Welcome to WonderSwan World: Special Glamour Shots® Edition

Three WonderSwan-focused posts in a row? Seriously?

Yes, seriously.

I guess you could say I have Bandai's Japan-only GameBoy competitor on the brain right now. Don't worry, I'll write about something else in the next few days. (In fact, a couple of half-finished, 3DS-centric posts are staring at me, begging to be wrapped up, as I type this one.)

In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy ogling the following photos I recently snapped of my WonderSwan Color system and a selection of the WonderSwan games I brought on the road with me this year.



I took these photos in a Palm Springs (California) hotel room, by the way. Its decor didn't exactly lend itself well to such snapshots, so I improvised a light box by going to a nearby Walmart (don't judge), buying a large piece of white poster board and then laying it on a table near our room's main windows.

Granted, that isn't a whole lot different from what I did to nab game and console photos back when I lived in Seattle. There, I placed items on a white, well-lit IKEA table that also effectively replicated a light box.

Anyway, enough about that. I promised WonderSwan Glamour Shots®, so let's focus on them from here on out, shall we?

The first two showcased here are of my translucent black WonderSwan Color system. It's a real beauty, isn't it? Honestly, I'm head-over-heels in love with this handheld's design. Strangely, I think I like the look of the original WonderSwan best (it's a tad sleeker and smidge more minimalist than its two successors), but the Color is pretty sweet, too.

If you'd like to see a few photos of the WonderSwan Color's box, by the way, you can do so by checking out my first "Welcome to WonderSwan World" post or this Flickr photo album. (The latter includes shots of a number of WonderSwan game boxes, cartridges and manuals, too, in case that sort of thing interests you.)

Nice Package! (Puzzle Bobble, WonderSwan)

I've got to be honest here: I was more than a bit apprehensive about buying a black-and-white port of Taito's Puzzle Bobble.

The fact is, I'm generally not all that interested in black-and-white ports of games that usually are drenched in color. You know, like, the platformer--Bubble Bobble--that spawned this puzzler. Or Puyo Puyo. Hell, even Pac-Man, Bomberman and Adventures of Lolo come to mind.

Still, I've had some good times with the pair of Bubble Bobble titles that were published for the GameBoy in 1990 and 1993. Also, I'm surprisingly fond of Rainbow Islands: Putty's Party, as I explained in my most recent "Welcome to WonderSwan World" write-up.

So, when I came across a rather cheap complete-in-box copy of Puzzle Bobble for WonderSwan a couple of months ago, I bit the bullet and bought it despite my initial reservations.

Am I happy I with my purchase now that I've spent some time with this seemingly gimped conversion of Taito's classic coin-op? Yes, I am.

I don't want to say too much about why that is in this post, though, because I'll cover a lot of that ground in a future installment of "Welcome to WonderSwan World."

What I'm willing to say here: Puzzle Bobble's WonderSwan port both looks and sounds better than you're probably imagining (you can see and hear what I'm talking about in this YouTube longplay of the game). Also, it's surprisingly enjoyable to play.



This iteration's graphics and gameplay aren't solely responsible for why I'm glad I added this title to my growing collection of WonderSwan carts, however. Just as responsible: its packaging, of course.

The best part of owning a complete-in-box copy of Puzzle Bobble for WonderSwan, in my humble opinion, is its cover art. Although not as amazing as the illustration conjured up for the game's Neo Geo Pocket Color port (see it here), it's basically on par with the one plastered across the front of the Puzzle Bobble Super Famicom box.

Going back to Puzzle Bobble's WonderSwan cover imagery, while looking at this post's first photo, you may notice it sports both a Taito as well as a Sunsoft logo.

That's because, unlike the original arcade release of Puzzle Bobble, which Taito developed and published, Sunsoft published this one--at the beginning of July in 1999.



Sunsoft didn't develop it, though. A company called Yoshidayama Workshop handled that task.

Don't worry if Yoshidayama Workshop doesn't ring a bell; before I started doing my research for this post, I'd never come across its name either.

Which makes sense, as according to GameFAQs, Yoshidayama Workshop only ever developed a small handful of video games. Besides this portable Puzzle Bobble, it also produced two other WonderSwan titles (Meta Communication Therapy: Nee Kiite!, released in 2000, and Wonder Classic, released in 2001) and a Japan-only GameBoy cartridge called Itsudemo! Nyan to Wonderful.

I can't speak to the quality of that trio of games, as I've never played any of them, but I can say Yoshidayama Workshop did a pretty good job down-porting Taito's Bubble Bobble-inspired puzzler to the WonderSwan hardware.

I wish I could say the same about the designers who created this title's instruction booklet. Sure, it's colorful, as a glance at the photo above should make clear, but it's also devoid of the kinds of illustrations that pop up in every other Bubble Bobble or Puzzle Bobble manual I've seen to date.

Oh, well, it's hardly the end of the world--especially when the rest of this Puzzle Bobble release's packaging is so stellar.

What do you think of the box, cartridge and manual shots shown throughout this post? Also, what do you think of this version of Puzzle Bobble? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

See also: previous 'Nice Package!' posts

Shall We Do It Again? (Astro Rabby, Crush Roller, Mappy, Pac-Man, Puzzle Bobble and Tumble Pop)

If you were on Twitter last weekend, you may have noticed my mention that I spent a rather obscene amount of time playing old GameBoy and Game Gear titles on Saturday.

I also spent some time playing a couple of Neo Geo Pocket Color games--a fact I didn't mention on Twitter because, well, I ran out of characters.

Anyway, because I played so many of these "golden oldies," and because I so thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with them (two of them in particular), I thought I'd write up a second "Shall We Do It?" post for the week that focuses on those experiences.

Before I get to all of that, though, I want to make one thing clear: I played all of these retro games via emulation (thanks to my soft-modded Wii).

Yes, I own a couple of GameBoys, and I own a Game Gear, too. (No Neo Geo Pocket Color, though--at least not yet.) I also own copies of four of the six titles mentioned here. I was too lazy to get them out of their hiding places, though; plus, I didn't want to deal with the battery drama--so, I took the easy route and emulated them.

With all of that out of the way, here are a few, random thoughts on the GameBoy, Game Gear and Neo Geo Pocket Color carts--er, ROMs--that ruthlessly captured my attention this past weekend.

Astro Rabby (GameBoy)--Would you believe I've owned this Japan-only release from 1990 for some time now (over a year, if I were to guess), yet I'd only put a small handful of minutes into it before I fully acquainted myself with it a few days ago?

Er, yeah, I guess some of you would believe that based on my propensity to buy and then sit on games. (Not literally sit on them, of course.)

Whatever. That's not supposed to be the point here; what is supposed to be the point is that I'm now slapping myself across the face for taking so long to properly give this game a shot. It's actually quite a bit of fun--if you can overlook the totally lame "bonus rounds" that pop up every few stages.

As for why that is, well, try to imagine if someone had attempted to make something similar to Jumping Flash! for the GameBoy before the folks at Exact Co., Ltd. and Ultra Co., Ltd produced the beauty that launched shortly after the original PlayStation hit store shelves in Japan.

That's basically the gist of Astro Rabby, which puts you in the shoes (paws?) of a cyborg rabbit who, for some reason or other, is forced to hop through space in search of "power-up parts" while staying clear of evil frogs and bad octopi as well as keeping from plummeting into seemingly bottomless holes. This hopping-through-space action is depicted in a top-down fashion, by the way, which can make the titular hare's leaps kind of dicey from time to time, but after a few minutes it not only feels pretty natural but also feels pretty exhilarating.

Thankfully, it's OK to fail at the aforementioned bonus rounds, which boil down to a musical game of Concentration and are far more frustrating than my abbreviated description probably makes them sound. Still, I wish they were a bit more ... traditional in nature so I could enjoy the entirety of Astro Rabby and not just a good portion of it.

Crush Roller (Neo Geo Pocket Color)--I wrote about this colorful, portable take on the Pac-Man formula all the way back in 2013 (in a post titled, "It's Just a Little Crush Roller"), but haven't said a thing about it since.

That's a real shame, as Crush Roller is a treat. A tough, pull-your-hair-out-in-giant-clumps "treat" at times, but a treat nonetheless.

Unfortunately, although I became pretty skillful at playing this ADK-developed game the first time I gave it a go (I even made it all the way to the end credits, after some effort), this time around I found things quite a bit more trying.

Oh, well. Its paint-roads-while-desperarely-avoiding-Dragon-Quest-slime-like-enemies action still put a smile on my face--when it wasn't causing me to cuss at it under my breath, of course.

Mappy (Game Gear)--Here's another Japan-only handheld title that I've chatted about previously.

What prompted me to pick it up again this past weekend? I don't know, to tell you the truth. I guess I was just in the mood for a little classic, arcade-style, cat-and-mouse action.

Just in case I've never mentioned this before: the Game Gear port of Mappy--originally a Namco quarter-muncher--is top-notch. Everything about it is "correct," as the reviewer at Video Game Den used to like to say; plus, it's simply a blast to play.

So, if you've got a Game Gear and a wad of batteries (or an AC adapter, I guess), you could do far worse than buy a copy of this 1991 release and stick it in your system when you've got a couple of minutes to burn.

Let's talk about three Taito-made PlayStation titles: Pop'n Pop, Puzzle Bubble 2 + Puzzle Bobble 3DX

As much as I've long loved Taito's earliest console efforts--such as the titles the company made and released for the Famicom, PC Engine and even Mega Drive--I haven't been able to say the same about the titles that flowed from their offices during the 32-bit era (and after) until recently.

That's mostly because I lacked a general awareness of this portion of Taito's output, I have to admit, but it's also because the few releases I was aware of from this period--like 1991's PuLiRuLa, 1995's Psychic Force and 1996's RayStorm--failed to impress me the way predecessors like Bubble Bobble, Don Doko Don, Elevator Action and Insector X did.

A couple of months ago, you could have thrown the company's many Puzzle Bobble sequels onto the same pile as the one that contained PuLiRuLa, Psychic Force et al. What's changed in the interim? Well, I bought and played a few of them, for starters.



Specifically, I bought and played Taito's (Japanese) PlayStation ports of Puzzle Bubble 2 and Puzzle Bobble 3DX, both of which can be seen in the photo above.

I'm still not the biggest fan of the way Taito's artists decided to alter Bub's and Bob's designs around this time, but at least the gameplay of this pair of Puzzle Bubble titles makes up for these artistic miscues.



The other Taito-published PlayStation title included in the aforementioned photo (as well as the one above), by the way, is 1998's Pop'n Pop.

Wikipedia describes this colorful arcade port as "a hybrid of Puzzle Bobble and Space Invaders," and that's a pretty spot-on assessment based on my enjoyable experience with it so far.



Of course, I probably would've picked up a copy of Pop'n Pop even if its disc contained nothing more than high-quality scans of its beautiful cover art and manual illustrations.

Speaking of which, I love the adorable pieces of art that accompany this game's character bios. (The characters highlighted on the page above are Hipopo and Tamasun from Mizubaku Daibouken, as well as Chack'n and the missus--she's literally "Miss Chack'n"--from Chack'n Pop.)



A few more of Pop'n Pop's cast of playable characters can be seen in the photo above, including Kiki Kaikai's Sayo-chan, Phee Phee from The New Zealand Story, one of Don Doko Don's dwarves and Bubby (or is it Bobby?) from Rainbow Islands.



Moving on from Pop'n Pop, here's a better look at Puzzle Bobble 2's cover art. I don't know if you can make it out in this photo, but the colorful bubbles look to be actual marbles--an effect that's surprisingly pleasing in person.



Puzzle Bobble 3DX's disc is surprisingly pleasing, too--or at least I think so. Sure, it's a bit barren, but I've rarely been one to complain about minimalist approaches to such things.

Have any of you played any of the games mentioned in this post? If so, please share your own thoughts on them in the comments section below. (Oh, and feel free to share your thoughts on some of the other Taito-published titles discussed here, such as PuLiRuLa, Psychic Force and RayStorm, too.)

See also: 'Recommend me some Taito-made Famicom, PC Engine and GameBoy titles'

Five favorites: Sega Game Gear titles

You'd think that with the 3DS, DS, GameBoy, Neo Geo Pocket Color and WonderSwan (all of which I've been playing in recent weeks--sometimes using actual hardware and sometimes going the emulation route), my portable gaming bases would be covered for the time being.

Over the weekend, though, I ditched the systems mentioned above and instead spent some quality time with a few Game Gear titles (again, both via real hardware and emulation), an experience that prompted me to contemplate my favorite examples of that handheld's game catalog.

Here's what I came up with, in alphabetical order. (Note: the following games are my personal favorites. I don't necessarily consider them to be the "best" this Sega-made machine has to offer. Also, I have to admit I've yet to play Phantasy Star Gaiden, a title that surely appears on some similar lists.)

The Berlin Wall--Although I've been a fan of the single-screen platformer (think: Bubble Bobble) since I first got into gaming, I wasn't aware of this game's existence until a year or so ago. That's a shame, as The Berlin Wall is a lot of fun. How would I describe it? Don Doko Don blended with Lode Runner is the best I can come up with at the moment, although I doubt that means much to some of you. Regardless, check it out if you've ever gotten a kick out of games like Snow Bros. or Tumblepop.

Bubble Bobble--Those looking for a direct port of Taito's bubble-centric classic will want to steer clear of this version, as it ends up feeling more like Bubble Bobble Mini than a full-fledged port. That's because although each stage has been shrunken down to fit the Game Gear's tiny screen, the title's other elements--Bob, Bub and their many colorful enemies, mainly--were given a reprieve. The game's honestly a bit broken because of that fact, but it's still a lot of fun.

Madou Monogatari I--A first-person dungeon crawler from the makers of Puyo Puyo? Where do I sign up? That was my first thought upon hearing about this series (four of its entries ended up on the Game Gear) some years ago. Imagine my surprise when I discovered it was even more enjoyable--and charming--than I assumed it would be. By the way, if you're too chicken to play through such a game in Japanese, this first one was translated into English courtesy of SSTranslations.

Magical Puzzle Popils--All you really need to know about this one is that it was made by the same guy, Fukio Mitsuji, who brought Bubble Bobble to the world. Like that game, Magical Puzzle Popils features more-adorable-than-they-have-any-right-to-be protagonists and tunes but takes the gameplay in a different direction altogether by tasking players with getting from each level's start to its exit (a trapped princess) in as few steps as possible.

Puzzle Bobble--If you're looking for the best-possible portable version of this classic puzzler, look no further than this old port. Sure, it's far from perfect, but it's miles better than its GameBoy, Neo Geo Pocket Color and WonderSwan counterparts. (I'm especially fond of how Bub and Bob look here.) Plus, this release actually features the original arcade soundtrack, which alone makes it well worth checking out.

Honorable mentions: Galaga '91, Ganbare Gorby, Magical Taruruuto-kun, Mappy, Shining Force Gaiden

Reason #399 I could be considered an 'eccentric' (aka bat-sh*t crazy) gamer

It's possible that at some point in the next year or two (OK, maybe three) I'll add a Neo Geo CD--the top-loader depicted in the photo below, specifically--to my ever-growing console collection.

I know, that admission in and of itself is enough to warrant another "here's why I'm an eccentric gamer" post, but in this case that's just the start of it. The rest of it: I really only want to be able to play two games--Puzzle Bobble and Twinkle Star Sprites--on this (possible) future acquisition.

Oh, I wouldn't be surprised if, at some point, I were to be tempted to pick up a few additional games for the system--like Super Baseball 2020 (seemingly strange choice for me, I know) and Blue's Journey/Raguy--but the two mentioned in the previous sentence would be the main reason behind this particular spending spree.

Anyway, of all the desires and dreams detailed in these "reasons I could be considered an 'eccentric' (aka bat-sh*t crazy) gamer" posts, this one is, by far, the least likely to become a reality. Still, I think the fact that I'm even thinking of buying a Neo Geo CD is worth mentioning here.

See also: Other reasons I could be considered an 'eccentric' (aka bat-sh*t crazy) gamer

Any Puzzle Bobble fans out there?

I ask because I'm itching to jump into this Bubble Bobble spin-off (called Bust-a-Move in North America), but I'm not sure where to start.

I know what some of you are thinking: Start with the first one! Don't worry, I will. But I'd also like to know which of the series' 26 iterations are considered by fans to be the best.

I'm especially interested in versions that were released for the Dreamcast and the original PlayStation, by the way, although I'm willing to consider those released for other systems (even handhelds), too.