Review:
Cychorider, as you may NOT have heard
of.......is a SHMUP hidden inside of a special, "Taikenban" version of
Seiya Monogotari - Anearth Fantasy Stories, for the PC Engine. To
access the game, you have to wait for the Anearth fantasy Stories logo
to start appearing, then push "Run" to access a special menu with a
bunch of mini-games. Once you get the menu up, pull down twice on the
D-pad to find the hidden game, "Cychorider",then push "Run" again.
Ahhhhh.......once you execute "Run", you will be treated to something
so magnificent called the "Title Screen" !! WOOT! My excitement
precedes
me, because I still get excited about any NEC SHMUP, let ALONE a hidden
one i never heard of before, as well as the rest of you!
The title screen consists of three options; "Game Start", "High Score",
and "Game Speed". Nothing fancy, but hey.....it's a cool hidden
game.... it doesn't HAVE to be all glamorous, as long as it doesn't
suck goat choke! No goat choke suction here! Hit run to start the game,
and enter as a little dude riding a cool little space Harley, that
dispenses 2 different offerings of firepower; standard bullets that can
be powered up to spread straight ahead and diagonally in front, as well
as the back of you, and a cool Raiden-esque looking purple laser, that
can be powered up as well. The spraying bullets seem to work best for
most of the stage. Enemies are your standard SHMUP looking space ships,
but are colorful, and detailed for how small they are, as well as some
ghostly looking characters. They most likely are phantoms, as they look
like the cousins of the Pac Man ghosts(Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and
Clyde). The enemies come at you fast, but not so at an alarming rate
like Radiant Silvergun. The game speed and animation is fluent and
moves like a well tuned Corvette engine, ......fine job by the
programmers, and shows that care went into making this a special "Time
Trial" shooter that didn't stink, for it could have been pieced
together quickly like a full game, such as the awful "Ghost
Manor". KUDOS go to the minds behind this gem!!!!! You have two
minutes
to annihilate whatever gets in your way, and fight just ONE boss,
before the time runs out. Shame really....as the game scrolls on still,
leaving you to wonder if there is a secret way to add more time to your
adventure, and possibly grease more bosses and enemies. I get the
impression this game might have become a bigger game and released on
its own, pending time and money, as well as a market for it. The goal,
as with any time trial SMHUP, is to shoot until you cannot shoot
anything else, and collect as many phantoms/ghosts that appear out of
these space barges that scroll onto the screen from time to time.
Collecting them all gives you more points(DUH), but for each one you
collect the points increase. I believe the final one you collect is
like 15,000 points. But to get that, you have to get them all, example:
not just 11 out of 12. 12 of 12. Very simple game to pick up.
The music...... what game would be fun without music? Possibly games
with suck ass music, like the terrible soundtrack for the U.S. release
of "Sonic C.D."(Sonic Boom?!?!?!?!?! Lame ass song Sega! And that score
....weak!). Although this game is on the Super C.D. format, it
unfortunately uses the 6 channel stereo sound of the chip. That doesn't
mean it is bad music though, as we all know, the PC Engine pumped out
some righteous ear pleasers like Air Zonk, Blazing Lazers, Coryoon, Batman,
and Devils
Crush, to name a few. The music is upbeat, and very
good, but not as good as the aforementioned Hu-Card games, but it fits
the action very well, and isn't grating on the ear canal like nails
across a chalkboard. Sound FX are pretty spiffy also, not making you
want to impale each side of your head on an ice pick. Thank GOD! Harken
back to Spriggan mark 2 for the SCD, wasted use of Super System Card
power I feel, for the sound FX department. Air
Zonk had better sounding
explosions for Del Taco's sake!
Graphics are done VERY well, and are somewhat reminiscent of NEXR. In
fact, the whole game reminded me of a NEXR wannabe, which is NOT a bad
thing, as NEXR rocks!
Detailed sprites, very colorful and "spacey" artwork throughout the
whole 2-minute ride. You can really see that your character is a guy,
riding inside of a space Harley, and explosion look like what a game
explosion should look like. Firepower looks great against the
background, and colliding with the enemy. Twinkling stars in the
background add proper effect, and silhouetted ships look great as they
scroll by in the background. None of the colors clash with each other,
and compliment everything....again - KUDOS to the makers of this craft.
Smoke even billows from your bike as you careen around. The boss is
some aquatic looking bastard from oceans hell, and is nicely drawn, but
not nothing to write home about. Importance is, he doesn't look like an
enemy from "Chubby Cherub". He gets the "menacing" part done.
Story wise.........there isn't a story, it's a time trial SHMUP, and if
the game manual for Seiya Monogotari - Anearth Fantasy Stories
Taikenban, has ANYTHING about it in there, it's all in Japanese.
It's a just a basic shooter, with lots of cool things to listen to, and
look at, and let you use your imagination.
Overall, the game really satisfies. Any SHMUP lover will surely enjoy
the short ride, and will not complain, unless it's because the game
could have been a full release, with 10 stages, and 20 bosses, with a
killer rock soundtrack( ala Lords of Thunder), and been packaged on its
own. If you like NEXR, then you will like this too. I give it an
8 out of 10. I would have scored it higher had it been 5 minutes or ten
minutes long. The two minutes is not enough for me, but the trade off
is that it IS a hidden game, bundled with another title. GOD BLESS
TAIKENBAN RELEASES!!!!!!!! Go get yerself a copy!
