The Americanization of Japanese games in the early 90's was an interesting, and often frustrating thing. Like, why did we get Dragon Warrior instead of Dragon Quest? Why was Mega Man's box art completely butchered for western release? And why didn't anyone think that gamers in the US could handle a game called Puyo Puyo? It was a puzzle game for crying out loud. Who cares what the title was?
Of course anyone who enjoys puzzle games probably knows Puyo Puyo now. Developed by Compile in 1991, it went on to spawn a huge franchise in which each new title added new and interesting mechanics. But the original game is a little vanilla. This, coming from a dude who really enjoys the franchise. In the original Puyo Puyo, it's very basic. You've got dropping slime things (Puyos) that come down in twos. The goal is to simply join up four or more. The bigger the blob you create, the more junk you drop on your opponent. Oh, and chaining is really important in this one. The original Puyo Puyo was a hit in Japan. It was released for a lot of formats, including the Famicom, MSX2, and arcade, although Compile struck up a relationship with Sega and also ported it to the Mega Drive and Game Gear. But when Puyo Puyo was finally brought over to America on the Genesis it was reskinned into Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine and portrayed as some sort of Sonic The Hedgehog spin-off game. Now, I understand that tying something into Sonic in 1993 was probably a financially sound decision for Sega, I just think it's dumb. Puyo Puyo is its own thing, and the series should have been given the chance to shine on its own merits. But that's my own qualm. And really, Nintendo did the same thing when they released their version of Puyo Puyo under the title of Kirby's Avalanche. The biggest issue is that all the cutesy anime has been stripped out of Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine and replaced with completely nonsensical gibberish about Robotnik and some weirdo robots. It's super silly. But you also don't really play puzzle games for the story. I get that. For a Genesis game released in 1993, I honestly find this one pretty ugly. It's sad to say that the Game Gear port actually looked better given the limited color pallet. This version of the game is just so dreary though, which is sad for a 16-bit title. At least the music is damn good. I have to be honest, though. As much as I enjoy Puyo games, the original game in its Genesis port feels really sloppy to me. The controls are clunky. The speed feels weirdly overclocked. I don't know. It's just not quite perfected yet. For the record, I've played most of the sequels over the years, and there's a chance that the original outing just wasn't quite there yet. I do like Puyo games – quite a bit really. But I can never seem to love Mean Bean Machine. It's a combination of the first game feeling too stripped down and basic, and also the Americanization just feeling meh to me. If nothing else, I think that Mean Bean Machine's biggest strength was inspiring Super Puzzle Fighter, which is a much better game.
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When Toejam & Earl came out in 1991 it was exactly the sort of game that made me love the Sega Genesis. I mean, I had never seen a game like this on the NES. It was just so... weird. There were these funky little aliens who were into rap music and they went around looking for parts of their ship while encountering even weirder earthlings. It was pretty wild.
I didn't know what a roguelike was back then. I'm not even exactly sure when the word came into use. I think many years later. But it's interesting that my first exposure to roguelikes would be two games on the Genesis of all platforms: this one of course, and also Fatal Labyrinth, which I also enjoyed. At any rate the roguelike thing is interesting in a 16-bit console game. Here, you walk around as either Toejam or Earl and explore isometric levels. Some levels contain ship parts and some don't. You'll need to find all the parts and get to the elevator to the next level. Easier said than done of course. The real draw to this game is the personality. The music is great - and though it has a hip hop attitude, it's actually way more reminiscent of 70's jazz fusion. I swear to goodness one of the motifs is jacked straight from a Weather Report song. But throw on some of the fusion era work of Herbie Hancock or Miles Davis and you'll have the right idea. The game is also pretty funny. There's all the weirdo earth people like a renaissance faire wizard, a stampede of paparazzi, cupid who shoots arrows that make you walk with inverted controls, a gigantic hamster in a ball, and so on and so on. You can get weapons like tomatoes. You can over-eat and burp. "Toejam is a wiener." The game is bursting with personality. In two player mode you can even high-five. Unfortunately, actually playing the game in 2019 feels like a bit of a drag to me. It feels, I don't know... boring? I had fired it up while trying to decide if I should pre-order the new game. And I still might, because I like to support physical Sega releases. And also because maybe the quality of life has improved after all these years. The original game just feels so slow to me. I found myself constantly using the fast-forward feature on the Sega Genesis Classics in-game emulator and that's really not a fun way to play through a game. In fairness, the VHS-style look of it is pretty charming though. The game is also pretty unforgiving. You take a lot of damage easily, and it's game over before not too long. In the modern day roguelike (Spelunky, Dead Cells) this would be motivation for me to trudge ahead. But in Toejam & Earl I'm finding that I just want to stop playing. |
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