Manual Stimulation: Peetan (GameBoy)

You may remember how, in my last GameBoy-centric "Manual Stimulation" post, I mentioned that belatedly discovering Irem's Noobow back in 2013 almost singlehandedly reignited my interest in Nintendo's first portable game system.

The key words there are "almost singlehandedly," as although that side-scrolling puzzler was the game that got me thinking about the GameBoy again (after more than a decade of completely ignoring it), a number of other titles kept the proverbial ball rolling and even helped it pick up speed.



Kaneko's Peetan, highlighted here, is one of those titles.

Of course, only a person with a heart of stone could fail to fall in love with a game that comes in such a wonderfully colorful and charming package, don't you think?



Add in the fact that Peetan's protagonist is a protective mother hen and that its gameplay revolves around launching her endangered chicks to the upper-reaches of a tree, and it should be easy to see how I quickly became smitten with this Japan-only release from 1991.

Am I as smitten with Peetan's instruction manual as I am with its gameplay, premise, and packaging? Not really, but don't take that to mean I think it's a dog.



After all, it offers up a number of nice touches. The line of illustrated chicks that runs along the bottom of every page is a good example. The larger drawings that pop up here and there are another.



I'm also pretty fond of the Peetan manual's overall color scheme, although it can make scans such as the ones showcased in this post somewhat hard to see.

My advice: click on them to blow them up a bit--or a lot. That'll make them far easier to enjoy.



Something else I love about the Peetan manual: the wonky screenshots that are scattered throughout its 15 pages.



That's nothing new to the world of GameBoy instruction booklets, of course. Most of them feature at least a few screenshots that could, at best, be described as fuzzy or hazy.



Oh, well. Not every Japanese GameBoy manual can be as eye-popping as the ones made for Bubble Bobble Junior, Pitman, Snow Bros. Jr., or Totsugeki! Ponkotsu Tank, right?



Plus, Peetan's booklet includes something not found in any of the just-mentioned ones: an entire page about something called an "EGG BONUS."

See also: previous 'Manual Stimulation' posts devoted to Astro Rabby, Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru, Penguin-kun Wars Vs., and Tumblepop

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.

Special delivery: Kaneko's Peetan for GameBoy

I don't think I've ever mentioned this here or anywhere else, but for some time now I've dutifully--some would say obsessively--maintained a list of "Holy Grail" GameBoy titles.

Basically, the games named on it are ones I desperately want to own before I kick the bucket.

The list used to be pretty long. I've been able to lop a number of games off of it in recent years, months and weeks, though, thanks to some timely perusals of eBay, Yahoo Japan Auctions and the like.



A few of the titles that have made the transition from my handy text file to my grubby little hands: Tumblepop, Totsugeki! Ponkotsu Tank, Taiyou no Tenshi Marlowe, Snow Bros. Jr., Painter Momopie, Noobow, Bubble Bobble Junior and Astro Rabby.

Oh, and Kaneko's Peetan.

Tracking down and acquiring a complete-in-box copy of that 1991, Japan-only release has been more difficult than you might think. After all, the game rarely pops up on any of the auction sites or online shops I eluded to earlier, and when it does, it usually goes for an obscene amount of money. (Here's a good example.)

So, when I came across the far-cheaper-than-four-hundred-dollars copy of Peetan showcased in the photos found throughout this post, you can bet I jumped on it.

It's not perfect. The colorful outer box is ever-so-slightly torn on its rear side, and the instruction manual is a bit crumpled. Still, it's complete and the game cartridge works like a charm, so I'm more than satisfied.

If you've never played, or even heard of, Peetan, the gist is that it's a lot like one of those old Game & Watch titles Nintendo produced during the 1980s. How so? Well, the whole she-bang is depicted in black and white (or black and green, if you're using an original GameBoy model), for starters. Also, each and every stage sticks to the confines of the brick-like handheld system's screen.

Beyond that, Peetan's gameplay is refreshingly simple. You control a mama chicken who patrols the top fifth of the play area. Below her are a trio of helpless chicks as well as a bunch of seesaws. Throwing a wrench into the works: a hungry mutt (or wolf) who has his eyes--and terrifying chops--set on the above-mentioned hatchlings.

As he stalks your offspring, you press the GameBoy's directional pad to move left or right and jab its A or B buttons to drop eggs that either knock the canid on the head or catapult your chicks toward safety (aka the top of the screen).

It's all rather stressful--something that probably isn't obvious in this Peetan gameplay footage--although the boppy tunes that percolate in the background help cut the tension a bit. (But only a bit.)

Would Peetan have earned a place on the "must buy" list mentioned early on in this post if its gameplay weren't so compelling and exciting? Honestly, I think it would have. Look at that cover art and tell me you wouldn't say the same--if you had any interest in collecting GameBoy titles, I mean.

This Inter State-made game's instruction manual's quite a looker, too, although I hesitate to compare it to its cartridge label. (Don't take my word for it; flip through the Peetan manual yourself.) Still, I'm sure you get the point: that Peetan's packaging is top notch all the way around.

What do you think? Also, have any of you played this old game? If so, what did you think of it?

See also: 'Nu-Bo, Nuubou, Noobow, New--oh, whatever...'

Forget the Year of Luigi; for me, 2014 is the Year of the GameBoy

Given the number of posts I've published about them in recent weeks and months, you could be forgiven for assuming I'd already declared (or at least privately decided) this to be the "Year of the DS" or the "Year of the 3DS."

In a way, of course, 2014 is and will be both of those things for me--unofficially, at least. Officially, though, it's already become clear to me that the focus of my thoughts and desires this year is going to be the handheld that started it all, the GameBoy.

The fact is, I've been a smidge obsessed with the system--its extensive catalog of obscure Japanese games, in particular--since I wrote about Irem's Noobow early last year.

Clockwise from upper-left: Snow Bros. Jr., Painter Momopie,
Penguin Land and Osawagase! Penguin Boy

Things only got worse after I discovered Peetan a few months later, and then Painter Momopie and Osawagase! Penguin Boy a couple of months after that.

Sadly, I've yet to come across complete copies of Noobow or Peetan during my all-too-frequent eBay forays, but I have come across--and purchased--copies of Painter Momopie and Osawagase! Penguin Boy and a number of other intriguing, import-only GameBoy titles in the last half-year or so.

So, expect to see posts--featuring photos as well as impressions, if not actual reviews--about all of them sooner rather than later. At the moment, I'm not planning to "brand" these write-ups in any particular way, but who knows? Regardless, I hope you'll enjoy them.

Kaneko's Peetan: another import-only GameBoy title I desperately want to own

Despite the headline above, I'm not at all sure if this obscure, Japanese GameBoy puzzler should be called Peetan, Piitan or Pitan.

Based on what I've learned about katakana so far, I'd be far more likely to use either Pitan (perhaps with a macron over the "i") or Piitan than Peetan, but since the double-e version seems to be the most common usage on the good ol' Interwebs, I'll go with it here, too.

Anyway, who really cares how you're supposed to spell the game's name? The real reason you're reading this is to find out why I want to own it, right?



My response: it's a single-screen action-puzzler that stars a bunch of cute chicks--and I'm not talking about the kind who have big chests and wear tight skirts.

It helps, of course, that Peetan was produced by the fine folks at Kaneko, who also had a hand in making the similarly obscure Game Gear title called The Berlin Wall.

Sadly, I doubt I'll be buying a copy of this one anytime soon, as I've yet to see one pop up on ebay or any of the online Japanese game shops that I frequent, so while you wait for that to happen you might want to check out the video above as well as Retro Collect's admirably thorough review.