Manual Stimulation: Ganbare Gorby! (Game Gear)

You know what I like most about Game Gear instruction manuals? They're small--and not just in size, but in length, too. That's a big deal to me because, well, scanning each and every page of a thick game manual (for use in one of these posts, of course) can be a real pain in the butt.

The only problem I have with short instruction manuals: Sometimes they're stuffed full of delightful illustrations and other details, and sometimes they're as dull as dishwater.

Sadly, the manual produced for Sega's quirky, Mikhail Gorbachev-focused puzzler, Ganbare Gorby!, falls somewhere between those two extremes.

It certainly starts out promising enough, with the game's colorful cover art showing up once again to remind folks what's in store once they press "play." (If this is the first you've heard of Ganbare Gorby!, it means you'll be acting as the aforementioned former president of the Soviet Union as he alters the course of myriad conveyor belts in order to deliver food, medicine and portable game systems to comrades in need.)



Anyway, the manual's first few pages are as bright and bold as its cover. Also, one of them features a completely adorable drawing of good ol' Gorbachev. I wish I could tell you why he isn't also carrying a Game Gear (one of the items he delivers to the poor in this endearingly odd puzzler), but I can't.





After that, Ganbare Gorby's manual becomes a bit boring, to tell you the truth. At least the following pages feature a number of nice screenshots. (Please note the right-most one in the scan below, which shows a citizen grinning from ear to ear after successfully grabbing a piece of meat that wouldn't look out of place in a PC Genjin game.)

Acquisition #142: Ganbare Gorby! (Game Gear)

You probably can't tell by looking at the cover art below, but my latest acquisition, Ganbare Gorby!, is an action-puzzler that stars Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev--aka the guy with the port-wine birthmark who served as president of the Soviet Union between 1988 and 1991.

As odd as that likely sounds, the end product's actually pretty darn fun. Of course, how could it not be? Not only does it put players in ol' Gorby's shoes, but it tasks them with racing through one Russian factory after another in order to provide the poor with such basic essentials as food, medicine and, er, Game Gears, while avoiding violent soldiers and guards.

Thankfully, the factories you and Gorbechev spend so much time in are far from drab. On the contrary, they're bright and colorful, with red and blue floors giving way to green and purple walls that are topped by orange and yellow minarets.

Ganbare Gorby's gameplay is similarly striking, despite the fact that it often involves stepping onto and off of switches--or moving conveyor belts to and fro--that help deliver the above-mentioned staples to the awaiting masses. (To see what I mean, check out this video. Just make sure your volume is turned down, as the sound quality in this clip is terrible.)

By the way, I can't write a post about this game without mentioning two things. First, it was released outside of Japan (in 1991) as Factory Panic, with Gorbechev being replaced by some random blond brat. (Strangely, everything else remains--including the minarets and the Soviet soldiers.) Second, I have to thank the proprietor of the VGJunk blog for turning me on to Ganbare Gorby!, as I'd never heard of it before reading this post. Afterwards, I traipsed on over to eBay and searched for it on a whim. To my surprise, I discovered an auction for the rather pristine copy you see above and promptly picked it up.

Now I just need to pick up a (refurbished) Game Gear so I can play it the way it's supposed to be experienced (as opposed to doing so via emulation), don't you think?

See also: Previous 'Acquisition #123' posts