Makaimura och Double Dragon, vad är det?

I mitt förra inlägg nämnde jag suddgummin och undrade om ni visste vad det är för spel.

Om man inte känner igen figurerna så fanns en ledtråd högst upp i bilden. Där ser man boxen.

Även känt som detta:

Ärligt talat förstår jag hur NES spel kan vara så populära. När man jämför med famicom boxar är NES spel tråkiga, slitna och fula, enligt min mening. Jag har ingen nostalgi till NES. För mig är NES något som en kompis hade. När jag kom hem till honom spelade vi Ice Climber, där jag dog direkt medan han spelade vidare, och Duck Hunt, där jag blev game over medan han spelade vidare. Sedan skulle han äta middag och jag fick sitta själv och spela Flintstones som knappast är särskilt roligt.

Anledningen att jag kallar det Makaimura är dock inte att jag ogillar NES, utan för att jag hade problem komma ihåg det engelska namnet. I vanliga fall brukar jag ange det engelska namnet, t.ex. "For the frog the bell tolls" istället för "Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru" (ett game boy spel utvecklat av Nintendo som bara släpptes i Japan), eller Adventure Island istället för "Takahashi Meijin no Bouken Jima". Men jag förväxlade Ghost N Goblins med efterföljaren Ghost N Ghouls, eller så råkade kallade jag det Ghosts N Goblins. Och sen det där med var apostrofen ska sitta... Då var det lättare kalla det Makaimura. 

Jag tänker automatiskt att Makaimura är en välkänd spelserie, men när allt kommer omkring släpptes NES spelet för 39 år sedan, eller åtminstone 35 år sedan det släpptes i Europa och blev känt för svenskar. Sedermera har versioner släpptes till SNES och Mega Drive och spinoffs till Game Boy. Det finns visserligen till andra konsoler men det lär vara få som lärt känna spelet genom dessa återutgivningar eftersom de inte sålde särskilt bra. 

Det är till och med 12 år sedan som AVGN spelade det i ett Halloweenavsnitt.

Notera att han felaktigt kallar spelet Ghosts N' Goblins i videotiteln. Det kan vara så att spelet egentligen heter Ghosts'n Goblins men att de skrev fel på boxen. Jag hörde även något om att den i Europa hette Ghost'n Goblins och i USA Ghosts'n Goblins. Det gör det svårt veta vad jag ska kalla det när jag namnger den, så jag kallar den bara Makaimura.

Videon är värd att se än idag.  Även AVGN kan dock ses som något som tillhör en tidigare generation. Jag har säkert kunder som inte var födda när AVGN började göra videos. Åren går och man tänker inte på att det man ser som självklart är okänt för yngre.

Det är säkert svårt för yngre spelare att leva sig in i hur en äldre generation kastades in i detta äventyr, där en modig riddare inleder sin kamp på kyrkogården för att omsorgsfullt ta sig förbi djävlar, zombies och demoner i ett helvetiskt svårt spel, för att i bästa fall nå ett mål som få klarade. Varje träff får honom tappa rustningen medan nya fiender angriper, och överallt väntar orättvisa sätt att straffa spelaren. Som att man på bana 5 måste ta en sköld som vapen, trots att skölden är dålig. Annars skickas man tillbaka till bana 4, vilket man först märker när det sker.

Samma öde har drabbat andra ikoniska spelserier från min generation, som Double Dragon. När jag ser spel från den serien reagerar jag med "Ah! Double Dragon! Det är värt något!" men faktum är att jag sällan lyckats med att sälja dem. Game Boy versionerna säljer så dåligt att jag inte bryr mig om lägga ut dem längre, trots att jag alltid tänkt att det borde finnas intresse för hur den japanska del 2 har andra sprites än den europeiska.

Som kuriosa kan nämnas att man kan spela 2p på game boy versionerna också (del 2 & 3), och man kan till och med koppla ihop ett japanskt och ett europeiskt spel fastän de har olika sprites.

Återigen är det säkert svårt leva sig in i hur man som barn på 1980-talet hörde talas ett spel där man kunde röra sig fritt (scrolla både horisontellt OCH vertikalt) medan man spöade upp realistiska motståndare. Till och med tjejer! Som man kunde dra i håret! (tiderna har förändrats och det är kanske nödvändigt påpeka att våld mot kvinnor är fel, även i självförsvar, och att vi alla måste hjälpas åt motverka könsstereotyper. )

Double Dragon brukar ses som det första beat'em up spelet. I del 2 på NES kunde man spela två spelare samtidigt! Detta var något helt nytt. Alla pratade om vilka specialangrepp man kunde göra, som att armbåga bakåt eller kasta över huvudet. Sen när man kom till slutet av banan möttes man av denna groteska gestalt som rusade på en med en spark. Jag minns fortfarande hur rädd jag blev.

När jag började sälja spel fanns det många som var nyfikna på de japanska versionerna. Men då var spelen mycket billigare. Folk som nu är 40+ börjar inte med att köpa in NTSC versioner som ibland är dyrare än PAL. De köper in sina barndomsspel om de inte redan har dem, eller så ägnar de sig åt viktigare saker. Jag har hört om åtskilliga som sålt av sina samlingar.

Det finns ju yngre personer som börjar samla och spela, men de vill ha det som de känner till. Pokémon har exempelvis bara gått upp i värde, vilket man inte minst märker på mässor där barn under 10 år vill ha våra pokémonfigurer. Mario är också ständigt populärt. Game Boy versionerna av Mario Land går för över 100 kr.

Man kan jämföra med Kunio-Kun-spelserien som alltjämt är populär i Japan men aldrig blev lika stor i Europa. Kunio-Kun som för övrigt är utsprunget till Double Dragon, vilket är anledningen till att Double Dragon 2 till game boy fick ha Kunio-Kun-sprites. 

Det gjordes en massa Kunio-Kun-spel. Själv spelade jag mycket av fotbollsspelet Nintendo World Cup hos en bekant (ej samma person som i början av inlägget) och det gavs även ut ett populärt spel som fick heta River City Ransom. I Japan gavs det ut andra spel, både till Famicom och Super Famicom. Här ishockeyspelet:

Jag har sålt dem i perioder, men de säljer sämre nu än när jag började. Vi flashade till och med kassetter med engelsk text och sålde. Jag trodde att Kunio-Kun-spel med tiden skulle bli mer efterfrågade eftersom jag själv kunde relatera till de humoristiska huvudpersonerna i Nintendo World Cup, men det fungerar såklart inte så. Det finns för många spel och det som tillhör det förgångna försvinner med åren, om det inte släpps nya spel som håller det vid liv. 

De svåraste spelen jag klarat av

Det ska sägas att jag inte är någon gejmer (gamer...?). Jag hade max 20 spel när jag växte upp och sen spelade jag game boy i något år innan jag började med Japanspel. Sedan spelade jag spel för Japanspels räkning i något år innan det inte fanns mer tid för sånt. Trots allt tycker jag det är roligare sälja spel än att spela.

När jag var barn visste jag inte ens att det gick klara av spel. Mario var en sak, man skulle rädda prinsessan. Men många andra spel gick inte klara av. Jag spelade exempelvis mycket på ett spel som hette Boulder Dash, där det bara blir fler och fler banor. Troligen har det inget slut för ingen har hittat något.

Jag hade också ett spel som hette The Rescue of Princess Blobette. Jag vet inte om manualen var på engelska eller om jag inte läste den, eller om det kanske inte stod vad de olika tabletterna användes till, men jag lyckades aldrig klura ut det. Jag minns att jag påbörjade en lista där jag skrev ner det, så kanske framgick det inte av manualen.

När jag spelade ett av mina få SNES-spel, Bart's Nightmare, hade jag därför inte i avsikt att klara det. På den tiden spelade man när man kom hem från skolan tills man dog. Dog man fick man börja om från början eller spela ett annat spel. Vi hade ju inte hundratals spel på vår Ipad utan det var vad vi hade. (det finns säkert läsare som inte ens var födda på 1990-talet)

Många tycker spelet är svårt pga den andra banan i underjorden, men jag hittade ett trick som gör att man kan få två extraliv direkt i början. Ett annat trick är att man kan använda R för att scrolla bilden, för att få Maggie att skjuta ut sina projektiler. Sedan gäller det att hoppa runt snabbt som tusan så snart den gröna demonen dyker upp. Och så lyckades jag klara av det. Det förvånade mig att spelet hastigt avbröts av att Bart vaknade och det tog ett tag innan jag förstod att det måste innebära att jag hade klarat det.

Jag lyckades klara av det igen när jag skulle prova den japanska versionen. Det var rätt bra att klara av det på ett försök efter alla år, och jag misslyckades nog bara en gång med en bana. Här en spelvideo från den genomspelningen.

Här sista klippet som visar sista banan.

Spelet har överlag dåliga recensioner. En kompis skrattade åt mig när jag berättade att jag fått det i julklapp. Men när man väl kan det är det faktiskt ganska roligt... 

Jag undrar hur många som idag har tålamodet idag att spela den typen av spel där man får börja om när man dör. För att citera Cranky Kong i Donkey Kong Country från 1994:

Sen tar vi ett hopp fram tills jag började spela Game Boy igen, kanske kring 2009. Jag tänkte jag skulle försöka klara av några av de klassiska spelen, som Castlevania och Mega Man. Det första Castlevaniaspelet till Game Boy heter Castlevania: The Adventure och kom ut redan 1989. Det är hatat av många eftersom det är "såååå seeeegt". Men jag tyckte det var charmigt, man kan tänka på annat medan vår hjälte långsamt släpar sig genom banan. 

Jag tror faktiskt segheten är en bugg i programmeringen, då man ännu inte var så bra att programmera Game Boy spel i början. Man märker nämligen kring 01:30 in i video nedan, att när fienderna är borta flyter det på bättre. Senare spel verkar ha kompenserat hårdvarubegränsningar med flimmer istället för slowdowns. 

Hur som helst klarade jag av det efter några veckor, och det är det enda Castlevaniaspelet jag klarat. Det indikerar ändå att det är rätt bra, för jag tröttar snabbt på spel. Som jag sa till någon som klagade "man får se det mer som ett pusselspel än ett actionspel". Det inte är jättesvårt eftersom man inte behöver börja om från början om man blir game over. Svårigheten ligger nog mest i att inte tröttna innan dess.

Sen ville jag försöka klara åtminstone ett Mega Man spel. Jag beslutade mig för att spela genom Mega Man i kronologisk ordning, och började med Dr Wilys revenge, ett spel som utkom 1991, och ta bossarna i kronologisk ordning också. 

Vad jag inte visste är att i Mega Man ska man ju använda bossarnas vapen mot varandra. Istället kämpade jag i veckor mot Cutman med enbart blastern. Det kändes verkligen som i denna japanska musikvideo som kom ut ungefär vid den tiden.

Jag vet inte hur långt jag kom innan jag förstod att man kunde byta vapen. Det var vid något senare tillfälle efter Cutman, när man behöver flyga upp och då använda plattformen. Det tog ändå ytterligare flera veckor ta sig genom spelet.

Numer är jag såpass erfaren med spel att jag provar alla möjliga knappkombinationer...

När jag började med Japanspel började jag spela Famicom spel, eller "NES" som man säger i resten av världen. Jag hade inte samma emotionella känsla till Famicom så jag tröttnade snabbt på de flesta spel, men det fanns några som jag spelade mer intensivt. Ett av dem var Gradius, som jag rankar som ett perfekt spel i sin genre. 

Dör man tappar man alla powerups, vilket gör att man i princip måste börja om. Jag kom ändå till precis i slutet, då en dörr stängs bakom en och i panik tryckte jag bakåt och flög rakt in i dörren och dog. Så jag rankar detta som "hedervärt försök". Att jag spelade så länge trots att jag inte annars spelar schumps visar hur bra detta spel är. Musiken och miljöerna gör sitt.

Ett av få andra spel jag hade en längre session med var det som i Europa hette Robo Warrior, och i Japan Bomber King. För 11 år sedan gjorde jag denna video.

När man väl förstår sig på kontrollerna, och tillåter sig att titta i en guide, är spelet aldrig för svårt, enligt min mening. Man får undvika dö och låta saker ta sin tid, vilket är den typen av spel som fungerar bra för mig. Jag satt en hel natt och framåt morgonen hade jag kommit till sista världen, jag gav mig en timme (eftersom jag måste testa spel med famicom konsolen var jag tvungen stänga av det sen) och lyckligtvis klarade jag det under den tiden . Det var en av mina bästa Famicom-upplevelser och jag kan rekommendera gejmers att ha en RoboWarrior session. Det är nästan magiskt när solen håller på att gå upp samtidigt som RoboWarrior lämnar planeten.

Förutom det var det inte så många spel jag orkade ta mig genom. Ett var game boy spelet Bakuretsu Senshi Warrior, som på engelska fick heta Cyraid. Det är som Donkey Kong men mindre gulligt, och konstigt nog hatar folk det.

Denna typ av lite långsammare action/plattform med pusselelement har alltid varit min favorit, sedan jag spelade Lode Runner som barn. Eftersom man inte behöver börja om från början när man blir game over är spelet inte jättesvårt, men jag tror många tappar tålamodet för de inte förstår vad de ska göra. De flesta ogillar spel där man måste tänka lite.

Sista spelet att nämna är det japanska Super Mario Bros 2, även känt som Lost Levels. Att spela det på originalhårdvara är betydligt svårare än att spela det i Mario All-Stars. För det första för att man inte kan spara, men även för att man fysiskt rör sig annorlunda än i det gulligare All-Stars.

Det är svårt men ändå ett välgjort spel, och att ha närmare 100 liv gör det inte omöjligt. Jag gjorde tricket i början som ger en massa liv (jag lyckades inte hålla räkning på hur många exakt) och sedan hade som mål klara det. När jag nådde sista banan 8-4 hade de flesta försvunnit, och sedan försvann de ett efter ett till jag var nere under 10. Jag började göra dumma misstag och utgick från att det skulle bli ett hedervärt fiasko liknande Gradius, men här är videon.

Igen speedrunning direkt, men sablar vad nervös man blir, även av att titta på det... Som när timern rör sig mot 100 sekunder och jag står och väntar på att den snurrande eldgrejen ska hamna i rätt position (om man hoppar för tidigt loopar banan)... 

En Mario 2 session kan jag också rekommendera varje seriös gamer.

Numer har jag inte tid spela och moderna spel intresserar mig inte så mycket så det här blir nog enda inlägget jag gör av detta slag. 

Parodius on GB, revisited

I wrote about Parodius on GB a while ago, back when I mainly reviwed GB games almost two years ago. (The Japanese game is called Parodius Da!!, the European simply Parodius)

My privilege with a blog is that I can review games how many times I want. Yesterday I took another look at Parodius and recorded a short video too.

Now I can compare it to Parodius on NES/Famicom, a game that is troubled by bad slowdowns. The GB game surprisingly has no slowdowns. Compared to later SFC, Saturn or PS1 games, the GB version is short and has less things going on at the same time. I suppose there is some flickering, although not in a way that makes it harder to play. You can check out the video for yourself.

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I show some different setups here. It may be interesting to check around 11:20 when things start happening.

Although I still think it is a good game, I now think it lacks depth and while it is fun, it may be too lightweight to be truly memorable. Last time I enjoyed it being simple but I think now I would rate more challenging Konami games like Gradius or Twinbee higher. Or a game like Section Z for Famicom.

Parodius is humorous, a simple joyful playthrough, without demanding too much strategy or thinking. It has infinite continues so you can keep on playing and it is a great shooter for first time shmup-ers (as I basically was back then). I do recommend anyone to pick it up and give it a try. As far as shmup games go on Game Boy, it is one of the best. Grade 5/5.

Go Go Tank, for game boy

Go Go Tank was released in Japan by the end of 1990. It isn't very common, but was released in the US too, and you can usually find it for cheap.

The Japanese version is completely in English.

The gameplay is simple to explain. You are an airplane and have to move blocks so that the tank can move all the way to the right in the level. You can't control the tank otherwise.

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As you might notice, the tank has a health bar the goes down every time it bumps into something. So while you don't have a time limit, you can't take forever.
You can actually pick up the bouncing letters to get different powerups.

It is a nice idea that is original as far as I know. The graphics are nice without slowdowns or flickering, and all the planes and things look nice. The music is varied too. The main problem is the control of the plane. It always flies upwards and also always moves in the direction it is facing. Trying to pick up the blocks is difficult sometimes, and placing them right takes some attempts. Aiming your bomb is hard too. So it can be a frustrating game to play.

What got me through it was knowing that there are only 10 levels of the game (I know because the manual said so). So it isn't like Adventure Island, where the levels just go on and on and on. Getting through all 10 levels took me 3,5 hours, with the last two levels taking 1 hour each. The game has infinite continues and isn't too hard after all.

It is a nice little challenge, and I recommend you to try it out if you can get it cheap. Be prepared for some frustration though. I rate it 2.5/5 because of the frustration level... Most reviewers (mobygames, gamefaqs) give it a higher score, so you might like it more than me.

With two carts and game boys, you can also play this game 2-player coop.

This is the end screen. That's it.

Magical Taruruuto Kun, game boy

After some bad gaming experiences with impossible famicom games (also see review of Demon Sword on our new Swedish language blog, japanspel.wordpress.com) I went back to my trusted game boy.

There were two platforming games with the name Magical Taruruuto Kun on famicom, and the first game is popular, looking like Super Mario Bros 3. However, with the many worlds and levels I think it would be too long for me to have time for. There is also one platforming game on Mega Drive and one on Super Famicom. I read a favorable review of the mega drive game so I might try it out (it is short and sweet!), but game boy is my console of choice.

Usually I don't like to play what I call "generic platforming games", but the box backside has a picture of Godzilla and a helicopter and that looked interesting. Also I hoped the game wouldn't be too long, and thankfully game boy games are usually short. This game is just 4 or 5 stages and they aren't too hard. (unlike the last game boy game I wrote about, Castlevania Adventure, also short but oh so hard)

I haven't played much of the famicom game, but I do know that in that game you play as Taruruutu Kun himself. He uses his long tongue to eat fruits. But in the game boy game, you play as the boy. When you have collected 20 fruits, Taruruutu Kun will appear. You can then press Select to bring up a menu with things he can do.

• Choice 1 returns you to the game. 
• Choice 2 transforms him into something helpful, either he freezes all enemies or he collects fruits or he attacks enemies. It may depend on where you are on the stage.
• Choice 3 will give you bow and arrow, or other things. Again, it seems to be different depending on where you are on the stage.
• Choice 4 will play a mini-game. I think this may give you an extra life but I am not sure.

When you have Taruruuto Kun and collect another 20 fruits you will get an extra life. You also get extra lives from touching frogs.

It is easy to collect extra lives. Just collect fruits and frogs and you will quickly have 15 or more extra lives. Even when you die you are often brought back to a place where you can immediately get an extra life and more fruit, so the game is very kind to you. Should you die all your lives, you can use up to 3 continues. (I know because I was game over once)

The stages have hidden areas for bonus stages. Simply walk into them, or in one occasion on the last stage you have to duck, and you will enter it. They will give you up to 50 fruits. It is like Super Mario Bros with game genie.

I think that Taruruuto Kun is an anime for kids, like Doraemon that I wrote about in my "mega drive platforming games" blogpost two weeks ago. It plays cute and doesn't challenge you much and that is a potential downside. But it is what it is.


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The shooter stage was a bit tricky because the helicopter is so big, but after a couple of tries I found a good strategy. None of the bosses are too difficult either. The endboss gave me some difficulties but turned out to be easy once I figured her out. It took me around 3 hours to beat the game from start to finish but if I had understood the controls, the extra life scheme, and had been more lucky figuring out stuff (for example, you can hit some projectiles instead of jumping over them) I would have done it in less than an hour. A good gamer might do it in less than 30 minutes on their first time playing.

When it comes to gameplay, it plays well. The controls are response, the graphics work nicely without slowdowns, the sprites are big and clear. The music is nice too. And the game has originality with the Select screen and a shooter stage. So I rate it 4/5.  If you can find it for 5-6$ I think you should check it out. It being short is just how games are on the game boy.

With early game boy games like this one from 1991 one always need to consider that the first model game boy had a blurry graphic and is difficult to play on, so games that are easy to play today on a super game boy with RGB cable were much harder back then. Only when the Game Boy Pocket was released you could play with a better screen. My favorite handheld console for game boy games is the Game Boy Color anyways. More comfortable than GBA or GBA SP.

A Castlevania Adventure appreciation, for game boy

Some Castlevania fans hate the first Game Boy game: Castlevania: The Adventure (or as I call it: The Castlevania Adventure. In Japan: Dracula Densetsu). But I want to write an appreciation blogpost. This is the one of only two Castlevania game that I have beaten, the other being a GBA game that didn't make much of an impression (it was one of the two games on the double pack, don't know which).

This is the only Castlevania game I have enjoyed anyways.
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In my videos this time I stopped the recorder whenever I died and then unpaused when I reached that stage again. So it took a lot longer to play than what you see in the videos. You have unlimited continues but you restart from the start of the stage when you are game over, and some stages are very long.

While you do move quite slow, it has a nice feeling to it. It is very simplistic and I really appreciate that. The game was released in Japan in 1989 and was one of the earliest game boy games. My theory is that the sluggishness is because of bad programming. You can feel the game speed up at times, such as right before the rope at 01:20 in the video above. In some ways it feels like an experimental game.

There is also strange flickering in the screen, and it seems that the game has a hard time to keep up with the timer. This is the only GB game I know that has a real time second timer in it.

Anyways, I actually like the game the way it is. The game only has 4 stages and that is fine  for me. I am worried if I start playing one of the other Castlevania games on GB or NES/Famicom that they will be long and tedious. Maybe the reputation of those games is what prevents me from wanting to try them out. Also it seems boring to try out games that "everyone" talk about. I think it is more interesting to try out unknown or unappreciated games.

The Castleva Adventure was one of the first GB games I played when I got back into video games four years ago. At the time, I thought the game was super hard! Especially stage 3. When I play it now, with more gaming experience, I don't think it is equally impossible. Last night I played through the game up to Dracula and it took me about 4 hours. I then tried for an hour to beat him, but I didn't manage this time.

The first stage isn't that hard, as you see above. There are some tricky jumps and surprise enemies, but even newbie gamers (like I was) would beat the stage after a couple of tries.

Stage 2 gets a bit harder. Some enemies that require some thinking to figure out how to beat best. Some jumps that may be tricky for a complete newbie. But still, with a decent console (such as a Super Game Boy), it shouldn't be too hard.
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Remember, in 1989 all we had were the first generation game boy, with its yellowish screen that was hard to focus on. We still loved it. There was no similar handheld gaming console before, and I remember how amazed I was about Super Mario Land. Just seeing moving pixels, real music, with enemies and actual gameplay was amazing. But I didn't know there was a game called Castlevania, unfortunately.

After stage 2, here comes stage 3. For an unexperienced gamer, this stage is like hell. It is long and has moving spike walls and many tricks that will kill you the first time.
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After 04:11 in the video, the stage goes on for another tough minute that I didn't record.

When I played the game four years ago I left my GBC on during the days and nights, using a power supply. You can always continue from the stage you are at and have unlimited continues. It took my a couple of days to beat the stage, as I could only play in the evenings.

After stage 3, there will the final stage. At least I think it is the final stage.
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This one is also long and has more difficult enemies. From gamefaqs I found there is a secret room that will help you out at 5:30 (I thought it was at 4:30 first, that's why I jump like crazy there). I also found a simple way to get passed the difficult enemies at 7:40 right before Dracula. Those enemies gave me the hardest time before I discovered the trick.

Playing the game now, it feels challenging, but not extremely. I played Dracula for an hour and didn't beat him, but just look back to my last beaten game, Rolling Thunder 2 that I blogged about recently. It took me 1 hour before I even reached the end boss, and then 2 hours to beat him.

I think it is nice to see how much feeling and atmosphere they were able to put into such a simplistic game.  You move slowly, but it never gets boring. Every screen has a carefully thought out challenge, even if it may seem simple. Nothing is just thrown into the game to fill it out, as many other games would do it.

With the true stero sound you have on the game boy, the music will also sound better than on the NES.

I like to grade game boy games because I have most experience with them and so I think I can grade them fairly. I rate this game 4/5. Despite all my praise, it is sluggish. The controls are stiff , and the constant slow downs and then speed up again create a challenge in itself.

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.
 

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:

Ultraman Ball for Game Boy, and other videos

I've uploaded a lot more gameplay videos to youtube, and now have 29 videos in total.

Yesterday I uploaded two videos from Final Match Tennis, Highway Star, and Ultraman Ball. And last week I made videos of Spelunker, Ninja Jajamaru Kun, 1 hour total gameplay of Robo Warrior (Bomber King) (basically I played until I died), Astro Boy, etc.

Ultraman Ball is an uncommon game boy game that was only released in Japan. I think it is fun, some original ideas. Although both Chalvo '55 on the Game Boy and Armadillo on famicom have the same idea of the platforming game where you can transform to a ball. Yet Ultraman Ball is more platform and less puzzle and gameplay is faster than the games I mentioned.

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I rate it 4/5 for originality, good gameplay and nice music.  Nice Super Game Boy support too. I don't know if it gets harder later on in the game, but I hope so. I don't have to say much more I think, now that I record my own videos.

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.

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

Heisei Tensai Bakabon for Game Boy / Famicom

I was never able to sell these games to anyone for some reason, so I'll keep them to myself from now.
Update 2013-10-03: I uploaded a gameplay video here:



A series of platforming games that were only released in Japan. The Game Boy version has almost the same levels as the Famicom version, but with some differences.

The game series has a humoristic theme.

The confusing things for first time players is how to jump. You have to press the B button AFTER you start moving in that direction in order to run, and then you can jump far.

The game boy version has unlimited continues and you can start from the same place that you died. I only played a little bit of the famicom game but I think the famicom version doesn't have that.

Well, the games are weird in a Japanese way, for those that enjoy those kind if games (compare Kato-chan Ken-chan for Pc Engine). Personally the gameplay is too slow for my taste, but that is me. I will rate the game boy version 3/5. I don't rate famicom games.

Super Hunchback for Game Boy

Yesterday after I beat R-Type II I played Super Hunchback. The only boring thing about this game is the title and box art. I thought it was a Disney licensed game, but actually it is an original game released only on the Game Boy.

You can tell the game was made with a lot of dedication, starting with the title song Puttin' on the Ritz (I suppose the music is out of copyright), but it never got the attention it deserved. It is probably suitable for a bit older audience, by which I mean 12 and up. The game is too difficult for younger children, I think.

You play level after level and ring the bell at the end of the level. Funny enough, this game has the same extra life system as Rodland that I reviewed in a week ago with the flashing EXTRA letter you collect. The games were both made by European companies, but not the same companies... Mystery.

Also, you have a system of bells that act as multiplyers , but not sure if points are useful.

The levels offer a lot of variation. Sometimes you can be creative because you don't know if you should jump on the big bubbles or ride the cannonballs. Yes, you can do that. I can't  compare this gameplay with any other platformer.  There are no enemies to kill, just various stuff that you have to avoid, but sometimes can be useful.

The controls are difficult at times. Here is level 4-1, that I didn't manage to beat. When you're in water, tap A repeated to swim up, or the spikes will kill you.

Catching ropes is also tricky. You have to catch it at its end, or you won't be able to swing very far. But if you don't time your jump, you'll miss it completely. Jumping also requires some time to manage perfectly.

If you know Swedish you might know GamingGrannar. I found Dave actually made a video of this game and I'll embed it here.
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To translate from 1:50... "you'll die a lot, but you'll always make progress" , "you have only three lives" , "the key is to collect many lives and avoid making mistakes. You only have three lives to start with. ", 2:25 - "the game has a lot of secrets." 3:50 - "if you want a challenging game boy game that most people have overlooked, I can really recommend Super Hunchback".

My Japanese copy has two continues actually. I don't know if the European might not have that.

If the game hadn't been so hard and difficult I would have enjoyed it more. It is annoying to get game overs due to cheap deaths, even if the deaths are due to your own mistakes. I'll rate the game 4/5.

Bonus video.
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R-Type II for Game Boy

This game was released in 1992 and is the sequel to R-Type. It can be hard to find this sequel.

I never liked the first R-Type on Game Boy, I think it has limited continues and I kept on dying. I was a kid and played on the old brick, all I remember is that I didn't like the game and that I never made it very far.

But I found that R-Type II has unlimited continues, at least the Japanese version which is all I am playing. After a game over, you can ever restart at your last checkpoint! Such a friendly game. And so now I am able to easily beat this game, even if I must have died 20 times before I reached the first boss and a ridiculous amounts of time I died of stupid mistakes.

In R-Type II, your ship is much larger than in a game such as Gradius. It also moves slower. It can therefore be hard to avoid bullets sometimes. But with the unlimited continues, most  could beat it. This is how Salamander (Life Force) should have been like.

Sometimes the game slows down a lot when many enemies and bullets are on the screen. I don't mind that much, but some people do. However, most of the time the game flows just fine.

With the SGB or GBC, it becomes much easier to tell the enemies from the bullets, but it can still be hard sometimes because you have so many powerups. Normal shots, missiles, and shots that go diagonally all at the same time.

If the game wouldn't have had unlimited continues it would have been super hard and annoying. As it is, it is pretty easy. I don't mind beating a game though. But you can press Select at the start screen and choose Hard level whatver that does.

Programmed in Wales by Robert C Pape. The end. I give it 3/5.

Rodland for Game Boy

Rodland is an action game that was released in Europe and Japan. It was also on the NES and some other consoles. It is the same kind of platforming game as Mickey Mouse I just wrote about. You climb between platforms, avoiding enemies, and pick up the items that allow you to get to the next level. Some call it a Bubble Bobble clone.

You have a rod that you use to kill enemies. Another feature of this game is that you can press Up+A or Down+A to place a ladder at any time. Original and fun.

Each level has flowers you can take. After you have taken them all, the enemies will change form (like in Pac-Man). When the enemies have changed and you kill them, they will leave behind a flashing letter. The letter will flash between E-X-T-R-A. Take all letters and you will get an extra life.

The game boy version has 40 levels and isn't very hard. I made it to the last boss on level 40 on my second attempt, and I didn't quite know how to play. It couldn't have taken more than an hour. The Japanese version starts you with 9 lives, while the European starts you with 3 lives. When you die, you are game over with no continues or passwords. Picking extra lives is the key to going far.

Even though it isn't a hard game, it is easy to get killed by the enemies. The controls feel a bit clumsy sometimes. When you are throwing one enemy, the next one might appear and kill you. And sometimes you start right in between two enemies. But I think with habit you'll get the feeling for what not to do.

It would be fun to try out 2-player mode at some time to see what that is. On the NES, there is a 2-player coop mode. I wonder if the Game Boy has that too, or if it has one player at the time play.

Hardcore gamers might find the game too simple, but I think less experienced gamers and children will find the game fun and challenging. The music is interesting. It was made by a European company and sounds like the game boy game The Smurfs a bit, although they were made by different companies. In this game the music also doesn't have any distinct melodies (unlike the Smurfs), but interesting 8-bit musical effects none the less.
Here is a video by someone else:
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Well, considering the interesting music, the fun gameplay, that you move fast (good thing!), a certain charm, and nice and clear graphics I will give it 4/5. Even if the concept isn't original.

Frisky Tom for Game Boy

Another game that isn't all that common. I should know by now, as I have collected for a couple of years and have close to 550 loose games and 300 boxed.

Frisky Tom is a Japan only game boy port of a 1981 arcade game. The arcade game looked like this:

I know my pics aren't the greatest, but it makes it much faster to write these reviews and I think they are acceptable.

Bandai also created a small handheld of this game in 1982. I have one of those on its way. It may not work, but I thought it looked pretty awesome when I looked at a youtube clip of that.

The Game Boy port is from 1995 and has nice Super Game Boy support.

 

The objective of this game is to stop the mice from destroying the water pipe. You climb the pipes.  You can push away the blue mice, which are the destroyer mice. There are also red mice that will push you down if you meet them. That's basically all there is to it.

This page mentions that in the arcade they had three color of mice: http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7854 . From that description it seems that the game boy port is different than the arcade game. But maybe I didn't pay enough attention at the game boy while playing.

If you get the water running long enough before the timer runs out, you'll see this shower picture.

Frisky Tom it is a pretty simplistic arcade style game. You play to get a high score. I managed to beat the first 7 stages, but stage 8 went too fast and had too many mice against me. For people who enjoy arcade style games (such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong) the game isn't bad. It also feels original enough. And except for this game boy port, there isn't that many ways to play it.

It does feel as if I have discovered some long lost Game & Watch game, one that is actually fun to play. Thanks to its impressive SGB graphics I will rate it 3/5.

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon R for Game Boy

So many Sailor Moon games... And so bad... I do like their cover though, and I appreciate that most of the Sailor Moon games are well playable even though they are in Japanese. The only exception I know is the RPG called Another World for the Super Famicom.

Let's get this over with... You can play the games in two modes. The Game Start (ゲームスタート) , the Action (アクション) and then there is the Continue and Mini Game option also.

The Game Start is a story mode. You can play as any of the five characters that are in Sailor Moon.  It is surprisingly short, after I read the faq (http://www.gamefaqs.com/gameboy/577651-bishoujo-senshi-sailor-moon-r/faqs/7512). You just walk a little back and forth and talk to people. In between there are some action stages.

They are very very plain and generic. Usually just walk straight ahead and beat off any enemies. It's like Kung Fu on the NES, except that it isn't challanging. Maybe to someone who is 3-6 years old it would be. Maybe later it will be, but it is so boring that I had no reason to continue playing.

In the action mode, you skip all the walking and talking and just play the three action sequences. Or five or whatever.

Well, the game is playable as in it doesn't fall apart in your hand. The cover looks nice. But I rate it 1/5.

Loopz for game boy

I recieved Loopz recently. Not a common game, but pretty cheap when you find it, because few people play it.

It was released on other consoles too, such as NES and Amiga. In was released on the Game Boy in 1991, in both Europe, the US and Japan.

Loopz is a "hardcore puzzle" game that might suit engineers and people who spend hours trying to solve Rubik's Cube on their own (without success).

The point of the game is to build "loops", pipes that are connected to themselves. At every turn you get a randomly generated pipe shape and have to place it somewhere. A timer starts counting. You can fail three times, then you are game over.

Well, there are some strategically interesting things about the game. For example, I wasn't too successful with building my "mini loops" in the picture above. If you build like that, you will always be lacking in those small pieces. I would like to mention that I did get better at placing the pieces after playing for a while. Also, I probably shouldn't call them pipes, but the game has the same idea as Pipe Dream.

It seems that as you play a while, the pipe shapes get more difficult, such as the difficult to place Z shape. There is a strategy suggestion at http://www.gamefaqs.com/gameboy/585791-loopz/faqs/36001 .

The game has modes A , B and C. Mode A is unlimited play to get a high score. In play B you get a bonus after doing a loop worth 1500 points, but I haven't been able to do that and see what happened. Mode C is more of a memory mode where pipes are removed and you put them back.

The game actually got some decent reviews on all the consoles it was released on. Such as this one for the Amiga:

Creating perfect loops seems a promising concept, but its implementation is flawed. The random piece selection can be frustrating as it doesn't allow you to plan ahead (a Tetris-style 'next piece' indicator would have been helpful). And when you've got a nearly full screen, you often get several large pieces in succession, losing you several lives in one go. Apart from these niggles though, Loopz is quite fun – especially in the competitive two-player mode which involves stealing and sabotage! The different game types provide variety; the skill levels challenge, though there are no real graphical rewards. Let's hope Audiogenic do an improved sequel.

Considering these flaws, and that the high score resets when you turn the game off, it is the bare minimum of a game in my opinion. It makes almost as little sense as drawing something randomly on a piece of paper and giving yourself a score on it.


I rate this game 2/5. I don't know, but I think that by now most people can easily find lots and lots of puzzle games that have more to offer. As an iPhone app or on the internet somewhere. I never could see the point of the arcade style games that just kept on going until you got a game over. Games such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong that had no end and weren't intented to be beatable. Fun for a little while maybe, but pointless ??

Soreyuke!! Kid and Mickey Mouse (Bugs Bunny) for Game Boy

I received a second copy of Soreyuke Kid from Japan.

Both in very good condition. That is not a good sign for me as a gamer.
Soreyuke Kid was only released in Japan, in July 1997, so it is a late game boy game and it isn't common to find it.

No special Super Game Boy support though.
The game is about you going into all the doors, taking the key, and going out again. There are enemies you have to avoid. You can use the stairs and other items you find, such as a gun with one shot.

I thought the game was very boring. It moves slow and every level feels the same. There seems to be very many levels and I got frustrated quickly. You have a password and can always restart from the last level, so I don't think it is frustratingly difficult. I made a note that the music was bad, but I don't remember why now. The game feels lame and our hero is a nasty kid clown. Maybe the worst idea for a hero ever.

The basic game idea is not bad. I know because it was made popular 7 years and 10 months (7,8 years) earlier in Bugs Bunny in Crazy Castle, released in Japan as Mickey Mouse. I have some memory of there being a Mario game with the same idea? And it has probably been done many more times. But in Soreyuke Kid the levels are long and repetitive and it takes away some of the fun. However, I think that anyone who only had this game to play would find it playable. So I give it 2/5.

This made me ask myself if I should finally give my Mickey Mouse a chance. I had put it down because it looked childish and I find that most Disney related games are too cute and have too little action for my taste. But I though it would be suitable to play it, and compare it with Soreyuke Kid.

The box is approriatedly mashed and ragged. I like the artwork too. This was one of the earliest game boy games. In my list of all Japanese Game Boy games, this is game number #9 by release date, May 1989. (Soreyuke Kid is #650)
I though I should give it a chance.

I'm glad I did. It seems a bit lame at first, but I got into it and played it for 3 hours straight until I beat it. So yes, it isn't the most difficult game. Some reviewers on the internet complained that the game is too easy and it lowered their score. The successor, Bugs Bunny 2 or Mickey Mouse 2, is much much much harder. But I like short and sweet games.

I still had to use around 30 continues. That's around 150 deaths. So there is a lot that could be improved in my play.

I think the Japanese version is exactly the same as the EU / US version, except for the changed sprites. Wikipedia wrote about the reason for this, it had to do with the copyrights as you could expect. I think they even left the Bugs Bunny music in this Mickey Mouse game. That's strange. But they are good tunes. There are different tunes for the different level types.

As I said, I never bothered with this game before. Almost all the cute licensed games I have played have been very boring in my opinion. This includes the Looney Tunes games such as Babs' Big Break and Taz-Mania.  But a lot of people like them. I also don't like Disney licensed games -- not even Duck Tales. I think Scrooge moves to slowly...

But I played on for a while, and Mickey Mouse is a charming game. Above all, it is a fast paced game so you run fast while being careful to avoid the enemies. The levels are also short. I think none of them needs to take more than 1-2 minutes. That means that the frustration level is low, unlike its successor Bugs Bunny 2 (Mickey Mouse 2).   The music is fast paced too, in Bugs Bunny style. You drop the 10ton weight and safes on enemies, and I just liked the whole feeling of it. It is charming.

While it is a simple game, some levels are tricky and require you to know precisely which way to take and to think quickly to avoid enemies. There is also enough variation. Some levels have many stairs, and other levels are made up mainly of pipes that you travel through.

On some levels I must have used at least 6 continues, which means I died 30 times. And I think I am an above average gamer for these kind of game. Playing it for the first time ever though. Here is my high score, you can try to beat it.

The high score isn't from Stage 3. The game restarts after you've beaten all 80 stages.

I checked, and the Bugs Bunny version actually has the same ending message.

I think that in todays gaming with micro games like Angry Birds, a short game like this may age better than the more difficult sequel Mickey Mouse 2. Back in 1989, people expected more play from their 300 SEK (50$) video game. That's at least twice as much in todays money. But I don't mind playing it today and I didn't pay 50$ for it. I rate it 4/5.

Weird to think that when Mickey Mouse was released I was 7 years old and when Soreyuke Kid was released I was 15. That's a lot of  years. I had both gotten into Game Boy and gotten tired of it again, and had a SNES and got tired of it. In 1997 I only played computer games. My baby sister borrowed my game boy sometime in 1998-1999, to play Pokemon with her friend. I was surprised that anyone still enjoyed that old brick. It felt pretty lame to me.