"J.J. & Jeff" - Turbografx-16/PC-Engine

AKA - Kato-chan Ken-chan

----- Introduction -----

It's sort of topical: in the modern day people frequently get upset with companies like Sony for censoring anime tiddies out of video-games, and that sort of thing. Apparently, people had the capacity to get upset about that in PC-Engine games, because J.J. & Jeff is a game that some people have that complaint about.

Originally, the game came out in 1987 as a Hudson developed tie-in to the comedy television show "Kato-chan Ken-chan Gokigen TV" ('Gokigen' means pleasant/in high spirits). However, someone somewhere along the line deemed the constant fart, poop, and pee jokes in the game to be a little too crass for American audiences (really!?) and censored them out for the American release.

They also turned the main characters from Japanese TV personalities to cartoon detectives.

I... guess this is how detectives looked in the '80s.

According to Wikipedia, the localized game is less funny and the gameplay is worse than the original, which amuses me because all that was lost is fart jokes and the game plays the exact same. I don't really like localization either though, so I'm going to pretend that we lost some very important art.

Just for context, Hudson is the one that developed Adventure Island, which we haven't gotten to any of the Famicom versions of yet, but is well revered for being one of the better platformers from the '80s. And if you like it, then good! Because J.J. & Jeff shares a lot of similarities with it, probably by design.

So, is that good or bad? Let's find out:

I'm glad they translated "Hiscore," because I had no idea what that meant.

By the way, this isn't "Gokigen TV", but this sketch I found starring Ken Shimura is still pretty amusing even if you don't speak Japanese (or just speak it poorly like me), if you're curious.

----- Playthrough -----

J.J. & Jeff plays quite a bit like Adventure Island, but I haven't reviewed that yet, so I'll explain. It's a platformer, in the vein of Super Mario Bros., which I also haven't reviewed yet, so I'll explain. You run to the right, jumping on or kicking enemies as you go, until you reach the end of the level. Some levels have little mix-ups-- you might need a key to progress for instance.

But in general the formula is running to the right until the level stops.

Please note that Ken-chan taking a dump is inherently funnier than Jeff hiding with a wolf mask.

The main gimmick behind the game, near as I can tell, though, is the 2 button, which kicks. At first glance, this seems to be just an attack (albeit a very short range one) but if you get creative and start mashing it all the time you'll quickly discover that the world is absolutely filled with secrets. Conversations with characters in the game sometimes hint at these secrets, as well:

Okay, I guess that classifies as more than a hint...

While looking around you'll also find coins, which can be used in slot machines. This feels almost essential, because you won't get your first 1UP until 100,000 points, which takes forever to reach without the slot machine's help. See: The slot machine can reward you with things like an extended life bar and 1UPs, and if you put 5 coins in the machine as your bet and get a lifebar extension, you can earn more than twice the points at the end of each level if you complete it with full health.

If you use 5 coins, you can also get 5 1UPs if you get a row of particular items, which is extremely helpful and almost feels downright essential at times to progressing in the game.

Unless you have a lot of fun staring at this, in which case don't bother.

Which, by the way, this game is insanely hard. I don't know if it's just me, but I think I've completed some pretty difficult games (Ninja Gaiden, Ghosts 'n' Goblins) but this game just kicked the crap out of me. I played it off and on for two days, probably about 4-5 hours in total, and I never even got to see the boss at the end of world 2-4. And there are 6 worlds in this game!

This guy is a direct depiction of me starting this game over for the 30th time.

Honestly, the game is fun, and I was enjoying it and will probably come back to it again to see if I can beat it, but my patience for the sake of writing this review dwindled as I kept starting it over. The game will get easier as you keep finding more and more secrets by playing it repeatedly, but this is one of those games that could have benefited from an early implementation of Ninja Gaiden's checkpoint system (a checkpoint at the beginning of each world to return to if you lost all your lives).

If you want to see someone beat this game, watch this incredible speedrun of this game by this dude (The Retro Challenger). He makes it look very easy, but try it for yourself if you get the chance. Not to give away the ending to this article...

----- Review -----

Innovation:

Does the game show anything not yet seen on this system/ever before?

Well, in Bikkuriman World we've already seen platforming with enemies and a 'hit' button, and the hidden coins mechanic is also pretty similar, so no, I guess J.J. & Jeff doesn't really bring anything new to the table per se, but it is well executed.

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Intuitive Design: 

How easy is it to intuitively understand the game?

The secrets are... a secret, until you talk to one of the characters that clues you in on them, then you can go down the road of discovery that lets you start figuring out where everything is, and that's where a lot of the fun and surprise in the game comes from. The amount of things you can kick was surprising to me, as well as the amount of random hidden things that popped up when I didn't expect them to.

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Gameplay / Difficulty: 

How rewarding does playing the game feel?

When it goes well, the game is really rewarding. It's a good, solid platformer, although the controls are a bit slidey-- perhaps in imitation of Super Mario Bros. because of its success, or perhaps just a holdover from the Adventure Island formula. The game is perhaps a little unreasonably difficult, but maybe not for a tried and true """""retro gamer""""" unlike myself (hey, I love these games, but I'm not a skilled player of really any of them). The ending levels (which I watched in the video I linked above) look absolutely insane to me for a game with no checkpoints, but everything's easier when you're the one playing.

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Depth: 

How deep/long is the game?

6 fields x 4 levels a piece-- 24 levels to play with 6 bosses, and a ton of secrets to find in every level...? That's definitely enough to keep someone entertained for awhile if they insist on beating the game. Still, it's only a platformer, not a strategy game or something, so it can only be so deep.

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Design: 

How's the sound? How are the graphics?

The characters in the game are pretty expressive which is good fun, but I mean, what did you expect considering it's a game based on real people from a real TV show...?

These faces never get old.

The music is great too-- it's the work of a composer we haven't seen yet but will show up on the Famicom: Takeaki Kunimoto. Personally, I found a lot to like in the OST for this game. It reminds me a little bit of the Sonic Advance soundtrack on the GBA, for some reason. Definitely a winner for me in that regard.

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Personal Chord: 

Does the game have that undefinable "something" for me?

It's weird, and I don't know if I'd wear a shirt with TV personalities for a show I've never watched, but honestly this game is a lot of fun. I like the goofy aesthetic, I like the music, and I like the emphasis on exploring to find the secrets. I also like the difficulty, even if I'm complete garbage at video-games. I'd rather play something that seems ridiculously hard than something that's boring because it's so easy.

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Should You Play: 

Is there a reason to even bother with this one?

I think so, if you like platformers. This is definitely going on my favorites list. It's pretty fun for a game nobody has ever heard of before (I certainly hadn't).

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