Favorite single-screen games

[Randorama]

Double Post, sorry. Burger Time and Super Burger Time are wonderful pseudo one-screen games (i.e. stages are bigger than one screen but the design philosophy is definitely single-screen). I promise writing up something about both, but in particular Super Burger Time.

[Randorama]

Funky Jet ( Mitchell, 1992; distributed by Data East) is a single-screener platform/beat’em up hybrid. Two kids wearing jetpacks, boxing gloves, leather skullcaps and pilot googles must beat the endless hordes of a shady business magnate who looks like Marvel’s Kingpin. The two kids (1P “Blue Kid” and 2P “Green Kid”) use their jetpacks to float and move in any direction; enemies must however walk on platforms. The kids need three punches, humorously labelled “wap wap bom!” hits in the demo screen, to beat basic enemies. Beaten enemies will fly to the opposite side of the screen (e.g. left if punched from the right) and overwhelm all the other enemies on their path. Blue Kid and Green Kid must clear six stages with multiple sub-stages/screens before they can access stage 7, beat down “Pseudo-Kingpin”, and free their metropolis from his shady business clutches.

The game’s peculiar basic mechanics deserve some description. Players can move the characters in eight directions: due to gravity, characters drift downwards if players do no input any direction. Characters can land 3-hit punch combos with the A button and, if players tap fast enough, they can float on the spot. When characters combo an enemy, the enemy flies at high speed against the opposite side of the screen. Enemies acting as “projectiles” will cause automatic “Beat Down Cascaded Combos” (BDCC’s): one enemy can hit multiple enemies, who will hit further enemies (i.e. the “cascade” effect). Characters can also hit enemies via the “spinning attack” activated via the B button (“wam wam wow”, in the demo screen). The characters spin on the spot and flip enemies on the other side when hit: three flipping hits count as a combo and thus beat down basic enemies.

B button punches are thus useful to place enemies on whichever side may offer the best BDCC. Furthermore, BDCC’s release power-ups based on the number of overwhelmed enemies. A one-hit BDCC releases a “jetpack can”; two- to N-hit BDCC’s release other power ups in increasing level of usefulness. For instance, two/three-hit BDCC’s release a “heart” and refill 2 bars of energy (out of 64) for the characters. Four-hit BDCC’s trigger either power gloves or speed boots; seven-hit BDCC’s trigger a time freeze power-up plus other four power-ups. Power gloves increase the collision area of Kids’ punches; speed boots make the Kids faster. The time freeze power-up freezes time and also enemies, on their spots, for three seconds. After 300k and 1M points, 10+-hit BDCC’s trigger extend power ups. Big BDCC’s thus act as the key mechanic in the game: they release power-ups and clear screens off enemies quickly.

Zako enemies come in various shapes and rather odd looks, along with various amounts of HPs (Hit Points). Spiky hair guys, mullet boys and floating NFL kids require only one combo (i.e. three hits) to start a combo. B-boy dancers and iron pipe skinheads require six hits; Steroid-stuffed cyborgs with extendable arms require three combos. Bosses take considerably more hits, and cannot be involved in BDCC’s, but receive damage from this attack type. Enemies can be quickly beaten down if characters collect five propeller cans and the “JetPack Special” power-up (JPS). Players will become invulnerable for 3 seconds and will rotate their arms like windmills, BDCC’ing every enemy in their path. Since most screens include dozens of enemies, JPS’s can be used to great effect to obliterate enemies. More in general, screens generally require few seconds to clear insofar as players trigger the right BDCC’s or use JPS’s.

The game comes into three revisions that slightly differ in how the game mechanics work. In the “World Revision 1” and “Japanese Revision”, players are given 40 seconds per screen. However, in the Japanese Revision players can input up or down directions when punching, and thus send enemies up or down the screen’s boundaries. Consequently, BDCC’s can become quite chaotic because players can use them to clear screens in any direction. A third version, simply dubbed “World Revision”, lacks this mechanic but has quite more aggressive enemies and gives 30 seconds per screen rather than 40. Common to all versions is the possibility to choose the order of stages: players can e.g. clear stage 6 first, then stage 1 and so on. Stage 7, Pseudo-Kingpin’s hideout, is however always the last stage. Players can thus customise their preferred path according to their preferences, before beating up the final bald fatso.

The difficulty of a selected stage is based on the selected order: stage 6 as the first selected stage is relatively easy and the boss will not be so aggressive. Conversely, stage 1 as the sixth selected stage can be fairly challenging. The number of screens per stage also varies together with order. The first two selected stages include three screens, a mid-boss fight and a boss fight (i.e. five screens in total). The third and fourth selected stages add a fourth screen (i.e. six screens in total); the fifth and sixth selected stage, a fifth screen (i.e. seventh screens in total). The mid-boss is a black-clad NFL kid also using a jetpack, with red-clad helpers: beat the poor lad six times, one per stage except the last stage. The seventh stage has six stages plus four boss battles, with the tenth screen featuring the final showdown.

The game’s mechanics, differences across revisions and the flexible stage order can perhaps create a feeling of “principled chaos” in players. Furthermore, characters lose their power-ups once hit, but can gain them back as soon as they trigger decent BDCC’s. Nevertheless, ending up depowered during boss battles can be dangerous a, since boss battles tend to be long and tricky. The final boss rush involving screens seven to 10 on stage 7 becomes quite hard without power ups. More in general, the game requires players to trigger BDCC’s and/or JPS’s not only to quickly clear screens and collect points via power-ups, but also to avoid unpleasant situations. Enemies appear by the dozens and bosses are really aggressive and resilient; be aggressive and fast as you can, because prudent approaches will generally be punished mercilessly. Funky Jet is ultimately an entertaining game of speed over precision: be quick or be dead.

By this point, you may wonder whether the game is actually pleasant to look at, and provides an entertaining soundtrack. Generally speaking, the game has a bright and colourful palette, with relatively well-animated characters and enemies, and an interesting use of “landscape” backgrounds. Stages are set in different places surrounding the bad guys’ casino-like hideout, and feature the kids’ city districts. The more screens a stage includes, the fuller view players get of a district via the backgrounds. The stages are sometimes too frantic and visually crowded to let players enjoy the view. However, the anime- or “cartoony-mid-1990s” style drawings and the incredibly zany design style should crack players a smile more than once. The soundtrack attempts to have a “funky” vibe with synthesizer effects possibly borrowed from Data East (i.e. the publisher)'s games. Also in perfect early 1990s style, it tries to be vibrant if a bit “camp funk”: maybe not memorable, but certainly functional.

By this point, you may also like whether you may find the game to your liking or not. My experience with the game in 1992, as a teen in the 1990s, was that the game was trying very hard to be “funky” and “cool” and succeeded in having a very frantic gameplay. Whether these achievements were good or not, for my teen self, is hard to remember. As an adult, however, I may enjoy the “systematic chaos” approach that the game designers pursued, insofar as the game’s mechanics do not drive me nuts. Again, speed of execution and BDCC’s make or break a screen, and the game has 5+5+6+6+7+7+10=46 screens. Not too many for a single-screen platform, but be sure to always stay powered up and operate extremely tight crowd-control via BDCC’s. That is, play the game like a “proper” beat’em up/platform hybrid, to be safe.

A final word pertains to difficulty, then. I refer the readers to the previous posts regarding how I usually evaluate difficulty, and directly dive into the key facets. Since Funky Jet is a hybrid game, I believe that its difficulty lies in how it implements the platform mechanics (first facet), the beat’em up mechanics (second facet), and their interaction (third facet). Players may initially struggle to handle a free-floating character that must quickly slam enemies against walls, and who mostly move on platforms. Platform-based mechanics may thus require a bit of practice to get used to. Players may also struggle with the initially wimpy punches and, in the Japanese version, the possibility to trigger up- and downward BDCC’s as crowd-control manoeuvres. The beat’em up aspects are thus simple yet not so intuitive, and thus may require a bit of practice.

The game then centres on triggering massive BDCC’s, on being able to cope with the “principled chaos” approach and, to be honest, on learning to handle long boss fights. In both cases, the hybrid nature of the game comes out clearly, and with it an annoying if rather specific aspect: cheap boss patterns. All bosses have at least one attack that is more or less innocuous once you know how to handle it, but treacherous when encountered for the first few times. For instance, Pseudo-Kingpin also wears gloves and has a jetpack-based attack. When players complete a combo, he rolls back but immediately springs forth in an ascending or descending trajectory. The attack is easy to dodge and actually can actually combo enemies: the boss can clear the screen from his own henchmen to the benefit of players, indeed. Players must however master the tricky timing necessary to dodge this attack, or lose half an energy bar.

Of course, these aspects are easily mastered: repeating “this is just one overall flaw” should also help in stressful moments. I would thus assign 6 points out of a potential 17 to each facet: the game seems on the cusp of an advanced level of difficulty (i.e. 6+6+6=18/50). I would however add that RNG factors also affect difficulty. The extend lives appear after players reach a certain score and then trigger a 11+-hit combo: players may sweat over getting extends before stages 4 and 7, on average, and the game only gives one stock life. I would thus round the score up to 21/50 (early advanced level) due to the fourth "junk facet”, i.e. the fact that boss patterns and boss fights in general may be on the cheapside. Ultimately, Funky Jet is a fun if remarkably quirky game: enjoy it with prudence, and you will be fine.

(1752 words; the usual disclaimers apply; sooner or later I am going to start revisions to previous entries).

[Bassa-Bassa]

I asked a friend in case I was missing something, but seems it's like I thought! - Funky Jet is not a DECO game aside of the hardware and the publishing thing. It's Mitchell's own development, though apparently it uses a DECO-designed PCB, like with other titles from the company. Mitchell's good terms with other arcade companies is well known at this point, and they were particularly close to both, DECO and Capcom. It's not entirely discarded that some DECO staffer was hired for FJ as Mitchell were a bit like this (check the Pang series) but at any rate, it's officially a Mitchell game with DECO handling the publishing and distribution (at least in Japan).

Besides, visuals are definitely not in the DECO style, and I'm not sure they would even attempt a deviation to the formula like this when they were about to release Tumble Pop's sequel.

So seems every other western site on the internet is wrong when documenting this, lol. For what it's worth, this friend of mine says a team/company called Yanyaka (which would participate on Cannon Dancer and Gonta! series development later on) worked on it.

[Randorama]

Bassa-Bassa: can you provide some links offering the relevant evidence? It takes seconds to change the links, and update the article. If the friend has Japanese info, it is certainly welcome.

I also guess that some DECO musician worked on the title because the OST sounds DECO, but the rest feels Mitchell. I inserted the DECO comments at the very end because the little junk in the gameplay feels DECO-style, but maybe Mitchell were just trying to emulate the style Again, with the evidence in place, I can quickly make the relevant edits. Besides, my opinions hold regardless of the publishing house: Mitchell had this habit of inserting junk in their games, too

On the first Pang!, the musician was Tamayo Kawamoto, who probably was still at Capcom. The game should officially be Capcom’s, too. My understanding is that Mitchell were simply a tiny studio who had to work under the aegis of other companies, so all of their games had external collaborators and different publishers/distributors.

At this point, I may re-write the old mini-articles for the first three Pang! titles

[Sima Tuna]

Has the single screen genre survived in any form through the console era to today? I can't think of many contemporary examples. I know there was a remake of Burgertime (but not the far-superior Super Burgertime.)

[Randorama]

It depends. I believe that Taito is still releasing new titles in their Puzzle Bobble and Bubble Bobble franchises, and certainly many companies releasing smartphone/tablet titles are producing "single screeners", for a lack of a better label. I have some tile-matching titles and a clone of Mitchell's Puzz Loop on my tablet that are definitely gorgeous and very funny to play.

There is however a sense in which the "single screen game" of the variety I am slowly covering in these mini-articles does not exist anymore, for the simple reason that arcade and console games have mutated in something completely different. Frankly, already by the early 1990s these titles grew increasingly rare though complex in their game systems, to the effect that as teens, Bubble Bobble 2 and Bubble Bobble Memories felt like pure nostalgia operations (but also totally badass games).

It's all good! There are dozens of these games that warrant exploration, even for old dinosaurs like me who played them in the arcade, back in the day. Let's assume that my mini-articles are one way to go back in time and savour them again: good design only gets better with age, like fine wine and spirits

[Bassa-Bassa]

Mitchell's own now-defunct homepage:

https://web.archive.org/web/20120222184 ... rcade2.htm

They even kept the game's IP, so it seems DECO was basically the hardware manufacturer and distributor which just managed to plaster its name all over the game a la Taito. I love DECO, by the way. Occasional little junk in the gameplay was a given on basically any arcade game in the action genre.

[Sima Tuna]

It depends. I believe that Taito is still releasing new titles in their Puzzle Bobble and Bubble Bobble franchises, and certainly many companies releasing smartphone/tablet titles are producing "single screeners", for a lack of a better label. I have some tile-matching titles and a clone of Mitchell's Puzz Loop on my tablet that are definitely gorgeous and very funny to play.

There is however a sense in which the "single screen game" of the variety I am slowly covering in these mini-articles does not exist anymore, for the simple reason that arcade and console games have mutated in something completely different. Frankly, already by the early 1990s these titles grew increasingly rare though complex in their game systems, to the effect that as teens, Bubble Bobble 2 and Bubble Bobble Memories felt like pure nostalgia operations (but also totally badass games).

It's all good! There are dozens of these games that warrant exploration, even for old dinosaurs like me who played them in the arcade, back in the day. Let's assume that my mini-articles are one way to go back in time and savour them again: good design only gets better with age, like fine wine and spirits

I was mostly thinking in terms of single-screen platformers or action games, rather than stuff like Tetris or Peggle. Single-screen block puzzler games have their own audience, and games like Lumines and Tetris Effect have been very successful. But as far as single-screen platformers go, I can't recall any recent ones that weren't remakes of old arcade games.

[Randorama]

Bassa-Bassa:

Link inserted and minor edits made, thank you. Honestly, the presence of the DECO aura around the game made my blaming finger directly point at them for the junk. Force of an habit that grew out of playing their titles as I grew up ("Oh, another DECO that I will love even if its non-sensical game system will make me scream"). I rephrased the discussion to avoid the DECO reference, though I honestly believe that some DECO staff member secretly modified the game to make the boss fights annoying

Sima Tuna:

No idea, honestly. The truth is that outside the examples from my previous post, I do not know of modern IPs in the genre. Then again, I am a dinosaur, games-wise...outside 20th century arcade games, I am blissfully ignorant on matters of videogames (no! Really! I do have a Saturn and Dreamcast, but what's a Zelda?).

[valziman]

Has the single screen genre survived in any form through the console era to today? I can't think of many contemporary examples. I know there was a remake of Burgertime (but not the far-superior Super Burgertime.)

I really like the following recent games:
Donut Dodo
Annelynn (not literally single screen but single-screen genre anyway.)
Candy Creeps
Galacticon
Murtop

And here's some more that I know nothing about: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/4 ... 1_5_9__403

[Randorama]

Thank you Valziman, these games all look adorable and definitely with a retro vibe. Murtrop looks like a DigDug clone mixed with Bomberman ideas (dig tunnels, drop bombs to do chains) that I would probably love to play. All earmarked for future tests for sure I am glad to see that there are attempts to revitalise the genre, and hopefully some or even most of them are good.

Single screeners are perhaps the arcade game genre/style closest to traditional board games (e.g. Chess but also tabletop games like Risk). Just imagine that the screen is a board on which different "problems" of a given game are waiting for your solution, one problem at a time.

For me, they represented and still represent the link between two culturally forms of gaming. In quite a few cases, too (e.g. Teddy Boy Blues), these titles also belonged to a time period (early 1980s) for which I was simply too young to have distinct memories of it (I am class of 1980).

In those cases, I am basically doing a bit of "cultural archaeology" myself, too: in most if not all cases I played those titles when I was older and they were "old" though not retro titles (e.g. again TBB). So, discussing them mixes in some nostalgia but also a sense of exploration and analysis. I hope that anything I write in my squibs/mini-articles renders justice to this peculiar feeling, honestly.

Since we are here...Tinkle Pit from Namco is great and it is on ACA. I believe that it is a conceptual sequel to some earlier Namco title, though I do not remember which one. I will write a few more comments as I play more credits, I guess.

[spmbx]

I used to play kono-e-tako for a long time, it's also by Mitchell and since semi-recently (1 or 2 years i guess? not sure) supported in mame. It's quite a cool puzzler, standard "match equally coloured blocks" affair though.

[Randorama]

Thank you spmbx, the game looks great. I will try it tonight. Mitchell’s Puzz Loop and Puzz Loop 2 are also great. You control a cannon at the centre of the screen and shoot balls in any direction by rotating the cannon. You must destroy all balls moving on spiraling rails before they crush your cannon. Match at least three balls, and trigger massive chains because the numbers of balls per stage is massive.

I own the PS1 version of the first title. There are countless clones and variations of the format on phones/tablets and, for what I recall, as freemium PC games. Great formula, so it is a shame that Mitchell did not profit enough from it.

EDIT:

I am thinking that my next squib/mini-article will be City Connection, though I am tempted to go through the DECO 1990s titles (e.g. Diet Go-Go), next weekend or so. Suggestions/requests on order of posting are welcome, and please raise your hand if you would like a dedicated thread indexing the squibs.

[Marc]

Murtop is great, and if Retro Dodo hasn't been mentioned yet.... shame on you.
I will always pop up to implore folk to try Saboten Bombers above all else though.

[Randorama]

+1 for Saboten Bombers. Difficult, very hectic platformer that is also loads of fun. I will play it again tonight, then

[Randorama]

City Connection (Jaleco, 1985) is a platformer in which players control a car that must colour all the platforms distributed along stages spanning several screens. The platforms appear on screen as being of grey/silver colour, but change into a stage-specific colour once the car drives on them (e.g. green for Stage 1). Players must completely colour each platform on a stage, to proceed to the next stage. The player’s car always occupies one of four positions, depending on which platform(s) the car is colouring: top, upper, lower or bottom centre. City Connection is thus not a single screener in the strictest sense of the word, but features a fixed-point camera and looping backgrounds, as in Teddy Boy Blues. It however features platform- and action-like mechanics in which the action takes place in a single screen centred on the “character”, thus warranting its discussion in this thread.

City Connection has an interesting background story. Clarice is the pilot of “The Car”: a popular model of Honda City car of the 1980s. Clarice is chasing the love of her dreams so that they can tie the knot and live happily thereafter. Case in point, the end-of-stage bonus screens shows a happy Clarice in driving gear and throwing a V sign (“now, you’ve driven the whole highway!”). Clarice must therefore drive on the global “highways” (i.e. platforms) in an endless quest for her betrothed. Stage 1 is set in New York, Stage 2 in London (with Lum from Urusei Yatsura in the background), and other stages include Paris, Beijing and The Easter Islands. After 12 stages, the game loops, with subsequent loops becoming increasingly difficult, as well. City Connection cannot thus be truly 1-CC’ed, but completing two loops amounts to clearing all stages variations for each city.

The game’s mechanics are rather simple. While Clarice drives (i.e. colours) the highways, cars from the local police forces will chase The Car and try to bump it. A hit results in The Car exploding in a rain of hearts, and the loss of a life. Players can however shoot oil cans with the A button: once oil cans hit the police cars, they will make them spin on the collision spot. Clarice must thus collect oil cans while driving, or risk being “bullet-less”. Once The Car eats police car, they will immediately bump off the screen. One bumped off car will award between 1k and 5k points, depending on how short a distance the oil can has to travel before hitting the police car(s). A simple scoring strategy is to shoot several police cars at a close distance, and then bump them off-screen immediately for big scoring opportunities.

The B button is for jumps: The Car must jump on platforms at different heights, in order to colour/drive all the highways/platforms in a stage. Jumps cover an arc-like trajectory: roughly, half a screen at full speed. In order to rise in platform level, players can use a command jump (B+up direction), which results in a high jump in the direction of movement. A normal jump suffices to dodge incoming obstacles (e.g. police cars, “The Cat” and “The Walls”), but not to move to higher platforms: it only covers half a screen. A third type of jump is the “U-turn” jump. Perform a high jump and then change direction of the jump (e.g. from left to right) once the car detaches from the current highway. The Car will perform a physics-defying U-turn in air. If falling off a platform, The Car can also do a “floating”, also physics-defying U-turn.

I have just mentioned two other mysterious obstacles: “The Cat” and “The Walls”. The player can lose a life by hitting a tabby cat holding a pair of flags, and/or walls suddenly appearing on the highway. Both obstacles appear when the player rides for too long a stretch on the same platform and, during latter stages, the same direction. If the Car hits The Cat, the suicidal tabby kitty will be sent flying away while a tune I cannot quite recognise plays in the background. The Walls can also result in The Car exploding in heart confetti (i.e. death) when hit. Players must be careful because they emerge from the highways suddenly, even if last-second high jumps can avoid them. Landing on a police car as a result is however a common outcome, alas. Thus, The Car must avoid other objects on platforms at all costs.

As my brief description of the mechanics should hopefully show, City Connection is a simple if perhaps frantic platformer involving quite a few action-like mechanics. Players should drive while changing direction often, move to higher and lower platforms all the time, and fight the law in the name of love by bumping away police cars. Stages because quickly challenging because platforms/highways become shorter and harder to reach. By stage 7 or so (Germany), it becomes necessary to learn the U-Turn jump. Reaching higher platforms will otherwise become impossible, if The Car reaches the lowermost level. Furthermore, if players decide to “simply” cover/drive highways in order to clear stages, it is fundamental to stock on oil cans (maximum is 99). Police cars will literally swamp screens by stage 10 (Sydney), indeed, and The Cat and the Wall will spawn continuously. The game becomes frantic, even if quite manageable.

An alternative approach to clearing stages and loops is however accessible. Players can collect three orange flying balloons floating across stages, and thus warp a random number of stages forward. Once a player collects a third balloon, the screen fades to black, a beeping sound starts for 3 seconds or so, and the game awards a bonus based on oil cans in stock (i.e. Number*100 points). The Car then lands directly on a platform from a new stage, and action starts immediately. Balloons, however, appear approximately every three minutes or so. Players may stall and wait the release of a balloon by driving the platforms of a stage ad nauseam: a stage is only over when all highways are coloured. Players may thus only collect balloons and warp all the time, provided that they can handle driving the same platforms in a Stage for minutes without dying.

By this point, you may wonder if the game is a pleasurable experience. My answer is that there is something about City Connection’s simple quirkiness that makes it infuriatingly adorable. The game forces players to approach stages in a roundabout manner: avoiding The Cat and The Walls means driving in a sometimes seizure-inducing manner. Players must also change direction all the time, master U-Turn jumps and always be aware of where and when police cars pop up. From Stage 6 onwards (The Netherlands), police cars perform kamikaze attacks, after all. However, bumping off manifold cars can net players tons of points. If players master the survival game of collecting balloons, they can follow an alternate approach to progression. However, this approach involves stages becoming torrid survival grounds, as police cars become increasingly aggressive. Nevertheless, the game has a good pace and intriguing if quirky controls and scoring mechanics.

By this point, you may also wonder about the game’s visual and aural appeal. I believe that the adorable “early 1980s” Manga looks of the game might have influenced many a pixel artist and “synth-wave” designer. The attract screen showing a dusk in bright fluorescent pink, police cars chasing Clarice’s Honda, must have impressed a lot of kids owning the game’s NES port. Personally, I still enjoy the simple but colourful Stage designs and the cosmopolitan-looking backgrounds. Chasing love across the cities of the world while beating up local fuzz forces feels like a bliss scenario, for a platform. It is true that the game plays midi-style medleys of various songs ( a list is here). However, for 1980s videogame OSTs’ standards, these musical pastiches can sound endearing to players, at least for (relatively) shorts amounts of time. If you are a fan of synth-wave, City Connection is retro perfection/anticipation.

Let us thus move into the thorny issue of difficulty. Once more, I follow the facet-based analysis outlined in previous posts of mine (e.g. this one ). Personally, I believe that the game offers two sources of difficulty: mastery of the controls and enemies’ behaviour. A third facet may be their combination, especially if players learn to loop the game. In general, The Car is easy to control and getting used to the jumps and oil can shots’ properties should take little time. However, The U-Turn jump should require quite a bit of (frustrating) practice: it requires quite precise timing and, if performed recklessly during later stages, it may result in easy deaths. Enemies become more aggressive as players progress through stages but also survive longer. The game has a light rank mechanic based on survival time that makes all enemies more aggressive, and rather bothersome by stage 7 or so.

The game also loops indefinitely, but there are only two extends: at 100k and 400 points. Thus, clearing one loop can be a challenge if the U-Turn jumps remain impenetrable to players. Clearing two or more loops, which feature highways with highly challenging structures and hordes of police cars, may become a remarkable task indeed. Still, I would divide a total score of 50 points among two facets (controls, enemies) and assign 10/25 points to each facet for the first loop. After all, players can collect balloons while clearing stages, and thus warp to more advanced levels. I would thus propose that City Connection’s first loop is a 20/50 score in difficulty, adjusted by two or three points to 23/50 for interaction factors (e.g. dodging enemies during U-Turn jumps). I would then add five to seven points per loop: a “grandmaster” player may probably clear several loops in a credit.

In conclusion, City Connection is a fun little platformer that aptly represents the experimental times of the early 1980s. Jaleco built a “solid” reputation of kusoge-style game-makers and produced quite a titles deserving the fame. City Connection might even be one of those titles attracting the unpleasant label, but it still holds a special place in my heart. Bigger companies like Taito, Sega or Konami had big budgets and could create games that looked westernised enough. Jaleco and a few other companies were instead filled with skilled artisans who could create manga-esque games with a few imperfections but tons of interesting ideas. If you want to experience this genuine, early style of arcade (pseudo) one-screen gaming, then City Connection is a classic little gem you should try at least once. Just be sure to stock up with patience regarding suicidal cats and fuzz cars, and enjoy this veritable time capsule.

(1782 words; the usual disclaimers apply; gee, I think that I will release one mini-article per month, interspersing new material with edits to old material; stay tuned, we go back to Data East by the end of October).

[Randorama]

I admit ignorance on the topic, but...what are three-dimensional versions of Tetris? I only know California Dreams/Technos' Block Out. Are there any newer variants? I am not getting relevant results, so am i just querying for the wrong words in search engines? TA to any answers.

[1KMS]

There's 3D Tetris on the Virtual Boy, and Tetrisphere on the Nintendo 64. Maybe Wetrix (N64/DC/PC) could also qualify.

This seems like as good a place as any to post this excellent run of Super Gussun Oyoyo. Fortunately I liked the video before the author made it unlisted.
【RTA】すーぱーぐっすんおよよ double play,double exit,all kogussuns rescue

[Randorama]

Thank 1KMS, I didn't know of those titles! The SGO game(s) are also great, though I might be confusing the original Irem title with the various ports and something from Jaleco. I am completely ignorant about Tetris variants, though I remember liking quite a few of them over the years (well, more than the original game).

[RuySan]

Rod-Land. Mostly due to the brilliant Amiga port. I love the cute fairy theme, and the game feels so much tighter than the likes of bubble bobble, snow bros and parasol stars.

[Sumez]

the game feels so much tighter than the likes of bubble bobble, snow bros and parasol stars.

Jesus, that's quite a claim.

Looking just at the controls I can see why Bubble Bobble and Snow Bros feel a bit more rudimentary for sure (though not Parasol Stars, definitely not Parasol Stars, jesus that game is fluid on PCE)

But in terms of game design, Rodland is much more basic than Bubble Bobble, infinitely more so.
I do really appreciate it for being one of the only BB-style arcade games to actually have a scoring system that feels intuitively interesting in the same way BB does (gathering collectibles in a chain without touching enemies inbetween), compared to the majority of them which just employ basically the same concept as Snow Bros, resulting in very similar-feeling stages which all rely on knowing where and when to throw a snowball for the maximum score potential. In Bubble Bobble, each stage is a unique puzzle of its own, and RodLand is *almost* there.

The bigger issue with RodLand is that it's an extremely easy game, massively inhibiting its longevity. I imanaged to pull off a co-op 1CC with a friend, having barely played it before. All I had to rely on was him telling me where to stand and what to do at the boss fights, to avoid dying.

[RuySan]

the game feels so much tighter than the likes of bubble bobble, snow bros and parasol stars.

Jesus, that's quite a claim.

Looking just at the controls I can see why Bubble Bobble and Snow Bros feel a bit more rudimentary for sure (though not Parasol Stars, definitely not Parasol Stars, jesus that game is fluid on PCE)

I think the Amiga port is superior to the arcade original, and in sure it's nostalgia speaking since I'm so fond of the game. The Amiga has rearranged levels, better pacing and nicer colours. And I find the whole flower/extend mechanic of Rod-Land to have a very nice risk reward aspect. And bouncing enemies around is so satisfying. Sure, it isn't the hardest of games but can be played for score afterwards.

As for parasol stars, only played on the Amiga. It's an excellent game, but feels very chaotic compared to Rod-Land. Which sometimes is good.

[Sumez]

The Amiga port of Parasol Stars is technically very competent, but it has a ton of major issues

[Marc]

The Amiga port of Parasol Stars is technically very competent, but it has a ton of major issues

Really? Haven't played that one since I was a teenager, might have to fire it up on the mini.
Finding the PCE version on Switch good fun up until world six, where it starts to throw in screens that seem to have one single solution only.

[Sumez]

The biggest issue with the Amiga port is that the "up" direction which is used to lift your parasol over your head (an extremely central gameplay mechanic) doubles as the jump button, per Amiga tradition.
It also doesn't run nearly as smooth, but compared to the standard for Amiga ports, it still handles well.

[Randorama]

I believe that RodLand might be the easiest one-screen platform around, if played for mere survival. I think that he alternate story is more difficult, though, and score-based runs felt definitely trickier when I tried them. I do play the game from time to time for a quick 1-CC - Some of my memories of the games are simply too bittersweet to prevent me from playing the game with intensely rose-tinted glasses.

By the way, Sumez's comment on (some?) platforms being pseudo-clones of Snow Bros is spot-on. I will post a squib on Data East's TumblePop as a clear example of this exact attitude, tomorrow or so; you have been warned (but hey, please keep the discussion flowing: this thread deserves all the love it can get ).

[Sumez]

Tumble Pop AND it's two sequels-with-a-new-skin, as well as Nightmare in the Dark (probably the most snow bros of them) and Zupapa. All rely on what's basically a variation on the Snow Bros snowball system

[Randorama]

Ah yes, Zupapa and Nightmare in the Dark were two games I forgot. Weren't they from former Toaplan guys who were somehow managed to finish these games when the Neo Geo was "officially dead", or something? I genuinely remember nothing about these two titles.

The other two games aside TumblePop are Joe and Mac Returns and Diet Go-Go, by Data East. TumblePop is really like Snow Bros except that characters stock up enemies and then shoot them like snowballs in Snow Bros. Characters can stock any number of enemies, but with four or more characters the "balls" travel for the whole screen. I loved it quite a bit maybe precisely because it was DECO pilfering another company's ideas

Joe and Mac Returns is another "clone game" but with some minor annoying differences: if I remember correctly, players must stun enemies and then "store" them in a bag all at once, rather than sucking them in the bag sequentially. I 1-CC'ed this, but I found it stiff and a bit difficult, compared to TumblePop. Gorgeous graphics, though.

Diet Go-Go plays a bit differently, I believe. Roughly, enemies bounce around the screen like pinball spheres, once you "fatten" them and hit them. If one enemy hits other enemies in this state, they will trigger a score multiplier (e.g. If one enemy bounces and kills another nine enemies, the tenth enemy will be worth be worth x10 points). There is then the whole "slot machine" system for scores and bonuses, but I'd need to play the game again to see how it works. I 1-CC'ed it a few times and I remember it being gloriously chaotic at times (e.g. you can clear a level in seconds if you trigger the right "bouncing chain"). This one also has lovely graphics, in my view. I think that this title and the almighty Nitro Ball (TATE action shmup mixed with *pinball* mechanics) were Data East's attempt to promote their pinball division

I admit being really partial to the genre and, to be honest, to DECO in general: I did love the original Snow Bros, of course, if only because it was from Toaplan

[Randorama]

As promised, I will spam...ehrm, enrich this thread with another squib featuring Data East's TumblePop. 2968 words, and the usual disclaimers apply. For the time being, I will only post in this thread and, when at some later stage I will revise this squib, the revised version will go in the index thread. Hopefully someone likes my videogame soliloquies (!). For this one I thank Sumez for mentioning the rather obvious "source of inspiration" for the game, which is now amply mentioned this draft. Data East were quite the pilferers but I loved them dearly also because of this Next project for this thread may be Diet Go-Go, even though I can accept requests and I know that Birru-sensei would like to read about my take on Metamorphic Force (but it's a different genre, after all).

TumblePop (Data East, 1991) is a single screen platform in which two twin brothers must use their powerful special vacuum cleaners to save the world from monsters. The twins (green, player one, yellow, player two) can first suck monsters of various recurring types, store them into their special vacuum cleaner tanks, and then release them. Monsters will be ejected in the form of an increasingly larger “monster snowball” that can kill other monsters and reveal secret items around the screen. The two twins must thus travel around various places across the world (and, finally, the space), “cleaning up” each place. After beating the mad scientist behind this monster invasion, a cleaner world awaits them…and a return to their cleaning services business. Silly jokes aside, TumblePop is a nice 1990s-style single screen platformer: it features fast-paced stages plus bright, colourful graphics, as am I going to discuss in this squib.

Tumble Pop was one of early DECO’s titles released on their new and more powerful hardware, such as Mutant Fighter, Nitro Ball and Wolf Fang/Rohga. The 1990s saw companies releasing games with noticeable improvement in the graphics and sound departments. Several genres started changing and evolving towards new approaches (e.g. shmups) or slowly fading away into obscurity: single screen platformers, alas, belonged to the latter batch. However, Data East and Taito managed to produce some gems within the first half of the decade, such asBubble Symphony/II and Diet Go-Go. A central characteristic to these latter releases in the (broadly defined) genre are luscious backgrounds and a generally faster approach to the gaming experience. Tumble Pop builds on Toaplan’s Snow Bros’s to offer an early version of this perhaps more transitional style by offering dozens of levels that can be cleared within seconds.

The story is extremely simple and, of course, remarkably silly. An evil scientist with an ordnance white coat, a metal plate on his right head hemisphere and a cybernetic eye decides to conquer the world. The doctor sends his army of weird, possibly supernatural creatures and giant bosses around the globe and manages to even land on the moon! Earth is apparently doomed but lo and behold, a twin couple of kids owning a cleaning company luckily has the right tool to save our planet: giant vacuum-cleaners. Since the vacuum-cleaners can suck in any of the doctor’s creatures and stock them for a few seconds, they prove to be a formidable weapon. The two twins set on their quest to save the world by cleaning it up of the doctor’s army, while also collecting treasures and jewellery along the way. DECO game plots were silly: Tumble Pop was no exception.

The game mechanics are overall simple, though they may require some time for the proper mastering that can lead to 1-CC\s. The A button controls the vacuum cleaner’s absorption cone. When players hold the button, a rainbow-coloured sucking cone appears in front of the characters that can absorb any enemy in its range (roughly two sprite sizes). Enemies shrink and end up in the vacuum cleaner’s tanks that characters carry on shoulders. Holding the A button will keep the enemies in stock: releasing the A button will shoot the enemies like snowball-like projectiles killing other enemies upon touch. Enemies will however be able to escape their imprisonment after roughly four seconds. Once players stock up enemies, they should release them as soon as possible or they will die upon enemies’ escape. Thus, absorbing enemies and releasing them to smash other enemies is a basic tactic to clear stages.

My mention of snowballs is not casual. Enemies turned into projectiles will roll down platforms across stages in a manner similar to snowballed enemies in Toaplan’s Snow Bros. A difference is that one ejected enemy will only kill another enemy, and two ejected enemies will kill two enemies. If they don’t kill any enemies, they will stop rolling after bouncing against a platform once and twice, respectively. Three ejected enemies can kill several enemies and travel for three platforms, but four or more enemies can roll down whole stages and kill all the enemies they hit. They will only stop after bouncing six or seven times, or after hitting “whirlwind” (i.e. temporarily invulnerable) enemies. Rolling enemies also reveal hidden power-ups when rolling on platforms: be sure to memorise these items in each stage, and shoot enemies turned into snowball-like projectiles accordingly (the more, the better).

Dead enemies release bonus point items according to their type and the cause of death, to frame this matter in a cheeky manner. Enemies that become projectiles release items with lower values (e.g. 100 points-coins); if hit by projectile enemies, they will release items with higher values (e.g. 500-points coins). Thus, the best strategy is to suck in four enemies to meet the minimal number to form a maximal ball/projective, and then release from a high-level platform. The ball/projectile will kill all enemies it will hit and reveal as many secret items as possible. The A button thus allows players to perform simple but devastating attacks, the B button, instead, control jumps. Characters can perform normal and high jumps (i.e. B+up or upward diagonal directions), and can descend to lower platforms (B+down). Once players master the use of snowball/projectile attacks, thus, the game mechanics should prove no further challenge.

Power-ups and extends require players to “sweep” stages with snowballing enemies, as they are all hidden. The “battery” power-up increases the length and size of the aspiration cone, and thus acts as a weapon power-up. The roller blades marked with an “S” make the characters faster: they are speed-up power-ups. There are several other intriguing power-ups (e.g. the glowing rainbow-coloured invincibility star), but the most important are the secret letters. Players can discover blue orbs with red letters and collect them to form the word TumblePop: the collected letters appear at the bottom of the screen. When the word is complete, characters access a bonus stage with a psychedelic background where they can collect a 1-up item and other point-awarding items (e.g. diamonds). There are no score-based extends, so players must carefully collect all available letters, even if some orbs offer “dummy” letters (e.g. “d” and “c”).

We can further discuss other aspects pertaining to the game’s mechanics when we address the game’s difficulty. Before we address this complex facet, I would like to discuss TumblePop’s presentation. DECO moved to more powerful hardware by 1991; thus, this title looks quite more detailed and well-animated than most of Data East’s previous titles. Sprites and backgrounds are colourful and move in a relatively fluid manner. Stage backgrounds are ultimately static, but are quite detailed: the final two “Low Orbit” stages offer a beautiful view of the Moon and of Earth’s clouds. Enemies’ types occur in different colour schemes across stages, but they are aplenty and have humorous designs. Bosses are huge and are well-animated, e.g. the giant octopus on the New York stage. Though latter DECO games featured definitely more impressive graphics, TumblePop has vibrant colours and a detailed design style that can be pleasing to the eyes.

The stage settings are zany but atmospheric, as befits the general quirky atmosphere of the game. Stages are located in eight places on Earth that are infested with monsters. Five places appear to be well-known landmarks: New York, Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, Paris and Uluru/Ayers Rock. Three stages appear to be set in less definite locations: Japan, with a sight on Mount Fuji; Antarctica, at night; Egypt, near the three great pyramids. Some enemies are recurring entities with palette or slight design swaps (e.g. the Karnov look-a-like djinns, the whirlwind enemies), but most enemies are stage-specific (e.g. the Paris robots). The two space stages include Chelnov-like enemies and grey-like aliens, of course. Overall, TumblePop\s design champions a colourful, cheerful approach to platform action typical of the genre and, in particular, early 1990s. Animation levels are not exceptional and there is some recycling, but the game is visually brilliant, for its time.

As an aural experience, TumblePop offers a decent if perhaps a bit unassuming OST and some grin-inducing sound effects. Let us proceed in this order, at any case. The OST is based on one Leit-motif that is elaborated in different manners, one per place. Thus, the Rio variant offers a Samba-like approach, whereas the Egypt variant has a vague Räi flavour. The final Space stages change into a faster, cheerful “space fanfare” that perhaps might match the mild campiness of fighting aliens and Chelnov warriors in space. The boss theme is plain but efficient, and all other soundbites for the various sections more than functional. All songs/themes offer a particularly clear example of Data East’s in-house band, Gamadelic. DECO games had a distinctive sound based on Gamadelic’s choice of synthesizers and instruments; if you like their style, this title’s OST will feel particularly “Gamadelic” (pun intended, of course).

The game’s sound effects are also quite interesting. The players and enemies all feature sample voices and very rudimentary voice acting. Characters announce the end of a stage with a “You did (it)!” and enemies will produce all kinds of silly noises. Some bosses and enemies feature samples from previous DECO games, and in general add an extra layer of campiness to the atmosphere. However, the prize for the zaniest sound effect goes to enemies’ whimper when being sucked in the container. A pseudo-gurgling sound accompanies this action, perhaps as an attempt to give the impression that enemies are choking due to being compressed (…I guess). Thus, a continuous gurgling sound may seem to constantly punctuate music and action in synchrony. Overall, though, the weirdness of the effects and the decent OST contribute a solid if mildly quixotic musical accompaniment to the action.

Now that we have a general overview of mechanics and appearance, we can discuss the game’s difficulty in some detail. I believe that by this point regular readers may be bored by my mentioning of facets: (formal) apologies, but I will pursue my analysis via this concept once more. I believe that the game’s difficulty lies in three facets: the game mechanics, Stage and Level(s) design, and the interaction of these two facets. I will thus proceed my discussion in this order, but I propose my scores as a starting point: 7/20 for the game mechanics, 7/20 for the Level design, and 4/10 for their weak interaction. At 7+7+4=18/50 points of (subjective) difficulty, I believe that the game can be considered an advanced challenge for intermediate players. I offer an argument for this evaluation in the next three paragraphs, to hopefully dispel doubts in my readers.

The game mechanics should be relatively intuitively and easy to master, even for beginners of the genre. Players may instinctively try to suck in and shoot back enemies as quickly as they can, since this tactic has few risks in the short term. There is no risk that enemies will kill the characters by escaping the container tanks, and players can slowly but carefully clean screens of enemies. The problem is that, since all power-ups, extend letters and several bonuses are hidden, players will face a hard time to reveal these items. Players should thus learn how to quickly absorb at least four or more enemies and then release them to snowball away all the other enemies on the screen. This strategy reveals all items when used properly; players must thus master it in the long term, also because “snowballed” enemies release higher-scoring items.

Stage and levels design provide another facet of difficulty. The game has eight stages set on Earth, plus two set in low orbit. The first stage has five levels (four plus the boss level), irrespective of players’ choice for the first stage. The second stage will however feature six levels, and by the sixth stage there will be ten levels; the game thus features a total of ten stages and 85 levels. Levels can be extremely short, as players have 30 seconds to clear stages before timing out (70 or so for bosses). Nevertheless, the game provides a moderately long challenge, especially since the the two Low Orbit stages feature fewer power-ups and a final boss rush. Players must thus build some “game stamina”, decide on which stage to start their journey from, and be sure to know how to recover from deaths, irrespective of the stage.

The latter aspect offers evidence that the interaction of game mechanics and stage design present a distinct challenge that players should overcome. Ideally, players should start from Rio or the Antartica stage, as they provide the optimal route for completing six extend sequences (i.e. TumblePop letters). However, this entails that players will need to clear ten levels for the Paris and New York stages, which provide the most (relatively) difficult challenges. As mentioned in the first paragraph, this interaction provides a weaker facet of difficulty, perhaps: players may choose any starting stage and master their way to the 1-CC. Note, furthermore, that swiping whole stages via big snow/monster-balls for power-ups corresponds to playing for score, to the best of my experience. Collect all items and clear the game on one life (i.e. get the 1-LC) for a bigger final bonus (100k per life): the game offers a straightforward though entertaining challenge.

Before we move to the conclusions, I would like to spend a few words about my own experiences with the game. Just in case: the conclusions form the last paragraph (eh!). Some of this material is posted in an edited version for this older thread, as I already discussed my “road to the 1-CC” before. Hopefully, this new version will be to your enjoyment. It is November 1991, and I have started playing tabletop RPGs with friends: Fridays afternoons and Saturday evenings are RPG days (specifically, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons and Call of Chthulhu). I have become friends with this guy who is five years my senior, the geekiest but also the toughest guy in my neighbour, and my fourth grade cousin or something. Extended families are an interesting concept especially when people are unaware of being related: besides, geeks have to help each other, in the geek-hostile 1990s.

My friend frequents my uncle’s arcade because he is heavily into Street Fighter 2 and other fighting games, but he does not mind playing other titles for a change. My uncle invites me to try out the new arrival, TumblePop, because it is a Data East game. He bought the board at a good price, apparently, but his experience is that people either avoid DECO games like bubonic plague (so, he loses money) or they like them (so, he makes some profit). My friend and I thus must “play test” the game and see if it can be fun as a co-op game of sorts: single screen platforms generally attract couples and groups of friends. Our first few week-ends on the title are entertaining because we need some time to understand that the game is a Snow Bros clone of sorts. We struggle a bit, and the game is not so popular.

A bit before Christmas, my uncle decides to move the game to a dedicated cab with big-ass screens (50 inches or so) and comfortable chairs. The switch to the big screen and loud amplifiers seems a brilliant move, as people start noticing the game and playing it frequently. My friend and I certainly enjoy the change, because we suddenly have ample space to move and can just play better, on the big screen. Christmas holidays 1991-1992 become a glorious period in which we manage to 1-CC this game and Capcom’s The King of Dragons thanks to having enough time and cash for afternoon-long gaming sessions. Please add brutally frosty winter nights with the full moon’s beams shining on a city submerged in snow, and RPG sessions to the wee hours of the night, too. TumblePop,may be DECO’s being the uusual sly copycats,, but it remains a glorious memory in my heart.

I must admit that this memory has faded, over the years. I lost track of my friend in my early 30s (i.e. the early 2010s), as said friend married and moved to a different city while I also became a clerc vagant. I haven’t played many old one-screen platforms over the years and, when I did, it was to focus on 1-CC’ing “new” titles with “new” partners. The 1-CC post sheds some light on this story, so I won’t belabour in this post. The longest stretch of time I have spent on this game beyond those archaeological arcade experiences is, well, the two weeks I spent re-playing it for this squib. I quite enjoyed the time, even if I believe that I would need more practice to regularly 1-CC the game, now. Still, I am happy that I could get acquainted with it, in a rose-tinted stroll in my gaming past.

By means of a conclusion, let me wrap up the squib as follows. TumblePop is a one-screen platformer published in 1991 by Data East. The game borrows from previous platformers (e.g. Toaplan’s Snow Bros), but also features its own original approach to various classical platformer mechanics (e.g. stage selection). The game is simple but fast-paced and potentially fun for one or two players alike, and has a zany but appreciable presentation. The game should provide a relatively good 1-CC challenge to players who are well-acquainted with the conventions of the genre and can handle moderately long games. I enjoyed the game greatly in my teen years and, playing it again as an adult and reminiscing about old friends and ever-present love for all games Data East. Hopefully, readers of this squib will find merits in the game and feel compelled to enjoy the game, as well.

[sunnshiner]

The biggest issue with the Amiga port is that the "up" direction which is used to lift your parasol over your head (an extremely central gameplay mechanic) doubles as the jump button, per Amiga tradition.
It also doesn't run nearly as smooth, but compared to the standard for Amiga ports, it still handles well.

Does it work with a Mega Drive controller? I remember playing Apidya on a friend's Amiga with my Mega Drive controller which allowed the use of two fire buttons instead of just the one. Handy for selecting upgrades instead of barking 'now' at him to press the spacebar to select for me while I used the joystick to play the game