Vectorman (Genesis)

Today we take a look at my childhood game that full of spheres and seizure-inducing flashes. It's none other than: BlueSky Software's Vectorman (1995).

I have no clue about the idea behind this title screen's design. All of the background element are moving or changing color and it may cause eye strain or vertigo on some people. Rotating flashing circle. Constant color shift on every part of the background. The visual design on it, doesn't make sense. The rulers. The shape of Sweden/Denmark's flag that constantly changing color. The crazy checkerboard patterns. The generic scrolling landscape that you often see at racing game of 90s or Space Harrier. I like the pre-rendered logo that replace "O" letter on title though. There's some Techno music that sounds like knockoff of Yūzō Koshiro's composition but it sounds good enough. If you owned Sega Megadrive/Genesis, you should probably know about Vectorman. If you don't (or maybe you're one of hardcore Nintendo fans), i will gladly introduce you to the hero that seems mad of lots robotic spheres. But let's take a look at the options first.  

 

The cursor is constant stream of green balls that may obstruct the text so get used to it in this option menu. For some reason there's no sound and music volume setting. There's 3 difficulty setting: Lame, Wicked, and Insane. I take it that it goes harder from left to right. The term "wicked" may be familiar to you. But for me who isn't native speaker of English, it's very foreign term. I assume "wicked" refers to medium difficulty. Let's see what "Information" is all about.     

 

It contains explanation about pick up in the game. There's transformation icon that when picked up, it will transform Vectorman into various shape like bomb, drill, or rocket. Usually, this transformation only allow him to gain access to secret area in the stage. Nothing too fancy or urgent about it. There's also weapon power up that mostly not look different from the initial weapon but possess special property. For example: the rapid shoot can bounce on walls and ceilings while the multi-way shoot can goes through wall.  Then there's multiplier pick up that can multiple the effect of health pickup or 1up.

 

The story takes time in 2049 where we humans don't care about toxic pollution until it's too late. Instead taking responsibility ourselves, we evacuate to the stars and let orbots do the cleaning. We're irresponsible jerks just like that.

 

Humans get new big problem. When nuclear bomb is connected to circuit that belong to Raster, the overseer of the orbot. Raster now become Warhead and by his command, orbots prepares the death trap for the humans when they return. I feel bad for orbots because they have another big job to do besides cleaning the earth from toxic sludge. I hope they are capable of double tasking well.  

 

But there's hope for humanity. It's none other than your beloved Vectorman himself. He just doing his toxic dumping routine (i hope sun won't get polluted after thousands of that) and that changes because of Warhead's evil scheme. From humble pilot barge to hero. Vectorman sets out to defeat WarHead and his cronies! I just notice that orbot is robot that made of lots of orbs like our hero Vectorman here.

Day 1 Terraport

 

Fortunately for him, Vectorman has ability to shoot photon sparks out of his hand even though he was just mere dump barge pilot. Maybe it's meant for emergency welding but it's fairly effective weapon. Even so this fellow barge pilot really can takes lots of hit. Sometime he's flinched when shot and sometimes not and later retaliate with (slow moving) fireball of his. So you're forced to use the usual routine of "Crouch and shoot whenever you encounter enemies". Kind of letdown in gameplay aspect, i admit that. You will see lots of spinning photons (like in right corner) that you can pick for minor score collection. They are like coins in Super Mario Bros, rings in Sonic games, or stamps in Desert Demolition. But there's no indication of getting 1Up when you pick 100 of them. Quite weird.   

 

The 1st level is no walk in a park even with medium difficulty. But there's practice section. Well, the novelty ones at the very start of the game before the title, the Sega symbol screen. It's not proper tutorial stage like in Cuphead but back then this is all i got. Vectorman can't aim diagonally when standing still. When i write about Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts i said that i can't come up another game with Protagonist that can do double jump from get go. But i forgot about Vectorman even though that he comes out in my life, way before Arthur! Vectorman's double jump has more logical approach as he does that by activating jet booster on his feet. Not only that, but also the jet thrust can be utilized to damage enemies provided you can aim the double jump well. There's hidden power up container above which contain screen clearing bomb that produces various flashes that my cause epilepsy so i refrain using it in the end of practice session.    

 

Encounter enemy in sloped angle? No problem. Vectorman's crouching shoot follows the slope where he crouches. I don't think i saw other 2D Platform shooter that do this. Or i probably wrong again.    

 

The power up is stored within these TVs. So you could say this is the real "Smash TV"?  

 

That TV held drill transformation power up. While being any of the other form, Vectorman is invincible but he no longer able to shoot the sparky stuff and jump. This drill form allow you to destroy certain floor like that one on my right.

 

This bomb form (that may predates the one in Cuphead)  destroy cracked wall and enemies as well within a screen. Again, the main purpose of transformation is to gain access to secret part of the level that can't be discovered in normal way. You may be tempted to use the bomb form to clear the screen from the enemies, but you will miss secret area if you do that.

 

At the bottom of chasm of blind jump, there's the first boss: a sludge barge that sways left and right while occasionally dropping bomb. The plane is harmless to touch but you have to be careful with that rock on each end of wings. The weakpoint is its cargo door when dropping the bombs. My advice is pretty simple: running while shooting diagonally and jump over the rock.

Day 2 Metalhead  

 

Next level is the alternative section. Vectorman is train now. With that, he can saves money for bus fare to workplace everyday. Good for him. Anyway in this level, Vectorman fights against Metalhead who keep doing monkey bar routine on my railroad and that's all he can. But there's flying orbs on the left or right side that firing fireball at me. Vectorman can dodge the fireballs and the hands by jumping. You may wonder why (Vectorman) train can jump. Well, the MS-1 tank in Metal Slug games can jump, why robot train can't?    

 

Shoot Metalhead's hands while occasionally shoot the orb (by holding left or right and pressing shoot button). That's all i can say for this boss fight. Sometime the perspective change to left and right. I kind of like the view here. Medic_positivevocalization02.wav

Day 3 Tidal Surge

 

This level's half bottom is water and thankfully Vectorman is made of water-resistant technology so he's fine underwater. That makes him in top percentile among platform protagonists. He's better than any platformer heroes who die when fall into water, is what i like to say. Look at that pontoon which houses the wobbly turret! It's adorable. Vectorman can slightly reduce his falling speed by shooting downward like this. Useful when you want to navigate the blind jump better. Usually there's enemies awaits him on it but never be bottomless pit.  

 

The hanging televisions not only contain power up but also Vectorman symbol with blue rims which is check point icon. Touch it and you will respawn at the same place where it is. Pretty peculiar checkpoint system but that's how it is. There's the one with red rims which is timer up item.

 

I picked up a swimming transformation item which enables me to swim in the middle of water while ramming into naval mines harmlessly. Demoman_taunts06.wav

 

Here's the one shoot moment of said flashing screen clearing bomb. It's more dangerous to look at when in motion. It's less useful that it sounds because it's replace your usual spark shoot and you can only use it one time only. If you want to break a hanging TV but you still carried the flashing bomb, well tough luck. But i don't think i ever meet condition where enemies surround me  very bad. They come in reasonable number at a time. By the way, this level consists of water and high platforms which reminds me of Stage 2 of that Angry Video Game Nerd game.

Day 5 Arctic Ridge

 

I decide to not show you the game  level by level. I will show you some more and the final level in the end. In this ice level there's waterfall which looks nice. Then i remember there's also waterfall foreground in Sonic 3. Sega Genesis really like to prove that it can do what Nintendon't, huh?

 

This enemy is blocking the only way to exit and refuse to move. He's invincible to the shoot in the face. So i have to shoot his shovel first until destroyed. Then he begin move toward me and you can lure him to move out from the passage and go for it i have to shoot his backside. Then his head explodes and now i can destroy him completely like usual.

 

There's secret passage that lead me to this shield generator that protect satellite dish above. Once it's destroyed, you can proceed to blast out the parabolic thing to gain access to bonus level!     

 

I hope you don't get too excited about the bonus stage because it's quite lame. You control green orb on the center. You can shoot projectile in cardinal direction by pressing d-pad on corresponded direction. There's Warhead's head on one of four direction that shoot projectile that you can destroy by your own projectile and there's orbiting rock that slowly come toward you. Survive from those hazard until the timer runs out and that's how you win. But there's not reward on winning the bonus stage except for bigger score up than when i get it from losing. It's not worthy to play the bonus stage in my opinion.

Day 7 Rock 'N' Roller  

 

This one is another unique boss section. Vectorman crawls on bamboo curtain that slowly descend into instant death pit. This time his adversary is pair of stone fist that more than happy to drop on him. There's maze that Vectorman must negotiate while fighting the fists. To make things harder for him, there's also arrow mark on curtain that will either make the curtain move slower or faster. I say that this one is less interesting than Day 2. Also more difficult.

Day 16 Twist and Shout

 

Here's the final level. You starts at the bottom of the whirlwind and you're slowly sucked to the top while beach chair and 14" tube TV come at me. Moreover they can't be destroyed by my futuristic spark even though up to this point i destroy as many TV as Panasonic can manufacture a day! They can only be knocked back with my shot but that's only give me breather by not much. Once you get to the top you will meet Warhead flies above the center and there's 4 roofs that you need to get into. If you fall into tornado, you will bounce really high so you can get into the roof again and that's it. No health penalty if you lose the footing. But you will be more vulnerable to Warhead's attack. As the roofs rotate in counter clockwise motion, you will most likely safe if you station in the right while constantly jumping. Warhead move around left and right most of the time and you can get hit by his hands. Sometime he shoot small fireball to throw you off guard. His weakness is in his head and everytime you manage to destroy his head partially, a health orb pick up will appears near him. It's certainly bait so you can get hit but if you lucky or skillful enough you can get it harmlessly.    

 

Shoot him many time enough in his ugly elongated head, you win the game! I like that Vectorman's torso slightly fall that his proportion becomes fat then he can fix it by simply lift it. Demoman_positivevocalization01.wav

 

Vectorman rises his fist up and basking in his glorious triumph. But no one cheer him as he killed all of his orbot fellow. Only broken TVs that hail him. Happy yet lonely end to our orbot hero Vectorman. I remember back in the day when i finish the game with level select cheat and the text there becomes "Congratulation! Now finish the game without cheat". That's pretty annoying.

Then the credit rolls after enemies cast. I don't know why Rich doesn't look happy unlike his cheerful coworkers. Maybe because he starts to regret making those epileptic-inducing effects and worry that he will get sue pretty bad because of that.

 

BlueSky Software 's Vectorman (1995) is quite famous 2D platformer in Sega Megadrive/Genesis because of remarkable graphic effect, but unsafe. Given that in that time, game industry doesn't aware much about photosensitive epilepsy. Some people say that the gameplay is not satisfactory. But it's not Eurojank or at least better than Mega Turrican in my opinion. The level can be finished in pretty short time but if you don't search every part of the level for 1Up or Max Health upgrade, you will have hard time to finish the game. Do note that there's no continue. Not even password or game save to keep your progress. There's level select that i mentioned but you get annoying penalty to use it. Even i can finish the level pretty fast, 16 levels feel too long for me. Plus there's not much of engaging variation on them except for Metalhead and Rock 'N' Roller levels. Not to mention that the bonus level is not great. But the main gameplay is pretty workable and good. Take aside the camera that doesn't cover the vision well so you're forced to shoot enemies offscreen or stop running once in a while. The extra weapon is not so good but still boost Vectorman's combat ability. The music is pretty good. 

Vectorman (1995) feels too long, boring, and have a numbers of significant flaws on the gameplay aspect. Thankfully, the sequel is lot better with lots improvement over this game. Even as it is, this game is fairly playable. Maybe if you tone down the difficulty to "Easy", you can finish the game without the reprimanding text on the end. Note "Maybe" word. Perhaps there's ending text that tells you to raise the difficulty setting instead. :p

Dokapon - Monster Hunter (GBA)

Another day, another RPG. Well, better than i review another shooter game, right? Anyway, this time it's one-man RPG on Gameboy Advance: Tycoon Corporation's Dokapon - Monster Hunter (2001/2002). 

Or just Dokapon in the title screen. I think there's complete title in cover art. Turns out, Dokapon is a RPG series. I played the PS2 ones which is hybrid of one-man RPG and Monopoly. It's quite interesting. Moreover one of the shopkeeper is cat with mage attire and speaks line "What do you purrfer?". I digress, sorry. There's not much setting  on main screen. You can change language setting if you feel want to. So let's hit new game.   

Here's the story. A boy can take a test to become an adventurer, when he turns 11 y.o. The rule is certainly nicer and lighter than that harsh conscription in Crusader of Centy. It's optional to heed and probably well paid because adventurer can into treasure hunting! I'm on it!    

 

Then my childhood friend is picking on me. Good job, game. This is the second time, my female childhood friend become annoying at the start of the game besides in previous RPG. Is this want JRPG players want? Having annoying girl childhood friend? But later she apologizes and encourages me to sign up for the adventurer test. 

 

Thus i go to the 3A which is the Poponga adventurer guild and i have to register my name to this guy that more looks like foreman or carpenter than proper administrator. Maybe because of his simple shirt and large posture. The test is i get <Diramond> in a <Mine> outside of a town. He adds that i have to accept said test otherwise the game won't progress. Spy_goodjob01.wav

 

It's "You're". Not Your, madam.

That guy is currently being held still by his wife because he wants to get into tavern. Because either the booze is really addicting or the waitresses are attractive bunny girl. I let you decide.

 

I keep talking to NPC as that big guy suggests. Then i meet this granny by the church who tells me that adventurer will be revived here and most of them feel frustrated because they fail at their quest. By giving this auto-life item, she hopes that i don't be like them. Engineer_thanks01.wav

 

Finally i find the shop on building with shield and sword sign which houses both the usable item shop and the equipment shop. It's one of JRPG cliché where NPC building's interior grows twice or even more than from it looks from outside. Anyway, the shop has limited stock and so far the most useful is Recover1 which is the usual healing item. Stronger item makes you deal more damage for 1 battle. Harder makes you take less damage from 1 battle. Speeder makes you more agile from 1 battle. Recover1 costs 50 gold each and -what do you know?- i have exactly 100 gold to buy 2 of it. Unless you want to buy the stats-boost item which is inadvisable because it only affect for 1 battle.

 

As per usual the town's exit is on south. Once i exit the town, i enter the world map. I pick the destination by using D-Pad. The mine is on the north so i press "up" on D-Pad to pick the place. Simple.      

 

So here we are, at the first dungeon. The dungeon's floor consists of corridors, wide areas, and a stair to go to next floor. This pretty resembles dungeon in Touhou Genso Wanderer Reloaded especially when the enemies are visible. While in the narrow corridor my vision is limited to 2-3 blocks.

 

Eventually, i find the first encounter. Weasel ain't no big rat but kind of the same tier in RPG bestiary somehow , i think. Every battle mode started with choosing between these 2 card. One allow you to attack first while other forces you in defense's turn. I ideally prefer to get into attack's turn as soon as possible but it's 50-50 chance.

 

All right! I'm attacking first. By pressing "select" button, i can see combat data. On center panel, you get to see our stats. Left numbers are mine while the right ones are my enemy's. From top to bottom: Attack, Defend, and Agility. Even i'm still level 1, my stats are better than weasel. On the right panel, you can see the enemy's skills. He has 2 unused slot which is big advantage to me as i talk about it later.

 

Here's my attack skill. The most top is the basic attack while the rests are the special skill. Using special skill doesn't cost MP, mana, or what have you (as opposed to the Dokapon Kingdom, the PS2 game). But the success rate is determined by rock-paper-scissor system, literally. From second top to bottom is slot for: rock, scissor, and paper. If you see the enemy's skill from before, he doesn't have slot for rock and paper. Meaning he can only do skill in scissor slot which mean you're most likely win if you use skill on rock slot!  

 

But i choose use basic attack instead because my skill on rock slot is only good to add defense power. But i pretty much win anyway here. Basic attack always win against any defensive skill. While basic defend will reduce the amount of damage inflicted by the basic attack. Many offensive skills are interesting like the one that can halves the enemy's hitpoints if succeed to add temptation to use them instead of basic attack. But personally i prefer rely on basic attack because i think using skill only gives the enemy breather due to rock-paper-scissor system. 

 

Now is my turn to defend. I don't have useful defensive skill. All i have are the one that just negate the effect of enemy's offensive skill. I like the "Cut It Out" because it's metaphorically true.

After some battles...

 

i level up for the first time and i get 3 points to boost between my 4 stats which can be considered outnumbered. 1 point will boost 1 number of stats except for HP that will be boosted by 5 instead. Attack power obviously determines the basic attack's strength while Defend power will determine damage taken from enemy while further enhanced the effect while using basic defend. Speed determines the accuracy of basic attack or the evasion rate against enemy's. There's no exact accuracy/evasion info. It works like this: If your speed higher than the enemy's by 10 or so, you have fairly chance to dodge enemy's basic attack and apply vice versa. The bigger the difference of speed stats, the bigger the chance to dodge basic attack. My build stats is mostly prioritizing Attack and HP. Then i prioritize Speed to make sure my basic attack is accurate enough and Defend get the least priority which means my character will be fragile and relies on basic attack instead of special skills.

 

My weapon and shield can also gain level up by defeating enemies and they can increase their offense/defense power by 1 for each level up. Within their first several level up, my equipments can replace skill with new one to whatever slot that i like. I reckon Speed up is not so important so i replace it with Attack up.

Once i descend to next floor, i can't go back to previous floor. Usually on next floor, enemies are harder than before. Enemies spawn pretty frequently so it's good idea to grind for experience before go to next floor. This Orko(s) is new. Let's fight them.  

 

Turns out, they're Miner. I can see wild animal want to bring harm to me because i probably interrupt their habitat or they just being wild. But i don't see the reason behind this poor people fighting me. Maybe this mine is quite dry and temptation to mug an innocent 11-years-old adventurer, looks quite alluring. I mean look at me there. Looks like clueless dummy, right? Fortunately for me, i have higher level than the miner and i can defeat him. Scout_domination01.wav  

 

Some usable item can be bought at the shop but other can only be obtained within dungeon whether from defeated enemy's or bag/treasure chest's loot. One of them is compass that can makes me fly to nearest next floor's entrance. Demoman_sf13_influx_small04.wav

This frog-looking slime has higher speed than me so my basic attack sometimes misses against him. Using the skill can be the obvious solution but it's not reliable thanks to Rock-Paper-Scissor system. Or maybe because i'm bad at Rock-Paper-Scissor. If you happen to choose the same slot, you have to do the Rock-Paper-Scissor again. Most enemies will draw the same on first retry or maybe even on second try. But after that it's pure all around 1/3. Some more simpleminded enemies most likely insist on their choice throughout the battle. The sensible one sometime chooses the counter of the first draw. The trickier one throw a curveball at you by choosing the counter of the counter of the first draw! It's pretty jarring. Really.

 

On the 3rd floor, i find the Diamond Diramond. All i have to do so, i approach it nice and easy...

 

Then boss appears, obviously. To be fair, this BossMole works with the Adventurer's guild to give me the final test and not just mindless monster. The problem with the BossMole is his defend is significantly stronger than my attack. Plus he loves to boost the already big defense power even more with his skill.

 

I have no problem with lesser enemies but i have big trouble with BossMole. I thought he was going for defense-boost skill again, turn out he used obliterating offensive skill and i'm down. Like hinted before that i revive at the church and my gears are replaced with starter equipment and my gold is all gone. The thing is: all of my inventory is gone including my equipment. Luckily, i keep my level. It's the opposite Touhou Genso Wanderer Reloaded. So what's the solution to this problem? Return to town, is good idea. But the thing is without usable item called "Homer", i can't go back there. There's no access to previous floor! Moreover, this "Homer" item is extremely rare. Shop doesn't sell it (as far as my playthrough here). You can only obtain it from limited chest or item bag that you can find in dungeon. You probably think that saving my progress so far is another good solution. Yes. There's manual saving on option menu but it will be overwritten by (invisible) auto-saving that the game has. Maybe because there's something wrong on saving system or maybe down to emulation. I'm not sure. So my solution should you play this via emulation is: rely on save/load state. Without doing so, you're basically playing The Dark Soul of the RPG here.

After several use of save/load state...

 

Eventually, i can defeat him easily though i'm not sure how. Maybe because i keep deny his defend-strengthening skill. Anyway, BossMole admit my greatness and allow me to pass the test. The buff guy behind the counter doesn't seems satisfied with BossMole's performance and he retaliates by calling the man gorilla. Then the guy swears with symbols and such. Watch your tongue, mister!  

 

The shops restore their stocks so i can buy more from them. There's option to attack the shopkeeper and the game keeps questioning your violent decision here. I don't see the benefit of it so i just stick with fair trading method.

 

I bought Bowie knife from the weapon shop, because it also boosts my speed. Leveling up weapon increases its attack power but not my speed. So there's the reason i bought the knife. Besides, it has better weapon skills than the beginner's sword.

 

I decide to re-visit Mine before move to another place for just in case. By pressing "select" button, you can bring this automap. Each time you visit the place, the floor's layout is randomized. Your vision may be limited while traveling but you can monitor everything (including chest and enemy) within the automap. So it's very useful on your exploring.   

 

BossMole is still on the 3rd floor of the mine. But this time BossMole has accompany a mole carrying chess called "Phon-Du". Very funny. You can refuse to re-fight him but that makes him dislike and even underestimating you. The choice is yours.

 

BossMole is pushover now thanks to Bowie Knife, mostly. It only takes 1 hit to defeat him. Scout_revenge08.wav

 

To prevent the lost, you can use deposit chest to store your equipment and item on your house (which is near the center of the town). You also can put your gold on this piggy bank(?) but the minimum amount to deposit is 1,000. If you have less, you can either bring it along with you or you can spend it all and put the purchased item at the deposit chest.

 

My first mission is to get Allie the daughter of blacksmith that went to forest earlier and also there's report that suspicious person is in there so she may or may not be in danger. In this forest many enemies has assistant to back them up. There's a way for me to get companion for myself but i will talk about it later. Anyway, the companions don't do combat on their own. In attacking phase, they only cast extra offensive skill when their main buddy has successfully hit me with its offensive skill. While in defending phase, they only cast extra defensive skill when their main buddy fails to counter with its defensive skill.   

The forest is filled with landmines! While ironically the mine doesn't have any landmine at all. :P

Luckily, i happen to have anti-trap item within my inventory so i can dodge this landmine. Anti-trap item works automatically and have chance to break when used.

I also happen to get bow that weaker than Bowie knife but gives me more boost on my speed and has more interesting weapon skills especially Prize Up that when used to defeat enemy, i will get more gold drop. But i will be honest i will replace it with Tornade that will decreases enemy's attack power when successfully hit.  

 

I forget to mention that you will start a roulette if you pick on chest/weapon/shield/item bag that lie on dungeon's floor. Fortunately, i get the item that whisks me to town "Homer" that's pretty rare. Demoman_sf13_influx_small04.wav

 

If you're really bad at roulette, you can get landmine inside the chest like i do here. Medic_jeers01.wav

 

So the blacksmith's daughter Allie is the annoying girl childhood friend of mine. Good to know. She spot some kind of pirate enter the temple ruin over there. Unlike what damsel in distress do, she goes after the pirate and i'm forced to get inside the ruins as well.  

 

Inside the temple, i encounter with this spearwoman and she took my super rare automatic-revive item. Heavy_jeers04.wav

 

Like in Touhou Genso Wanderer Reloaded, the maximum capacity of my inventory is 30 (equipped gears also take space on inventory) and i'm already out of inventory's space. So i use "Homer" and it makes me fly and drop me to near my house. Soldier_thanksfortheteleporter02.wav

 

Fortunately, the shops have restock their goods. I mention before that Homer is rare item and i can't buy it from shop. But i happen to find this "Store-It" item within the shop's inventory. It allows instant access to my chest on home. So you can retrieve or store item at dungeon safely. But remember that it's one use item. So make sure you transfer items necessarily and correctly before ending the use of the item. 

 

My bow get level up and i get to choose to replace current skills with either Red Card that makes enemy surrender within 25% chance and Pick-It that steal item from enemy. I remember the latter is the one that spearwoman used on me. I like to have direct revenge but i don't think it's worth it.   

 

Inside the temple ruins, there's Ostrich that looks like Pink Flamingo instead. I like to show you that but he runs away as soon as he get his attacking turn! Engineer_specialcompleted03.wav

 

Eventually i catch up with the pirates. They fight as main and assist. One of them snatch shield which i have a lots on my bag. So he helps me make space on my inventory. Demoman_thanks02.wav

 

The pirates are not tough to crack although they have lethal weapon skill. Then their leader named Ms. Vira comes out. Allie comments that Vira always get angry to her subordinates and she will get wrinkles soon. Can't accepting that, Vira  call her lion pet and attack me. Well done, Allie. [Temple of Doom-sized Sarcasm]  

 

Yeah sensible. Let your vicious pet to channel your wrath on me and not yourself do it. Sure, coward. As the appearance suggests, Damien the lion has brute strength. But he has low speed so if you build your character to have high speed stats, you have fairly good chance to dodge his basic attack. I can't capture proper screenshot of this boss fight because it's over pretty quick before i realize i don't take necessary screenshot. All i remember is, i can predict his offensive skill with consistent and i give him solid blow of my basic attack. The boss fight last for 3-5 rounds. 

 

After Damien is defeated, the pirates run with their tails between their legs. Allie wonder why pirates don't have ship and are in the land instead of wandering in seas. One of the pirates returns to explain that they don't have money to buy ship. They're comedic villain but they will come back for sure.

Next morning...    

 

Tobias the blacksmith is pleased that her daughter is return in one piece. Now her blacksmith service is open. I can combine unused gears to make (hopefully) better ones. When you picked one of equipment to combine, there's some equipment that will be in bold blue which signify that the crafting will make the more powerful gear if combined with it. Not only i get access to blacksmith service, but also i get 1,000 gold from Allie. Then she asks me to go with her to circus. Why not?

 

Turns out that the pirates run the circus and it's up to us to investigate that. By us, i mean i do all the exploring and battle while Allie practically does nothing. Anyway, i can capture enemy around here by using Trapper and Apple Food item. You can walk around elsewhere (but don't go to next floor!) and hope that someone get trapped. Some enemies chase after you when saw you so you can lure them. But most enemies run around randomly. Naturally you can set another trap to increase the chance but you need another 2 spaces in your inventory for that. Placing the trap on junction like here can be considered good idea to boost the chance. You can monitor your trap in map screen. There's message when someone get caught within your trap. So the game gives you decent feature in capturing enemy department.

 

I get myself some clown girl as my companion and i accept her for the sake of my nostalgia. Ok. That's it for now.

 

Tycoon Corporation's Dokapon - Monster Hunter (2001/2002) is unique solo RPG on Gameboy Advance. The gameplay can be difficult and rough especially when you start new game. It doesn't take itself too seriously. There's some 4th wall breaking comedy or simple funny humor. I suggest you play this via emulation because bad saving system that i mentioned. I like the battle system that alternate between attack and defend turn which makes me consider about upgrading my defense. The guessing nature of skill is pretty finicky to me. I mean you can see the preference from each enemy with trial and error. But it's fairly often that they have more than 1 preference on choosing their skills. To make things worse, it seems enemies on later section have deadlier offense skills on every slot. Here's the example: On circus, i meet mini mouse that look adorable but very hard to deal. First, he has higher speed stats so my basic attack isn't so reliable. Second, he has so many skill that deal damage and the one who makes me stunned thus winning the rock-paper-scissor game becomes very difficult because i can't predict which one that he will cast. You can escape the battle pretty easily unlike other RPG that's determined by unseen random chance but you will drop random item on your inventory everytime you escape the battle which is fine by me because i always fill my inventory with lots of stuffs. On the other hand, enemies will drop item when they escape the battle but you gain no experience and gold. There's lots of unique yet rare use item like Store-It (that allow you to store/retrieve items from your chest in the middle of dungeon), Revival, Homer, Magic Eye (that allow you to see the starting turn cards on battle), or drink that allow you to move faster than the enemies in dungeon thus allow you to avoid them. The offense and defense skills are ranged from bit trivial to very interesting. The music may be grating but i like the battle theme. It's cheerful and full of spirit.   

Overall, Dokapon - Monster Hunter (2001/2002) is pretty obscured and interesting RPG. It's easy to learn but the difficulty is pretty random thanks to the Rock-Paper-Scissor system of the skill. On top of that the unfair saving system makes the game arguably unwinnable. But on the bright side, you can't totally lose the game as you keep your level. I would like to give this game A-grade recommendation but i give it B-grade ones instead. You can give it a go on note that you better has save/load state on your disposal. I also like to impart you with some tips should you play this game: Use "stronger", and "harder" item before any hard battle. It will save your time in battle big time.

Lastly, i like to apologize that i publish this article very late. My new job makes me away from my laptop for very long time. But i promise that i still keep writing.