Ruruli Ra Rura
The PC-FX doesn't get a lot of attention in general, and when it does, it's usually either to make fun of it or to talk about the few really sought-after games like Zenki. Ruruli Ra Rura is one of those oddball games that on another system like the Playstation or Saturn wouldn't earn a second look, but on a system starved for action and adventure, it becomes suddenly more interesting. I have no idea if I typed the name correctly. Google it, and you'll find about five differing takes on the title, making it a bear to search. Why it matters, though, is that it is the sole metroidvania on the PC-FX, making it imminently worth a peek.
Fortunately, Raru-whatever is rather accessible even to non-japanese speakers such as myself, as it really only has a couple of menus to figure out. You start as a green-haired samurai who must save the kingdom from an evil wizard, exploring and attacking with kicks and slashes. Capable as he is, he can't take on this world by himself, and will need to recruit 7 additional playable characters (!), each of whom has their own unique attacks and abilities. The frogman can swim and jump high, cat girl can climb, ninja girl can dash, fairy can fly, etc. Couple these with character-specific power-ups, and you have a fairly robust set of tools to take on your journey.
It all sounds like a pretty full-featured adventure, and to an extent, it is... but where the game will frustrate most is in its clunky controls. Each character has multiple jump variations based on how they are standing and the direction pressed, making platforming far more of a challenge than it ought to be. You can only change characters, save, and use special items for recovery and permanent stat boosts at tents by pressing select. The top choice is character select, second is special ability assignments for buttons IV, V, and VI, the third choice is item use, and last is save. Once you wrap your hands around those simple menus and obtuse controls, the only real barrier is solving puzzles without being able to read clues as to where to go. I still found them to be doable, although I did run into a couple of spots where I wandered aimlessly for awhile, and others where I had to figure out what certain abilites do to know how to approach a barrier.
Rururirawhatsit is a game that, while I think most would pass on on another console, gains a lot by being something different and playable on the PC-FX. The 8 playable characters are pretty neat, and the cutscenes, as in most PC-FX games, are just aces, and full of '90s anime flavor. It may be more notorious now as the game where Link's voice actor from Ocarina of Time voices the main character of a goofy game, but I'd say that if you have a PC-FX, it's very worth your time. If not, I wouldn't go buy one just for this. I really enjoyed it, though!
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