Manual Stimulation (Pac-Land, PC Engine)

I've said it before--or at least I've suggested it before, such as in this recent post--but it's worth repeating: Pac-Land doesn't get enough love.

That's not to say there aren't reasons for that lack of affection and attention. After all, the 1990 TurboGrafx-16 port of this Namco-made Pac-Man platformer, originally released in the arcades five years earlier, was roundly ignored on this side of the pond.

The TG-16's dearth of sales had a lot to do with that, of course, as did the game's age by that time. Also, Pac-Land in any form could be described as antiquated, difficult and repetitive.

Still, I think it has just enough positive attributes to be worth checking out if you're a fan of the genre. The main ones: its graphics, which look like something pulled from a Saturday morning cartoon, and its infectious soundtrack.



It also has a pretty great instruction manual, as you'll see if you continue scrolling through this write-up. Granted, that's not going to help you enjoy playing the PC Engine version of Pac-Land, but it should help you feel better about owning a copy (if you happen to buy one, that is).



The highlight of Pac-Land's booklet, in my humble opinion: its abundance of color. Although I've liked a lot of black-and-white PC Engine manuals over the years--the ones made for Don Doko Don, Mizubaku Daibouken and The New Zealand Story are good examples--I usually prefer a bit of color.



Well, there isn't a single black-and-white spread in this particular manual. Hell, there's only a couple of black-and-white illustrations--both of which can be found in the scan below.



Every other page of the Pac-Land instruction booklet features illustrations awash in color. Some of them aren't of the highest quality, mind you, but as my mom's always told me, nothing's perfect.



Thankfully, most of the art that's on offer here is nice enough that no one should regret spending $10 to $20 to obtain it (along with the game's HuCard and outer case, naturally).



Now that I've wasted a number of sentences discussing and dissecting the quality of the art that appears in the Pac-Land manual, let's change course a bit and chat about the theme that surrounds that art. Specifically, I'm talking about the game's odd "alpine aesthetic," for lack of a better phrase.



Don't see it? Look at every single depiction of Pac-Man in the scans shared in this post. The old pellet-chomper sports some sort of mountaineering hat in all of them. He also spends a surprising amount of time leaping from log to log and traipsing through forests and fields in this side-scrolling adventure.



That's just a side note to the rainbow-swathed drawings and screenshots scattered throughout this booklet, though.

And although I can't say I like them more than the ones included in another Namco PC Engine instruction manual, for Valkyrie no Densetsu, they're better than what you'll find in less thrilling manuals--Parasol Star's is an unfortunate example--so you won't hear me complaining anytime soon.

See also: previous 'Manual Stimulation' posts

Anyone up for a few more photos of Pac-Land's PC Engine case, HuCard and manual?

When I went to add the Pac-Land packaging snapshots showcased in my last post to Flickr yesterday, I noticed a bunch of unused ones sitting in my photos folder that I'd previously ignored.

So, I whipped them into shape shortly thereafter and then decided to give them a post of their very own.



Granted, the photos seen above and below probably aren't going to blow anyone away. Still, they should whet appetites until I publish my upcoming "Manual Stimulation" post about Namco's Pac-Land PC Engine port.

Speaking of Pac-Land's instructional booklet, it's pretty darn colorful, isn't it? The illustrations that contain all of that color could be a tad cleaner, I guess, but they make me smile even in their slightly rough state.

I'd never call the art included in the following spread at all "rough," by the way. Rather, it's pretty much perfect as far as these things go.



If you'd like to see a few more such spreads, check out this old "Manual Stimulation" write-up, which highlights the booklet made for another Namco-published PC Engine title, the otherwise humdrum shmup known as Barunba.

See also: previous 'Nice Package!' and 'Manual Stimulation' posts

Nice Package! (Pac-Land, PC Engine)

I've mentioned before (in this not-so-old post, for example) that I have a strange attraction to Pac-Land.

The gist: I became aware of it at a time in my life when both Namco's Pac-Man and Nintendo's Super Mario Bros.--and a bunch of other classics--were front and center in my mind. As a result, an arcade game that combined both of those titles into one blew my teenage mind.

Did this quarter-muncher's graphics and gameplay really deserve such a response? Not really. Pac-Land was more than a bit questionable even back then, especially in the looks and controls departments.



Still, it could be fun to play, and it had a stellar soundtrack, so I plopped money into it whenever I was able--which wasn't very often, as the only cabinet I knew of at the time was located in a mall arcade a couple of hours from my hometown.

Given all of the above, you'd think I would've picked up a copy of the TurboGrafx-16 port of Pac-Land shortly after I bought that system. Instead, I ignored it for games like The Addams Family, Fighting Street and Valis II and III. (Don't worry, I also owned a ton of great TG-16 titles.)

I recently made up for that by buying the Japanese PC Engine version of the game. It was well worth the handful of dollars I spent on it. How so? Just look at the photos showcased throughout this post. They tell you everything you need to know, don't you think?

Thankfully, the game that's packed into the Pac-Land HuCard is, as I said earlier, a good bit of fun. Hey, it may not be on par with any of the 8-bit Super Mario Bros. titles, but it's miles better than the woeful Keith Courage.

Plus, this port allows players to use their console's d-pad to control Pac-Man, which is a change from the arcade original. (In the latter, you used a pair of buttons to move the iconic character left and right, while you nudged a joystick to make him jump.)



Anyway, as is the case with pretty much all of Namco's--or Namcot's--PC Engine releases, this one comes with a really eye-pleasing instruction manual (see above for a glimpse of one of its pages).

Speaking of which, look for one of my "Manual Stimulation" posts that'll detail both the exterior and interior of this game's how-to booklet in the next week or two.

In the meantime, are any of you Pac-Land fans? If so, share your thoughts and memories in the comments section that follows.

See also: previous 'Nice Package!' posts

Boy, does this piece of Pac-Land art (produced by madamluna) bring back memories...

Of all the games I've attached memories to over the years, Pac-Land has to be among the oddest. After all, it's not like this quarter-muncher from 1984 is one of Namco's most-loved releases. Hell, it's not even one of the company's most-loved Pac-Man spin-offs.

I guess Pac-Land just came into my life at the right place and time. The former is especially relevant to this story, I think, considering the setting of my earliest memory of the game is a shopping-mall arcade that was located a few hours away from where I grew up.

I'm sad to say I can't remember exactly how old I was when I first encountered the Pac-Land cabinet in the aforementioned arcade, but I'm pretty sure I was in my early teens. Regardless, I distinctly remember my incredulous reaction to it. After all, this was a Pac-Man game that looked and played like the original Super Mario Bros.

And don't forget: this was back when the Internet was but a gleam in Al Gore's eye. If you didn't read gaming mags at that time, you often didn't know which quarter-munchers were being released or when until you walked into your local arcade, bar, bowling alley and the like.

Anyway, I was blown away the first time I laid eyes on Pac-Land. Admittedly, its odd control scheme--one button moves Pac-Man to the right, one moves him to the left and one makes him jump--leaves something to be desired, as does the repetitive simplicity of its overall gameplay, but this platformer's vividly colorful, "Saturday morning cartoon" visuals do quite a bit to make up for those flaws--or at least that's the effect they've always had on me.

All of the above should help explain why the piece of art that serves as the focus of this post resonated with me as much as it did when I first came across it late last week. Actually, I'm pretty sure it would have resonated with me even if I weren't an unabashed Pac-Land fan thanks to the unmistakable look of innocence and wonder that's splashed across Pac-Man's face.

Artist Pauli Kohberger, aka madamluna, is responsible for this winsome illustration, by the way. If you'd like to see more examples of her work--and, really, why wouldn't you?--head over to madamluna.deviantart.com at your earliest convenience.

Pithy impressions of a handful of long-ignored PC Engine platformers: Berabo Man, Doraemon, Dragon Egg, Genji Tsushin Agedama, Momotaro Katsugeki and Pac-Land

I guess you could say that Anne Lee's #PlatforMonth has inspired me a bit since it was announced late last month. In the last week, I've not only written and published a pair of posts crammed full of platformer recommendations for folks who are planning to participate in this particular "community game-along," but I've also--gasp!--played a number of games that could be considered part of this most classic of genres.

Because the bulk of the platformers I've played in the last few days have been of the PC Engine variety, I thought I'd compile my (sometimes pithy) impressions of them here.

Chozetsu Rinjin Berabo Man--There's no denying this side-scrolling platformer, known as Bravo Man in the States, never much appealed to me before TheGameroomBlitz suggested it in the comments section of this recent post. To be frank, screenshots of it (and, really, video of it, too) make it look like a complete turd. That, combined with the rather terrible word of mouth that surrounds this Namco-made HuCard, has been more than enough to keep me from giving it a go. Until last week, I mean. So, now that I've finally played it, what do I think of it? Surprisingly, I kind of like it. It's a low-rent game, no doubt about it, and it has a whole host of issues--the super-hero-ish protagonist is large and slow, the graphics are on the messy side--but it also has a certain charm to it that makes it more enjoyable than it has any right to be. In large part, that's due to Berabo Man's elastic limbs, which are used to dispatch enemies in lieu of a more traditional gun or laser, but for me it's also due to this game's curious cast of characters, which includes absurdly small tanks, cartoonishly squat ninjas and some other odd-looking creatures that look remarkably similar to Fantasy Zone's Opa-Opa.

Doraemon Nobita no Dorabian Night--Here's another PC Engine platformer that I've ignored over the years due to what I considered to be subpar graphics. In action, though, they're actually rather nice, if still slightly rough around the edges. Nobita no Dorabian Night's gameplay is similarly "acceptable," with some aspects being pretty interesting--Doraemon's stun gun being one of them--and others, like the overall blandness of the action at hand, being less so. At the end of the day, Nobita no Dorabian Night feels like PC Genjin's less accomplished cousin, which isn't exactly the worst thing you could say about a PC Engine platformer, if you ask me.

Dragon Egg!--Like the titles mentioned above, this NCS-developed platformer isn't all that impressive at first blush. The dark graphics and stiff controls made me think I was playing a bottom-shelf Mega Drive (Genesis) game early on, which wasn't what I was expecting based on some of the positive impressions I've read elsewhere. A few stages later, though, my opinion did a 180. That's when I'd collected enough power-ups to transform the lowly egg the Sayo-chan-esque protagonist had been using as a weapon up to that point into a small, Yoshi-like dragon who gladly popped his head out of a sack and aimed his fiery breath at any and all enemies in her path. That one detail was enough for me to add this game to my lengthy "to buy" list (so far I've only experienced it via emulation), despite the fact that I've only completed a few levels so far.

Genji Tsushin Agedama--What kept me from giving this colorful conundrum (it's part shmup, part platformer, after all) a proper once-over until recently? I honestly have no idea. It couldn't have been its graphics, which are both well drawn and brilliantly hued. Maybe it was its mouthful of a name, which just doesn't have the same appealing ring to it that games like Bravo Man and Dragon Egg! do? Regardless, I'm now beating myself up over that idiotic oversight, as Genji Tsushin Agedama seems to be a real gem of a PC Engine game (based on the few stages I've played through thus far, at least). The auto-scrolling levels do take some getting used to, it has to be said, but once that's out of the way the game is a thoroughly and surprisingly enjoyable romp.

Momotaro Katsugeki--Here's a HuCard I first played a few years ago due to a random recommendation I can't fully recall at the moment, only to find it decidedly underwhelming. Upon picking it up again last week, though, I had at least a slight change of heart. I still find it less thrilling than some folks do, but I now appreciate all of the things it brings to the PC Engine-platformer table, such as its colorfully diverse backdrops and its similarly varied actions and obstacles. This is another game that brings to mind the famed PC Genjin (Bonk's Adventure outside of Japan) series, by the way, and not only because of its visuals, although the titular Momotaro's projectile weapon (a peach-flinging sword, I believe) helps to give Katsugeki a different feel than its prehistoric predecessor.

Pac-Land--I have surprisingly vivid memories of encountering the arcade version of this game for the first time in a faraway arcade as a teen. This was back before the Internet clued us into every last release, mind you, and as such the very sight of a Pac-Man-themed platformer blew my young mind. I share this because I have a feeling it'll help explain my decades-long interest in this particular title, which is unabashedly derided by pretty much every other person on the planet. Yes, the bulk of Pac-Land's graphics look as though they were created by a five-year-old with very little artist talent. Yes, its gameplay alternates between boringly basic and hair-pullingly challenging (in the "cheap" sort of way). Still, I get a kick out of booting it up and running through at least a handful of its stages every now and then. That may be nostalgia talking, I admit, but I honestly think there's a little more to it than that--although probably only just a little.

Have any of you played the aforementioned PC Engine platformers? If so, please feel free to share some of your thoughts on them in the comments section below.

If you haven't played some or even any of them, maybe you should consider doing so as part of Anne's #PlatforMonth game-along event?

Three PC Engine games I want to like, but can't

Although all of the games detailed in this post were developed by the folks at Namco/Namcot, don't take that to mean that I dislike Namcot products. On the contrary, I consider some of the company's games--such as Dig Dug, Galaga, Mappy and Pac-Man--to be all-time favorites.

That said, the following trio of PC Engine releases are games that I'd love to call all-time favorites but can't for a number of reasons.

1. Barunba (1990)

Why I want to like it: The game's logo is pretty spiffy (it even has stars where the letters' holes should be!), as is its overall cover art, which showcases what seems to be Barunba's raison d'etre--its globe-shaped ship with its rotatable weapons.

Why I can't: Unfortunately, said cover art is, by far, the best thing about this forced-scrolling shmup. Its graphics can only be described as ugly, and its sound effects are just this side of ear-splitting. The worst part of this pixelated package, though, is that it's flat-out boring thanks in large part to overly long and uninspired levels.

2. Pac-Land (1989)

Why I want to like it: I distinctly remember seeing this game for the first time in a local arcade. "It's like Pac-Man mixed with Super Mario Bros!" I thought with amazement and wonder. (Superficially, that thought was spot-on, by the way, as Pac-Land looks exactly as you'd expect a Pac-Man-based platformer from the 8-bit era to look.)

Why I can't: Then I played it. To say I wasn't as impressed as I thought I'd be would be a massive understatement. The graphics are dull, but I'd happily embrace them if the gameplay weren't even duller--not to mention overly difficult. That rather brutal combination keeps me from playing it more than once or twice a year--and even then I only do so for a few minutes (which is how long it takes me to remember what an absolute turd this game is).

3. Wonder Momo (1989)

Why I want to like it: I hate to sound like a broken record, but Wonder Momo shares a number of traits with Barunba. Specifically, it has cute cover art ... and that's about it. OK, so it also has a cute protagonist.

Why I can't: A cute protagonist doesn't mean much, though, when the game she stars in is a complete and utter bore. It means even less when said game features iffy controls (Wonder Momo's jump kick is the worst offender here) and yawn-inducing enemy designs and backdrops.

I can't publish this post without mentioning that I originally intended to include The Tower of Druaga, too, but after picking up and playing it for the first time in a number of months (if not years) I discovered that the game isn't as bad as I thought it was. In fact, I now quite like it--although I can understand why many feel otherwise.

Note: This post originally appeared on my other gaming blog, iwasateenagepcenginefan.wordpress.com.