Manual Stimulation: Burning Paper (GameBoy)

Stop me if you've heard this before: I first became interested in Burning Paper because of its brightly colored box art.

I also found its Bomberman-esque protagonist to be intriguing.

Thankfully, there's more to this 1993 Japan-only release than its snazzy cover imagery. In fact, I think its gameplay which reminds of Qix mixed with Space Invaders, is even more impressive than its box art. I might say the same of the Burning Paper soundtrack, which features some surprisingly top-shelf tunes.



The game's instruction manual, showcased here, is worth mentioning, too. It starts off a bit slowly, but once it gets going, it doesn't look back.



Honestly, though, even the blander pages of the Burning Paper manual are easy on the eyes thanks to the complementary green and orange inks its designers decided to use while printing it.



The booklet's first few spreads explain Burning Paper's story, controls, and--uh, whatever the right-hand page above details. (Heads up: a visitor named Dan kindly translated the entirety of this manual into English. Check out the spoils of his hard work here.)



From there, it introduces players to the game's protagonist, Bomberman--I mean, Burningman--as well as its insect-inspired bosses.



Next, the Burning Paper instruction manual gives readers a glimpse of the enemies that inhabit this Japanese GameBoy game's bonus stages. Oh, and it offers up a rundown of its handful of collectible items, too.



The highlight of this impressively meaty booklet is the six-page salvo of enemy names, descriptions, and illustrations.



I don't know about you, but I think the first batch of baddies you encounter while making your way through Burning Paper's initial couple of stages are far better than the ones that come later.



Even so, this title, both developed and published by the little-known company, LOZC G. Amusements, is a delight. If you're still up for playing GameBoy games in one way or another, I'd highly recommend devoting a few minutes to this one as soon as you've got the time.

See also: previous 'Manual Stimulation' posts about Bubble Bobble Junior, Noobow, Peetan, and Snow Bros. Jr.

Surprise! The Year of the GameBoy Continues: Burning Paper

This latest "Year of the GameBoy" post focuses on a title that's long given me a lot of joy--and has long caused me to wrinkle my nose in disgust due to the fact that almost everyone overlooks it.

What's so great about Burning Paper, which was developed by Pixel and published by LOZC G. Amusements in 1993? Its name is a good starting point, I think--even if you know nothing about its gameplay.

Speaking of which, Burning Paper reminds me a lot of one of my favorite PSP titles, Patchwork Heroes (aka Hyakumanton no Bara Bara), when it comes to how it plays.

In that game, you control a brave citizen who volunteers to save his comrades from approaching warships by hacking them to pieces.



In Burning Paper, on the other hand, you're plopped into the boots of a guy who bears a shocking resemblance to the iconic Bomberman. For whatever reason, he's been tasked with protecting a series of buildings from an advancing horde of nasty-looking beings. (OK, so most of them are kind of cute. Still, it's clear they're up to no good.)

I'm sure all of this is explained in the game's instruction manual, but at the moment my grasp of the Japanese language isn't advanced enough for me to make sense of its "story" page.

(Regarding Burning Paper's manual, by the way, it's actually pretty impressive. I especially like all of the little illustrations that are sprinkled throughout--scroll down a couple of inches to see a few of them. And keep your eyes peeled for a "Manual Stimulation" post devoted to this booklet)

Going back a bit, Burning Paper's gameplay is at least somewhat explained in the game's opening cinematic. In a series of four static images, a scientist who could pass as a close relative of Mega Man's Dr. Light creates a concoction that appears to cause an adverse reaction (to put it mildly) to some nearby creepy-crawlies.

Thankfully, mister Bomberman wannabe is on hand and comes to the rescue. Or something like that.

Regardless, each and every stage in Burning Paper begins with the above-mentioned and familiarly besuited protagonist stuck atop a high-rise. These high-rises are covered in posters. Don't ask me why--again, I don't have a clue.

As a variety of vermin--including bugs, mice, moles and a bunch of other creatures I can't properly categorize--amble their way toward your lofty position, you use some sort of laser (provided by the faux Dr. Light, naturally) to cut pieces out of the placards below. Get the timing right, and the falling scraps crash into the oncoming baddies and send them into the Great Beyond.



It's a lot of fun, and more than a bit frantic. Plus, it looks rather nice and sounds lovely.

Actually, I'd say it sounds more than lovely. In fact, its soundtrack is pretty amazing considering I'd never heard of Pixel or LOZC G. Amusements before I became acquainted with Burning Paper.

Combine all of the above with the fact that, as I've hopefully made clear with the photos you see here, this title's outer box, cartridge and instruction manual are beautifully designed, and it should be easy to understand why the lack of Burning Paper love from the GameBoy-loving masses (if such a thing can be said to exist in 2016) confounds and confuses me.

Who knows, though, maybe posts like this will help bring it to the attention of more people who still get a kick out of old-school oddities.