Thanks Captain.
PRIKURA DAISAKUSEN
I remember GameFan's December 2000 From The Graveyard write-up of this game. It proclaimed that a handful of Saturn imports were already consistently striking the magical 80+ barrier, and that if you owned PD -- you can consider yourself the most hardcore of hardcore.
While I don't agree with that last statement I do agree with GameFan's overall feelings on Prikura... this game rocks.
It only has 5 stages, and true, the game doesn't take long to beat (under half an hour) but the 5 stages are fun while they last with some cool memorable boss tangles. Presented to us by Atlus in 1996, Prikura Daisakusen presents the gamer with 3 character choices. Two girls and a giant bipedal dog-like creature.
A is to shoot.
B is to pound.
C is special.
Y (or double tap in desired direction) is roll.
One girl shoots out stars from her magic wand. The other icy-like projectiles. Enemies are all robot-types that flash when hit. When destroyed an animal is left for you to collect and earn points. You can pound enemies, this is a close-range hammer spike, or spiked ball slam, or the dog's giant hand smack. This reveals jewels instead of animals. Also, with the pound button, you can unleash a sweet chain reaction of an enemy hitting another enemy and so on. See how high a combo you can land! It's impressive to see one enemy being taken out resulting in a domino-like effect, and this increases your score.
Each character has a helper that can evolved up to four stages (at the end of each stage it evolves accordingly) and has multiple paths to take depending on such and such. The helper helps you like how you'd expect... it shoots at the enemies helping you to take them out.
Also, in some stages there's an icon that when you pick up your character turns into a steroid-pumped character who is invincible and with the simple touch any enemy is instantly destroyed. Nice.
It is an isometric shooter. You might be wondering how the shooting is. Well, once you hold A... you can move the D-Pad and still remain locked in that position. So don't fret about shooting and not being able to lock in one direction. There are multiple directions to shoot at.
It's more of a shmup than a platformer because you can't jump. Whereas Steamgash Mash was a platform blaster, I'd catagorized PD as a "Shooter Blast Em Up"... well, all that matters is that it plays damn good. =P
You'll fight enemies ranging from worm-popping menaces to shield-weilding gun-toting foot soldiers.
Stage one is typical lightness to get you used to the game.
Stage two has some cool boxes for you to break open. Boss is a flying airplane of sorts.
The game really picks up when you battle with stage 3's enormous and impressive fire-breathing snake-like creature,
JUDGMENT... after going through his castle lair.
Then stage 4's boss in the winterland is a giant mechanical crab known as
DEATH SCISSOR. You must cross the wintery iceland safely first...
Finally, the last boss really screams Groove On Fight in the sense that in that game, in one of the backgrounds you'll see a disfigured face. That face... is pretty much like the face of the end boss in Prikura. This vile menace is known simply as the oddly titled
FLASH-THE-ALL. You got to deal with his main face and his left and right hands... and oh he enjoys throwing odd projectiles at you along his creepy little ghoul jello-like friends. There's a lot of flashing all right. To get to him though, you'll have to survive his creepy underworld cavern.
I liked the dog the least. He's too big a target and doesn't have the good mobility of the girls. The girls are fun to use. Special move is same for all the characters. A bunch of fireballs cascade downward from the heavens, damaging everything on screen followed by one single extra large fireball. Classic Streets of Rage special feel, hehe.
Overall Prikura Daisakusen is an ace game. It can be had for under $50 too, so it's not too bad on the wallet. Don't be fooled by some auctions that end at $60. It can easily be had for $45 or so with a little patience. Hell I got mine for $30. Mind you, Atlus released two versions.
1. Double Jewel Case with calender
2. Single Jewel Case without calender
I bought the latter and the former seems to be more frequently offered on eBay and such. I didn't mind getting the "lesser" version of the two, all I need is the game. :-)
Overall, it's an excellent title worthy of a place in every Saturn fanatic's library. From the classic flash flash flash of the enemies and bosses, to the cool old school feel, Prikura's a winner.
And check out those cool J-Pop tunes!
Good work, Atlus.