Saturday, December 24, 2011

For the eleventh game of Christmas, the UPS man brought to me ...

... Taito's PC Engine port of Don Doko Don.

To those of you who've never played this game, it's a single-screen platformer in the same mold as Bubble Bobble and Parasol Stars. Don Doko Don sets itself apart from those all-time classics, though, by featuring what appear to be hammer-wielding garden gnomes.


Sorry for the sort of awkward shot above, by the way. I didn't want this photo to look like nearly every other one I've taken of a PC Engine game, but the angle I ended up using makes it kind of hard to appreciate Don Doko Don's rather festive cover art, doesn't it?

If you'd like to take a better look at the game's case and HuCard, head on over to my Flickr photostream.

14 comments:

Viewtiful_Justin said...

Her certainly looks a lot like Santa. We're drawing to the end of this series, and that makes me just a little sad!

Bryan Ochalla said...

You know what, Justin? I used to avoid this game because I thought it was supposed to be some sort of cheap Christmas game (despite the fact that I love Christmas). After I played it, though, I changed my tune :)

Other than that, I'm sorry you're sad the series is ending, but I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it! I honestly was unsure about it before it started, as I thought people might be annoyed by it.

I guess I'll have to consider doing something similar next year. Hopefully I'll get more games as gifts then, though, so I won't have to buy as many as I did this year :)

Kimimi said...

I love this game! :D

I was going to put it up on my blog soon too, so it's a weird coincidence (for me) to see you bring it up at the same time :)

Bryan Ochalla said...

Ah, great minds think alike, eh, Kimimi? :)

I look forward to reading your post about this one, by the way. Will it be up soon?

Kimimi said...

That must be it! ;)

I've got a Wonderswan game up next, but Don Doko Don will be the one after that.

RetroKingSimon said...

I love this game. I've actually been holding off on reviewing it so that I don't do all the great games too soon! :P

Pix3l said...

How many game did you get for xmas dude? :D

Happy pixmas to all \o/

Bryan Ochalla said...

Kimimi: Oh, I'm *really* looking forward to reading the Wonderswan game review! I've always been curious about that system, for some reason...

Bryan Ochalla said...

Ah, I should have known you'd like this game, Simon! Do you tend to play the arcade version? I have to admit I like the graphics in that version better than the ones in the PCE remake, but the gameplay is the same in both versions so I can't really complain. Plus, I also have the Taito Legends compilation that includes the arcade version, so I can play whichever version I want :)

Other than all of that: I thought you were on vacation for a month? Are you checking in remotely, or are you back already?

Bryan Ochalla said...

Pix3l: Actually, only two of the games included in this series were given to me as gifts. The rest were purchased by me with money I received for my birthday. I probably wasn't as clear as I should have been about that at the beginning...

Anyway, happy pixmas to you, too -- and to anyone else visiting this blog :)

Sean said...

I also like this game a lot, at least the Famicom version. It was one of those pleasant surprises when I played it for the first time with low expectations. It is also sort of Christmassy!

Bryan Ochalla said...

I forgot that a Famicom version even existed, Sean. Now I'm going to have to check it out. You know a game you should check out if you haven't already? Don Doko Don 2 for the Famicom. It's like Don Doko Don mixed with Super Mario Bros. Very cute and quite fun :)

Marco Grande Arbitro said...

Happy Christmas dear Bryan! ;)

Bryan Ochalla said...

Happy Christmas to you, too, Marco! :)