My lord, does this thing show its age. Remember that really old guy in the wheelchair in Big Trouble in Little China, the dude who had been cursed to walk the Earth for eternity or whatever? Well, this is the "really old guy in Big Trouble in Little China" of HuCards. It's absolutely ancient.
Not that I necessarily mind ancient visuals. Mystical Fighter on the Genesis is kind of a personal favorite of mine. But Youkai asks a lot here. Not only is it so, so primitive looking (especially since the play field is scrunched down to accomodate a "map" at the top of the screen), but it also doesn't play all that wonderfully. At least it offers some levels with multiple objectives to complete and paths to take, along with a few different ending scenes. And it's dirt cheap--unless, of course, you're looking for the gold version, in which case you're completely nuts.
There's something weird about the game that you might want to note. I first tried it on my Duo-R, and it didn't work. However, when I gave it a go on my SuperGrafx, it worked just fine. My brother Alexei had similar issues with his own copy (or "copies," I should say, as he actually purchased two Youkais, thinking the first was defunct, and neither worked on his US Duo+Kisado or on his TurboGrafx+Kisado or even on his SGX--it wasn't until he tried them on his GT that he realized they were in "working" condition). Now, I haven't heard any other reports regarding this sort of thing, but that's probably because Alexei and I are the only ones who actually play stuff like this. Anyway, Youkai's apparent aversion to certain units is very weird.
And that's not the only thing that's weird about this game...
You run into a hell of a lot of weird demon-folk during your quest. The gameplay is standard run-and-pelt stuff, but the characters are anything but normal. Actually, I've always found the "hero" to be the freakiest-looking one.
Simple platforming sequences can be sort of difficult because your guy slips around a lot and doesn't jump very well.
A boss fight! Pray, little dude, pray. You take control of some spirit fighter as he prays.
Save up cash to buy health restorers and power up your shot. Don't spend too much money in the shops, though; you'll need some dough to hitch a ride on the big turtle.
Said turtle takes you to this nice, sweet princess... who puts on a strip show for you. Catch what you can while the spotlights zip around the screen.
She also gives you a box. It might contain a lot of money. It also might explode in your face and transform you into an old dude.
Before you can be done with this thing, you have to answer a few questions that this guy throws at you. You do know Japanese, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment