The Beast's
part
Long time ago, me, my brother,
and my cousin acknowledge some Sega Genesis game as bad ones. Me and my brother
played Ikki on NES which i discovered as Kusoge few years back but we don't
think it's either bad or unplayable. So what could be this abomination that we
disgust at? It's Sunsoft's Beauty and the
Beast - Roar of the Beast (1993).
That's the beast himself roaring.
That's really sharp fangs you got there, sir. Nice fonts on title, by the way.
The reason why i play this "beast" is enclosure of this bastard game
from my childhood, obviously. You might wonder what kind of badness in this
game, you shall see.
Oh God! That intimidating face.
Alright! Alright! I will press the 'start' button ASAP and on the double.
Here's the main menu. There's
only 'Start game" and 'joystick configuration'. There's no difficulty
setting or whatsoever. At least i know the control immediately.
I'm sure you all know the story,
right? Not me, though. I remember Disney's version story of Cinderella, Snow
White, or Aladdin. But regarding Beauty and the Beast and Hunchback of
Notre-Dame, i have only just a bit clue about them. But don't you worry,
reader. I did research a bit. Here's the thing that i believe didn't happen in the
movie: wild animals become enchanted and attacking Beast's castle. And it's up
to Beast to protect the magic rose on west wing of the castle.
Here's the gameplay! It's 2D
platformer Beat 'em Up and to be honest i don't like this genre. As you can see
this screen is quite busy with enchanted animal: cobra snake, rat, honey bear,
and spider. I can go to ground and beat them all but it's much safer to jump
from platform to platform in occasion. The crawling mammals are not much of
problem, it's the snake who gives me most problem because it spit its venom
from afar instead of regular biting.
But jumping between platforms
will makes me a sitting ducks for the flying bats. But it's quite often that
they attacks me on the ground so it's fairly moot. As you can guess that the
bats will fly in sinusoidal wave much like medusa head in any Castlevania and it's annoying. What's
more annoying than these bats (and the occasion of burning torch lying around)?
It's the fragility of the beast himself. I can accept that he's not so agile
kind of guy but at least Sunsoft should compensate his disadvantage there with
more capability to absorb damage. He's big tough guy afterall, right? Initially
he has 4 magic mirrors (which act as health indicator for some reason). But one
skin contact from bat depletes 1 magic mirror instantly and that's too much!
Plus they spawn quite frequently. Health refill item also very scarce.
Speaking of health item, there's
one on window there: nice and refreshing a sprig of grapes. I love grape in
real life too so i can't complain. It restores 2 of lost magic mirrors. As you
can see that Beast attack is simple jab. It doesn't reach far but thankfully it
cover generously large area. More often than not, the bat near his head can be
killed without damaging himself. Also you probably notice that the area looks
the same with the one on previous screenshot because the stage is indeed
repetitive. It repeats every 5-6 meters part of it over and over again. Add
that with nearly unlimited bat respawn and Beast fragility, you get very
arduous first stage of a game. Not to mention, you only get 1 continue in this
game plus. No wonder, we give up so soon. We're still young and have better
games to play back then.
Finally, i move on to next
section of 1st stage. My crude table manner is more tolerable than these 3 bats
that come to me at once. I could jump to avoid them altogether but if i
remember correctly Beast's jump is much slower that these bat's flying speed.
So maybe not.
At the end of this table is a
stage boss: enchanted Yogi bear and i have to beat him to death. I'm sorry,
Yogi bear fans that happen to read this. I forget to mention about beast's roar
but it's not worth to mention because it's so goddamn useless unlike in Radical Rex. The roar only stun enemies
for a while. By enemies i mean everyone except the bosses. Speaking of boss,
Yogi bear here like move left and right with the occasion of swing his claw. If
i get too close to him, he will grab me and bite for quite long time. It's
really painful. The strategy is to punch him after he finish clawing. But he
can claw more than once. 4 times even. Just be patient and you will get there.
Here's another long section with
repeated scenery except for one broken bed in the middle of it that perhaps
Beast's bed. There's neither rat nor honey bear here. But now i have to deal
with charging boar which is pretty much equivalent of bat on the ground. Fun.
[Castle-size sarcasm]
Did you see a blue fruit above
Beast? That's temporary invincibility item. I need health refill more but it's
quite adequate for now. Maybe.
Then here comes another boss
fight and it's more tedious. This big boar here has routine as follows: 1)
Preparing for charging 2) Charging within some distance 3) walk backward 4)
repeat to 1). If you take too long to defeat the boss, he will bump into the
magic rose and instant life loss. So you have to beat him before reach the
rose. But here's the problem: the boss invincible most of the time (also skin
contact to him is lethal). The only moment when he's vulnerable is when he's
swinging his tusk preparing to charge and that's happen in short time! Fortunately,
he takes less beating than demon-possessed Yogi before go down. If i remember
correctly, this is the farthest my brother can reach at that time.
After defeating the boar and
saving the rose in process, i'm thrown into this stained glass puzzle. There's
no instruction beforehand or anything, it just happens quite suddenly. A piece
comes from right hole and you use d-pad to move the piece, 'A' button to place
it, 'B' button to flip the piece horizontally, 'C' button to flip the piece
vertically. I can't finish the puzzle in time. I blame that Cogsworth. He looks
too smug for time indicator.
As you know from the story that
Maurice (Belle's father) took shelter in Beast's castle and later thrown to
dungeon by the owner. Later, Belle goes to rescue her father by exchanging
herself to her father as the prisoner.
BOOOO! I hate promise breaker.
Actually in the movie, Belle becomes really frightened by Beast's anger and
escape within her instinct and not breaking her promise.
But later she got into trouble with
local wildlife. My goodness! Your hair is horrible, lady! Seriously.
Dealing with local wildlife means
i have to punch bears, again. Although i reach 2nd of the game and i don't get automatic
health refill like in other game! But luckily, there's a sprig of grapes at the
beginning of level. It's above the bear. See? By the way, watch out for falling icicle on some of branch!
Do you see bronze stuff between
the platform? They're bear trap and they hurt me instead of bear. There's
no bat this time around but crows are up for the task of harassing me instead. Scout_jeers08.wav
Then here comes the real yet
generic platforming part: a series of platform that will fall by itself if
stomped, situated in instant-death pitfall. Sniper_jeers04.wav
After long distance of walking, i
encounter wolf that like to pounce at me. He steal my move! As you can see in
previous screenshot that Beast can also do pounce attack activated by usual
pressing attack button while jumping. It deal significantly more damage than
the jab but as you can see by the pose, it's diving attack that's more suitable
for ground target than target in high position (e.g. bats, spiders). Jumping
kick will be more suitable but the Beast simply don't possess the will and
cognition of -say- either Mike Haggar or Cody.
Yes, it's the same platform
section with bear trap in between. But don't you wonder about that purple cross
icon above the second bear trap? It's hurting item (as opposed to healing
item). Can't you imagine by some opportunity that some young kid finally reach
this point through pain and suffer and he/she curious about this item taking a
risk of having clamped by bear trap only find out it purpose is to deplete The
Beast's health instantly? Worse if the beast is down with last health, live,
and continue. The kid will probably curse a lot and throw the controller to the
TV box breaking it. Shame on you, Sunsoft! >:I
After more of walking on snowy
ground (with occasion of jumping), i met the stage boss. Also Belle is here too
and she looks terrible. I mean she's in fine condition but she looks ugly and
don't resemble herself in the movie. Oh, right! The boss stage. He's bigger
wolf that fairly appropriate with the movie. He do pounce attack and biting. Beast can
stands below the rock platform to avoid the pounce attack completely. Once the
wolf jump down from the platform, i take my opportunity to punch his backside.
Therefore the strategy is simple: bait the wolf into jumping to platform, wait
for him to come down and immediately punch him from behind. If he tries to bait
at me, i just jump to the rock and he will follows me. Simple, isn't?
The bonus stage this time is far
simple and easy to understand. All you need to do is collect as many falling
rose petal as you can. By doing so, Beast's health is replenished a bit. Damn!
I still don't like the look of Cogsworth including here.
Time has passes, Gaston throw
Belle and his father to basement. Next he provokes villagers to attack Beast's
castle. Along with the inhabitants, of course.
But Beast's servants (which are
household wares in case you don't know) don't stand idle with that. They fight
back! I like the idea about one of the villager get trapped in the sentient
wardrobe and later come out with ballerina wear. But not the cloth, mind you.
It's unsightly.
In this level, Beast's moveset
changes from the jab into this shoving-anyone-to-back sweep. The villager's
attack isn't fast enough compare to his move here so i can easily outmaneuver
them. But after getting thrown, they get their butts up to continue attacking
me. Clearly, i miss something.
On each corner, there's Beast's
servant that will do the finishing. In Lumière's case, he will singe anyone
next to him in their butt. I like where this is going.
Yes! Behold the true terror of
feather duster, crybaby! She will sweep you out while giving intense feather
allergic right in your face!
On to next round, the coat hanger
on the left will punt anyone that i send next to it.
On the right corner, Sultan the
footstool will toss away the villagers. Good doggie!
I humbly treat these mobs with
tea (on their head) and then they run away. They are rude and strange guests.
-_-
Oh, and Cogsworth is here too. What's
with that funny hat, huh? Do you think you're Napoleon substitute?
You're cr-...wait! We're in France. That's kind of sensible, i think.
Beast can also claw someone
forward if he attack while on all four. But the starting time for the swipe is
quite long or at least the same with how long the villager begin to attack. So
far, this part of the game is the most enjoyable. The villager's attack reaches
quite far but slow in execution. Compare it to bat that attacks immediately and
deal more damage, this round is simply fairer and thus this round i enjoy the
most especially with that wacky method of attack by the servants.
The bonus stage this time takes
place in altered version of first round of the first level. I mean it's shorter
with the addition of platform to navigate both top and bottom part of the
level. What Beast must do here is collect his treasury around here in allotted
(invisible) time. Why his treasure lie dormant in here, the abandoned part of
the building? I suspect some villagers (and perhaps enchanted animals too) try
to get away with Beast's fortune. Sly bastards!
Then The Beast got shot in the
back by Gaston. Maybe i'm not adept on archery but i don't think you should put
the arrow between your thumb and bow like that, dude. I often see archers that
put the arrow on top of their thumb instead. Just saying.
I don't know why but when i first
saw this picture, i immediately thought of that scene in Lion King that takes
place in Pride Rock and i haven't watched Lion King. Anyway, this must be the
final level. I can feel it!
Not this time, you bloody
schmuck! Pressing down while standing will make Beast on all four which makes
him moves faster. 4 legs are better than 2 legs. That makes sense.
Oh, no! Not the bats again! I
already suffered with flying arrows, torches, and falling bricks (crumbling
platform also take part) while i navigate this platforming section. Thankfully,
Beast has the Haggar's mightiness of punching projectiles out!
Heavy_positivevocalization04.wav
On next round, i fight with the
bastard himself, Gaston. I forget to mention that if you hold the punch button,
Beast will pull beefier punch but you can't hold it to release it in perfect
time. So you have to calculate the perfect timing in very precise time. Meanwhile,
Gaston don't do much besides try to stab me while either walking or jumping.
Oh, man! He looks like joke
character that runs away from barking dog. Such comedy cliché! XD
Unlike previous bosses that will happily
"tank" the damage and you can't interrupt their action at all, Gaston
will run away like this every time he takes damage. This is quite relief
although he still need to take many damage to defeat.
Gaston has ability to make me lie
down for awhile everytime he successfully hits me. But instead of making some
follow up that will make me cornered, he laughs at me which is appropriate with the smug's personality. This behavior will give
me some breather but on the other hand it irritates/annoys me very much.
Even he's defeated, Gaston
manages to make mortal wound on Beast (and he lose his footing and fall to his
death but this happens off-screen). Then Belle conveys her feeling that make
Beast's curse lifted and...
...Beast must passes through all
of his subordinates before some invisible time is up otherwise he will keels
over and die for no reason. Or maybe he need to dispel the curse on his servants
so all of them can live happily together. Ok, that still doesn't explain why
Beast will die if he fails at this bonus stage. :\
Ok. Thank, you! Talking
Magic rose.
Then credit rolls. That's the
same expression when monkeys climb on me when i was on some vacation spot on
Bali.
Believe it or not, but all of the
cutscenes on this game is the exact image taken straight from the movie. Yes,
including this scene where Beast's curse is lifted that could be resembles
T-800 drown himself into vat molten steel in Terminator 2: Judgment day.
Sunsoft's Beauty and the Beast - Roar of the Beast (1993) is as bad/jarring
as i remember thanks to how fragile The Beast. The platforming element is solid
but in the level where bats or projectiles around it becomes tedious. Without
doubt, "the developer think that the game is too short that they ramp up
the difficulty" cliché happens here. It tends to happen in movie tie-in
games in 80s-90s era. As i mentioned before, that Beast way too fragile for the
work especially against those flying sods. Thankfully, the hitspot on Beast
attacks are generously wide although still short. I can appreciate the
diversity of the moveset. The other that bothers me is that the game is so stingy with
health refill. The grapes are rare and there's no auto health refill when you
completed stages. Plus the unnecessary health depletion item. The bosses are unfair
"tank" type of enemy which they take too much damage to defeat and
their action are uninterruptible. Although Gaston is bit fairer. The jumping
mechanism is quite fine although slow. Plus there's few occasion that Beast
won't land on platform as intended. The roar is total garbage move in history
of 2D platform games. The bonus stages are creative and will be better if the time limit is longer than it is. You can get extra life if your score reaches certain high number. I'm sorry for not paying attention well to that detail. The graphic especially on The Beast is appropriate with
the movie. The story follows up the movie except for the first level where they
take a bit liberty but the result is tolerable. The music is kind of forgettable.
The sound effect is kind of okay-ish.
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