Shockman (Schbibin Man 2)

~ SHOCKMAN ~

NCS/Masaya

HuCard

1992

Schbibin Man 2 retains the charge-up method of attack featured in its predecessor but ditches swordplay in favor of MegaManish run-and-shoot action. Indeed, that this is a PCE game so prominently featuring the MM style (the resemblance goes beyond basic combat elements) makes it a novelty unto itself...

...but its many huge bosses are hardly clones of the midget men fought by the old blue bomber.

There are even some sidescrolling shooter stages included, and while they feel a little sloppy, they do play well enough to serve as satisfying, nice-looking change-of-pace boards.

The visuals are nice throughout the game, in fact, though some areas are prettier and less repetitive in backdrop design and foreground layout than others. The music is good, as per the norm for this series. But the best part of all might be the fairly high level of difficulty. The game gets quite tough as you near its conclusion and definitely provides those who conquer its challenges with a well-deserved feeling of accomplishment.

I certainly like all of that stuff. What I don't like very much is the floaty gameplay. Sure, Schbibin 2 plays better than its forerunner, but it still leaves plenty of room for improvement, and you might find yourself frustrated while attempting to get through tight parts that call for careful advancement.

Despite its gameplay issues, Schbibin Man 2 earns a spot amongst the recommendable PCE action games. It's hardly extraordinary, but one can see in it signs of creative potential, the origins of ingenious ideas that were eventually realized in the brilliant Schbibin Man 3.

Schbibin Man

~ SCHBIBIN MAN ~

NCS/Masaya

HuCard

1989

Most people are going to toss this action-platformer aside immediately because of its poor controls, which are floaty when you're in the air, slippery when you're on the ground, and slow to respond wherever the hell you are. Repetition is also a major issue: you can take various "paths" to the end, playing only a few stages or a whole bunch in the process, but every damn area is a park, city, or factory, with the only variations coming in the forms of occasional nighttime treks. Whether you're outside or indoors, you'll come across the same sorts of platforms, the same vats of lava below said platforms, the same spiked balls that try to knock you into said vats, and the same small enemies who just roll or bumble about.

And every boss save for the last one is either a blockheaded robot or a three-headed dragon.

Of course, Schbibin Man wouldn't truly be a bad game if I didn't have a few nice things to say about it. Goblin, an audio team known mainly for its fine Moto Roader work, came up with some really nice music for this title. Some of the platforming sequences definitely represent a bit of design ingenuity, and it does take skill and memorization to get through the trickier strips unscathed.

Playing long enough to experience all the different levels without finding the experience deplorable is actually possible, as the game engine can sometimes seem broken but never feels completely smashed to hell like, say, Genpei Toumaden's. And despite the repetition, it can be fun to explore all those stages, as your character acquires extremely helpful items when you reach certain points on the map.

Even with those many, uh, "positives" working in the chip's favor, its poor gameplay and repetitiveness will cause most folks to loathe it. Personally, I had some fun conquering all the stages, listening to the tunes, and powering up the protagonist.

City Hunter

~ CITY HUNTER ~

Sunsoft

HuCard

1990

City Hunter is an enjoyable action/exploration game, but it certainly isn't perfect. It's way too short at a mere four levels, and it charges you with what are essentially the same tasks in every mission (find a key and an ID card). It ends very abruptly (sans even a true final boss) and does little to challenge you as you endeavor to reach the disappointing "climax." The enemy cast lacks variety, the environments are simple and dull in appearance, and the animation is quite poor.

But it's still fun to explore the many chambers and corridors within each stage, as you sometimes end up in interesting situations...

...which occasionally involve SEXY GALs (as they're dubbed by the end credits).

The music is good, as one would expect from a Sunsoft PCE title. You don't get many weapons to play with, but the guns that are present serve just fine for the short adventure, and you do have to do a fair amount of strategic switching up. And while they are somewhat small and don't look all that great here, minotaurs and saber-toothed tigers and the like make for cool creatures to fight.

Some sellers try to make good money off City Hunter, but it's really not hard to acquire for just a few bucks. At a low cost, it's worth picking up. And while there are some mid-stage conversations to click through, you certainly don't need to know Japanese in order to complete and enjoy the game.

La Valeur

~ LA VALEUR ~

Kogado

CD-ROM

1991

La Valeur is quite primitive. It's one of those wrinkly old-school RPGs that make you use a menu command just to talk to people, and its visuals are, to be generous, antiquated.

But after a tedious first couple of hours (your character starts off very weak), it actually becomes a fairly fast-paced and enjoyable game. There are no load times for battles, and you'll be able to take out entire parties of monsters with single swipes if you make sure to level up and buy new equipment regularly.

The title takes after Ys, which one can tell from certain scenes in the opening and closing sequences, the in-game look of the main character, and the poor man's Dalles who transforms the hero into a monster.

Kogado tried to do some innovative things with LV's magic and combat systems (item scavenger hunts must be completed to earn spells, and three different brands of weapons must be acquired and made use of regularly). As a result, it can be tough to figure out how the systems work. Also, some of the puzzles will be really hard to solve if you're not proficient in Japanese; I was very lucky to get by the most troublesome spots. Of course, the walkthrough I wrote will ensure that you won't need to rely on luck if you play the game.

La Valeur is not great, but it's not Astralius either. There are lots of other cheap PCE RPGs you should play before this one, but if you experience stuff like Neo Metal Fantasy and the Tengai Makyou games and you still want more, this is a decent, inexpensive option.

Bakuretsu Hunter Duo Comic

~ BAKURETSU HUNTER ~

Media Works / Hudson Soft / Dengeki

Super CD-ROM

1994

Bakuretsu Hunter essentially places a comic book on your television screen and takes you through its story in slideshow fashion. Unlike most PCE games considered "comics," BH doesn't have the "player" actually participate in the goings-on. There are plenty of sound effects and lots of voice, and the images slide and swirl around; but there's nothing to do except adjust the coloration of the panels and sit back and look at one pencil sketch after another.

Well, it sure is different for a PCE title; and for all I know, it might be a pretty damn sweet show for fans of the BH manga who really know their Japanese. In fact, sitting through the story doesn't have to be a throwaway experience for the Hunter-ignorant, as doing a bit of research beforehand will put players in position to understand (to some extent) what happens in the game. Still, I can't help but wish that the "interesting" approach were eschewed in favor of a traditional digital-comic setup. The story seems to achieve moderate success with both its action and its comedy, and the character designs aren't terrible. It's just hard to get much enjoyment out of the product with the format that's in place.

Of course, most folks who acquire the disc will do so because it was originally part of a novel "CD plus book" package and won't give a damn about the BH plot or cast anyway. But whether you're a Bakuretsu aficionado or not, you really should make sure the book is part of the deal if you go ahead and buy the disc, as it contains comic strips, character profiles, removable goodies, and other such things, making it pretty neat to flip through once or twice. Of course, as is the case with the "game" itself, the book won't be of much practical use to those who aren't already into BH and can't read Japanese. It's a cool (and fairly hard-to-find) collectible, plain and simple; and unlike some similar items, it isn't very expensive.