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Post by Ex on Feb 21, 2020 23:13:23 GMT -5
Sassou Shounen Eiyuuden Coca-Cola Kid is a Japan-exclusive Game Gear platformer, developed by Aspect and published by SEGA in 1994. This game features the then-mascot of the Coca-Cola drinks franchise (at least in Japan) the "Coca-Cola Kid". At the time of release, a special red version of this game cartridge was bundled with a Coca-Cola branded red Game Gear. A standard (black) cartridge was also sold without the special Game Gear as well. In 2018, a full English fan translation was released for this title. I knew about that, and forgot about that, and played through this game in Japanese like a dummy gaijin. Shortly after beating this game I re-discovered the translation. Oh well. Here it is: www.romhacking.net/translations/1189/ So the player plays as the titular Coca-Cola Kid. The plot sees Coca-Cola's teacher having been kidnapped, so now he's gonna save her. With the power of a Coke-fused adrenaline rush. As the Coca-Cola Kid, the player works their way through a series of zones. Each zone has two normal stages, than a boss stage. The normal stages consist of platforming and defeating enemies. That said, Coca-Cola Kid has a wide range of moves. He can run and jump like any platformer, but he can also jump kick, stand kick, and do a slide kick. In addition, Kid can do a charged power bum rush, and he can grab ledges, plus rebound off of walls. And if he jumps while doing a charged bum rush, Kid can do a super high jump. Indeed, Coca-Cola Kid is quite the Pepsi hating parkour artist. And the little dude can skate board as well. A very important skill for impressionable eight year olds.
It's pretty obvious when you play this game, that it uses a modified Game Gear Sonic engine. Most likely from Sonic Chaos, or at least that's the consensus on the internet. Aspect even left some of the Sonic sound effects in. This might at first seem cool. You've got Sonic's speed and moves, but also Kid's melee kicks and edge grabbing. Indeed, the first two zones do a good job of mixing up this hybrid mindset, allowing the player to explore large open levels reminiscent of the classic Sonic style. You can move fast, jump big, and beat up the bad dudes. You can skate board man! It all works. However, the further into the game you get, the more this delicate balance begins to fall completely apart.
The problem is that Kid's movement physics want him to go fast, but the later level designs want him to go slow. The level design makes that obvious, by introducing lots of spikes, instant death pitfalls, cheap hit enemy placement, and other such entrapment. But, because Kid's movement physics are so spastic, it's rather difficult to move and jump slowly enough not to get hit or die. Couple this aggravation with wonky button detection, haphazard hit detection while trying to hit/avoid enemies, and spastic edge detection when trying to grab an edge or land a jump, and you've got yourself quite the frustrating game to play. Also in the later zones, the designers ditch the skate board. It just stops appearing. Probably because the stage designs become so clunky and trap-filled, that skating wouldn't even be possible anyway.
The frustration in general would be endurable, if only the level designs were interesting. They are not. The background graphics are incredibly bland, and the stage layouts are far from clever. The later zones begin to take on a bit of a maze-like quality. I use the word "quality" loosely there, meaning the mazes are navigable but hardly fun. Interesting enemies would help to spice up the meh level designs, but that's not happening either. Unless you enjoy getting smacked by a crow that came out of nowhere, which flew through a wall to hit you, at the crest of a pre-determined jump, making you fall down a pit to your demise ( Ninja Gaiden's hawk is still waiting on its royalty check Aspect). You might hope ultimately that the boss battles would save the day. Nope. The boss battles are super simple, super easy, and super boring. Boring that is except the final boss... which is a full blown dominatrix of all things. Have a coke and a lash kids! I have no idea what brought SEGA and Coca-Cola together to produce this game, along with its special Game Gear unit. I have no idea if this combination sold more Game Gears and more coke as a result. What I do know, is that Sassou Shounen Eiyuuden Coca-Cola Kid is no hidden gem. It's just too half-hearted, sloppy, and unpolished for that. Unless you enjoy the meta-game of counting how many Coca-Cola logos you can find in each stage (hint: A LOT). The average graphics and uninspired OST hardly invigorated this player as well. That said, Sassou Shounen Eiyuuden Coca-Cola Kid was still a little better than I expected a licensed sugar water beverage game to be. And I suppose this experience has a few positive lessons to teach its intended young audience; You don't need your teeth, whips are toys too, and it's okay to fantasize about your teacher if she's hot. Ex's time to beat: 34 minutes Ex's rating: 4/10
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Post by toei on Feb 21, 2020 23:40:50 GMT -5
I felt that the first levels were definitely better too, and things were getting frustrating after that. Maybe I'll try to finish it anyway. BTW, I just want to point out once more that as with most of the GG Sonic, Aspect didn't make the game! They only supplied some programming and sound. All game design and graphics were by Sega.
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Post by Sarge on Feb 22, 2020 15:26:21 GMT -5
I'll talk more about Tails Adventure later, but in broad strokes, I liked it. There were two fiddly bits that brought it down for me, but it's still a 7/10 in my book. It's a pretty solid exploratory platformer.
EDIT: Okay, I'll add a bit more now. I popped over to Fusion to test and make sure it wasn't just the emulator I was using, but one of my gripes about the game was that it has a tendency to just flat-out drop inputs. Often I'd hit the button to fly, and nothing. You can be in the sub, and have it not shoot at all, particularly if the game is lagging hard. I'd probably have enjoyed the whole thing more if it didn't do that, but what's here is still good. You just have to expect to take hits you wouldn't have otherwise, and thankfully, once you're past the beginning and snag a few Chaos Emeralds, your life meter will let you take a ton of punishment.
The only place that doesn't hold true is some of the sub stages. A few areas have guns and mines that will wreck you... but that area requires the "Extra Armor" power-up to get through. Then it's a cake walk, because that bestows invincibility.
You will revisit areas many times, and it's worth noting when barriers block your progress. I wish I took notes along the way, because there were times I forgot about stuff in stages I'd already been in. It's also worth reading the manual (shocking!) because it will tell you what most items you collect actually do.
The game at times looks rather 16-bit, which happens a fair amount with the Game Gear due to that expanded color palette. Granted, it still only displays 32 colors at a time, but having a larger palette to choose from can help a lot. I do think a lot of the game looks a little samey, though, with a lot of repeated tile sets. But overall, a solid effort there. The music isn't grating, which is a bonus, too. It does tend to be pretty chipper, though, which fits the source material.
I guess my only other major gripe is that you have to visit Tails' home to re-equip various items. You can be knee-deep in a stage and not have the tools you need, and have to backtrack out to get what you have to have. In theory, this makes you think about your loadout and make tough choices, but in practice, there is usually a certain set of items you have to have in a particular stage, so a lot of the cooler ancillary items you pick up go unused throughout the game. Specifically, I recommend never unequipping the remote robot, because you'll need it for puzzles throughout the game.
I estimate I spent about five hours on the game, only really checking a guide occasionally when I didn't want to backtrack out of an area and thought perhaps I was just missing something. Like I said, don't be like me and actually note blocked areas - there are enough that you'll likely lose track of all of them in your head.
I think as far as exploratory platformers go, this had a chance to dethrone Shinobi II: The Silent Fury, but it's really the control niggles that keep it from doing so. I still say give it a shot, however, as it's an example of a true "Metroidvania" for the Game Gear.
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Post by Sarge on Feb 22, 2020 21:55:50 GMT -5
How about another game? Man, I really liked this one. Outside of a few control issues (when it get chuggy, it will sometimes drop inputs), Kishin Douji Zenki is a very, very good platformer with some light exploration elements. It helps that it looks really nice, too, and color me surprised that a licensed game like this would turn out quite good. You get a world map, and there's a point where you'll actually have to backtrack to previous stages if you haven't scoured them thoroughly. You also get to choose from either Chiaki, the summoner mage that basically controls Zenki, or the titular Zenki, demon god, himself. Except in the regular stages, he's a cute little chibi version of himself, with a jumping-spin attack that makes him play more like Sonic in his attacks than you'd expect. Chiaki uncovers a few spells that can unlock areas and whatnot, and she's also the one that will be tasked with finding those five items if you have to backtrack. (Thankfully, it's clear which stages you need to visit on the world map.) Also, there happens to be a few optional exits that will lead to life extension opportunities, which can give you a little buffer during the boss battles. Ah, yes, the boss battles. Here, Zenki is fully powered up to his adult form. I actually didn't figure everything else out to start, but when you pause, you have four elemental attacks you can use by holding down the attack button until you glow, then letting loose. Some bosses can only be hurt by a certain weapon, or actually exhibit a weakness to a particular one. These fights can occasionally get a little laggy, again leading to those dropped inputs, but you'll learn to deal with it. Once again, the graphics look really nice. Some of the sprite work actually reminded me a bit of the Shaman King platformers on GBA... and come to think of it, those had map screens like this, too. Wonder if there's any common development talent here? Either way, this is a game I could almost see on NES, so that's high praise indeed. I'm going to say this one... honestly, I'm going to go ahead and give it an 8/10. It's a good way to spend a couple of hours, and might be the best game I've played this month. (Oh, hai, this guy looks familiar.)
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Post by Xeogred on Feb 22, 2020 22:10:30 GMT -5
Wow, yeah that one does look awesome! Might just be the overworld there, but it gives me some Skyblazer vibes all around. Graphics look excellent too. Ex's review of Coca-Cola Kid has convinced me to pass on that one. If there's one big pet peeve I have with classic Sonic, it's the instant death pits. Which thankfully aren't too frequent or they're just used in some of those "Sky" base styled areas, so it makes sense. But yeah, this game sounds like it turns into a huge chore after the first two areas. I was already getting annoyed by those boxer guys frequently blocking your way and slowing you down. Methinks the Sonic styled engine doesn't work well for non-Sonic games.
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Post by toei on Feb 22, 2020 22:42:50 GMT -5
Sarge Glad you enjoyed Zenki as much as I did! I think it's one of the best games on the Game Gear. There doesn't seem to be any shared staff between this and the GBA Shaman King games - Zenki was made by Sega, Shaman King by Konami (are these worth playing, btw?), and I don't notice any overlap in the credits. I always like to point this out but Zenki's director was one of the lead game designers on Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, and Legend of Illusion, plus the co-designer worked on Sonic Chaos and Triple Trouble, so that's some pretty solid platformer credentials. Both of them get special thanks in Tails Adventure's credits, too. One thing I like about the controls is that Zenki handles kind of like Sonic, but without the momentum, so he's much easier to move around with precision. I also didn't realize you could switch between spells in adult form until you need it to progress. I can't remember if you played the main SNES Zenki? Not great, but not awful either, in retrospect. Just disappointing cause CAProductions also made Hagane which is much better. Xeogred I never noticed that Zenki kind of looks like the guy from Skyblazer, but it's true! I think that's why he gave me a familiar vibe the first time I saw him. Zenki came first, though. I think you said the same thing about the game looking good when I reviewed it last year. Maybe you should play it!
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Post by Sarge on Feb 22, 2020 22:48:18 GMT -5
toei: I've briefly played the SNES version. I thought what I played was pretty decent, at any rate. Looks good, too. Guess just chalk the similarity up to adapting anime in a similar style. I knew one was Sega and the other Konami, but was just curious if someone jumped ship or something.
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Post by Xeogred on Feb 23, 2020 21:04:05 GMT -5
Knocked out the GG Ristar, took about 50 minutes total. This is pretty awesome for the most part and different enough from the Genesis game. The first two levels and the music planet are very similar, but it feels a bit different from there. The game looks and runs exceptionally well. It's weird how you pick up stuff for score and points, when I don't think I ever actually saw my score anywhere. One big difference is that there's now coin/ring like stars sprinkled throughout the levels and grabbing 100 of those nets you a life. It's really easy to get a dozen lives or so through this and you're going to need them for the annoying final boss, who has an instant death move that pissed me off a lot. They must have realized 90% of the game was too easy and a breeze, so they resorted to cheap tricks in the end. I guess the final boss has this instant death vortex in the Genesis game too, but here it's a lot more finicky to keep away from, then trying to hit him when he follows that move up with super fast teleporting can be a nuisance. The last level was kind of boring too, like some of the few bad moments in the GG Sonic's or whatnot, it was broken up into a bunch of teleporting rooms and just wasn't very interesting.
Otherwise this one is worth a look for sure, for any fans of the Genesis game.
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Post by Sarge on Feb 23, 2020 21:23:23 GMT -5
Oh, yeah, that final boss' move sucks.
I've beaten one more game today; I haven't really had a chance to play more. So as a quick chaser to a busy day, I played through Power Rangers: The Movie. It's... not bad. Not great, but not bad. The early stages give you six rangers to choose from, of which I tried three (Jason, Kimberly, and Tommy). Jason was okay, Tommy was pretty good, and I was terrible using Kimberly, to the point that the stupid Putties beat me.
Yes, the game throws Putties at you, even in a tournament fighter context. Beating them usually gives you a little life back. At some point, you'll also beat up Ooze Monsters. Much like the show, after you've beaten up a boss in Ranger mode, you jump in your Megazord and fight the boss. You'll actually pilot two in this game, your standard one, and a ninja one. I didn't care for the moveset on the second, but once you finally get the controls down, the hurricane kick move is quite effective, and I spammed it ad nauseum to take down Ooze's final form in a fight on the moon.
Not sure if I want to give it a 5.5 or 6/10. Either way, not bad, but I've also played better and more responsive 8-bit fighters.
This also, by my count, puts me at 20 Game Gear games (!) beaten this month. Surprising!
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Post by Ex on Feb 23, 2020 21:54:58 GMT -5
Nice job Xeogred. I'm gonna hit up Kishin Douji Zenki and Ristar this week. My current work schedule is fairly lax, should have some time to play stuff (hopefully). There's a few other GG entries I'm interested in as well.
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