"Keith Courage in Alpha Zones" - Turbografx-16/PC Engine

AKA - 魔神英雄伝ワタル - "Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru"

It's been about a week since I wrote a review, but you wouldn't know that, because these are scheduled. And I'm excited because I get to return to it with a game I've never even heard of before: Keith Courage. According to the English Wikipedia, this one was developed by Hudson Soft, which should come as no surprise to anyone at this point considering this is a PC Engine review.

The Japanese version of the game is an adaptation of the anime... "Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru," which roughly means something like, "Legend of the 'Mashin' Hero Wataru," in which Mashin means something like genie, or evil spirit, but in this seems to be a name for giant robots.

Apparently the anime was created as a response to the growing prevalence of serious stories in anime-- with an attempt to create something appropriate and enjoyable for younger age groups. The premise is that a 4th grader is transported to a magical realm which he has to save from a bad guy by completing a series of challenges that allow him to get to that guy (you can read about it on its Wikipedia page).

The localization team decided that for Americans, the hero should be a 30 year old man named "Keith".

So, the cover (of the Japanese version) looks pretty cool... but is the game actually fun?

The new title looks alright I guess. It lacks character compared to the original though.

----- Playthrough -----

Keith Courage/Mashin etc etc plays out over 8 stages which alternate between a front and back half. In the front half of every stage you play as Keith/Wataru himself. You can walk with the d-pad, hit B to swing your sword, and A to jump. Any buildings you encounter can be entered with up on the d-pad, so that you can get some info or do some trading.

You can also immediately declare yourself king of the nearest stump and stay there as long as you want defending it.
There's no reason to, but you have options in this life.

Most stages consist of some simple platforming and a borderline overwhelming amount of popcorn enemies that can be defeated in one hit coming at you, and which sometimes drop gold. The savvy among you may realize quickly that rather than being an intended challenge, it's actually an opportunity to grind cash.

Thankfully, the grind's not usually that bad, and there's really only a couple things to buy.

But you can't buy love. Shinobu's not that kind of girl.

Apart from the occasional hospital (pictured above) where you can restore you hearts for usually around 200 gold, the only other things to buy are "weird orbs" (or "bolt bombs" in the English version) which act kind of like the hearts in Castlevania: you can use them to fire off a special move by holding up and pressing B in the robot stages (which we'll talk about in a second), and new swords, which increase the length of your sword in the aforementioned robot stages.

Once you get to the end of the overworld for a stage, Wataru/Keith is whisked away in a majestic rainbow, and deposited in a killer robot to destroy his enemies.

You thought I was kidding about the rainbow.

Robot stages play almost exactly like the human stages except your robot is much faster and slippier control wise. There are also more dangerous enemies which tend to do more damage (you'll rarely lose a heart in the overworld), which also have the potential to drop health and different subweapons, but never drop any money.

... for some reason. It would actually really help if they did.

At the end of each robot stage, you'll face some sort of big boss enemy, who will usually make return appearances in levels to come in some form, so it's good to figure out their patterns and learn how to defeat them without getting hit.

Most of them aren't that hard, but a couple of them will give you a real headache.

If you ever die in the game, your punishment will be being forced to continue from the beginning of whatever sublevel you were on (human/robot), which is really pretty forgiving since most of the levels are probably less than a minute long. You'll really appreciate this on the last robot level because the last boss will probably kick the crap out of you a dozen times before you realize how to beat it.

There doesn't really seem to be any big difference between the English and Japanese versions of this game as far as I could tell. I played through the Japanese version, and then played a couple levels of the English version, and all that was really different was some truly terrible localization.

Alliteration is always a sign you're in for a real localization nightmare.

But to be honest it'd be hard to argue based on playing through the Japanese one that you were really missing anything by playing the English. It's just a little less cringe-inducing, but bad localization can also be pretty endearing, and I probably added 30 minutes of play time looking up words in a dictionary, so you do you.

----- Review -----

How long did I play?
Around 3 hours.

How much did I beat?
I completed the game.

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Intuitive Design: 

How easy is it to intuitively understand the game?

Even without any manuals or tutorial it's pretty hard to mistake the gameplay loop for anything other than what it is. This game is basically exactly like Bikkuriman World or any other number of old platformers with light RPG elements, and I'm sure most people would pick it up rather quickly.

Gameplay / Difficulty: 

How rewarding does playing the game feel?

It takes awhile for Keith to really get its feet under it in terms of difficulty/gameplay. The first few levels are kind of a drag as the game tries to take it easy on you, presumably because the developers were developing for children who were fans of the anime, and weren't looking to get stomped by a difficult game.

In retrospect though, it would be nice if there was a little more substance to the game. It's actually pretty fun as it picks up, but at the beginning I was considering abandoning it just because it wasn't really interesting me in terms of challenge.

The game should also just give you the next sword to be honest instead of making you grind for gold, I don't know what purpose that serves, but at least they usually make an obvious spot where you can get it quickly.

Killing two enemies at once lets me pretend I'm using my time wisely.

Depth: 

How deep/long is the game?

8 levels and apparently around 3 hours of gameplay with a little bit of replay value. I'd say it's alright-- if it were a little bit harder it would last longer, but it would also need a password system I think.

Sound / Graphics: 

How's the sound? How are the graphics?

The sounds in the game are fine if a little unmemorable, and I'd honestly say the same thing about the music. Most of it is pretty standard stuff and didn't really leave an impression on me all that much. It's all just kinda, like, fine.

Personal Chord: 

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

I enjoy a good old-school platformer every once in awhile, and this game almost feels like Castlevania on the NES, which is one of my favorite games ever. So there's a little something here. The aesthetic is okay, but it doesn't blow my mind or anything. I love these guys that are literally just giant guns, though.

Conversations with him are usually a little bit tense.

Should You Play: 

Is there a reason to even bother with this one?

The game is fairly fun, and I think it's an okay way to spend an afternoon. I wouldn't jump to recommend this one, and I don't think I liked it enough to put it on my favorites (which are my "must plays"), but if you just like old games and want to play an old platformer, this might be one to consider throwing in.

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