Manual Stimulation: Mesopotamia (PC Engine)

When you sit down and think about it, it's kind of shocking how many PC Engine instruction manuals are starkly black-and-white affairs--especially when compared to the kaleidoscopically hued games about which these manuals are supposed educate...

Thankfully, not all of these colorless pamphlets can be categorized as boring. A good number of them, after all, feature appealing illustrations and the like that help elevate them from drab to fab. The New Zealand Story's is a good example, and Mizubaku Daibouken's is another.

The manual included with every copy of Atlus' Mesopotamia (Somer Assault in North America) fits this description, too, although perhaps not quite as well as its above-mentioned counterparts.



Regardless, its cover certainly is colorful enough, wouldn't you agree? OK, so it's a bit busy, but that aspect of it gets a pass from me thanks to the fact that it's predominantly orange (a color that gets far too little love when it comes to box art) and that it features a number of adorable drawings that depict the game's Slinky-like protagonist.



As should be expected given my earlier musings, the cover art's bold display of color doesn't survive the transition into the manual's interior. Oh, well, what can you do?



Sadly, things barely perk up on the manual's next pair of pages. Do any of you know who the guy featured in the text blocks at the bottom of the page is supposed to be, by the way? He appears throughout this particular booklet, so I'm guessing he's important?

Finally, a bit of visual interest! Those illustrations are the cutest, aren't they? Sure, they'd be even nicer if they were in color (pink, to be exact), but they're still pretty nice as is, in my opinion.

Hey, look, more Slinky illustrations. At least they're unique and not just reused from previous pages. Also, the one with the heart bubble over its head is my favorite of the bunch.

And there you have it. Admittedly, the folks who designed Mesopotamia's manual could've been a little more (OK, a lot more) creative while completing this particular assignment. Where's the cartoon depicting how the ol' Slinkster got himself into this predicament? Where are the illustrations of the zodiac-symbols-that've-come-to-life bosses he's forced to battle? Each of those additions would've turned this "merely acceptable" manual into a "unquestionably stellar" one, if you ask me.

Not that I'm complaining. I consider what you see above to be a lot more interesting than the majority of game manuals that came before and after it, so I'm going to go ahead and treat this one as a "take what you can get" sort of situation. 

See also: previous 'Manual Stimulation' posts

A few photos of my latest PC Engine pick-up, Atlus' Mesopotamia

Those of you who've managed to wade through the latest episode of The Nichiest Podcast Ever already know this (well, if you paid attention from beginning to end), but for those of you who haven't: since the holidays, I've gone on a bit of a gaming shopping spree.

Although the bulk of my Christmas cash was spent on a stack of Japanese DS games (I'll publish a post on them as soon as all of the have been delivered), I also bought a couple of GameBoy Advance, Game Gear and PC Engine titles.

One of the three PC Engine games I picked up is the one seen in the photos below: Atlus' wackadoodle Mesopotamia (aka Somer Assault).



I call this HuCard "wackadoodle" because it stars what can only be described as an armed pink Slinky. Actually, here's one of the absolutely adorable illustrations of said Slinky that can be found on Mesopotamia's cover art (as well as inside its instruction manual):

Anyway, you control an armed Slinky while playing this 1991 release. Oh, and you guide him through 12 maze-like stages in an attempt to track down the Zodiac-themed bosses that reside within. Wackadoodle, no?

I've got to be frank: although I've always respected and even appreciated Mesopotamia's off-the-wall protagonist and premise, I've never been much of a fan of its tough-to-come-to-grips-with gameplay. Until recently, I mean. I'm still not very good at it, but I enjoy it a lot more than I did in the past.



That said, the main reason I picked up the copy showcased above now rather than later is its cover art. Sure, it's about as wackadoodle as the rest of the game, but that's part of its charm, don't you think?

I especially like those googly-eyed illustrations of its protagonist. In fact, without them, this import probably would've lingered on my lengthy "to buy" list for a few more months (if not years).

Attention "Manual Stimulation" fans: I'll be publishing another installment of that vaunted column next week and it will focus on Mesopotamia's black-and-white-but-still-fabulous instruction manual.