GOTD 6/6/2016: Yo Bro (Turbografx)

[celerystalker]

93729373937493759376937793789379

Yo Bro on the Turbografx is a weird one to say the least. Distilled to its basic elements, it's Zombies Ate My Neighbors on a skateboard with Beach Boys licensing. You play as the Beach Boys' mascot, a bear called Little Bro, who must save the children of California from a near apocalypse of aliens, zombies, toxic waste, robots, tornado machines, man-eating plant, killer bees, and, um... bunnies. Oh, and a dog on some kind of scooter with a blade on it. I had no idea that California had all of this shit happening in the early '90s... can't we all just get along?

Like in LucasArts' classic, Yo Bro has a bunch of hapless kids wandering slowly about, getting mauled by whatever hazard rears is ugly (or cute and fuzzy) head, and your job is to rescue them while destroying a set number of enemy installations or creature. Bro, a bear on a skateboard with a backward hat and slingshot that would give Bart Simpson an erection, navigates mazes of buildings, fencing, beaches, and hedges to locate his problems and collect weapons that have been left lying about by some militant benefactor. Upon clearing each stage, bonuses are awarded for survivors, and the next hazard is revealed.

Those scattered weapons are pretty useful if you grab them, and they stay in your inventory to switch between until used up. They include slingshot upgrades like double power, rapid shot, and three-way, grenades of varying strength, rockets of dual, freeze, and homing varieties, and rayguns, and can make dealing with foes much easier. Grenades are the toughest to use, as their range changes depending on your speed, and since the field of play is pretty zoomed in, it isn't always easy to know what's coming. There is a Crazy Taxi-like directional arrow telling you where the nearest target is, but some sort of radar for finding kids and targets would have really been huge, as taking too long in a stage causes a steady rain of explosives until you beat it or die.

Death causes you to restart your current stage from scratch minus any ammo you've used up. Your basic slingshot does have infinite ammo at least, but it can get frustrating if you were doing well and got killed by falling in water or something, as you can usually withstand several hits, but one drop in the ocean and you're done. There are 30 total stages segmentedinto five per city, with bonus levels in between to collect extra points and power-ups. The game goes on a little long, and I'd equate it to playing something like Rampage, where there's not a ton of variety in what you see or do, but the core game is still pretty fun.

Graphically, Yo Bro uses only slightly more colors than an NES game, and probably could have been done handily on Master System. Still, what's there is so dumb and silly that it kind of works for such a ridiculous premise. The music, though... four chiptune renditions of Beach Boys songs like "Help Me Ronda" and "California Girls" are out of place for the storyline, but in some weird way add a layer of cheese that makes it funny but awful at the same time to hear. All together, Yo Bro is a stupid, fun, weird game, and is like finding out that Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Ghoul Patrol have an autistic cousin that's fun to hang out with.

Played it?

[Emperor Megas]

This is the kindest review I've ever seen for this game. I've never played it yet, so I can't give an opinion on it, but it's worth mentioning that most people think this game is straight up ass. ^_^

[Aussie2B]

Haha, yeah, this game is nothing but the butt of jokes among my circle of friends. Granted, it probably doesn't help that even Zombies Ate My Neighbors I find massively overrated and miserable to play (when trying to seriously beat it at least; it's moderately fun if you're just screwing around with it, especially in multiplayer, and not caring about all the dumb, unfair things the game pulls).

Probably my favorite thing about Yo Bro is that the publisher couldn't decide how they wanted to write out the title and couldn't be assed to maintain any consistency. The box says "Yo Bro", the title screen says "Yo, Bro", and the HuCard says "Yo' Bro". The last one is especially funny because what the hell are they suggesting? That "Yo" is short for something? Short for what?

[celerystalker]

The thing about Yo Bro is that it's not an amazing game by any stretch, but it's actually pretty playablr and even fun if you're looking for something like Zombies Ate My Neighbors. I do believe that about 90% of the people who really lambast it haven't played it. There are some really valid criticisms, though:

The all Beach Boys soundtrack is horrific.

The difficulty is wildly uneven. The second stage's bee hives and bees are WAY harder than several stages that follow like Dinos, Aliens, Bunnies, Tornado Machines, Toxic Waste, etc.

The backgrounds offer very little variety. It's all pretty same-y scenery.

The main character, a bear on a skateboard, was out of date when it was new.

Those things said, control is actually pretty spot on for what it does, the sprites look pretty solid, the challenge, while uneven, is fair overall, and the absurd lack of understanding of what people think is cool is oddly endearing. I'd really compare it to playing through Rampage on NES, in that the core game play is solid, and it works for while, but it starts to feel a bit repetitive well before it's over. Still, I can't say I dislike either one.

It is fun to make fun of, though.

[Gameguy]

The all Beach Boys soundtrack is horrific.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdnsIe4cXfY

[bb_hood]

93729373937493759376937793789379

Yo Bro on the Turbografx is a weird one to say the least. Distilled to its basic elements, it's Zombies Ate My Neighbors on a skateboard with Beach Boys licensing. You play as the Beach Boys' mascot, a bear called Little Bro, who must save the children of California from a near apocalypse of aliens, zombies, toxic waste, robots, tornado machines, man-eating plant, killer bees, and, um... bunnies. Oh, and a dog on some kind of scooter with a blade on it. I had no idea that California had all of this shit happening in the early '90s... can't we all just get along?

Like in LucasArts' classic, Yo Bro has a bunch of hapless kids wandering slowly about, getting mauled by whatever hazard rears is ugly (or cute and fuzzy) head, and your job is to rescue them while destroying a set number of enemy installations or creature. Bro, a bear on a skateboard with a backward hat and slingshot that would give Bart Simpson an erection, navigates mazes of buildings, fencing, beaches, and hedges to locate his problems and collect weapons that have been left lying about by some militant benefactor. Upon clearing each stage, bonuses are awarded for survivors, and the next hazard is revealed.

Those scattered weapons are pretty useful if you grab them, and they stay in your inventory to switch between until used up. They include slingshot upgrades like double power, rapid shot, and three-way, grenades of varying strength, rockets of dual, freeze, and homing varieties, and rayguns, and can make dealing with foes much easier. Grenades are the toughest to use, as their range changes depending on your speed, and since the field of play is pretty zoomed in, it isn't always easy to know what's coming. There is a Crazy Taxi-like directional arrow telling you where the nearest target is, but some sort of radar for finding kids and targets would have really been huge, as taking too long in a stage causes a steady rain of explosives until you beat it or die.

Death causes you to restart your current stage from scratch minus any ammo you've used up. Your basic slingshot does have infinite ammo at least, but it can get frustrating if you were doing well and got killed by falling in water or something, as you can usually withstand several hits, but one drop in the ocean and you're done. There are 30 total stages segmentedinto five per city, with bonus levels in between to collect extra points and power-ups. The game goes on a little long, and I'd equate it to playing something like Rampage, where there's not a ton of variety in what you see or do, but the core game is still pretty fun.

Graphically, Yo Bro uses only slightly more colors than an NES game, and probably could have been done handily on Master System. Still, what's there is so dumb and silly that it kind of works for such a ridiculous premise. The music, though... four chiptune renditions of Beach Boys songs like "Help Me Ronda" and "California Girls" are out of place for the storyline, but in some weird way add a layer of cheese that makes it funny but awful at the same time to hear. All together, Yo Bro is a stupid, fun, weird game, and is like finding out that Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Ghoul Patrol have an autistic cousin that's fun to hang out with.

Played it?


Honestly I cant remember If I have played this one or not. Regardless, this is the type of game I hate.. some stupid cartoon bear skateboarding around trying to save children or some stupid thing. And its got beach boys music? man it doesnt get any worse. This is pretty much wally bear version 2.0

[celerystalker]

Honestly I cant remember If I have played this one or not. Regardless, this is the type of game I hate.. some stupid cartoon bear skateboarding around trying to save children or some stupid thing. And its got beach boys music? man it doesnt get any worse. This is pretty much wally bear version 2.0

It's a kusoge by its theme to be sure. Unlike Wally Bear, though, it's extremely playable. I can't fault anybody for hating its concept. For me, and I don't know how or when, at some point it became lovable kitsch. If you think you'd hate it because of that concept, you're probably exactly right, because it's idiotic at best.

[bb_hood]

It's a kusoge by its theme to be sure. Unlike Wally Bear, though, it's extremely playable. I can't fault anybody for hating its concept. For me, and I don't know how or when, at some point it became lovable kitsch. If you think you'd hate it because of that concept, you're probably exactly right, because it's idiotic at best.

I think I hate it mostly because the main character is a cartoon bear.

[celerystalker]

I think I hate it mostly because the main character is a cartoon bear.

Named Bro, no less. It's even dumber in that he's the only bear in the game saving humans... but I guess somebody had to be there so Greendog won't kill himself.

[Emperor Megas]

I actually LIKE Greendog. ^^;

[celerystalker]

I actually LIKE Greendog. ^^;

Could be worse. I actually like Yo Bro.

[bb_hood]

It would be way cooler if the playable character was a gigantic angry bear with rabies who rampaged around town eating children. way way better.

[celerystalker]

It would be way cooler if the playable character was a gigantic angry bear with rabies who rampaged around town eating children. way way better.

Only if they kept the Beach Boys music. If I can't maul teenagers to California Girls, I'm not interested.

[bb_hood]

Only if they kept the Beach Boys music. If I can't maul teenagers to California Girls, I'm not interested.

lol, I was just going to edit my post to include that the maulings would take place to California Girls.. swear to god

[celerystalker]

lol, I was just going to edit my post to include that the maulings would take place to California Girls.. swear to god

Ha! That'd be a hell of a game.

[Steve W]

Was this game a graphically doctored version of a Japanese game or was this an original? Because I can't imagine some developer dreaming this game up as the culmination of his life's work, a pet project finally brought to life.

[celerystalker]

Was this game a graphically doctored version of a Japanese game or was this an original? Because I can't imagine some developer dreaming this game up as the culmination of his life's work, a pet project finally brought to life.

It is an original from Camp California/Icom.

[snes_collector]

Had no idea this was similar ZAMN and Ghoul Patrol. Love those games. Adding this to my wishlist now. Thanks for the review.

[Emperor Megas]

Don't do it, man! :shameful:

[celerystalker]

Don't do it, man! :shameful:

A ZAMN fan might actually like it. The Turbo Views review is way off base with its control and difficulty complaints, and they didn't even know what points were for (you get a free life every 30,000 by default). Some of the stuff people complain about with it are just off. The theme and hellish soundtrack I get, but really, it can be pretty fun to play for the right crowd. It's one of those games like, say, Blue Stinger, where people love to trash it, but it has enough merit to at least be a guilty pleasure for some (well, maybe just me).

I should do Blue Stinger soon. Love that game. :)