Manual Stimulation: Snow Bros. Jr. (GameBoy)

I don't know about you, but I really love the instruction manuals that were made for Japanese GameBoy games.

I especially love the ones that utilized two-tone or "spot color" printing. The manual showcased in this post is a good example, with others including the booklets that were packed inside copies of Kitchen Panic, Painter Momopie and Penguin Land.

To achieve this effect, just two ink colors--rather than the more traditional four--are used during the printing process. In most cases, one of the ink colors is black, although that's not always true. Two cases in point: Bubble Bobble Junior's manual features blue and green ink, while The Tower of Druaga's features red and green. (Although I spot some black ink on the cover of the latter as well.)



Intriguingly, the artists at Naxat Soft went with either orange or yellow ink (I honestly can't tell which) when they prepped the instruction booklet that would be sold with their GameBoy port of Toaplan's Snow Bros.



I say intriguingly because most such manuals I've come across to date prefer cooler colors like blue and green and purple.

At any rate, I think the effect here is rather pleasing. Plus, it complements the rest of the game's packaging, which leans heavily on primary colors. (To see what I mean, check out my post from a few years back that highlights Snow Bros. Jr.'s outer box and cartridge.)



There's more to the Snow Bros. Jr. booklet than its use of spot color, of course. For instance, it also provides readers with a bevy of adorable illustrations.



Appropriately, they remind me of the similarly rough drawings that can be found in many of Taito's PC Engine manuals--such as Don Doko Don, Hana Taaka Daka!?, Mizubaku Daibouken and The New Zealand Story.



I'm particularly fond of the sushi and item illustrations that can be seen in the scan above, although the one in the lower-right corner deserves all kinds of kudos for so humorously depicting either Nick or Tom--the names of Snow Bros. Jr.'s "cool" protagonists--being accosted by one of the game's baddies.



Aside from the lovely art, this booklet dutifully explains how to play this pint-sized Snow Bros. port. There's not much to it, really--you hit the GameBoy's A button to jump, and its B button to toss snowballs at baddies. Also, once you've encased an enemy in a fully formed snowball, you can kick it with one more B-button press.

That simplicity helps make Snow Bros. Jr. both easy to play and thoroughly enjoyable. Sure, it lacks the brilliant (sometimes garish) colors of the arcade original and its console counterparts, but that doesn't stop this portable iteration from being just as much fun.



Even if that weren't true, I'd still be glad I own a copy of this Japanese GameBoy title. For starters, its cover art makes me swoon. Also, a four-page manga takes up the final section of its manual.



Unfortunately, I can't translate its story for you. I know the first few panels of the first page introduce Nick and Tom and describe their main methods of attack, but that's it. If any of you have the ability to summarize the tale told in the scans above, by all means do so in the comments section of this post.

UPDATE: a reader named Dave Edwards kindly volunteered to translate the entire Snow Bros. Jr. manual into English. Check out the fruits of his labor here.

'Tis the season for Snow Bros. Jr. (GameBoy)

There was a time--not too long ago, in fact--when I wasn't all that interested in Toaplan's painfully short-lived Snow Bros. series.

Its garish use of color and its nightmarish cast of characters--including the titular Nick and Tom--just didn't sit well with me, I guess.

At any rate, I pretty much ignored the handful of Snow Bros. ports and sequels that were released over the years until I came across the cover art showcased in the photos below. (Check out my Flickr photostream if you'd like to see a few more.)

The game in question is 1991's Snow Bros. Jr., by the way, which was published in Japan by Naxat Soft. (Capcom brought it to North America the following year as Snow Brothers.)

Admittedly, this version of the game lacks the color that abounds in pretty much all of its counterparts, but that doesn't impact the experience as negatively as you might think.

It helps, of course, that the gameplay found in the arcade original seems to have survived the transition from big screen--or at least bigger screen--to small mostly intact. Also, the portable port's soundtrack is just as zippy and energetic as it is in any other Snow Bros. release.

Let's be honest, though: even if I considered every other aspect of this GameBoy title to be a bit crappy, I'd probably still have searched far and wide for a complete-in-box copy.

After all, just look at its box art--and the contents of its instruction manual, too. I mean, it even includes a little comic strip. What's not to like about that? (Sadly, I don't understand a lick of its story.)

Sure, the back of Snow Bros. Jr.'s box is by far the least enticing aspect of this otherwise-precious package, but you can't always have everything, can you?

Have any of you played this portable take on Toaplan's somewhat-sinister, single-screen platformer? If so, what do you think of it?

See also: previous 'Year of the GameBoy' posts

And the winner of The Gay Gamer Giveaway™: Snow Bros. Jr. Edition is ...

... Justin Difazzio.

Congrats, Justin, and condolences to those of you who hoped to win the copy of Snow Bros. Jr. but walked away empty-handed.

I know I said last week that this likely would be the last Gay Gamer Giveaway™ for a while, but I'm actually considering a couple more at the moment. So, keep an eye out for the posts that will be published about them in the near future--assuming you're interested in possibly winning a free game or two, of course.

Aside from that, thanks again to everyone who participated and shared their thoughts (in the comments section of this post) on their favorite single-screen platformers.

The Gay Gamer Giveaway™: Snow Bros. Jr. (GameBoy) Edition

So, here we are: my final Gay Gamer Giveaway™ (for the foreseeable future, at least).

As was the case with the last three such giveaways, this one features a loose copy of a Japanese GameBoy title. Specifically, a loose copy of the Japanese GameBoy port of Toaplan's Snow Bros.

To those of you who've never played--or even heard of--this single-screen platformer, it's an oh-so-capable Bubble Bobble clone that stars a pair of creepily cute snowmen (ignore the cart label art, below--the "official," in-game versions are far less adorable) who toss what I'm assuming are handfuls of snow at even creepier-looking adversaries until they're encased in towering snowballs that can then be rolled into other baddies or into the walls that line each stage.

It's all quite fun, plus it looks and sounds great. (I especially like its soundtrack--with the first level's backing tune being a particularly pleasant little earworm.)

Anyway, should my description of Snow Bros. Jr. make you want to own a copy of it, share the name of your favorite single-screen platformer (again, there are no wrong responses) in the comments section below between now and the morning of Monday, July 21--which is when I'll randomly point to one of those replies and send the person who published it the slightly abused cart seen above.

Speaking of this cart's slightly abused condition, I have to warn all interested parties that I've had a bit of trouble getting this game to boot on my GameBoy Pocket as of late. Sometimes the title screen pops up after I turn on the system, and sometimes it doesn't. Sadly, I don't know if a proper cleaning of the cartridge's contacts will put the kibosh on that little problem or not. So, just know that the cart that arrives on your doorstep--should you win the giveaway--may only work intermittently (or may not work at all).

See also: previous Gay Gamer Giveaway™ posts

Shall We Do It? (BurgerTime Deluxe, Final Fantasy Adventure, Taiyou no Tenshi Marlowe and more)

So, I pushed both THE "DENPA" MEN 3 and Etrian Odyssey IV to the back burner this past weekend so I could play a handful GameBoy titles--specifically, BurgerTime Deluxe, Final Fantasy Adventure, Snow Bros. Jr. and a little gem known as Taiyou no Tenshi Marlowe (aka Sunshine Angel Marlowe).

Here are a few thoughts on each of the aforementioned games:

BurgerTime Deluxe--What can I say about this title that I didn't say in the "Great Gaymathon" review I published earlier in the week? I don't know, to tell you the truth--well, other than that I finally made it pretty deep into the game and, as such, experienced some of its most daunting challenges.

Sadly, I never was able to successfully make my way through stage 4-4, so eventually I had to cheat (by looking up passwords via GameFAQs) to play through the rest. I'd normally feel kind of bad about that, but not in the case of this game--thanks to the fact that some of its later levels are tougher than nails and seriously impressed me with the amount of strategy that's required to beat them without wasting all of your "pepper shots" and lives en route.

Random aside: my favorite part of this most recent playthrough of BurgerTime Deluxe revolves around encountering the gigantic angry doughnut enemies that only pop up in its last few stages.

Final Fantasy Adventure--I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but I was absolutely obsessed with the first two Final Fantasy Legend titles that were released for the GameBoy way back when. (The third one, not so much--although in its defense, I've yet to spend much time with it.)

Given the above, it almost could be considered criminal that before this weekend I'd never played that series' companion (in the States, at least), Final Fantasy Adventure, for more than a few, scant minutes.

Now that I've played it for a good couple of hours, I can honestly say I was a complete idiot to ignore it for so long. The game's basically a mash-up of Final Fantasy and The Legend of Zelda and, thus far, has proven to be even more enticing and enjoyable than that combo suggests.

Two of its standout characteristics, in my mind: its destructible environments (assuming you're sporting the right equipment) and its old-school difficulty level. (Oh, and a third: its sublime soundtrack, which harkens back to Square's glory days.)

Snow Bros. Jr.--Considering I've long professed to being a bit of a "super fan" when it comes to single-screen platformers (see: Bubble Bobble), you'd think I would've put some serious time into one version of Toaplan's Snow Bros. or another before now.

Not so, sadly enough. Actually, I've spent a few minutes with both the arcade and Mega Drive iterations here and there, but neither left a very positive impression on me, if I'm to be completely honest. That had nothing to do with its gameplay, mind you; rather, I think it had to do with the game's odd, off-putting art style.

After I came across Snow Bros. Jr.'s Japanese box art a few months ago, though, I decided to give it another chance. And you know what? I kind of fell in love with it as a result. In part, this change of heart can be attributed to the earworm of a tune that accompanies players through the first 10 stages, although the snowball-throwing and -making gameplay is pretty infectious, too.

Taiyou no Tenshi Marlowe--File this one under "it's never too late to discover great GameBoy titles." That's because I didn't even know of this Technos-made game until some kind soul on Twitter brought it to my attention a month or so ago.

After reading about it over on hardcoregaming101.net, I decided the above-mentioned twitterer was onto something and hunted down a copy of the game as quickly as I could. It wasn't long before I was regretting that decision, though, as despite the game's adorable art style and pleasant backing tunes, I found myself stumped by its gameplay during my first few attempts at it.

Returning to the Hardcore Gaming 101 article I mentioned a paragraph ago opened my eyes as to what I was doing wrong (yes, you can aim the sun's beams at baddies to get rid of them, but if you want to advance you have to aim them at the flower seeds that populate each stage, too), and ever since it has been smooth sailing.

Actually, it's been better than smooth sailing, as I now consider myself a fairly big fan of this kinda-sorta tower-defense game. It's far from a perfect game, of course--as implied by the fact that it took me a while to figure out how to play it--but it's also refreshingly unique and features some really impressive spritework.

Will I ditch all of the above and get back to THE "DENPA" MEN 3 and Etrian Odyssey IV this week? I'm not at all sure, to tell you the truth. I have a feeling, though, what ends up happening will fall somewhere between those two extremes (as in, I'll probably continue to play Final Fantasy Adventure while also playing one or both of the 3DS titles).

See also: previous 'Shall We Do It?' posts