) games are fun as party games, since you can be up to 5 players with a multitap. It is reported that Super Bomberman 4 is the most fun of them.

The Sega Saturn has a bomberman that allows up to 16 players at the same time. Some consider it the ultimate 2D bomberman game.

I'll rate the Game Boy game 4/5. There is also the "Bomber Boy" mode that is more complex, with power upgrades you select before each course. Personally I prefer a simpler game style so I didn't play that but I weigh it into the grading.

Flicky and Lode Runner for SG-1000 (Master System)

I sold an AV-modded SG-1000 II and some games.

Flicky is fun, and Lode Runner is playable.
I made videos of these two games.

Go! Go! Ackman till SFC

Detta är en humoristisk serie som handlar om det 200 år unga demonbarnet Ackman som skördar själar åt jävulen. Spelen baserar sig på en manga från den mycket välkända tecknaren Akira Toriyama som också ligger bakom bland annat serien Dragon Ball samt karraktärsdesignen till spelen Dragon Quest och SNES-klassikern Chrono Trigger.

Det har släppts totalt tre stycken Ackman-spel till Super Famicom varav samtliga är action-plattformsspel. Det finns även ett spel till Game Boy men det är mer Pac-Man liknande. Inget av spelen är släppta utanför Japan.

Det sägs att det första spelet i serien ska vara det som är mest lik originalserien, storymässigt. Det finns även en inofficiell amatör-översättning som vi eventuellt kan lägga in på kassetten om man skulle vara intresserad av det. Däremot så krävs det inga japanskakunskaper för att spela något utav dessa plattformsspel.



Andra och tredje spelet i serien skiljer sig alltså från mangan. I den första uppföljaren, Go! Go! Ackman 2, fajtas man mot en rockgrupp som heter Metal Angels. I 3:an har man som motståndare en homosexuell polis som är pedofil och Ackman samarbetar då med sin livslånga rival Tenshi-kun (som i princip betyder Mr. Ängel) vilket gör båda karraktärerna spelbara.

Rent spelmässigt så skiljer sig de tre titlarna inte så mycket ifrån varandra, grafiken blir något bättre för varje titel men det är knappt märkbart. Musiken är bra gjord, spelkänslan sitter och det finns varierande element i form av racing- och shooter-banor. Banorna är färgglada och stämmningsfyllda med samlingsföremål och olika power-ups. Bossarna är alltid väldigt karriäristiska och har oftast något högre svårighetsgrad än plattformsbanorna. Karaktärerna interagerar dessutom med varandra vilket gör spelet mer trovärdigt.

Del 2 och 3 har inte fått någon översättning än så vi får hålla tummarna på att det kommer i framtiden. Men alla spelen är som sagt spelbara även utan japanskakunskaper och förtjänar större uppmärksamhet av oss västlänningar.

Text av: Kristin Loman

Crayon Shin-chan till Game Boy

Spelen baseras på en mycket populär manga som även finns som anime. Trots detta är det svårt att få folk att få upp ögonen för denna japan-exklusiva serie. Troligtvis beror det på att serien i huvudsak ser ut att vara inriktad till barn men man kan uppskatta serien även som vuxen.

Det har släppts många Crayon Shin-chan spel till olika konsoler, både till Famicom och till Wii. Till Game Boy finns det fem stycken titlar och här är en kort sammanfattning av dem.

Ettan och tvåan är simpla plattformsspel blandat med minispel. Musiken är glad och lyfter spelen rejält. Ettan kan verka något svårare då man bli av med ett liv av bara en träff. Fienderna använder allt från bubblor och bollar för att försöka träffa en. I Crayon Shin-chan 2 tillåts fler misstag då smileys ger en extraträff och här kan man skjuta bubblor precis som fienderna redan från början.



Till skillnad från resten av serien så släpptes 2:an inte av Bandai utan av ett dotterbolag vid namn Banalex. Om man är Gameboy-samlare gör detta att mönstret bryts lite, då alla Bandai-spel har ett nummer på kartongen.

Crayon Shin Chan 3 samt Ora no Gokigen Collection är däremot annorlunda. Där har man fokuserat helt och hållet på minispelen som man utför på en stadskarta. Det kan också vara kul om man gillar den typen av spel.

Det spel som sticker ut lite extra är Crayon Shin Chan 4 som även anses vara det bästa i serien. I detta plattformsspel gäller samma idé som i de första två spelen, men här kan man också få olika djurdräkter. Dessa ger en inte bara en extraträff utan olika egenskaper beroende på vilket djur man är. Det gör att spelet känns ännu mer varierande och roligare att spela än föregångarna.


engelsk version: http://japanspel.blogspot.se/2012/10/game-boy-games-today-crayon-shin-chan.html