Manual Stimulation: Don Doko Don 2 (Famicom)

At the end of my post about the Don Doko Don Famicom instruction manual, I mentioned that the manual you see here makes its predecessor "look like something that was pulled from the gutter."

Harsh, I know, but I stand by it. I mean, just look at the cover of the Don Doko Don 2 manual, below. It alone is more stupendous than anything you'll find in the first Don Doko Don manual.



Don't take any of this to mean I think the original Don Doko Don manual is a stinker. I think it's pretty snazzy, actually.

Maybe not as snazzy as, say, the manuals publisher Taito created for the Famicom Disk System version of Bubble Bobble, or the PC Engine ports of The New Zealand Story or Mizubaku Daibouken, but still worth the occasional ogle.



I say without hesitation, however, that the Don Doko Don 2 instruction manual is snazzier than all of the above-mentioned booklets--perhaps combined.

Every page of the Don Doko Don 2 booklet features something fabulous, usually in the form of a stunning drawing.



OK, so they're not all as jaw-dropping as the gigantic one that opens the Don Doko Don 2 manual. But, really, not every illustration can be of a huge, crying, king-turned-into-a-frog, right?

At any rate, the pages that follow shine a light on the game's story. Besides all of the art they produced, I also love how the designers who worked on this booklet used pops of red and pink to add drama and interest to the proceedings.



The spread above educates readers on how to play Don Doko Don 2. There's not much to tell them, however; as is the case in the original Don Doko Don, in part two, you dispatch enemies by smacking them with your mallet, picking up their squished bodies, and then tossing their corpses at oncoming clueless baddies.

Manual Stimulation: Don Doko Don (Famicom)

Don Doko Don is one of those old games that avoided pinging my radar for a lot longer than it should've done.

Granted, this series hardly is a household name outside of Japan--despite the fact that Taito, the company responsible for developing and publishing it, previously gave the world Space Invaders, Qix, Chack'n Pop, and Bubble Bobble, among other classics.



At any rate, I remained blissfully unaware of Don Doko Don's existence until sometime after I became obsessed with the PC Engine.

You see, Taito ported this single-screen platformer, which stars a pair of mallet-wielding dwarves, to NEC's diminutive console less than a year after its original arcade release in 1989, and just two months after the Famicom port that's the subject of this post.



Why didn't I hear about Don Doko Don for the Famicom before I heard about its PC Engine iteration? I haven't the slightest idea.

At any rate, and as you might suspect, the instruction manual that came packed inside copies of the Famicom port of Don Doko Don is quite similar to the PC Engine port's manual.



The two booklets aren't identical, however. Take the spread above. The pair of illustrations you see here are completely different from the ones you see on the corresponding pages of Don Doko Don's PC Engine booklet.



For the record, I prefer the unique illustrations in the PC Engine release's manual to the ones used in the Famicom release's manual.



All that said, most of the drawings in these two manuals are the same. Generally speaking, though, the ones in the Famicom manual are given a bit more space to breathe than are the ones in the PC Engine manual.



The drawings highlighted on the last few pages demonstrate to readers Don Doko Don's main gameplay loop, which involves whacking enemies with your trusty hammer, picking up their smooshed bodies, and then tossing them at other unsuspecting foes.



The next handful of spreads focus on educating players about the particulars of each Don Doko Don stage. For example, the first world is forested, contains trees that spit out baddies, and features a multi-jack-o'-lanterned boss.

The best PC Engine game manuals (I've seen)

NEC's PC Engine was and is beloved around the world for a lot of reasons, including the console's small footprint, its credit card-sized cartridges (called HuCards) and its eclectic library of games.

Another reason that should be added to that list, in my opinion: the drop-dead gorgeous instruction manuals that were packed inside many PC Engine game cases.

Speaking of which, I consider the manuals below to be among the system's best. Before you start scrolling through them, understand that this post shouldn't be considered exhaustive. I certainly haven't flipped through every PC Engine instruction manual in existence, after all. I have pored over a good number of them, though, so I'd say my thoughts on the matter are as valid as anyone's in this area.

With all that out of the way, here are my personal picks for "best PC Engine game manuals."



Don Doko Don--Something you need to know right off the bat when it comes to the instruction booklets produced for this system's games: the ones that accompanied Taito-made and Namco-made titles are the most impressive. I especially like Taito's PC Engine manuals. They're crude in a way that Namco's aren't, but I find that aspect to be surprisingly charming. Don Doko Don's is a perfect example of this. It's bursting with monochromatic depictions of this single-screen platformer's protagonists, enemies, bosses and items that are simple, yet captivating. To see the entirety of this HuCard's how-to pamphlet, by the way, check out my "Manual Stimulation" post devoted to it. You also may want to spend a few seconds or even minutes ogling The New Zealand Story's manual, which is similarly appealing.



Hany on the Road--It's a crying shame that this oddball platformer's instruction manual is so short. Not only is it full of vibrant color and adorable enemy illustrations, but it features a handful of wow-worthy clay models. A few more pages of the latter would've been warmly welcomed by yours truly. Still, the artists and designers at publisher FACE deserve kudos for offering up a booklet that's more beautiful than it has any right to be, regardless of its length. (FYI: the whole she-bang can be viewed here.)



Mizubaku Daibouken--In some ways, Mizubaku Daibouken's manual impresses me more than Don Doko Don's. As nice as the latter title's booklet is, the former's is a lot more adventurous. For starters, it kicks off with a multi-page comic that shares the game's backstory. It also uses eye-popping illustrations to introduce Mizubaku Daibouken's many worlds (see above) and explain its controls. That it wraps up with black-and-white doodles of some of this arcade port's enemy characters is the icing on the proverbial cake. Experience all of the above for yourself by perusing my "Manual Stimulation: Mizubaku Daibouken" write-up.



PC Genjin 2--Why did I choose PC Genjin 2's instruction booklet over those of the series' first or third entries? For me, the original PC Genjin's manual is a smidgen too safe. No one would use that word to describe the ambitious PC Genjin 3 manual, but I feel pretty comfortable calling it "a bit much." I love that it's bursting with color, and I appreciate its enemy illustrations, but taken as a whole it's nearly seizure-enducing. The PC Genjin 2 pamphlet provides some of the same thrills but without the headache that's sure to follow in their wake.



Pop'n Magic--I guess it shouldn't be a huge surprise that the manual made for a Bubble Bobble clone is as cute and colorful as can be. That said, the ones produced for genre mates Rainbow Islands and Parasol Stars are flat-out duds, as far as I'm concerned, so I'm fine with expressing some shock at the verve showcased in this Riot release's how-to booklet. The spread above is my favorite of this pamphlet's many pages, but that's not to suggest the remainder are stinkers. Decide for yourself by taking a magnifying glass to my "Manual Stimulation: Pop'n Magic" post.



Valkyrie no Densetsu--As I've said before, Namco's PC Engine games haven't always been favorites of mine. Thankfully, I pulled my head out of my butt some time ago and realized the bulk of them are well worth owning and playing--even if they aren't perfect replicas of their arcade counterparts. In general that's due to their attractive graphics and gameplay, but it's also due to their beautiful manuals. Valkyrie no Densetsu's (see it in all its glory here) is the best of the bunch, if you ask me, but even turds like Barunba came with booklets capable of taking your breath away.

For more awesome PC Engine game manuals, check out these "Manual Stimulation" posts or head over to Video Game Den and peruse that site's HuCard and CD-ROM2 sections.

Second Chances: Don Doko Don (Famicom)

To those of you who are a bit confused as to why I'm devoting a "Second Chances" post to a game I've previously--and frequently--praised, both here and on Twitter, here's the deal: the version of Don Doko Don that I've so often celebrated was the PC Engine conversion released in 1990.

On the other hand, the Famicom port of this Taito-made single-screen platformer--which is a lot like Bubble Bobble, but with hammer-weilding garden gnomes instead of bubble-blowing dinosaurs--has long left me feeling a little cold, and mainly because, at first glance, it's a lot less easy on the eyes (and the ears, too) than either the aforementioned PC Engine release or the arcade original.

I've warmed up to it in recent days, though, although I'm not entirely sure why. Actually, that's not completely accurate. What I mean is that I know why I've come around to it--I now rather like its aesthetic, with the possible exception of the protagonist sprites--but I'm not sure why I currently find something appealing that I used to consider fairly disappointing.

Maybe I just opened my heart to its minimalist charms, or maybe I realized that the PC Engine version isn't as grand (in terms of its appearance) as I earlier considered it to be--or maybe it's a bit of both?

One complaint I will level against this iteration of Don Doko Don: a handful of its enemy sprites are larger than, say, their PC Engine equivalents, which wouldn't bother me normally, but in this case the increase in size seems to throw off the balance on some of its stages. For example, baddies who, in other versions of the game, eventually would work their way toward the bottom of the screen tend to get stuck near the top in the Famicom port, and the resulting mass often causes the player to put him- or herself into more perilous positions than would otherwise be required.

This isn't even close to a deal-breaker, of course, but it is a minor source of aggravation--or it has proven to be one for me--and, as such, I thought I should mention it here.

Despite the above-mentioned quibble, I now consider myself to be a pretty big fan of the Famicom conversion of this great single-screen platformer--to the point that I'm planning to pick up a copy of it once I have the funds.

Here's hoping that once I get my grubby little hands on one, its instruction manual is at least as nice--and full of adorable illustrations--as its PC Engine counterpart, if not a bit nicer.

See also: previous 'Second Chances' posts

Recommend me some Taito-made Famicom, PC Engine and GameBoy titles

You may have noticed--you know, by reading this recent post, as well as this one and this one--that I'm on a bit of a Taito kick as of late.

Granted, I've been interested in this now basically defunct developer and publisher--and its output, of course--since I first came across a Bubble Bobble cabinet in the arcade that was tucked into the corner of my hometown's bowling alley as a teen, but recently I become even more of a Taito fan.

There's no particular reason I can point to for this increase of affection--other than I've played and written about a bunch of Taito-made games (Bubble Bobble, Don Doko Don, Insector X and Rainbow Islands among them) in the last week or two, I mean.

Anyway, as a result, I'd really like to delve even deeper into this Tokyo-based company's catalog. The thing is, though, I've already spent time with a good number of the games it released for my current favorite systems, the Famicom (NES), PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) and GameBoy.

Specifically, for the Famicom I've played: Bubble Bobble, Bubble Bobble 2, Chuka Taisen, Don Doko Don, Don Doko Don 2, Elevator Action, Insector X, Rainbow Islands and Wanpaku Kokkun no Gourmet World (aka Panic Restaurant in the West).

When it comes to the company's PC Engine titles, I've played: Darius Plus, Don Doko Don, Gokuraku Chuka Taisen, Hana Taka Daka!?, Jigoku Meguri, Kiki Kaikai, Mizubaku Daibouken, The New Zealand Story, Parasol Stars and Rainbow Islands.

Finally, I've played two Taito-made GameBoy carts thus far, with the pair in question being Bubble Bobble and Bobble Bobble Junior.

Should any of you have any Taito-focused recommendations--especially for the aforementioned systems--to share, I'd love to hear them.

To help get you started, here are a handful of the company's games I've been curious about for some time but have yet to experience: Cadash (PC Engine), JuJu Densetsu (Famicom), Power Blazer (Famicom), Sagaia (GameBoy) and Taito Chase H.Q. (PC Engine).

Manual Stimulation: Don Doko Don (PC Engine)

The designers and artists at Taito really hit it out of the park when they produced instruction manuals for the PC Engine. A couple of cases in point can be found in the "Manual Stimulation" posts I previously published about Mizubaku Daibouken and The New Zealand Story.

The manual made for 1990's Don Doko Don is no exception, and it all starts with its adorable and colorful cover.

The interior of this particular instruction manual eschews color, sadly, but it's hard to say it suffers much as a result.



Like The New Zealand Story's manual, this one features a number of charmingly childish illustrations, such as the ones that can be seen in the scans above. (Click on them for a closer look.)



More such illustrations can be found throughout this instruction manual, with the ones below being some of my favorites. (I love how they simply explain to readers how the game works: bonk enemies on the head with your hammer, then pick up the squished foe and toss it against a wall or other solid object in order to extract oddly spotted fruit from it.)





Later pages showcase noteworthy aspects of each of Don Doko Don's stages as well as drawings of their boss denizens.

Five arcade classics I wish had been ported to certain handhelds

You may be wondering what prompted me to write this post. Strangely enough, it came to mind while I was playing the Game Gear port of Namco's quarter-munching classic, Mappy, last week.

While admiring the quality of the adaptation, I couldn't help but wonder why Namco ended its Game Gear ports with Galaga, Mappy and Pac-Man. What about Warp & Warp (aka Warpman), The Tower of Druaga or Dig Dug?

That line of thinking then led to me to ponder why some other arcade classics--like the five detailed below--were never ported to the following handheld systems despite the fact that they would've been perfect fits (or at least interesting fits) for each other.

Baby Pac-Man (DS or 3DS)--I've wanted to play this half-Pac-Man-game-half-pinball-machine oddity at home ever since I encountered it in a local arcade as a teen. I can see why it never earned a console conversion, of course, but a DS or 3DS version could've been (or could still be) magical. The question is: who would develop and publish it, Bally Midway or Namco? (My guess: neither!)

Detana!! TwinBee (WonderSwan Color)--For some strange reason, the folks at Namco only made one game, Beatmania, for the WonderSwan, and even then it was for the original black-and-white version of Bandai's niche-y handheld rather than its colorized follow-up. Why they never ported this pastel-coated cute 'em up to the WonderSwan Color is beyond me, as I have to imagine a lot of gamers would've enjoyed playing it with their portable of choice held vertically.

Dig Dug (Game Gear)--I'm sure the powers that be at Namco had their reasons for not green-lighting this handheld port, but for the life of me I can't fathom what they may have been. After all, the company's portable re-imaginings of Galaga, Mappy and Pac-Man are about as spot-on as could've been expected. (By the way, I also wish Namco had made and released a Game Gear version of Marvel Land--even though its graphics would've had to have been downsized and simplified quite a bit.)

Don Doko Don (GameBoy Color)--Don Doko Don has long had a place in my pixelated heart for all sorts of reasons, which is why it saddens me that Taito never released a handheld version. Although the GameBoy Advance could've received an arcade-perfect port, I think I'd actually have preferred to see one that was more of an homage to the original (a la Bubble Bobble for Game Gear), hence my call for it to be made for the GameBoy Color instead.

Mr. Do! (Neo Geo Pocket Color)--I don't know about you, but I think it would've been awesome it someone had brought this Dig Dug-esque game to SNK's brick-like handheld in some form or fashion--especially if they'd updated the graphics a bit like ADK did when they remade Make Trax for the system (after renaming it Crush Roller). Instead, NGPC owners were given a million pachinko simulators. Not fair!

Another Bubble Bobble/Fairyland Story clone approaches

Actually, this game is more of a Don Doko Don clone than a Bubble Bobble or Fairyland Story clone, but I'm sure most of you understand where I'm coming from regardless.

As for which game I'm talking about in the headline and sentence above: The Berlin Wall.

Specifically, I'm talking about the 1991 Game Gear port of this Kaneko-developed and -published quarter-muncher.

I'm not sure how or why, but I only learned about this game last week while perusing my bank account's least favorite website ever (aka eBay).

The premise of this single-screen platformer, for those of you who are in the same pixelated boat: Players are placed in the shoes of a boy who must use his hammer to break the blocks that form the platforms that fill each stage. The resulting holes act as traps for the many enemies (including penguins and porcupines) that patrol said stages--as in, after a baddie falls into a hole, the player can bop them in the head with his hammer and send them crashing into the platform or floor below.



Strangely (or not, if you're at all used to the single-screen platformer genre), that last bit causes the defeated enemy to transform into various power-ups and food items that can be collected.

As is the case with many of these Bubble Bobble/Don Doko Don/Fairyland Story clones, The Berlin Wall is almost insultingly easy at the beginning but the difficulty quickly ramps up--about halfway through the second world, in my opinion--to a level that can only be described as "maddening."

A little trivia for anyone who cares about such things: Kaneko basically re-skinned and re-released, in 1992, this game for the Sega Mega Drive. Called Wani Wani World, this single-screener stars a green crocodile who wields his/her hammer against a bevy of platform-stalking baddies.

See also: 'You say Bubble Bobble clone, I say Fairyland Story clone'

You say Bubble Bobble clone, I say Fairyland Story clone

Over the years, a lot of games--such as Chip Chan Kick!, Don Doko Don, Parasol Stars, Rod Land and Snow Bros.--have been called "Bubble Bobble clones." That's always struck me as a bit funny (despite the fact that I've often used the phrase myself--in this recent post about Pop'n Magic, for instance), as I think it would be a lot more accurate to call them clones of The Fairyland Story.

What, you've never heard of The Fairyland Story? No worries, here's a brief history of this not-quite-classic: Developed by Taito, it first hit the floors of the world's arcades--and bars and bowling alleys and whatnot--in 1985. The game's protagonist, a puny witch named Ptolemy, prances from castle-themed stage to castle-themed stage while transforming a cast of surprisingly cuddly enemies--including dragons, helmeted (and knife-wielding) pigs and wizards--into cakes with her trusty wand and then smooshing them to smithereens (often by pushing them off of ledges and onto unsuspecting baddies).

Getting back to why the above-mentioned games should be called clones of The Fairyland Story and not Bubble Bobble, there are three reasons for it, in my mind: 1) The Fairyland Story predates Bubble Bobble by a year, 2) the former clearly informed the development of the latter (a number of The Fairyland Story's power-ups, such as the fire cross and the earthquake book, also appear in Bubble Bobble) and 3) none of the titles listed in the opening paragraph of this post actually copied the mechanics of Taito's most classic of quarter-muchers.

So, does all of this mean that I'll stop describing games as "Bubble Bobble clones" and start calling them clones of The Fairyland Story instead? Probably not, but only because most folks have never heard of the earlier title. That said, I'll do my best to plop the phrase "Fairyland Story clone" into a post every now and then--you know, just to keep things honest.

For the eleventh game of Christmas, the UPS man brought to me ...

... Taito's PC Engine port of Don Doko Don.

To those of you who've never played this game, it's a single-screen platformer in the same mold as Bubble Bobble and Parasol Stars. Don Doko Don sets itself apart from those all-time classics, though, by featuring what appear to be hammer-wielding garden gnomes.

Sorry for the sort of awkward shot above, by the way. I didn't want this photo to look like nearly every other one I've taken of a PC Engine game, but the angle I ended up using makes it kind of hard to appreciate Don Doko Don's rather festive cover art, doesn't it?

If you'd like to take a better look at the game's case and HuCard, head on over to my Flickr photostream.

See also: Previous '12 Games of Christmas' posts