Thursday, February 24, 2011

The Great Gaymathon Review #7: Mizubaku Daibouken (PC Engine)


Game: Mizubaku Daibouken
Genre: Platformer
Developer: Taito 
Publisher: Taito
System: PC Engine (HuCard)
Release date: 1992

One way to translate the Japanese title of this game into English, or so I've been told, is to call it Water Bomb Adventure. That's certainly an apt way to describe this quirky little platformer, which stars a platypus--yeah, I know the folks at Taito say he's a hippopotomus, but there's no way the paunchy protagonist is anything other than an Ornithorhynchus anatinus--who throws, you guessed it, giant balls of water at innumerable foes as he waddles through levels pulled from the pages Platformers for Dummies. His journey--to save his kidnapped girlfriend, naturally--begins easily enough, with straightforward stages filled to the brim with enemies who put up little to no resistance, but it rapidly rachets up in intensity. That's OK, though, because the Parasol Stars-esque sights you'll see and the hummable tunes you'll hear along the way help make it all worthwhile--assuming, of course, you didn't drop too much cash to procure your copy of the game (an unfortunately all-too-common occurrence given its Bubble Bobble connection).


See also: Previous 'Great Gaymathon' posts

7 comments:

Viewtiful_Justin said...

Hm. I think I need to find a video of this one in action.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Here's a video of the PC Engine version, Justin -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKuiPuKVjiE

And here's a video of the Saturn version, which basically is a direct port of the arcade original -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpTg1ahel0c

Bryan Ochalla said...

Oh, and one more thing: My favorite part of the game is the thrill that comes with tossing the "water bombs" at enemies. For some reason it's quite enjoyable and addicting :)

RetroKingSimon said...

Never heard of this one but it's worth buying for that cover alone :P

Viewtiful_Justin said...

Hm. I kind of see a hippo...but I'm looking REALLY hard.

Bryan Ochalla said...

It's a fun one, Simon. Not the best platformer ever, mind you, or even the best platformer on the PC Engine, but it's a nice, fun one all the same :)

Bryan Ochalla said...

Justin: I think you can see a hippo if you get drunk and then look at the game with your eyes crossed. Ha!