Luigi Mario

Bucky O'Hare

Publisher: Konami

System: Arcade

Genre: Shoot Em' Up

Introduction:

The year was 1992, a forgotten little age where the trend of Games based off of familiar Cartoon/Comic Book seires was an incerasingly known favorite-seen thing, and THIS game was no different. It was one of my favorite Cartoon series(believe it or not, my brothers and I all loved this cartoon), and short-lived to boot.*cries*

The plot of this version is pretty much the same as the Cartoon. The Toad Empire is on the loose and is looking to enslave the entire Aniverse. The only force that stands in there way? Captain Bucky O'Hare and his fearless crew: Blinky, the little one-eyed android....thingy, Jenny, the Aldeberan Cat, Dead-Eye Duck, who is, obviously, the one-eyed Duck(One of my favorite characters), Bruiser, the bezerker baboon, and, Earth-Boy, Willy Dewitt(Yes, they really call him that in the series). Yeah, I know. It's a freaky storyline, huh? Anyway, although the crew consist of these 6 brave soldiers, you only get to play as either Bucky, Blinky, Dead-Eye, Or Jenny. I'm not gonna lie, I wanted to play as the freakin' Baboon, but, oh well. Let's just get to the review.

Graphics: A-

The Graphics are incredibly well done for a game in '92. I don't really like the fact that when you walk everywhere, you basically look at then walking in a side-to-side manner, but like I said.....It's a game in '92. The characters move, fire, and throw there mini-bomb attacks in full animation. and some of the bosses....mind you, I said SOME of the bosses look and move good as well. You can really tell that everything looks hand-drawn when it comes to gameplay, but the cut-scenes look awesome. The artist of this really aimed high in this catagory, so at least it scored in the A rank. Not a bad job.

Sound: A

Pretty much everything you'd expect from a Konami game. The Music is absolutely awesome, and the sound effects from all of the characters are right on with the Cartoon series. It's funny to hear the Toads croak when you blast them. Though it's repeditive, it takes away some of the seriousness and provides a temporary laugh every once and a while. Everything else sounds pretty much like your typical, avreage, Sci-Fi series. But, I happen to like Sci-Fi, so It was all good.

Control: A

You have three buttons for this one. The fire button, which fires your primary weapon, the jumb button, which you use to jump(No brainer), and the Bomb button, which unleashes a gigantic mega-blast that takes up the entire screen and takes out every enemy that surrounds you. You may not need it as much as you think, but it'll still come in handy. Also, if you push the jump and fire buttons at once, your character will throw out a special mini attack. The attack that happens varies from the character you use, so there's a bit of variety in that sense. Everything's easy to pull off, so no whining about the control, people. Ok? Ok.

Gameplay: B

The gameplay's nothing really too special, but it's still fun. The enemies aren't really that hard to defeat. You just shoot them. Nothing more too it. Some enemies play it cheap where even a repeditive number of blasts will barely stop them, so you'll have to do a bit of moving while you shoot. This game has a good number of levels, and the bosses you face are right off of the cartoon show. From Toad-Borg, to Total Terror Toad(A VERY annoying and CHEAP boss), all the way up to Komplex, who is a freakin' migraine to beat. However, that doesn't mean you're without help. You'll notice, at the beginning of the game, your blaster isn't all that powerful, and ol=nly blasts two shots. Well, from time to time, a little portal will show up and shoot out a gun power-up. Get one, and you'll be able to shot three shots. Get two, and it rapid-fire, baby. Meaning, you don't have to keep pushing the fire button over and over. Basically, your finger gets a much-needed break, and TRUST ME. Your finger WILL need a break.

Life won't be too terrible of an issue either, as sometimes, it'll come out through the timy portals in the same manner as the gun power-up. But remember, it's '92, the age of the dreaded "Quarter Munchers". Don't be surprised if you don't get too much life back. A small coin will also come up through the portal at times, but all it does is give you bonus points....big help, huh? But it isn't COMPLETELY useless, as it'll leave you invurnerable to enemy fire for like...a second, so every little bit helps, I suppose.

Simply Put: B+

The game's not anything new, or special, but it's still a good game to play if you happen to spot it out at the old arcades, or while waiting for a movie to open up. I just gave it a B+ because of the repeditive-like gameplay. It's fun, but you basically just spend time shooting everything. Variety is clearly existant, but limited at best. But either way, I garantee you'll have a "blast"(Figuritively speaking) with this game. The ending is pretty good too, but it's not gonna be too easy to get to. Good luck with it, and have fun with the game. It might repeat itself, but it is just that; FUN. That's all that can really be said.