Manual Stimulation: Barunba (PC Engine)

I’ve voiced my dissatisfaction with the gameplay featured in Namcot’s horizontal shmup, Barunba, before (in this post, for example), but what I haven’t expressed previously, as far as I’m aware, is my fondness for that much-maligned PC Engine title’s instruction manual.

That fondness begins, of course, with said instruction manual’s cover image (below, right), which shows Barunba‘s grinning protagonist gunning his way through a plethora of what appear to be crimson-tinged baddies.



I have to admit, I originally thought the protagonist was piloting his bubble-shaped ship through the innards of another human being, a la Psygnosis’ Microcosm. (I didn’t realize the red blobs in the background were the exteriors of a couple of creatures rather than their interiors, obviously.)

Anyway, the manual’s first two pages can be seen below. I’m guessing they detail the main character’s colorful back story, or something like that.



The next pages, on the other hand, seem to describe the many components of the game’s globe-shaped ship.

Introducing: Manual Stimulation

Anyone who has flipped through the instruction manuals of at least a few old games--from the 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit eras in particular--knows how awesome they tend to be.

Sure, some of them are absolute stinkers, but a good percentage of them--like this one, included with Hakuhodo's PlayStation oddity Mad Panic Coaster--are the complete opposite thanks to their silly backstories and top-shelf illustrations.

Manual for the Atari 2600 version of Ms. Pac-Man

Because I own a number of examples of the latter (i.e., non-stinker manuals), I've decided I'm going to scan them and then share them here--along with some hopefully witty commentary--over the next few weeks, months and (maybe) years.

Anyway, as I'm sure you've already surmised thanks to the headline above, all of these posts will be grouped together henceforth under the oh-so-mature header of "Manual Stimulation."

This GameBoy is outta this world

Is there a point to the piece below, or is it just supposed to be pretty? I actually posed (via Flickr) that question to guy who produced it--Seattle-based artist Cory Schmitz--but I have yet to hear back from him. So, for the time being I'm just going to assume there's an awesomely pertinent story behind this celestial collage.

Get a better look at Schmitz' "NASA Game Boy" here

Even if there isn't a point to it, though, and the piece is just supposed to be cool to look at, I'll be perfectly fine with that--because the piece is cool to look at, don't you think? Really, I'd hang a framed print of it in my office if I had one (a print, not an office).

'Open up a beer and you say get over here and play a video game'

When I first read that a girl named Lana Del Rey was earning rave reviews for a song called "Video Games," I expected said song to be both a lyrical and sonic throwback to the 1980s.

I didn't expect the song to sound like something Fiona Apple would write and release.



That's not a complaint, by the way. I quite like Lana's Marina and the Diamonds-esque delivery. I'm also fond of her tune's dirge-like quality.

All that said, I wouldn't mind hearing a blippy, chippy remix of "Video Games" that brings the song more in line with my early expectations.

Reason #399 I could be considered an 'eccentric' (aka bat-sh*t crazy) gamer

It's possible that at some point in the next year or two (OK, maybe three) I'll add a Neo Geo CD--the top-loader depicted in the photo below, specifically--to my ever-growing console collection.

I know, that admission in and of itself is enough to warrant another "here's why I'm an eccentric gamer" post, but in this case that's just the start of it. The rest of it: I really only want to be able to play two games--Puzzle Bobble and Twinkle Star Sprites--on this (possible) future acquisition.

Oh, I wouldn't be surprised if, at some point, I were to be tempted to pick up a few additional games for the system--like Super Baseball 2020 (seemingly strange choice for me, I know) and Blue's Journey/Raguy--but the two mentioned in the previous sentence would be the main reason behind this particular spending spree.

Anyway, of all the desires and dreams detailed in these "reasons I could be considered an 'eccentric' (aka bat-sh*t crazy) gamer" posts, this one is, by far, the least likely to become a reality. Still, I think the fact that I'm even thinking of buying a Neo Geo CD is worth mentioning here.

See also: Other reasons I could be considered an 'eccentric' (aka bat-sh*t crazy) gamer