Manual Stimulation: Tumblepop (GameBoy)

Given my nearly lifelong love of Taito's Bubble Bobble and its many copycats and clones, it might strike some of you as strange that it took me a couple of decades to come across and check out Data East's Tumblepop.

What can I say? It completely bypassed my radar between its arcade release in 1991 and when I finally became aware of the GameBoy port discussed here a few years back.



Speaking of which, you know what prompted me to take notice of this portable single-screen platformer? The brilliantly colorful art that's splashed across the cover of the Japanese version. (See it in all its glory in my "Yet Another Year of the GameBoy" post about Tumblepop.)

Admittedly, it's a bit of a bummer that the Japanese GameBoy port's manual cover isn't as vibrant as its box cover, but it's also not exactly shocking.



I say that because most Japanese GameBoy manuals were printed using just one or two colors of ink. Here, Data East's artists went with blue and green.

HAL Laboratory's, on the other hand, went with red and blue while producing Ghostbuster 2's Japanese GameBoy manual, and Asmik's designers went with blue and orange while making the Pitman manual.



At any rate, the pops of green and blue that are found throughout the Tumblepop booklet's interior are far more impressive than the cover art seen above, if you ask me.



I also really like the unique style that was employed to craft the many character illustrations that accompany those pops of color. The clown showcased on the scan below is a good example.



Thank goodness Data East allowed its designers to create these pieces of art, as the Japanese Tumblepop instruction manual is surprisingly meaty. Without an illustration here and there, flipping through it would be a lot less interesting.

Yet Another Year of the GameBoy: Tumblepop

To know me--or at least the part of me that enjoys playing video games--is to know that I love single-screen platformers.

If this is the first time you've come across that phrase, it's basically used to describe and categorize games like Bubble Bobble and Don Doko Don and Snow Bros.

Also, despite this genre's name, not all of the games included under its umbrella stick to a single screen. Taito's Parasol Stars is a good example.

The game I'm covering here, Data East's Tumblepop, is another example. Or at least its GameBoy port is, as some of its many, many stages scroll to cover more than that handheld's standard screen acreage.

That's not really the point of this post, though. (Don't worry, I'll talk about this portable version's gameplay, graphics and soundtrack in an upcoming write-up.) The point is to applaud the wonderful packaging Data East produced for the Japanese GameBoy port of Tumblepop.

I mean, seriously, look at the lovely piece of art that's plastered across the cover of Tumblepop's box.

OK, so I guess it's kind of weird that the game's title is a bit off-center, but I can deal with that when everything else is so on point.



I especially love how the pumpkin enemy's claws (or at least I think those claws belong to old pumpkin head) are gouging the ground before it--you know, because it's being sucked into a super-powered vacuum.

In case you weren't aware, the protagonists in Tumblepop wield vacuum cleaners and use them to suck up baddies and spit them back out at other baddies. As for why they do this, well, I'm not entirely sure, although I have a feeling the game or its manual explains it in some loosely acceptable manner.



The back of Tumblepop's box (see above and below) gives viewers a better look at this, er, weapon of mass de-suck-tion, in case you're curious.

Somewhat unfortunately, both Tumblepop's car label and manual cover feature the same piece of art that's found on the front of its box. Oh, well, at least it's a nice piece of art.

Also, at least the manual cover strips some of the color out of the art--which is pretty par for the course when it comes to Japanese GameBoy manuals. (Here is one more example, and here's yet another.) 

The interior of Tumblepop's instruction manual is anything but "par for the course," if you ask me. I especially like that the art style utilized for its illustrations is a bit different from the one utilized for its cover art. 

As for Tumblepop's in-game aesthetics, I'd describe them as acceptable. Obviously they're hurt by the fact that they're black and white (or black and green) rather than the full spectrum of the rainbow, but besides that they're also a bit ... basic? Bland?

That's not meant to cast aspersions on this portable port, by the way. Even with the somewhat uninspired visuals, Tumblepop for GameBoy is a fun little single-screen platformer.

Like I said earlier, I'll publish a write-up that more thoroughly critiques this title's gameplay shortly. In the meantime, you should consider heading over to my Flickr photostream, especially if you'd like to see a couple more photos of its lovely packaging.

See also: previous '(Another) Year of the GameBoy' posts

Another Year of the GameBoy: Lock 'n' Chase

I had my eye on the GameBoy port of Lock 'n' Chase for a long time before I finally added it to my collection.

Why the wait? Well, to tell you the truth, I thought Lock 'n' Chase's gameplay looked kind of boring until I experienced it for myself.

Thankfully, a few months ago I went ahead and picked up a copy of this 1990 release despite my misgivings. I say "thankfully" here because now that I've thoroughly put this portable version of Lock 'n' Chase through its paces, I'd describe it as anything but a yawner.



Is it as worthy of praise as the Namco-made quarter-munching classic--that would be the original Pac-Man--that clearly inspired it? No, but how many games of this type are as worthy of praise?

Lock 'n' Chase does what it can to earn your attention even though it's "only" a Pac-Man clone at heart.

A good example is the game's behatted protagonist, who is as cute as a button and, at least initially, seems more visually interesting than his pellet-chomping counterpart.

The badge-sporting "baddies"--Lock 'n' Chase's equivalent to Pac-Man's multi-colored ghosties--are similarly adorable. Plus, they sport names like Stiffy (see below), which give them a leg up on the latter game's Pinky and Clyde.

And there are the different treasures--coins, money bags and jewels--that Lock 'n' Chase's main character nabs as he runs around each stage. They're quite an improvement over Pac-Man's "Power Pellets," don't you think?

Aside from all of that, though, Lock 'n' Chase doesn't do a whole lot to differentiate itself from Namco's genre-creating effort. I mean, the levels in the former often take up more than a single screen, but that's not always a positive.



Also, Lock 'n' Chase's levels are far less symmetrical than Pac-Man's but, again, that's just as liable to be annoying or off-putting than it is to be entertaining.

Still, this Data East title is worth checking out if you've got a GameBoy of some sort or other and you're looking for a cartridge that will grab your attention when you've got a few minutes of free time.

This is especially true if you can find a Japanese copy of the game. After all, the various aspects of that version's packaging feature some really spiffy illustrations, as you can see in the photos included throughout this post.

The Great Gaymathon Review #69: BurgerTime Deluxe (GameBoy)

Game: BurgerTime Deluxe

Genre: Arcade

Developer: Data East

Publisher: Data East

System: GameBoy

Release date: 1991

As much as I've always loved the unique-to-this-day arcade classic that is BurgerTime, I'd be hard pressed to describe it as "accessible" thanks to the daunting challenge it presents anyone who dares approach it.

Thankfully, the folks at Data East--the now-defunct, Tokyo-based company was both the developer and publisher of the 1982 original--decided in the early 1990s to take another stab at the avoid-food-themed-baddies-while-piecing-together-gigantic-burgers formula that proved so appealing (if not accessible) in their earlier effort, with the result being this far more enjoyable sequel.

Now, that isn't to suggest BurgerTime Deluxe is some sort of pushover. In fact, by the time you reach the game's fourth "world," you'll likely be pulling your hair out as you attempt to complete at least a few of its final handful of stages. You won't be doing that because the stages in question are "cheap," though, and that's definitely a key takeaway here.

Another key takeaway related to this portable platformer (of sorts): despite its obvious lack of color, it looks great on the GameBoy's (or 3DS', if that's how you roll) small screen, with well-drawn sprites that easily put to shame those found in, say, the Famicom port of the arcade original. Sure, it would've been nice if the developers had done more to change up the backdrops that support this quirky title's burger-making, condiment-escaping action, but at least they throw in a new enemy or ingredient every now and then.

The team responsible for putting BurgerTime Deluxe together was a bit more creatively on the ball when it came to producing the game's soundtrack, thankfully, as three different tunes are divvied up amongst its 24 levels. My favorite is the lilting, peppy one that kicks things off, although the others have their charms, too.

Add all of the above together and you've got a GameBoy title that's well worth exploring, especially if you're like me and you liked the idea, but not the execution, of the arcade original.

It's nowhere near as deep or exhilarating as, say, Nintendo's splendid Donkey Kong revamp that was released in 1994, of course, but it holds its own against pretty much every other platformer produced for this iconic portable, and for that reason alone I'd say it deserves a look.

See also: previous 'Great Gaymathon' reviews

Handre De Jager's BurgerTime

When Data East's BurgerTime was ported to the NES in 1985, its box art looked like this:

South African illustrator, animator, 3D modeler and digital music composer Handre De Jager thinks it should have looked more like the image below, given "the [often] inaccurate nature of 80's and early 90's video game cover art."

Although I can't say I agree entirely--mainly because I'm pretty fond of the box art we ended up with--I also can't say I dislike De Jager's illustration.

That said, it is a bit frightening, isn't it? Honestly, I'm not sure which aspect scares me more: The hot dog, the pickle or the egg.

(Thanks to Twitter user Alchemlx for turning me on to this creation.)

The Great Gaymathon Review #59: BurgerTime (Famicom)

Game: BurgerTime

Genre: Arcade/Action

Developer: Data East

Publisher: Namcot

System: Famicom

Release date: 1985

This is one of those ancient arcade games that probably only appeals to folks who were around when it was first released. For everyone else, the premise--create hamburgers while walking over ingredients and avoiding similarly munchable enemies--is unlikely to make much sense and the old-school difficulty of the gameplay is sure to prove more than a bit daunting.

So, where do I sit on this BurgerTime continuum? If you'd asked me back when it was first ported to Nintendo's 8-bit systems, my 9-year-old self would have told you I was located firmly on the "hell no" side of things--in small part because of the game's cruelly challenging nature but in larger part because it's far from "arcade perfect" (something I pointlessly put a lot of stock into in those days). How would my 35-year-old self respond if asked today? I'd say that I'm now on the opposite end of the spectrum and that I'm pretty darn fond of this iteration of Data East's admittedly brutal quarter-muncher.

My younger self was right, of course, that the stages in the Famicom/NES version aren't as colorful as those in the coin-op original, nor are the enemies in the former as well crafted as those in the latter, but who cares? Both releases more than get the job done in the looks department, and both feature the same brilliant, can't-get-it-out-of-my-head backing track. Most importantly, though, both also evoke a rather thrilling sense of panic in the player that calls to mind other classic titles--like Mappy and Pac-Man--from the same era.

Combine all of the above with the Famicom port's tight-as-can-be controls and completely adorable cover art and you've got yourself a great little pick-up--assuming you don't have a short fuse (see the comments above about this game's difficulty) and you can find it on the cheap.

See also: Previous 'Great Gaymathon' posts