I know most folks have known about this early-1990s GameBoy title for ages now, but I was completely unaware of its existence until an English fan translation of it was released a couple of years ago.
In case this is the first you've heard of it, it's a Japan-only game that's often referred to as
The Frog For Whom the Bell Tolls or
For the Frog the Bell Tolls and that plays (in a way) like a bastardized, black-and-white take on
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
That's because, like Nintendo's weirdo follow-up to the original
Zelda title,
Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru is an adventure that features both overhead and side-scrolling segments.
The main thing that keeps this GameBoy cart from feeling like a lame copy-and-paste job is that battles in the bird's-eye-view portions are hands-off affairs--as in, when the protagonist, Prince Sablé, bumps into an enemy, the fighting begins and ends (behind a cloud of dust, even) without any input from the player.
Don't worry if that sounds about as appealing as watching paint dry, as it's actually pretty adorable--and even kind of enjoyable.
Anyway, with all of that out the way, let's get to the "meat" of this particular post--which is the photos I snapped of my acquired-sometime-ago copy of
For the Frog the Bell Tolls.
Boy, that illustration that serves as the centerpiece of this game's box art is a beauty, isn't it? I kind of wish it took up the entirety of the front side of the packaging, though. At least it's still pretty enticing even in its current state.
Moving to
Kaeru no Tame's instruction manual, it's quite a looker, too. I love how the page showcased in the snapshot above combines a look at the game's map with a few of its (main?) characters.
The page above, on the other hand, gives me serious
Kid Icarus vibes--which, of course, is a very good thing.
I have to say, I'm not entirely sure why I'm sharing this photo of
For the Frog the Bell Tolls' cartridge. After all, its label art isn't all that different from what's found on the front of the game's box.
Oh, well, you really can't have too many photos of such lovely Japanese pick-ups, can you?
So, have any of you played this one? If so, what are your thoughts on it? Do you like its odd gameplay, or do you wish it were a bit more interactive (à la the
Zelda series)? Also, what do you think of this title's obsession with food-inspired names?
See also: previous 'Year of the GameBoy' posts
