Video Game Blog 043: Retro Corner #3

Welcome back to one of my favorite blog series— Retro Corner! This is where I showcase the old games I play on the Duo-R system my wife gifted me for my birthday earlier this year. The previous two posts in this series are here:

Video Game Blog 035: Retro Corner #1

Video Game Blog 037: Retro Corner #2

So far I’ve covered five games between the two posts. Now I’m back with three more. If you’ve been paying attention to the main blog you know that 2024 is the Year of Tokusatsu on the SoraRabbit Hole. I’ve been watching and writing posts about the “big three” of toku: Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, and I have one in the works for Ultraman. (Ultraseven to be specific.) I bring all this up because after finishing my post on Gorenger, I had a whim to see if there were any Super Sentai-inspired games available for the Duo-R. After a brief search I managed to find two of them, and those will be the first two entries this time.

As before, I will be reviewing the games based on standard categories like graphics and music. But also, this time I’m adding a new section— first impressions. The reason for this was because I went into each of these games blind and only researched and learned more about them as I was writing the post. I thought my initial thoughts of the games would be entertaining. Let’s get started!

Cyber Cross. (Credit: Face Corporation)

Cyber Cross was released for the PC Engine in 1989 by Face Corporation. This game is a side-scrolling beat ‘em up where you take on the role of a transforming hero to slay evil.

First Impressions: Cyber Cross struck me immediately as a generic platforming fighting game. I could immediately see the inspiration from Super Sentai and Kamen Rider, which drew me in right away. I was also struck by the fact that your hero’s base form is that of a shlubby-looking dude in a hat.

HENSHIN! (Credit: Face Corporation)

The game is pretty simple, as you may expect, combining platforming and combat. The combat is as straight forward as can be. You can jump, punch, and kick. You start off as silly hat guy but when you pick up a floating power-up, you can transform into Cyber Cross. The transformation is accompanied by the same arm poses as Kamen Rider, which made me laugh.

Kicky. (Credit: Face Corporation)

The power-ups float by very quickly— I missed more of them than I got— but are very useful. These can restore life or trigger one of your three transformations. (I mostly got red, but I’m not sure if there is a percentage of which one you get or if it’s random.) Another power-up beyond that and you get a weapon and visual upgrades to the suit. Red gets a sword with a ridiculously long reach.

CHOP. (Credit: Face Corporation)

Unfortunately if you lose enough life you lose your weapon and eventually depower into hat guy again. Researching after my play session, I did see that you can continue to power up and you can charge your weapon as well, but I did not realize that while playing. While I did play, though, I found all three forms.

I like that there are different suits. (Credit: Face Corporation)

Blue gets a gun, and green gets a boomerang, but I wasn’t able to power green up before he lost too much energy, so I never saw the boomerang. Blue’s gun has limited ammo and once it’s used up, he’s back to punching and kicking. You only have one life, but you do get a lot of hit points.

After a long level with repeating enemies, Stage 1 ends with a fire-breathing frog who jumps around. He kept hitting me while he jumped and it took a bit to get his pattern down. Fire Kermit was actually pretty challenging and it took me three tries to beat him. There are five stages, and I assume a boss at the end of each.

Yeah, those flies have bombs. (Credit: Face Corporation)

Graphics: The graphics are simple, but they work for what the game is. I really like the designs for the Cyber Cross suits.

Music & SFX: The music and sound effects are very 16-Bit, but a lot of fun. There doesn’t seem to be much variety, though. During the two stages I played, the same music was repeated for both.

Gameplay: The movements are fairly responsive and your character moves as you would expect him to. The gameplay is very repetitive, as it’s all wave after wave of the same enemies over the course of long stages. Knowing there’s a new boss at the end helps you power through, though.

Challenge: This game, like many games of the era, is all about having patience and learning your enemy’s moves. I typically don’t do well with games like that, as I just want to run around punching and kicking things. It can get difficult in parts when enemies come up behind you or guys shoot laser blasts or giant flies drop bombs on you. It’s definitely a practice-type game like Splatterhouse. (Covered in the first post.) If you know where the enemies will be next and what to expect, you get better at evading and defeating them.

So cool. The sword could use a hilt, though. (Credit: Face Corporation)

Thoughts: I did enjoy this game, although it’s a pretty standard beat ‘em up. The two stages I saw didn’t have much to differentiate them, and the transformations, while cool, didn’t seem to do too much. I liked getting the weapons, but I honestly didn’t see much different between red guy and hat guy. (Aside from fashion sense.) I had fun with Cyber Cross, and can see myself returning to this game now and then, but it’s not my favorite Duo-R game I’ve played so far. Oh, and my research turned up a sequel, so if I can locate that I may include it in the next post.

Chōzetsurin Jin Bravoman (Credit: Namco)

Chōzetsurin Jin Bravoman was released in 1988 by Namco(t) for arcade and later ported to the TurboGrafx-16. (The title translates literally to "Transcendental Ethical Man: Beraboh Man".) Like the previous game, this is a side-scrolling beat ‘em up and is inspired by tokusatsu programs.

First Impressions: This game is weird, everyone. I was so baffled while playing it. I couldn’t have wanted subtitles more. You play as an oversized robot-looking guy with stretchy arms, legs, and neck. (Yes, he hits people with his head sometimes.) At various points an angry-looking purple-haired guy shows up to curse you out in Japanese. (I’m not proficient enough to translate yet.) I wasn’t sure if he was the villain, your creator, or your boss.

Pow, right in the kisser. (Credit: Namco)

As I played, I found the weirdness continuing. Your robot guy is as dorky-looking as possible, his sprite is way too big, and he stretches like Inspector Gadget. After defeating enemies there are red Kanji pickups that didn’t seem to do anything. But then I noticed a little symbol on the right corner forming a little more with each pickup. At various times a weird, wiggly-armed robot floats in and drops power-ups in bubbles. These range from rice balls or soda that restores health (I’m assuming the soda is a reference to Robovita A from Dr. Slump, but I could be wrong) to gloves and helmets that strengthen your attack. (There are probably boots too… I didn’t come across any.)

Look at this freaky dude. (Credit: Namco)

I had zero clue what was going on in this game until I looked it up for this post. Turns out that the angry purple hair guy is Doctor Bomb, a villain who wants to save the world. At first I thought the main character was a robot, due to his silly telescoping arms and legs, but it turns out he’s a car insurance salaryman who was given the power to turn into a superhero.

Lottery Man! (Credit: Namco)

My research gave me a lot of insight into just what was going on. I found out that when you get enough of the pickups, this is what triggers the robot to show up to give you power-ups. His name is Lottery Man and the power-ups are randomized.

I learned that this game was designed as both an homage to and parody of tokusatsu, which explains why it’s so weird... It wasn’t meant to be serious. Strangely enough, it did quite well at the time it was released, and gained a bit of a following.

Stage 1 was weirdly short. Stage 2 was identical to it, but a bit longer. Stage 3 was an underwater level that changed the game play to a side scrolling shooter. (You fire bullets ahead of you and can drop bombs below you. Lottery Man doesn’t seem to be able to get underwater, as there are no pickups in this stage.) Stage 4 went back to the standard level layout but in the trees. That’s as far as I got. There are 33 stages in the game, so there’s quite a bit to get through.

Okay, this boss is pretty cool. (Credit: Namco)

Graphics: The graphics are excessively silly. Some of it I liked, but I can’t get over the weird design of the main character, who looks like a dollar store Mega Man wearing one of those beer drinking helmets. Such strange design choices.

Music & SFX: The music is standard and a bit repetitive. The sound effects are intrusive but amusing.

Gameplay: This is where the game really fell short for me. The controls are clunky and slow. The main character is oversized and that makes it impossible to dodge enemies. The controls were better underwater, but not by much. You could jump almost the entire height of the screen and could actually crawl if you chose to, which was interesting.

Challenge: This game was surprisingly easy, at least to the point I got to. Once you get past the clumsy controls, you can stay alive long enough to get to the end of the stage and there seems to be unlimited continues when you do die. There is a bit of a luck aspect to it, as the Lottery Man drops are, understandably, a lottery.

So weird. (Credit: Namco)

Thoughts: Chōzetsurin Jin Bravoman is an oddity among these old 16-Bit games, but you can tell a lot of care went into making it. Personally, I didn’t like it as much as Cyber Cross. The “weird factor” gives this one some points, but it fell short for me. I’m sure I’ll play it again, though. It was kind of fun and I’d like to see more of it.

One part I found very amusing was if you stay in one place for too long, a big robot head pops up, shouts at you, and then attacks. I had my guy standing there as I took my notes for this post and was caught by surprise that this game punishes idleness. My research showed that his name is Ugo-401 and he’s one of the final bosses. He attacks you with lasers for being lazy. Love it.

Aoi Blink (Credit: Hudson Soft)

The third and final game breaks with our theme, but I couldn’t find another tokusatsu game and this one caught my eye. (Mostly because I knew the word Aoi for years before I started learning Japanese due to the fantastic manga Ai Yori Aoshi. The main female character was named Aoi.)

Aoi Blink was developed by Hudson Soft in 1990 for the TurboGrafx-16 and PC Engine. Hudson Soft is known for such franchises as Adventure Island and Bomberman.

First Impressions: This one baffled me even more than Bravoman! You play as a green shirt guy followed around by two criminals. (They have the white and black striped shirts, eye masks, and Hamburgler hats, so you know they’re criminals.) At first I was distracted, wondering where the cute donkey shows up. I knew there was a cute donkey because it was shown on the title screen. You pick up money in the game but what it’s for isn’t clear. Probably not anything good. I’m 75% sure you’re the leader of a criminal gang.

Die cuddly bear, die! (Credit: Hudson Soft)

So, yeah, it turns out most of my first impressions were wrong. Although the game is translated, I didn’t see a story until later so I spent over a half an hour of gameplay completely confused about my objectives. At one point an NPC mentioned that I was sure to find my father at this rate and I was even more confused.

Confusion aside, the game is a platformer where you hop around, shoot animals and gnomes, and collect coins. (I found out in my research that 100 coins permanently increase your health gauge, which is a pretty cool mechanic.) Another neat thing is that as you come up to platforms, your character auto jumps onto them.

I’m not sure why they’re following me around. (Credit: Hudson Soft)

In the stages you can find keys to unlock treasure chests which give you more money. There are also hidden blocks that you uncover by shooting them. Every stage randomizes two partners for your green shirt guy. Aside from the criminals I also saw a white hat guy and a little princess girl. In one of the demos that play before the game I saw them switch between them and each character has different powers and jumping abilities. I couldn’t figure out how to do this but it seems pretty helpful. White hat guy has bombs but doesn’t jump as high. (Probably weighed down by all the bombs.)

I was a little way into it before I finally saw the donkey. After falling in a pit, Blink swooped in and saved me. Then I promptly fell right back into the same pit. Oops. Turns out the stock of lives at the bottom right of the screen are the number of Donkey Rescues you get. (I also saw that you can spend one life to refill your health, but I learned that after playing.)

Cruising the overworld map in a short bus. (Credit: Hudson Soft)

The game is divided into areas on overworld maps with 5-6 stages in each area. I couldn’t find anywhere how many areas are in the game, but I’m gonna estimate there are probably four or five, leaving us with a total of anywhere between 20 and 60 levels. There are houses on the map too, which just lead to an NPC that gives you hints. (I think they count towards the stage number.) The goal is to locate the master key to unlock the battle with a boss monster and then access the next area.

In the boss battle you ride Blink around and shoot at the boss. The boss I fought was an Aztec sun-looking thing. Blink’s fireballs were able to destroy the boss’s shots, which is always nice. It reduces dodging. I beat him pretty easily and afterwards some lady said that Blink did all the work. Lame.

Ugh, reading. (Credit: Hudson Soft)

At first I really didn’t think there was a story, but as I was writing up my notes and let the game play in the background, between demos there was a slow crawl of a wall of text relaying the game’s story. I don’t expect you to read what’s above, just know that there were two screens of this and it took quite awhile to scroll past.

The TLDR is that green shirt guy is named Kaeru and he saved Blink who fell out of the sky. Blink is apparently a pony, not a donkey. I keep calling him a donkey because that’s what he looks like to me. After this Kaeru’s dad is kidnapped by an evil Emperor and on his quest to rescue him, he meets up with two criminals, white hat guy, and a princess. This game was based on an anime released in 1989 by Tezuka Productions which ran for 39 episodes. I’m sure I’ve seen the character of Blink before, but this was all news to me.

He still looks like a donkey to me. (Credit: Hudson Soft)

Graphics: The graphics are cute and stylized. I especially like the design for Blink. The backgrounds and scenery are well done. The characters are pretty generic and forgettable, though.

Music & SFX: The sound effects are fine, but the music is really good. There is a lot of variety in the different areas and the overworld music is soothing and laid-back. It’s the kind of music you would expect in a JRPG instead of a platformer.

Gameplay: The controls are decent, and Blink handles well. Once you get used to how strangely high your guy jumps, it’s fine.

Challenge: There’s some challenge in navigating the stages and defeating enemies, but it’s not annoying. You have a lot of health and the enemies don’t hurt you much. The unclear objectives, hidden items, and hidden doors make it a bit annoying and repetitive. I was stuck in the tower stage for several minutes before I figured out the hidden exit door was past the break-away floors and off screen.

Go little donkey, go! (Credit: Hudson Soft)

Thoughts: Aoi Blink is mild and entertaining. Despite its faults, I did have fun playing this game and it’s cute, so I’m sure I’ll revisit it. I think not knowing what the heck was going on added to my enjoyment since it added a layer of mystery and discovery to the whole thing. My favorite part was seeing Blink for the first time. I didn’t expect him to fly in from off screen and rescue me. And falling right back into the pit because I didn’t know I had to aim for the platform was hilarious. He just resurrected me right above the death pit and flew off. Way to go, Blink, you donkey-lookin’ horse pony!

And, now, as I like to do, I’ll leave you with some of the many, many times I died in composing this post.

Good times. The deaths make the retro game.

Fire-breathing froggie. (Credit: Face Corporation)

So those were the next three games I played in my journey through my growing Duo-R library. I haven’t had as much time as I would like to game with everything I’ve been working on for the blog (and my super secret project that I will be announcing soon but if you’ve been paying attention you already know what it is because it’s pretty obvious) but when I do get an afternoon to try new old games on my Duo-R I have a blast with it. And I’ve only just begun.

So far I’ve tried eight games, and most of them were games I likely wouldn’t have ever played otherwise. (I feel like Cho Aniki was an inevitability. I would have played that someday regardless. Destiny!) This system has been a fantastic gift and I know I’ll have years of new discoveries and adventures playing through my stockpile of retro games.

RUDE. But true. (Credit: Hudson Soft)

I hope you’ve been enjoying this series. I plan to keep coming back to it as I have time to continue my exploration of my games. Thank you for reading, know that I appreciate you all so much, and I’ll be back soon with other fun content!

Aww. (Credit: Hudson Soft)