| | | Download added: tough.mpg (5515268 bytes)
"Player vs CPU, going for a dangerous gambit."
An unreleased but thankfully dumped prototype block-dropping vs puzzler for MVS from Data East. I really can't see why they didn't release this thing, it's probably the snazziest block-dropping vs game I've ever played, with gorgeous animation, very slick presentation, lots of story, great combos, and a wacky supernatural sense of humor.
The odd story revolves around you going about scaring ghosts off. Of course, to scare off a ghost you have to beat it in a block-dropping puzzle match! Ah yes. Anyway, you gotta get rid of the roundish blocks before they hit the bottom of the screen; fortunately you can knock them apart with your bouncy ball. Watch out though, it plays an Ikaruga-ish trick (see entry 129) by throwing two different colors of blocks your way, and you have to throw your ball with the correct button to match the color of the blocks you want to destroy.
It gets trickier than it sounds because you can switch color in mid-throw--so for instance if you time it right you can throw at a cluster of red blocks, smash through 'em, then switch the ball to blue and have it continue on to smash through a bunch of blue blocks that were behind the red ones. If it meets a block of non-matching color it bounces off, but you can use this to channel the rebounds into more ball clusters for big points.
Bountiful animation gives every character a vibrant personality right down to the smiling cat slumbering on top of the timer. This is one of those games that is just so lively and jolly that pretty much nobody could not like it. Except, I guess, someone at Data East or SNK back in the late '90's. |
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