Hana Taaka Daka

~ HANA TAAKA DAKA?! ~

Taito

HuCard

1991

Hana has a good reputation among those who have played it, but it didn't take long for me to realize that, mechanically, it isn't what I'd consider a superlative shooter. One thing I didn't like about it is that if you want to build up your firepower to a useful level, you've got to accept the fact that your hitbox will become ridiculously large. And depending on how successful you are in powering up, the bosses are either farcical characters who succumb to your attacks in seconds or stalwarts who withstand endless pummeling even after you've solved their patterns. Another thing I wasn't too keen on was the incorporation of charge attacks as an essential part of the player's repertoire, as my preference for auto-firing often fell by the wayside. Yet, even with all my biases stacked against it, Hana would stand for nothing less than me having a good time while playing it.

One of the primary reasons I enjoy it is the intricate (for a shooter) stage design. Each level contains two "puzzle pieces" for you to acquire; one falls right into your lap once you knock off the boss, but you won't find the other unless you do a bit of digging around. You've got to uncover the warp point to a special bonus round that contains the elusive piece, and locating the secret spot won't be all that easy since the levels offer you multiple paths to explore. And once you do gain access to the side-stage, you've got to fire away until the obscured object of your mission is revealed; you won't return to the level proper until you've succeeded.

Another reason Hana won me over is that its graphics are just so darn nice to look at. Light tones are implemented perfectly, calling to mind images of Super Mario World in some places and Castle of Illusion in others.

Pleasant music effectively complements the fine visuals. And while you're taking in the appealing sights and sounds of Hana's colorful world, you'll discover auxiliary weaponry that might seem unwieldy or strangely esoteric in function until you figure out the perfect way to use it, which brings no small sense of satisfaction. In fact, Hana turned out to be a satisfying product on the whole despite my initial misgivings.

Cosmic Fantasy

~ COSMIC FANTASY ~

Laser Soft / Telenet

CD-ROM

1990

This is always the first game I recommend when people would like to get into Japanese RPGs but don't know the language and aren't sure where to start. The menus are easy to figure out; the quest is very straightforward (you go from to town to maze to town in strict, linear order; the world doesn't open up to you until you acquire a ship near the end of the adventure, but even then, it isn't difficult to figure out where to go); and you have to manage only two characters, Yuu and Saya (known as Cobra and Sayo, respectively, in US CF2). Other characters join your party, but they, uh, don't do anything.

Of course, CF's simplicity could be off-putting for those who have already experienced the intricate likes of the Tengai Makyous. Yuu's quest boils down to exploring dungeons and leveling up; there isn't much mystery or depth involved. If you don't mind the linearity of the adventure and the rudimentary gameplay, the only potentially irritating factor is the fact that after every battle you have to sit through approximately seven seconds of empty screen before play resumes. I got used to the delay after a while, but some folks may not be as tolerant of it.

As simple as the game is, there are plenty of positive things to note in its favor. As you'd expect from a CF episode, the story is a great blend of crazy humor...

...and quiet poignancy.

As you might also expect from a CF game, the soundtrack consists of only a few tunes. Most of them are chip numbers, but quite a few are very good (particularly the main maze track) and have an appealing old-school sound about them that veterans should enjoy. The in-game graphics are conspicuously primitive, but they certainly aren't revolting.

The cinemas don't even come close to matching the quality and theater of those in many later PCE RPGs, but they're nice in their own right and compare favorably with those in most other early CD games.

Skirmishes can be resolved quickly, and the encounter rate shouldn't prove irritating. For the most part, if you make sure to explore the labyrinths thoroughly, you'll earn enough experience that you won't even have to partake in perfunctory leveling-up exercises.

CF might not come off as an outstanding game when you break it down into its elements, but it does a lot of things pretty well, and it doesn't screw many things up. Tackling it will be a nice way to get your feet wet if you're thinking about getting into Japanese RPGs, and even those who are already pros should find it to be a quality addition to their adventure-game libraries.

Neutopia II

~ NEUTOPIA II ~

Hudson Soft / NEC
HuCard

1992

I liked Neutopia a lot when I was a kid, but recent revisits left me unimpressed. I was told by quite a few sources that Neutopia II is superior to the original, but sadly, that isn't the case. Improvements and additions here are modest: you can maneuver diagonally; you have a few more items to play around with; some of the dungeons have many more rooms than those in the first game (making matters feel even more repetitive... wonderful); and you get a couple of "fancy" visual effects, like gratuitous "swirly" nonsense at the beginning and wavy underwater stuff. Otherwise, this is the same crap as before.

Actually, I think the bosses in the first episode are much cooler than the boring jackasses here. The music is still generic chip fare (though I should note that if you love Super Star Soldier's soundtrack, which I don't, there's a very good chance you'll adore this one as well). Some tunes from the first game come jingling back for more, but I didn't care much for them to begin with. I did like the dungeon tune here at first, but it's very repetitive and quickly got on my nerves. And as far as gameplay goes, you get the same weak, archaic combat and the same kindergarten-level push-the-blocks-to-see-if-a-staircase-appears "puzzle solving."

Fans of the Neutopia games always claim that there's something to be said for simplicity. Sure there is. But I think there's a difference between appealing, well-designed simplicity and redundant, uninspired simplicity. Neutopia II repeatedly asks that you clear a room of enemies and push on each block in said room to see if anything "happens." You do this about seven thousand times during the brief adventure. There's nothing interesting or challenging or thought provoking about any of it. The puzzle solving never really goes beyond that, either. And since you don't get a great story or cool combat or even a good soundtrack to accompany the monotony, the whole experience falls flat.

For people who still adore the first Neutopia, this game will probably be lots of fun. If they don't mind the rudimentary design in that game, they should be satisfied here as well. If you are like me and don't view Neutopia as a "classic" but as little more than a decent, if outdated, action-RPG, then I highly recommend you look for the cheapest deal possible on this sequel and avoid the relatively high-priced US version. I sure am glad I didn't spend much money on the game. Quite frankly, I think it sucks, and I got more and more annoyed with its suckiness as it went on.

Snow-land and underwater scenes add a little variety to the overworld experience...

...which is still largely routine Zelda-copy fare.

You get some new items to mess around with this time. Like a boomerang. Don't know how they ever thought of that one. The staves unleash mighty elemental attacks... that often cause your enemies to crash right into you.

Let's look at the wonderful Neutopia II "puzzle" design: Kill all the enemies and push on all the blocks...

...avoid the "boobytraps" and push on all the blocks...

...dodge the spinning razors and push on all the blocks...

...or just... push on all the blocks.

Among the bosses, only the kraken really stands out. Most of the others are kinda lame.

Rom Rom Stadium

~ ROM ROM STADIUM ~

NCS/Masaya

CD-ROM

1989

Rom Rom is plagued by problems that occur in many other old-school baseball games: there are way too many infield hits, as balls in play usually roll slowly and the players make very weak throws; the stupid computer-controlled infielders have the ridiculous tendency to throw to bases that are uncovered; and said infielders often chase slow ground balls into the outfield instead of just letting the outfielders charge and put an end to all the dashing about.

Again, these are issues that pop up in plenty of old baseball games, but Rom Rom sometimes takes them to extremes, leading to some really ridiculous happenings. Say the computer's first baseman and second baseman both go after a ground ball. The former picks it up and tosses it towards the first-base bag, where there's no one to catch it.

The throw sails right past the bag and bounces off the wall. The second baseman runs over and scoops up the ball while the first baseman runs towards the bag. The second baseman finally makes the throw to first, which somehow beats the runner there and produces an out. This absolutely absurd chain of events actually happens quite frequently.

Rom Rom's contests aren't particularly enjoyable even when such nonsense isn't going on. They play out in slow, dull fashion, unlike World Class Baseball's exhilarating arcade-style affairs. RR is a little more challenging than WCB, however: I've won my share of 7-1 blowouts, but there have been none of the 29-0 massacres that often occur when I power up WCB, and it's actually possible to experience games during which neither team scores many runs. (Take that with a grain of salt, though, as I've been playing WCB regularly for many years, while RR isn't interesting or enjoyable enough to receive much play time from me.)

In any event, Rom Rom is an okay-but-not-great game of baseball that doesn't come close to WCB. Here are some of the (mostly insignificant) things that separate RR from most other members of the old-school-baseball-game crowd:

- Pitch counts are shown, and working the count to wear down the opposing team's pitcher can really pay off in some of the tougher Pennant mode games.

- The action occasionally switches over to scenes of some strange girl watching the games on TV. She puts on various weird outfits and cheers you on or bemoans your lack of success. Sometimes, she dons a baseball uniform of her own and jumps up and down; other times, she hurls her cat through her television monitor in frustration.

- Win enough games in Pennant mode and you'll get to face the mighty Masaya team in "Meka Stadium," an abominable ballpark with ridiculously bright colors that make witnessing the action an excruciating experience. Obviously, I'm not too fond of this F-Zero-style depiction of baseball.

- I didn't mess with it at all, but there's a Team Edit mode where you apparently can create and save your own club. This is about the only somewhat-decent reason for the game being on CD.