Manual Stimulation: Pri Pri Primitive Princess! (GameBoy)

Don't let its lovely cover art fool you--Sunsoft's Pri Pri Primitive Princess isn't a great game. In fact, most people who've played it will tell you it's an absolute turd.



I can't say I agree with them, at least not entirely. Yes, Pri Pri Primitive Princess has its faults, but the same can be said of a lot of GameBoy titles, in my experience.



Granted, I've got a soft spot the size of Texas for single-screen platformers, the genre that encompasses this Japan-only release from 1990. I've got a similarly large soft spot for games that star cavemen--you know, like Hudson Soft's old PC Genjin (aka Bonk's Adventure) series.



Combine all of the above with the fact that Pri Pri Primitive Princess is, as you should be well aware by now, a GameBoy cart, and you've got yourself the makings of a "must buy" game pour moi, as the French might say.



In other words, I'd covet my complete-in-box copy of Pri Pri Primitive Princess even if its instruction manual were an utter disappointment. Thankfully, it isn't.



You'll see what I mean as you make your way through this post. For now, though, take my word that nearly every page features at least one nicely crafted illustration.



Would I have complained if the folks who cobbled together the Pri Pri Primitive Princess manual way back when had thrown in a few more pieces of art? Of course not.



Even as things stand, though, this manual's still a good bit better than quite a few other Japanese GameBoy instruction booklets currently in my possession.



See also: similar posts about the instruction manuals made for other Japanese GameBoy titles like Bubble Bobble Junior, Lolo no Daibouken, Penguin Land, Snow Bros. Jr., and Tumblepop

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

Another Year of the GameBoy: Pri Pri Primitive Princess! (Sunsoft, 1990)

I think I may be the only person on earth who even slightly enjoys Sunsoft's Pri Pri Primitive Princess! for the GameBoy.

OK, so that's probably overstating things a bit, but it's an easy overstatement to make considering every person I've chatted with on line about this game and every review of it I've read (here's one example) has ripped it to shreds.

Granted, I'm overly fond of the single-screen platformer genre, which includes such all-time classics as Bubble Bobble, Don Doko Don, Snow Bros. and many others. 

In other words, I may be more willing than most to give a rather rough offering a break. 

It helps, of course, that Pri Pri's gameplay seems to have been inspired by one of my favorite single-screen platformers, The Berlin Wall. 

Don't take that as me saying Pri Pri is anywhere near as polished as that Kaneko-made quarter-muncher (which earned a rather wonderful Game Gear port). Still, my experience with the former hasn't been as tortuous as that of many others.

And even if Pri Pri Primitive Princess is a turd, it's a turd wrapped in some rather beautiful paper, don't you think?

I especially love its cover art, which can be seen in the first two photos that kick off this blog post.

This Japan-only GameBoy title from 1990 also sports an impressively produced instruction manual, as evidenced by the snapshot above.

It's not quite at the level as, say, Konagi's Famicom games or Taito's PC Engine efforts from the same period, but it's still pretty great.

Another aspect of Pri Pri's packaging that earns brownie points from me is that the little flaps that help keep its box closed are branded with adorable illustrations.

Oh, and the striped, kaleidoscopic logo that's not too far away is kind of cool, too, if you ask me.



So, what do you think? Do Pri Pri Primitive Princess' box, cartridge and manual help make up for the fact that its gameplay isn't as compelling as could be? Or do you think all of the above are on the "meh" side, too?

See also: previous 'Year of the GameBoy' and 'Another Year of the GameBoy' posts

Three more PC Engine games that I want to like, but can't

A few weeks ago, I published a post about three Namcot-made PC Engine games that I want to like but can't. Well, here are three more such games--although, in this case, only one of them was produced by the folks responsible for Pac-Man.

1. Batman (1990)

Why I want to like it: It's a Batman game. Duh! Also, I rather like the look of the Batman sprite and the top-down view of the action--a welcome change from all of the side-scrolling efforts (like this one and this one) that flooded the market following the success of Tim Burton's 1989 film.

Why I can't: It's pretty darn boring. It starts off well enough, but after a few levels your eyes glaze over (or at least mine did) due to this Sunsoft-developed title's dreary, repetitive environs and yawn-inducing gameplay.

2. Deep Blue (1989)

Why I want to like it: Well, there's the game's box art, for starters, which intriguingly shows a fish-shaped ship firing at a gigantic octopus. And then there are its in-game graphics, which are--in screenshots, at least--similarly intriguing thanks to their gritty, somewhat-realistic sheen.

Why I can't: Unfortunately, those gritty, somewhat-realistic graphics are awfully repetitive in action. That's the least of this Pack-in-Video-made title's problems, though. Much more offensive than its graphics is its gameplay, which pits your slow, underpowered fish-sub against hordes of speedy, zig-zagging gill-breathers that are nearly impossible to avoid.  

3. Marchen Maze (1990)

Why I want to like it: Anyone who has been visiting this blog for more than a day or so likely knows I'm a sucker for cute games. Well, this Alice in Wonderland-esque release definitely fits into that category thanks to its bubble-blowing, pigtailed protagonist and a cast of "baddies" that include sunglasses-wearing mushrooms and pink, wind-up-toy penguins.

Why I can't: This game may be cute, but it's no cakewalk. In fact, it's frustratingly--and often cheaply--challenging. You're constantly being barraged with bullets and other obstacles that send you over the brink (each stage is a platform that floats in space) and eat up one of your precious lives.

It should be noted that none of the above-mentioned games are terrible. On the contrary, each of them contain one or two or even three elements (such as graphics, music or overall concept) that make me think they could be completely enjoyable--if only they didn't contain a number of flaws, too.

See also: 'Three PC Engine games I want to like, but can't'

Cho Aniki + KiKi KaiKai = Deae Tonosama Appare Ichiban?

I pride myself in being such a big retro geek that I know about most of the worthwhile games that were released for the Famicom, PC Engine, Mega Drive, Super Famicom and their North American equivalents.

Which is why I was surprised (pleasantly so) to find out about--thanks to a Twitter user named SuperFamicomGuy--a wonderfully quirky Super Famicom title called Deae Tonosama Appare Ichiban over the weekend.

As suggested in the headline (and screenshot) above, this Sunsoft-published game seems to be a strange mix of the oh-so-campy Cho Aniki and the overhead cute 'em up, KiKi KaiKai.

For more on this pricy cart--the asking price of the only copy I could find on eBay is about $180--check out this video, produced by YouTube user reinofhearts, who calls the game "a cultural journey of the crazy and the overly muscular."