Five more overlooked Japanese GameBoy games you need to play as soon as possible

Late last year, I published a post about five overlooked Japanese GameBoy games I thought all interested parties should play as soon as humanly possible.

The titles highlighted in the write-up were Astro Rabby, Burning Paper, Noobow, Painter Momopie and Taiyou no Tenshi Marlowe: Ohanabatake wa Dai-Panic, in case anyone would like a refresher.

At the time, I had no intention of following up that article. A couple of weeks ago, though, it struck me that I'd left more than a few sadly ignored GameBoy cartridges out of my original offering.

Will I ever publish a third? I'm not planning to, but who knows. There's no question there are more Japanese GameBoy carts that deserve to have the spotlight turned their way, so if I can corral five of them I may just push forward with yet another "overlooked Japanese GameBoy games" post.

In the meantime, I'd highly recommend you do whatever you need to do to check out the following:

Banishing Racer--I'm not so sure this game can be called "overlooked" at this point, especially among collectors. Still, I have a feeling your average Joe or Jane who only has a passing interest in Nintendo's first handheld system is completely unaware of Banishing Racer's existence, so I'd say it's as deserving of a mention here as any other Japanese GameBoy cartridge.

As for why I think those Janes and Joes should play this Jaleco-made offering, my main reason is it's a side-scrolling platformer that stars an adorable anthropomorphic car. Also, it sports a breezy soundtrack that's surprisingly easy on the ears.

Unfortunately, Banishing Racer is short (just five worlds with three stages in each) and tends toward being cheaply difficult, but controlling a car with googly eyes--which may or may not be "related" to the vehicle at the heart of another great Jaleco game, City Connection--far outweighs both of those negatives in my humble opinion.

Before you run off and try to hunt down a copy of Banishing Racer thanks to all the gushing I've done here, know that even loose carts can go for astronomical amounts these days.

Cave Noire--Oh, Konami. Once upon a time, you produced some absolutely wonderful games--like this one, in fact. Not that you bothered to bring Cave Noire to Australia, Europe, North America or any other region outside of Japan.

Of course, it's hard to blame the powers that be at Konami for giving the thumbs down to a localization of this portable roguelike. After all, the genre wasn't all that popular among console gamers in the early 1990s. (Cave Noire hit Japanese store shelves in 1991.) Thankfully, GameBoy systems were and continue to be region-free, so anyone who wants to put this curious title through its paces is free to do so.

As for what they'll encounter after booting it up: that would be a dungeon-crawling RPG that takes some interesting liberties with the pattern laid down by genre-maker Rogue. You see, Cave Noire is divided into four distinct dungeons. Each of these claustrophobic chambers focuses on a different victory condition: one tasks you with collecting a certain amount of money, one demands you save a certain number of trapped fairies and so on and so forth.

That combined with the bite-sized nature of the game's dungeons as well as its eye-pleasing visuals (which remind of Final Fantasy Adventure, aka Seiken Densetsu) and similarly adroit audio propels Cave Noire into must-play territory even if you don't know a lick of the language.

Kitchen Panic--Full disclosure: this Coconuts Japan-published (in 1991) game is the least impressive of all the ones highlighted in this post. Thankfully, you also should be able to pick up a copy of Kitchen Panic for less money than you'd have to pay to buy any of the other titles mentioned here.

As for why Kitchen Panic fails to thrill as much as, say, Cave Noire or Peetan, that would be because it's basically an arcade-y action game that doesn't provide a whole lot of depth. That's not to say it's not fun. If you're in the mood for a nice little Mario Bros.-esque score-attack game that sports cute backdrops and sprites (mostly of various insects), Kitchen Panic is as good an option as any that were produced for the GameBoy during its long life.

One last comment before I shut my trap and move on to the next overlooked Japanese GameBoy title: if you suffer from entomophobia you'll want to treat Kitchen Panic like the plague, as killing creepy-crawlies is the focus of this Bits Laboratory-made cartridge.

Don't forget: it's still the 'Year of the GameBoy'

I may be planning to publish a meaty series of posts about Nintendo's DS next year (oops, did I just say that?), but my (primary) focus for the remainder of this year will be the company's first handheld system, the GameBoy.

That shouldn't come as much of a surprise to those of you who have popped in here for some time, as I've already published a ton of "Year of the GameBoy" posts since I started this series back in the middle of February. In fact, I've published 40 such posts in the ensuing nine or so months, if you can believe it.

Quite a few more of these posts are yet to come, of course--some of which likely will be published next year. (I guess I'll have to declare 2015 to be "Another Year of the GameBoy"?)

In the meantime, I thought some of you might want to check out some of the "Year of the GameBoy" posts that are available right now. My favorites, in case anyone's wondering:

* "The Great Gaymathon Review #66: Painter Momopie"

* "The Great Gaymathon Review #67: Kitchen Panic"

* "I guess you could say I bought Bubble Bobble's GameBoy port because of its box art"

* "Manual Stimulation: Ghostbusters 2"

Another "Year of the GameBoy" post will be published tomorrow, by the way. I wonder which game will serve as its focus?

See also: all of the 'Year of the GameBoy' posts that have been published so far

My favorite GameBoy photos (so far)

While prepping yesterday's post about the GameBoy's 25th anniversary, I spent some time wading through all of the photos I've taken of my GameBoy "acquisitions" over the last few years.

Although I think the shots I've snapped of, say, my DS, Game Gear and even WonderSwan games are more appealing (in general) than the ones I've snapped of my GameBoy titles, I like enough of the latter to share a smattering of them here--you know, so we can keep the GameBoy anniversary train rolling for at least a few more hours.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland

Kitchen Panic

Japanese Tetris box, cartridge and manual

Wario Land II + GameBoy Pocket

Balloon Kid cartridge and case

BurgerTime Deluxe's Japanese packaging

Top flap of Painter Momopie's box

Pokémon Red

If you'd like to see a couple (OK, a lot) more photos of GameBoy and other handheld carts and systems, head over to this Flickr album of mine at your earliest convenience.

Manual Stimulation: Kitchen Panic (GameBoy)

After perusing this recent post and this one, too, you couldn't help but wonder if Kitchen Panic's instruction manual could possibly compare to its packaging, could you?

Hey, I understand. I wondered the same thing myself after I first came across this obscure-ish, Japan-only GameBoy title.

So, what's the verdict? Have a look and tell me yourself.



The front and back covers (above) of Kitchen Panic's manual may be my favorite part of the whole she-bang thanks to the fact that its designers made them ape the look of the original GameBoy hardware.



Next up is the game's backstory, which of course I don't understand. I am pretty fond of the rather touching illustration of its protagonist embracing a woman I presume to be his mother.



A description of Kitchen Panic's controls. Not very visually stimulating, I agree, but this kind of thing was pretty par for the course back then so I'll give the folks responsible this booklet a pass.



Oh, hey, a screenshot of the game's title screen. I'm not sure what else is detailed on that particular page, though, I'm sorry to say. I believe the right-hand page, on the other hand, covers Kitchen Panic's "rules."

The Great Gaymathon Review #67: Kitchen Panic (GameBoy)

Game: Kitchen Panic

Genre: Action

Developer: Bits Laboratory

Publisher: Coconuts Japan

System: GameBoy

Release date: 1991

Let's not beat around the bush--or maybe I should say blender--here: if Kitchen Panic were edible rather than playable, it would be a McDonald's Happy Meal instead of a four-course meal from a three-star restaurant.

That's not me saying this Japan-only GameBoy title deserves to be dumped in the trash along with the spoiled leftovers, by the way. On the contrary, it's actually a pretty cute, "enjoyable enough" little game--just don't look for it to blow you away. And for crying out loud, don't go dropping a wad of cash on it (unless you're one of those crazy collector-types, of course). Go into it with the right expectations, though, and I think you'll have a reasonably good time.

As for what you'll be doing during that "reasonably good time," well, you'll be running around kitchen-themed levels of various sizes--they start off taking up a single screen but quickly grow to many times that--spraying insects of all sorts (cockroaches, mosquitos, worms and more) with Raid until a door appears and whisks you off to another one.

If that sounds less than totally thrilling, well, I can't blame you. Kitchen Panic is, after all, a pretty basic experience. Still, it all becomes kind of enjoyable after you've spent a bit of time with it. Also, the slightest smidge of depth enters the fray when you discover that the sun-, star- and moon-branded blocks that seem to randomly appear (I haven't figured out what prompts them to pop up, at least) after killing certain insects can be pushed together to boost your health, allow you to become invincible and more.

Toss into the mix a couple of bonus stages and boss fights, and you've got yourself an arcade-style action game that's sort of repetitive but also sort of fun--and sports some rather nice "cart art," if I do say so myself.

See also: some photos of Kitchen Panic's packaging, scans of its entire instruction manual, plus previous 'Great Gaymathon' reviews

If only the gameplay in Kitchen Panic (GameBoy) were as awesome as its box art

Oh, don't get me wrong--the gameplay in Kitchen Panic, a rather unheralded Japan-only GameBoy title that was released all the way back in 1991, isn't completely terrible. I also wouldn't describe it as overly appealing, though, which is a bit of a shame given the effort put into its colorful box art.

Oh, well, you can't always have everything, can you? And at least in the case of this portable action game--which was developed by Bits Laboratory and published by Coconuts Japan--we got a pretty ace cover illustration out of the deal.

We also got a surprisingly adorable manual out of it. As you hopefully can see in the photos above and below, the front and back covers of Kitchen Panic's instruction manual are supposed to resemble the corresponding surfaces of an actual GameBoy.

Now, don't take all of this yammering to mean that everything other than Kitchen Panic's box and manual art is completely without merit. In fact, some of its spritework is pretty darn nice, and its gameplay is of the accessibly arcade-y sort that only can be found in a title of this era.



Just don't spend an arm and a leg on a copy of it, OK? In fact, before you spend even a dime on it I'd highly recommend taking it for a test drive via emulation. After that, if you're still interested in it and if you've got the means to play it, pick up a loose cart on the cheap.

See also: my 'Great Gaymathon' review of Kitchen Panic and scans of its entire instruction manual

Five favorites: Japanese GameBoy box art

In the recent post in which I declared 2014 to be the "Year of the GameBoy," I warned folks that they should expect a good number of GB-focused write-ups in the coming weeks and months.

This isn't really the kind of post I was talking about, but it is related to them. After all, one of the things that has pushed me to turn my attention, once again, to Nintendo's first handheld system is the cool, quirky and even beautiful box art that was created for some of its Japanese titles.

The following five pieces of cover art certainly deserve to be tagged as cool, quirky or beautiful--if not all three--or at least I think they deserve to be tagged as such. What do you think?

Banishing Racer--I only became aware of this Jaleco-made platformer--which stars an anthropomorphic car that hops and bops its way across the US--a few months ago, but I've since made up for lost time by basically falling in love with it. Truth be told, the game itself is far from amazing and even can be downright frustrating at times, but I've never been overly picky and I've always been a bit of a masochist, so neither of those things bother me too much. Granted, I may be more lenient on the game than I should be because of its colorful--and kind of hilarious--box art.

Bubble Bobble Junior--Another kind of ho-hum GameBoy title, I have to admit, but, boy, do I like its box art. Of course, I like almost anything related to the iconic Bubble Bobble series, so maybe my interest here shouldn't be too much of a surprise. If only the gameplay were as tight and energetic as its arcade and Famicom/NES predecessors...

Hoi Hoi--Seriously, how can you not love a piece of cover art that features a gigantic, grinning--and winking--cockroach? I also like the kiddies that appear on this one, thanks in large part to the rosy cheeks that make them look like they belong in a cartoon or comic from the early 1900s. Thankfully, the gameplay--which can only be compared to modern tower-defense titles--in this one is worth a second glance, too.

Kitchen Panic--What? Another piece of Japanese GameBoy cover art that showcases illustrations of insects? Yep! Unsurprisingly, those bugs are the star attractions here, with my personal favorite being the bee or fly or spider or whatever you want to call the thing on the left (the one that's crying and holding its face with two of its many hands).

Lock 'n' Chase--After all of the drama above, you're probably surprised I'd decide to include such a "boring" piece of box art in this post. The thing is, I've always liked how this game's Pac-Man-like protagonist is depicted here. Plus, I like the overall use of color in this creation. A really attractive and well-balanced cover, in my humble opinion.

See also: previous 'five favorites' posts