Game of the Day 2/7/2016: Cacoma Knight in Bizyland

[celerystalker]

I can't tell you how many times I passed over Cacoma Knight in Bizyland over the years, as it always looked like a kiddie game at a glance. That westernized cartoon cover art certainly didn't help things, and Bizyland sounded to me like it was an attempt to rip off Richard Scarry. However, as I slowly started running out of SNES games that interested me, I started to look closer at the backs of boxes and developers/publishers. Two things caught my eye. First, the name Seta on the cover. As I became more familiar with their work, I've started to look at Seta much like Telenet; I saw them as a purveyor or games that were flawed, but full of reasons to want to like them. Secondly, those screens on the back sure did look like Qix!

A few bucks later and, yes, it sure is a Qix clone, but it's a strong one. The goofy cover art quickly was revealed as a bastardization of classic anime stylings, and the 16 bit platform was used to add a bevy of colorful backgrounds, increasingly chaotic and cute enemies, and a few powerups like protective mirrors and speed boots. It surely doesn't reinvent Taito's classic, but it does offer a light-hearted take and a few twists, such as co-op and versus modes, projectile-launching foes, and hidden chests to unbury as you cordon off chunks of the playfield.

Cacoma Knight in Bizyland is not revolutionary, but it is a quality update of a good concept, and it certainly wasn't done any favors by its name and packaging.

Have you given it a shot?

[ccovell]

One slightly interesting thing about the game's name: it's a pun on the Japanese phrase "Kakomanaito", which means "I've/You've gotta surround (them)!". Datam Polystar seemed to love these puns. "Makeruna Makendo", another game of theirs, is a pun on "Makeruna McEnroe!", (Don't lose, McEnroe!), a catch phrase at the time, apparently.

[Alianger]

Maybe post a screenshot instead of the box/cart?

[celerystalker]

Maybe post a screenshot instead of the box/cart?

I can try and find time, but it'll just be a snapshot of the tv screen. I don't have a capture system and I don't run any emulators, so I've been taking pictures of the games. I can try and make some time to snap some other photos, but please don't be critical of the poor quality.

[Alianger]

Oh that's cool, I like TV screen photos.