Reviews of Boomer’s Adventure in Asmik World, Sanrio Carnival, Rockman World (Mega Man: Wily’s Revenge)

Welcome to episode 10 of Game Boy Crammer. In this episode, Boomers Adventures in Asmik World, Sanrio Carnival, and Rockman World. This week, I went to a local place called… It’s a chain recycling kind of thrift shop called Hard Off.

And you can add your own joke. I picked up a Super Famicom really, really clean. They’ve got such nice staff there all the time. And most of the stuff they have is reasonably priced and nice and cleaned up. I picked up a Super Famicom. None of them were over a buck a piece. And then I went back the next day and picked up a PC Engine.

Core Graphics 2. Not the latest model, but I think it came out in 1991. This would have been one of the later non-CD models of the PC Engine. Also known as Turbo Graphics. And it came with a whole bunch of these Hu cards. Which are the little flat cartridges that come with it. I’ve been a little distracted from my Game Boy work.

I also have been getting into the Rock Beyond, Rock Beyond the Nintendo 64 a lot. And playing… I guess in English it’s called Gemini Twins. And Doom 64. Doom 64 is so hard. Because, you know, I’m used to playing the PC version. I never even considered playing it on a console. Because it was always keyboard and mouse for me.

Getting through Doom levels, even on the hardest level. There’s always a little bit of save load, save load, save load. In this one, you have to get through the whole level without saving. In Doom, that’s really hard. Because that rocket launcher, one false move, and it’s over. You’re going back to the start.

And I also picked up the Sonic Jam collection for the Sega Saturn. Now, I’m not a big Sonic fan. But it’s nice to have them. And apparently the Sega Saturn versions are one of the best versions you can get. So I thought I’d try it out. Okay, back on topic. Let’s get to the reviews. Next to an 8-review.

Umer’s Adventure in Asmik World. This game came out in 1989 in Japan. It was called Teketeki Asmikkun World. And then it came out a few months later, in 1990, in English, as Boomer’s Adventure in Asmik World. This is a top-down maze game. Where you play Boomer, a small, very slow dinosaur. You move around a scrolling maze, avoiding enemies, collecting objects, and digging holes.

You hold your A button to dig a hole in front of you. And you can use B to fire a weapon, if you have a weapon. The object of the game is to find a cross. And this cross will open a door, which will lead to a stairway that’ll take you to the next level. But where is the cross? It’s not just sitting on the ground.

It’s often underground or being carried by an enemy that you can’t see. But where is the cross? It’s never just lying around, except in the first level. You generally have to get it from the ground. You have to dig it up. Or if another creature has already dug it up and is walking around with it, you have to bury that creature, or knock that creature out with a weapon.

And then you can get the cross and open the door In the early part of the game, they’re not that smart and not that fast. And they seem to just bumble around randomly. So it’s not that difficult. Even if there’s a lot of enemies. You can trap an enemy by digging a hole, letting it fall in, and then holding the dig button, it’ll actually bury the enemy.

However, the hole has to be fully dug for that enemy to fall into it. Otherwise it’ll kind of just get stuck a little bit, which sometimes gives you enough time to run away. But if there’s a whole bunch of enemies after you, you better just find a different way, because only one enemy will get trapped in the hole at the same time.

So how do you know where this cross is? Well, you have two ways. You have a compass, and you have a metal detector. So the compass will actually point where it is. Now sometimes you’ll see, oh, this thing is moving around. So you’ll know that an enemy is carrying it around, or sometimes it’s in the same spot, and you can just kind of figure it out that way.

You only get to use the compass three times. Now sometimes, in some levels, the compass is right out in the open, so you can just go grab it, and sometimes it’s being carried by enemies, or sometimes you dig random holes and you’ll find one. Another thing you get is a metal detector. This little camera, it will actually make a sound.

So if you have your sound turned off, you’re not going to notice this thing. It makes a beeping sound when you’re close. So at least you know you’re in the right vicinity. Other things you can pick up, you can pick up a boomerang, and you get three throws, but you have to make sure you catch it. So sometimes you have to kind of shift around to catch the thing.

And then you have a bone, that’s a one-shot, that can get you out of a lot of trouble. And then you have a bomb, which makes holes in the ground. You get a little speed-up, you get some roller skates to speed up, but watch out for the boots, because they make you go slower. And then you get a shovel, which makes you dig faster.

And this is a really big advantage, because the thing about boomerang is he’s very, very slow. Digging is so slow, too. So the shovel really helps. You can just blast holes in the ground really quickly. It makes it a lot easier to find stuff. In other levels, later levels, you’re going to get a fire weapon, which lets you shoot fire, and then ice that turns enemies into ice.

There’s a power-up called a sprite. You hit select, and you can change it into whatever you want. And once in a while, you get an egg, which is a one-up that gives you an extra life. They’re pretty common, but they don’t seem to be in any predictable place. So it goes on. It gets a little harder. You get more enemies.

It gets kind of overwhelming after a while, the number of enemies. Sometimes you get lucky, and they don’t gang up on you. It seems like they’re not that smart. It’s more a matter of luck of not getting trapped. And strategy. When you get to level eight, well, you’ve got to fight your first boss. So this is a different kind of level.

It’s very open. Start digging, because you’re going to need power-ups right away. It’s a big moth or butterfly, and it shoots out pollen. If you’re not close to it, it’s pretty easy to dodge, but you want to find some roller skates so you can run faster. And then basically, you have to watch the shadow, because it’s going up and down.

So you can’t shoot it while it’s high in the air. You have to collect some bones or any other weapons you can find. I was just finding bones. Throw bones at this thing. You know what makes this game great? You can save your place. You get passwords. You don’t get passwords for every level, but you get them once in a while, enough to be able to get through the game, I think.

And what you do in this game is you play this game to the 33rd or 34th level. After that, you’re going to go backwards through all the levels again, and then stage one is going to be the final boss that you fight. 33 levels, but it’s more like 66 levels, if you count them all twice. Overall, I was really surprised. At first, I thought it was pretty lame, but then when I started playing it a little bit more, I found lots of strategies and stuff like that to make it a lot more fun.

That’s a mark of a good game that gets better the more you play it. If you got tired of writing down all the passwords, you just type in ancient, and that’ll let you select whatever stage you want. That’ll save you keeping a notebook around while you’re playing this thing. I gotta say, I recommend this game.

I really didn’t like it at first, but I’m really enjoying it now. There’s a sequel, which I bought, but I haven’t even tried yet, so I’ll be reviewing that later. There’s no reason not to buy the Japanese version, because it’s all in English anyway, so whatever you can get your hands on. Look for DMG-ASJ for the Japanese version, or DMG-AS for the English version.

Come on! Drive racing cars to work? Play golf in our pajamas? Tennis on the bus? Or baseball in our mother-in-law’s living room? All you need is a Game Boy. It’s a personal game-playing system with over 200 puzzle, action, and sports games to choose from. Hey, fun is your reward for growing up. Start playing!

You really gotta get one of these. Game Boy by Nintendo. Have you had your fun today? Next to a game review! Sanrio Carnival! This game came out in 1991 in Japan only. It’s based on Sanrio characters, which are Hello Kitty and Friends. It’s a block puzzle game, kind of like Tetris, but more like Dr. Mario Puyo Puyo.

We have blocks falling from the top of the screen, and you have to match three adjacent blocks. You match vertically, horizontal, or diagonally. The blocks fall faster and faster until you die, or you win. There is an end to this game. Now, this game is all in Japanese, but I wouldn’t worry about it.

There’s no save game in this cartridge, and it’s actually one of the cheapest cartridges around. I see this one for about a buck, and I’ve got two copies because it came in those variety packs I keep buying for you. You only see the cartridges on the end of the pack, and this one inevitably ends up in the middle.

You can change your background music, you can turn background music off. A little guide to the menu. The top part of the menu gives you three choices. One is a clear stages mode, high score mode, and endless mode. Then you can change the patterns. You can change the blocks from Hello Kitty characters or just abstract patterns.

Then you have a background music selector, and then you have slow, medium, and fast. Now, the three game modes. The first one, you have to clear 30 lines. As you clear blocks, they kind of avalanche down, so you can keep clearing lines. This is very similar to a lot of other games you play. It’s just not that friendly.

You can’t really… You know, some of these games, you can kind of use really quick timing to kind of tuck pieces under other pieces. Not so much in this game. It’s a little bit frustrating. You can start on various stages and clear them, and you get a cute little picture if you win. High score stage is like it sounds.

You’ve got to reach a certain score. That certain score is 50,000 points. So you get that, and you finish the game. And the next one is this endless block game, where it’s just endless blocks falling. However, they don’t cascade down. I can get pretty far on it, but you have to really, really pay attention to the diagonals.

You know, if you’re always looking ahead at the next piece, watching for the diagonals, you can get through it. But it is very difficult because it’s such a narrow screen. You know, that rotation just doesn’t give you the control enough to kind of tuck pieces in where you want them to. And really, that’s all there is to this game.

It’s an okay, acceptable puzzle game. I wouldn’t balk at it for a buck or so, but watch out online because I’ve seen this thing on eBay. You know, they’ll kind of throw it in with a pack of other cartridges and stuff like that. And almost every time you see a lot of games on eBay, you’ll see this one.

If you’re a huge Hello Kitty fan, you might like this one. It’s definitely not one you need to stay away from. However, I don’t think I’ll put it on very often. There’s so many better games in a similar genre, you know. If you’re looking for this one, search for DMG-CSJ. SUPER ADVENTURE GAME FAMICOM COST LOCKBITE December 17th, new release!

Rockman World by Capcom, also known as Mega Man Dr. Wily’s Revenge. This came out in the summer of 1991 in Japan, December 91 in the U.S., and 1992 in Europe. You can actually get this now on the Virtual Console on your 3DS. Forgive me, Mega Man fans, because I can assume you’ve never played Mega Man in this review.

Mega Man is a platform shooting game. You run, you jump, and you shoot. Unlike most platform games where you start at level one and work your way through, you actually get to fight one of several robot masters. And when you defeat that robot master, you get to keep his weapon and use it for the next level.

So depending which level you start with, it can make the game easier or harder. Now, the original game came out in 1987 for the NES. This one is not a port of that game, but it is similar. You get to fight four of the same robot masters from that game, but there’s actually four other robot masters and a final boss.

And the way you’re going to get through this game is you’re going to fight one, two, three, four masters, and then you’re going to be presented with four more and then a final boss. What’s kind of remarkable about Mega Man, and the reason people are so crazy about it, is these games are really tight.

They’re not loose. Each screen is a puzzle. It’s very, very hard. There’s a lot of memorization and stuff like that. It’s not really the kind of game you can pick up and just blast right through in one try, unless you’re very familiar with Mega Man games. But even then, there’s a lot of surprises that there’s no way of knowing unless you die a few times.

You’ll be fighting Fire Man, Ice Man, Elec Man, and Cut Man. They are like they sound. Electricity Man and Cut Man is like a scissors weapon. And then you’re going to have Flash Man, Quick Man, Bubble Man, and Heat Man. And the final boss is kind of a multi-stage boss kind of thing that you’re probably familiar with in other types of games.

You’re going to build up a supply of eight weapons from these robot masters, plus a couple other ones that you’re going to learn about. There isn’t really a save game on this. There’s no battery. But you’re going to be able to save after each of the first four robot masters. Unfortunately, after that, you’re on your own.

You have to defeat the next four robot masters, final level and final boss, in one shot. And if it weren’t for that, this game would be a lot easier. You know, you have to make sure you build up a lot of extra lives during that time. It’s really tough to get through that final part if you don’t have a lot of extra lives.

On the bottom screen, you’re going to see a health meter. Sometimes you’re going to see a meter for your enemies. Like if you’re fighting one of the robot masters, you’ll see they have a health bar as well. And you also have a weapon power thing. Now, when you first start the game, this thing will seem to have no apparent purpose because you don’t have a charge shot.

You can’t hold your button down and shoot like you can in other Mega Man games. So it doesn’t seem to do anything. But then when you defeat the first robot master, it’s like, oh, I can use this weapon. And now you’re going to find power-ups that will recharge that thing. And there’s something that gives it a little boost, and then there’s almost a full recharge to power up that weapon.

It makes it a lot easier. There’s a lot of enemies that are really hard to target. You can’t crouch in this game. And in order to hit enemies, a lot of times you have to do really, really good jump-and-shoot timing. So these weapons can really help out. However, you can’t just blast them the whole time because they’re going to run out pretty quick.

And there’s not quite enough power-ups to keep them going full-time. So you’re going to have to resort to your little standard P-shooter gun. There’s a certain order you’re supposed to do. I didn’t really follow it, except I found I really had to follow it for the… when I had to defeat the second set of robot masters.

You know, the part where you can’t save. For the first part, I found I just kind of picked randomly and I did okay. I don’t think you should start with Cut Man. I’ve seen different recommendations online. The one I’m seeing the most is you start with Fire Man, then Cut Man, then Elec Man, then Ice Man, Flash Man, Quick Man, Bubble Man, and finally Heat Man.

However, I like starting with Elec Man first because it’s the easiest level to beat. If you just want to kind of train yourself to get through these levels quickly, you know, do yourself a favor and get through the Elec Man level. Now, if you’re used to playing modern, easy platform games, you’re going to have a lot of trouble with this, and it’s very easy to get frustrated and give up.

This game is mean and requires a lot of memorization. You know, you pick it up and play it for a week, and you’re just going to be able to blast through each of these levels completely memorized. They’re not actually that hard if you know exactly what’s coming. It’s not like Mario where they require extreme amounts of dexterity.

So far in this game, other than the bosses, which can be very hard, there’s nothing that would compare to, let’s say, the ending levels of the original Super Mario or Super Mario 3 where, you know, you need to really, really beat the odds. It’s more of a matter of practice. If you just want to pick up a game and play it for a little bit once in a while, this is not that kind of game. This is like a full commitment.

You have to commit yourself to Mega Man. Play through over and over. Don’t get mad when you die because next time you’re going to learn and get through that part. It just seems really, really frustrating at first, but the one thing I really like about Mega Man games is you really feel a sense of accomplishment when you get through them.

And even when you die, you still feel like, wow, wow, I actually got that far. Or you don’t get that with a lot of other games. Sometimes it feels like, well, anybody could finish this game. What I’m saying is don’t be a wimp. You can get through this. And I’m not that good at these games, and I managed to get through.

It was hard. It took me a good… You know, I put this podcast out every couple of weeks, and this set me back a little bit because this was almost a two-week job getting through this game. I actually bought the full set of Mega Man games, and there are seven altogether. I’ve got my work cut out for me.

The bosses aren’t tough. It’s not the typical kind of patterns you can memorize. A few of them are like that. In fact, the very, very final one is kind of one of the easiest bosses. What I find about this game is the enemies just get in your face. Like, if you don’t shoot, there’s these little guys with a happy face with a helicopter on its head.

Those things just get in your mug. They’re just relentless. They’re easy to shoot down. There’s one shot. But if you miss one, it will get in your face and drive you crazy, and it’s really hard to get rid of it, and it will just take off a big chunk of your health. There’s a lot of that kind of stuff in this game.

In one level, there’s a bird that comes out that shoots little tiny birds that just annoy the hell out of you. The enemies are so mean. One thing you’re going to come across in all these levels is a little guy with a shield. And this little guy will shoot three times and then hide behind a shield. Once you learn the timing of these things, they’re completely no problem.

You basically have to jump, shoot twice, jump, shoot twice, jump, shoot three times, or two times. And then they’re no problem. You can get them in two cycles. But at first, it’s like, ah, these things are just… Like most Mega Man games, this one has disappearing platforms, which are really annoying.

It’s not the kind of platforms, although they do have those too, where you jump on them and they disappear on your feet. No, these kind of flash in a pattern, so you have to kind of jump, jump, jump to get across things. And a lot of times you have to anticipate where the next one is going to appear to jump to it.

So there’s no way you can even get through that without having played it one time before and dying, or being very, very lucky. This is a game where you shouldn’t really engage enemies unless you don’t have to. Especially in the Cut Man area, there’s a lot of these little saw blades that come flying at you.

They’re kind of hard. They take a lot of shots to kill and get right in your face. Most of the time, the best strategy is to look for a spot where you can just kind of jump past everything. There’s just no reward in engaging every enemy in this game. A lot of times you just want to run past. These levels have checkpoints. These checkpoints are not always in convenient locations.

In fact, on some levels it just seems pretty pointless. Like the checkpoint is pretty much just after you’ve entered the level, and then no checkpoint is still near the end. But you don’t have to go back to the beginning. However, if you do lose all your lives, you’re going back to the beginning. The save games don’t save where you are in each level.

It’ll just save basically how many robot masters you’ve defeated and what weapons you’ve acquired. Definitely look up a guide to which robot masters you should defeat first and how you should defeat the bosses, because unless you want to do a lot of trial and error, because a lot can go wrong, you can end up with the wrong weapons and an enemy that you basically can’t defeat except with your little pea shooter.

Should you get this? I don’t know. If you’re planning to get every Rockman game, I guess you would get this. But if it’s your first one you’ve never played before, you might want to start with something a little bit later. This doesn’t have the slide. In most Mega Man games you can slide, which is almost like a little duck move.

In this one you can’t. There’s no ducking, there’s just jumping and shooting, and there’s no charge shot either. It might not be the one to start with. I would say play some of the other ones. Listen to some of my other reviews, you’ll get some ideas which ones are easier. If you’re a very experienced Mega Man player, this one won’t be very long for you, but it’s kind of…

It’s a little bit different. It’s kind of fun having that extra set of four. Really would be nice if they gave you a save game after that, because it is a chore to get through. The music is pretty good. It sounds like the NES. Actually, it sounds better than the NES version. Not quite as good as some of the other Mega Man games.

Graphics are decent. In fact, it’s the same. It looks, pixel-per-pixel, looks like the same graphics as the NES, except in black and white, of course. However, the screens are a little bit more cramped. But I like it. I actually find each level is a bit more puzzly. Some of the other Mega Man games, the later ones, are more of a big scrolling level.

These tend to be screen by screen, so it’s like, you enter a screen, you do a bunch of stuff, you jump on a ladder, and you exit the screen. Um, there’s not a lot of scrolling going on. So, this one’s not super hard to find, but it is kind of expensive. I found it was cheaper to pay. I paid about 80 bucks, and I got a full set of every Mega Man cartridge.

It’s actually much cheaper than trying to buy them individually. But if you’re not doing a gaming podcast, you probably don’t need to have every one of these things, unless you’re a real Mega Man fan. There’s no reason not to get the Japanese version, because there’s no reading to do anyway. It’s probably cheaper, so look for DMG-RWA for the Japanese version, DMG-RW-USA-1 for the American version, for the European version, DMG-RW.