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| A blue cat and the Hudson logo...happy days! |
This week on FRG there was a bit of a cartoon theme in the
air. Now we all know cartoons are awesome and are still the by far the greatest
thing on television (after your games console of course), so this week’s batch
of reviews were all to be of NES and Famicom games with cartoon origins.
Obviously my immediate thoughts were: Duck Tales or Chip 'n Dale...job done
right?! Wrong! I realised that my rather clever reviewer chums might have similar
ideas, and that this would call for some outside the box (and indeed outside
the country) thinking. So after a little deliberation I decided to go down the
anime path and arrived at the slightly wacky but quite loveable Doraemon on the
Famicom.
For those who aren’t familiar with this little Japanese icon;
Doraemon is a robotic blue cat that travels back in time from the 22nd
century to help out young children (as you do). Created in the late 60’s by the
Fujiko Fujio partnership, his cute appearance was used to help educate the
(young) audience on the importance of strong moral values such as honesty,
courage and respect for the environment.
This particular title is one of the earliest Doraemon video
games and was developed by (the now sadly defunct) Hudson Soft in 1986. The
objective is to rescue Doraemon’s kidnapped friends who are being held captive
by some baddies...I guess. This is achieved by besting the game’s three distinctly
different sections, each of which was apparently designed by a different person.
This somewhat clever concept makes for some very interesting contrasts in
gameplay and adds a respectable slice of variety to the overall game.
Oh by the by, for anyone curious about the title of the
review; Ding Dong is the name Doraemon goes by in China!
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| ...erm...the title screen...sorry |
Though never likely to challenge graphical juggernauts like Kirby’s
Adventure and Little Sampson, Hudson did a thoroughly decent job with Doraemon’s
graphics. The sprites are clear and well drawn and although some of the backgrounds
do look a tad dull at times, the robotic feline hero and the slew of bad guys stand
are a cute sight to look upon.
Each chapter opens with a bizarre (and quite possibly drug
inspired!) scene...it kind of reminds me of a pinker version of the Twilight
Zone or something, anyways...it has to be seen to be believed. There are lots
of wonderfully neat touches scattered through the various levels, such as Doraemon’s
expression...he looks really sad(!), this attention to detail helps the game to
stand out amongst the hordes of other mascot driven titles in the Famicom
universe.
There are also some
rather pleasing (if very blatant) “homages” shall we call them, to some of the video
game world’s more famous citizens: the turtles in the water level look suspiciously
similar to the henchmen of a certain Bowser and I’m sure that I’ve seen that
big octopus skulking about in Miracle World before! Anyways, it all looks attractive
enough and is wrapped up in that oft seen Famicom glow, which we all love so
dearly.
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| The Twilight Zone...Famicom Style! |
Portions of the soundtrack will be comfortingly familiar to
anyone who has seen the Doraemon cartoons, and it is lovingly presented in
beautiful 8bit midi. The joviality of some of the audio fits in well with the
game’s main character as well as its colourful appearance.
The background music really is one of my favourite aspects
of this game, and it has an almost Taito like quality to it. The tunes bury
their way into your head so that hours after you finish playing you’re still humming
away...I found myself doing this when I was brushing my teeth at night!
Doraemon is another shining example of just how addictive and important video
game music can be when done well.
Playability – 7 / 10 |
| Doraemon's face... hilarity! |
While Doraemon does not boast any revolutionary gameplay (and
in truth, borrows quite heavily from other Famicom titles!), what it does have
is solid, and well structured. As previously mentioned, the game is split into
three chapters, each of which boasts a different style of play.
Chapter one plays a little bit like The Legend of Zelda;
using a top down view with an adventure feel to it, there are also some 2D
platform mini dungeons (makes me wonder if Nintendo where watching when
planning Link’s Awakening). This part of the game is pretty standard fair, but
is possibly the most arduous as you have no real idea of where to go!
Chapter two heads down the SHMUP route and plays in a
fashion akin to Gradius, and R-Type with a little bit of vertical 1943 action
chucked in for good measure. For my money, this was the most appealing part of
the entire game, and my favourite part is the way Doraemon flies using a little
helicopter blade on his head...hilarious stuff.
Chapter 3 takes place underwater and again borrows significantly
from the Mushroom Kingdom’s finest. This is probably the nicest looking segment
of the game and makes quality use of the Famicom’s capabilities.
Each level is ended by taking on and defeating the
obligatory end of level boss, again this is standard pattern recognition
stuff...just with the difficulty ramped up a level...or 10!
Longevity – 7 / 10 |
| SHMUP-tastic! |
Doraemon is a classic example of the kind of game that
appears to be cutesy and easy but then actually turns out to be a complete ball
breaker to finish! The fact that you are given no steer at all on where you
need to go or what you need to pick up makes for a lot of trial and error...not
to mention dying. There is also a touch of Zelda about it in the way that once you
are out of range; all enemies will re-appear...this certainly can make things
interesting and although it can become a touch tiring, it’s not enough to spoil
the game. In fact the challenge kept me coming back for more; the seemingly
random exits and power-ups hark back to the days before gamers were told where
to go at every turn.
While I was doing a bit of research on Doraemon I stumbled
across a YouTube video
of someone speed-running the entire game...it took him just 12 minutes and 59
seconds. At first I was disappointed that the game could be despatched so
easily, but after watching it a few times it seems the person is either (freakishly)
fantastic at the game or uses some sort of über cheat code to get through it
unscathed...either way don’t let it fool you, this game is far from easy. It
won’t last weeks but provides a more than adequate challenge.
Overall_006.png) |
| Platform fun is not forgotten here... |
I’ll come clean now; I’m a complete sucker for games based
on anime or manga so I was probably always going to like this one. But even if
you’re not a fan or haven’t heard of Doraemon there’s still plenty to like
about the game, it’s challenging, well made and fun. And while it comes nowhere
near to toppling the titles it “borrows” ideas from, there’s enough variation there
to keep most gamers satisfied. Weirdly the game did receive a fan translation but to
be honest there’s so little text present that you could easily plough through
the original Japanese version with no problems.
Oh...and like I said, Doraemon is a blue robotic cat from
the 22nd century. You can’t argue with that now can you!
Score
Score 7 out of 10
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