Manual Stimulation: Bubble Ghost (GameBoy)

I'm sure I've said this before, but I'm saying it again anyway: some Japanese GameBoy instruction booklets are better than others.

Sadly, the Bubble Ghost manual is one of the "others."



It could be worse, I know. Much, much worse.

I mean, look at its logo, for starters. I'm talking about the main English one here, which is wonderfully and appropriately bubbly, although the Japanese one is awfully nice, too.



And of course the eponymous bubble ghost sitting smack-dab in the middle of it doesn't hurt matters.

Beyond those elements, there's the raspberry-colored ink that's slathered over a good portion of both the Bubble Ghost manual's cover as well as its innards.



Strangely, I'm pretty fond of the fuchsia-tinged screenshots that dot this booklet's pages.

I'm not as fond of the fact that those pages feature only a few illustrations. You'd think a game like this would come with a manual that's filled with drawings of the main character. It doesn't.



Granted, I'm not sure the folks at publisher Pony Canyon put a whole lot of energy into the creation of this booklet.

For a case in point, take a gander at that rather pointless map that takes up more than half of its second-to-last page.



Thankfully, Bubble Ghost's outer box and cartridge label go a long way toward making up for its manual's missteps.

To see what I mean, check out this blog post of mine: "Surprise! The Year of the GameBoy Continues: Bubble Ghost."



Have any of you played this version of Bubble Ghost? Or have you played any other version of the game-, which began life (in 1987) on the Atari ST computer? If so, share your thoughts on the game--or this GameBoy manual--in the comments section below.

See also: previous 'Manual Stimulation' posts about Astro Rabby, Noobow, Peetan, and Taiyou no Tenshi Marlowe

Manual Stimulation: Onyanko Town (Famicom)

My last post focused on Onyanko Town's lovely packaging. This one, as should be obvious (assuming you read the headline above), focuses on that Japanese Famicom game's manual.

Sadly, I can't say I find the Onyanko Town instruction booklet as stunning as its outer box or cartridge label. That's mainly because it's painfully short, but it's also because its small handful of pages tend to be covered in text and little else.

Thankfully, its cover sports a rather nice illustration of the game's main characters. Sure, the art was recycled from Onyanko Town's box front, but that's hardly surprising given we're talking about a 1985 release.



Granted, you could say it's hardly surprising given we're talking about a game, period. I mean, how many games released in recent years come with manuals that feature a unique piece of art?

Things take a bit of a dip once you venture inside the Onyanko Town manual, however. I'm not even sure what information its first page, below, shares with readers, to be honest, but even if it reveals the game's deepest secrets, it would be hard to argue it's anything more than visually boring.

The same is true of the next page, although at least it passes along some important info about the game's controls.



Should you ever play Onyanko Town yourself, here's how things work: your controller's directional pad moves the protagonist (Mirukii), while its A button causes her to jump and its B button prompts her to flip a nearby manhole.

Speaking of Mirukii, she's introduced on the third page of the Onyanko Town instruction booklet, as is her son, Michael (the kitten in the lower-left corner of the scan below), the "nasty dogs" (upper-right) that wander each stage and the fishmonger (lower-left) who chases you if you snatch one of his wares.

Unfortunately, that's all I can share with you about this game's cast of characters, as my understanding of the Japanese language remains limited. I can't imagine the blurbs to the right of their precious, hand-drawn portraits offer up anything interesting, though.



On a far more positive note, I can share with you what's said on the last page of the Onyanko Town manual (see below--and don't forget to click on that scan or any of the others included here if you want a closer look at them). Basically, it educates interested parties as to how many points they'll receive for completing various actions while playing the game

For example, if you cause one "nasty dog" to tumble into an uncovered manhole, you nab 100 points. Two nets you 400 points, and three awards you 800 points. (I'm guessing this is per dog, but don't quote me on that.)



Also, you earn even more points if you pick up some of the random accoutrements--such as the dress, shoes or ring depicted in the scan above--that pop up while scrambling around each stage.

Like I said earlier, the Onyanko Town instruction booklet isn't exactly amazing. It gets the job done, though, and also offers up some nicely realized illustrations along the way, so it's hard to complain about its ho-hum-ness too loudly.

See also: previous 'Manual Stimulation' posts about the Famicom Disk Writer version of Bubble Bobble, Donkey Kong, Mother (aka EarthBound Beginnings), Super Mario Bros. and Yume Penguin Monogatari

Nice Package! (Onyanko Town, Famicom)

I've written about this Japan-only Famicom game a few times before. I first mentioned Onyanko Town last fall in this "Shall We Do It?" write-up after my maiden experience with it. Early this year, I brought it up again in a post about my five favorite Pac-Man clones.

So, why am I covering it once more? Because neither of the aforementioned posts included photos of Onyanko Town's adorable packaging.

By far the most appealing component of this game's packaging is its outer box--or at least that's my opinion on the subject.



I mean, you'd need a heart of stone to dislike the Onyanko Town logo, which is lovingly crafted out of yellow-orange bubble letters. The same is true of the so-cute-it-could-make-you-barf cover illustration that sits beneath that logo.

The characters showcased on the front and back sides of this Famicom game's box are the only ones you encounter while playing it, by the way.



The larger cat on the far right of its cover art, the one grasping a fish, is who you control once the game begins. As for the kitten she's holding with her other paw, that's her baby, Michael. He runs away (or something of the sort) at the start of every level, and then you, as Mirukii, chase after him and drag him back home.

The "nasty dog" depicted in the upper-right corner of the manual page below (see the whole Onyanko Town instruction booklet here) basically serves as this title's version of the ghosts that populate Pac-Man's pellet-riddled screens. A number of them stalk this copycat's levels. Should they catch you or your son, it's game over.



The fishmonger seen in the lower-right corner of the sample manual page above, as well as on the far left of the cart label below, also gives chase if you dare to steal one of his future fillets.

Thankfully, you can get these brutes off your tail by flipping the lids of the manholes that cover Onyanko Town's busy streets and sending them tumbling into their putrid depths.



This evasive action only offers a temporary reprieve, however, so keep that in mind if you ever decide to play Onyanko Town yourself.

With all that out of the way, this 1985 release's packaging is surprisingly nice, wouldn't you agree? Its key art is recycled a bit more than I'd like, I've got to admit, but other than that I personally think it's pretty sweet.

See also: previous 'Nice Package!' posts about the Famicom Disk Writer version of Bubble Bubble, Final Fantasy and Rainbow Islands

Surprise! The Year of the GameBoy Continues: Bubble Ghost

OK, so every year seems to be the "Year of the GameBoy" around these parts. Sue me!

The fact is, I'm still madly in love with Nintendo's first portable system and its fine catalog of games. Sure, the latter includes a slew of crappy titles, but the same can be said of most handhelds. Plus, for me, the GameBoy's best gems are so enjoyable they make it easy to overlook its unplayable turds.

Speaking of my on-going love affair with this brick-like device (I'm talking about its design here, not its abilities), I've currently got a burr up my butt about whittling down the GameBoy portion of my lengthy gaming bucket list.

That's why I recently acquired the cart that serves as this post's focus, actually. Well, that played a role, at least. Also relevant: Bubble Ghost's adorable cover art.

And it is pretty darn adorable, wouldn't you agree?

To be honest, I'm not sure which piece of Bubble Ghost GameBoy box art I like more: the one created for Japan or the one created for North America and Europe.



Regardless, both are easy on the eyes. And both sport the same oh-so-appealing logo.

In terms of overall packaging, though, I've got to go with Japan's GameBoy port of the game. I like that it offers up random pops of color--such as the hint of teal at the top of its box front, or the vibrant pink that's splashed across its side flaps.

That same pink shows up as an accent color on the game box's back side, while a shockingly bright yellow blankets the remainder of its surface.

Similarly appealing hues can be found on every piece of Bubble Ghost's packaging. A case in point: the subdued, bubblegum-y pink featured on the game's instruction manual. Also, the banana yellow that covers its cartridge label.

OK, so the copy I recently bought and that's on display throughout this post isn't immaculate. I don't mind that as much as you might imagine. Sure, I'd love it if it were in perfect condition, but as long as it doesn't look like a dog chewed on it, I'm OK with a couple of creased manual pages or a few frayed box edges.



After all, what really matters is that the cartridge is works. And that's exactly the case here. Which is great, as Bubble Ghost is yet another of those intriguing titles that is perfectly suited to the GameBoy.

That probably sounds funny to those of you who know a bit about its history. For those of you who don't, Bubble Ghost began life in 1987 as an Atari ST game. In that release, and the numerous other PC ports that followed in the original's footsteps, players controlled the titular ghoul using a mouse.

A press of the space bar or shift key prompts the little guy to blow out a puff of air in those versions--which is important, as this is what allows you to guide the bubble mentioned in the game's title through the many halls of a haunted house.

In this GameBoy iteration (remake, really), developed by Opera House, the system's directional pad moves the pixelated specter and its face buttons produce the needed puff of air.

The latter control scheme works surprisingly well. Also, the GameBoy's archaic hardware doesn't do much to hold back Bubble Ghost's graphics or gameplay. In other words, this cartridge is well worth checking out if you're like me and you're still interested in playing decades-old handheld games.

See also: previous 'Year of the GameBoy' posts about Noobow, Peetan and Tumblepop.

Introducing: the Famicart Art! tumblr

As most (all?) of you know, I'm a real sucker for anything related to the Nintendo Famicom.

Which means, of course, I've become a tiny bit obsessed with Walter Parenton's latest tumblr--he also maintains one called boygraphics--since I first became aware of it a couple of days ago.

The name of Parenton's new tumblog says it all, really: Famicart Art!

Here are a few examples of what you'll be able to ogle if you decide to follow the Famicart Art! tumblr:



The colorful cartridge above contains a Jaleco-made game called Ochin no Toshi Puzzle Tonjan!?



This spooky-looking piece of plastic, on the other hand, houses Yamamura Misa Suspense: Kyoto Hana no Misshitsu Satsujin Jiken, a Japan-only (duh) adventure game from 1989.



Finally, we have Pony Canyon's adorable Onyanko Town. This 1985 release has been on my "to buy" list for ages now. Maybe this write-up will push me to get off my butt and buy a copy of it.

While you wait for my inevitable slew of blog posts about Onyanko Town, you should head over to my Flickr photostream and check out all of the photos I've taken of Famicom game boxes, cartridges and instruction manuals.

See also: previous Famicom-focused posts

And the winner of The Gay Gamer Giveaway™: Penguin Land Edition is ...

... Kaze. Congratulations!

Once again, sorry to all of you who offered up a hearty "yo!" but didn't walk away with the GameBoy cartridge. Don't worry, though, as I'm planning to hold two more such "Gay Gamer Giveaways" (at least) in the coming weeks--with the next one likely being announced this coming Monday.

This is how I wrapped finchiekins' Painter Momopie 

cart before sending it earlier this week.

In the meantime, Kaze, please send me your address so I can mail this copy of Penguin Land to you ASAP. We follow each other on Twitter, so maybe you could send that info via a direct message? If that's not possible, let me know and I can just share my e-mail address with you in the comments section below.

Congrats again, and thanks to everyone who participated!

The Gay Gamer Giveaway™: Penguin Land (GameBoy) Edition

I don't know about you, but I think it's about time we kick off another Gay Gamer Giveaway™, don't you?

The giveaway this time around will be a loose (as in just the cart--no box, case or manual) copy of Pony Canyon's GameBoy port of Sega's Doki Doki Penguin Land, which drops the Doki Doki in favor of simply being known as Penguin Land.

I've written about this game a few times before now, by the way. I first mentioned--and showcased a video of--it in this post, and then I spent some time chatting about its packaging in this post and its instruction manual in this post.

So, you may want to check out one or all of those previously published posts before you decide whether or not you want this cart.

Should you decide that you do want it, just leave some sort of a comment below between today and the morning of Monday, June 23. Even a simple "yo!" is OK if your username is unique enough that I should be able to tell you apart from all of the other people clamoring for their very own copy of Penguin Land.

See also: previous Gay Gamer Giveaway™ posts

Manual Stimulation: Penguin Land (GameBoy)

Something you may have already noticed about the Japanese GameBoy instruction manuals I've been sharing here as of late is that a good number of them aren't all that appealing.

I'm publishing "Manual Stimulation" posts about them anyway, though, because most of these games are fairly (if not completely) unknown outside of Japan and I'd like to do my part in helping educate Westerners about them, if at all possible.

Plus, very few (if any) photos or scans of the manuals, packaging or cartridges of these games find their way onto the Internet these days, and I hate the idea of them eventually becoming lost to time.

With all of that said, let's take a gander at the instruction manual that was produced for Pony Canyon's GameBoy port of Sega's classic Doki Doki Penguin Land, shall we?



Things certainly get off to a good start, if you ask me. That splash of blue in the logo is a nice addition, for instance, although it pales in comparison to the adorable illustration that graces the manual's back cover.



The illustrations that top the manual's "story" page (above) are pretty adorable, too.



How can you add a bit of "oomph" to an otherwise humdrum instruction manual? Have a cute comic strip run along the bottom of each page, as is the case here.



In fact, said comic is about all that's worth looking at when it comes to the latter stages of the Penguin Land manual--although I guess some folks (who can understand Japanese, of course) may also like the parts that explain how to play this unique puzzler-platformer.



Thankfully, this game is extremely easy to pick up and play, so don't avoid picking up a copy (or, um, downloading a ROM) of it if you don't understand a lick of Japanese. A couple of seconds of trial and error are all you're likely to need to come to grips with how it controls and what the point of it is.



And here (above) the comic strip ends--seemingly on a positive note for the game's protagonist?



Penguin Land features an extensive cast of characters, as you can see in the pair of pages above.



I don't suppose any of you can make out what's discussed on this last page of the game's instruction manual? Are we looking at gameplay hints or tips here, or is it just random details that didn't fit anywhere else?

See also: previous 'Manual Stimulation' posts

Penguin Land for GameBoy: black (or in this case blue) and white and cute all over

Now that I've worked Madou Monogatari out of my system (I think), it's time to get back to the "Year of the GameBoy," don't you think? I sure do.

Could I have chosen a more exciting GameBoy title to help us get back into the swing of things? I guess so, but I went with this one anyway because it's a Japan-only game that rarely seems to be discussed outside of its country of origin (and probably isn't discussed there all that often either) and because it features a pretty sweet cover illustration.

This game is a portable conversion of Sega's Doki Doki Penguin Land, by the way--and if you've never heard of that one, well, the gist is that players are placed in the shoes (feet?) of the titular penguin and then tasked with guiding a rather large egg from the top of each vertically scrolling stage to the bottom by destroying or moving any ice blocks that are in the way. 

It's a pretty simple puzzler-platformer, really, but for me that's its main draw. Well, that and its adorable protagonist.

That said, I might've preferred if publisher Pony Canyon had held off on releasing this one until the GameBoy Color hit the streets, as I definitely think it could have benefited from a bit of visual pizazz.

Still, it's a fun little time-waster, and as we saw earlier, its packaging (as well as its instruction manual, a sample of which can be seen in the photo above) is easy on the eyes, so the lack of color isn't as off-putting as it might be otherwise.

Sadly, the back of the Penguin Land box is pretty par for the course when it comes to Japanese GameBoy games. I guess publishers at that time believed most folks would buy their wares based solely on the product's cover art?

One additional photo (of a cute illustration that graces the backside of this game's manual) can be found on my Flickr photostream, by the way, in case any of you are interested.

See also: previous 'Year of the GameBoy' posts

You really need to try these three GameBoy titles, if you haven't already

Warning: despite the fact that I'm enjoying the hell out of my 3DSes right now--thanks in part to games like Pokemon X, Sayonara Umihara Kawase, Touch Detective: Funghi's Big Breed and, yes, Animal Crossing: New Leaf--that system actually pales in comparison to the original GameBoy and its catalog when it comes to taking up space in my brain at the moment.

Yes, I'm currently a bit obsessed Nintendo's first handheld. Actually, I've been obsessed with it for a few months now--ever since I became aware of and wrote about import-only curiosities like Noobow and Peetan.



Reading about and eventually playing those titles prompted me to do some digging to find a few similarly overlooked (by myself, if not by others) "gems," three of which can be seen in the photo above.

Although the GameBoy port of Snow Bros. Jr. (above, upper left) is well worth checking out, especially if you're into single screen platformers like Bubble Bobble, the games I want to focus on in this particular post are Painter Momopie (upper right), Penguin Land (lower right) and Osawagase! Penguin Boy (lower left).



Painter Momopie's probably my favorite of the bunch right now. Why? Because it stars an adorable little witch, for starters. Also, it's a surprisingly appealing Pac-Man clone--which tasks the aforementioned witch with racing through a home (hers? I'm not sure...) and painting (I think) its floors while avoiding various baddies. Sure, it gets a little repetitive after a while, but the same can be said for the iconic Pac-Man, so I'm not going to be too harsh on that aspect of it. My only real qualm: that its developers never released an updated version for the GameBoy Color.



As for Penguin Land: well, it's actually a port of Sega's Doki Doki Penguin Land, an odd little game that brings together the platformer and puzzler genres in a really unique (and fun) way. (Play revolves around guiding an egg to the bottom of each level by moving or destroying blocks that are in the way.) The Master System and Mega Drive versions of this title look better than this Pony Canyon-made one, of course, but I still wouldn't say the latter is at all unattractive. Plus, as is often the case with old games like this, there's far more to Penguin Land than its outward appearance.



Finally, there's Osawagase! Penguin Boy, released in North America as Amazing Penguin. I'm not exactly sure how this one escaped my attention for so long, although I think its rather terrible box art may have played a role. Thankfully, I first discovered Penguin Boy via a review of its gameplay, so the crappy cover didn't keep me from giving it a try once I became aware of it (the game, not the cover art). As for its gameplay: it's basically a mash-up of Pac-Man, Pengo and Qix, if that makes any sense. If not ... uh, watch the video above, which explains things pretty well.

See also: 'From the back of my boyhood closet, part seven'