Thursday, February 13, 2014

Manual Stimulation: Nazo Puyo: Aruru no Roux (Game Gear)

Let's be honest here: Aruru no Roux's instruction manual would be worth checking out even if it consisted of nothing more than a single slip of paper bearing the yellow-tinged concoction seen below.



Thankfully, though, there's more to this manual than its striking cover imagery. Much more. Case in point: the following illustration of the titular Aruru (aka Arle).



That's far from the last of this manual's fabulous illustrations. In fact, here are four more:









Should you want to take a closer look at any of this post's many scans, by the way, just click on them.



Anyway, although the next few pages of Nazo Puyo: Aruru no Roux's manual are a bit less awe-inspiriring than the ones seen above, they're still pretty awesome. I mean, how can you not love an illustration that shows the Puyo Puyo series' Carbunkle character cooking Nasu Grave (aka Eggplant Grave)?







This drawing is pretty great, too, if you ask me. That said, I'm not entirely sure Minotauros is supposed to be eyeing up. A fried squid? Maybe I don't want to know...









Now we're getting somewhere. Er, again. Oh, and don't worry, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you--each of the characters shown above and below were purposely illustrated to look as though they're shaking from side to side. I have no idea what that is, unfortunately.



My favorite member of this game's cast is the little fish guy seen above, by the way. I believe his name is Fufufu, which makes me like him even more.



I don't suppose any of you have a clue as to what the boxed area of the left-hand page below is supposed to be used for?



Also, what is being pointed out on the right-hand page above? I'm betting that we're being educated about Carbunkle's many (hidden?) physical attributes, but what do I know?



Curious to learn more about Nazo Puyo: Aruru no Roux (or see some photos of its colorful packaging)? Check out this recent-ish post.

To see previous "Manual Stimulation" entries, click here.

5 comments:

thegaygamer.com said...

Aw, that would've been awesome, wouldn't it, Michael?


Seriously, I wonder why someone didn't sneak a curry recipe in here? It's certainly long enough!


Thanks for letting me know what's up with the grid and with ol' Carbunkle.


I would've laughed out loud had the Carbunkle page been all about the best parts of his body for curry, by the way. (Although I also would've been a bit grossed out by it, I have to admit.)


Thanks, too, for sharing the gist of the story. I love how wacky these games are in terms of story :)

skyrunner14 said...

The reason Minotaurus is crying in that one picture is because it's beef curry he's holding (the sign says so). He's part cow.

thegaygamer.com said...

Thanks, skyrunner! You know what? When I first wrote this post, I wondered why he was crying. Then I looked more closely at the scan and decided he wasn't crying after all--it was just part of his design (the area under his eye), etc. So, I re-wrote it. Seems I was right all along, although I had NO idea he was crying because he had been served some beef curry! :)

skyrunner14 said...

My knowledge of katakana has saved the day! :D

thegaygamer.com said...

YES! ;)