Ganbare Neo Poke-Kun.
NEOP00970 SNK. 2000. NGPC only. Does not support B/W.
Prepare yourself! Your NGPC is about to be invaded!
Perhaps invaded is too strong a word, occupied is possibly
closer the mark! Occupied by Ganbare!
So, who is Ganbare? Well, thats where things get a
little more tricky! Ganbare is a sort of Neo-Engineer, and
a Neo-Programmer, which Ill come to in a minute. Firstly
let me fill in some background here.
Ganbare lives in your NGPC. Yes you read correctly, he has
a small apartment inside your NGPC! Which is great, because
during the day, hell go to work inside your NGPC,
keeping the PCBs in tip top condition! The best thing is,
if hes happy, he will program new games into your
NEO!
All you have to do is make him happy right? Then youll
get some new games to play! Sound simple? Not quite! Problem
is you dont have any direct control over him, and
his friends are pretty weird! (and thats an understatement!)
He does live in your machine though, so you can affect his
surroundings! This is where the game begins. The object,
as I said is to make him happy. In order to do this, you
can trigger certain random events, by pressing buttons or
moving the joystick in each direction. I dont want
to give all the controls away, as they are pretty simple
to master. Suffice to say that pressing A will
ring the doorbell and allow one of Ganbares bizarre
friends to visit, these encounters last only a few seconds,
but some of his visitors will have you rolling around with
laughter! These range from a Rockman/Megaman clone, to a
pervert with a party popper up his butt! (really! He pulls
it! And thats not the worst of it!!)
Time for a tip! Circle the joystick, to trigger a major
event!! Try both ways! Also, dont forget to save regularly
by pressing option to access the save menu.
By The way, Ganbare is in tune with the clock in your console!!
So dont expect him to work at night.
Anyway, thats the first part of the game. Its superbly
different and refreshing. A great little cyber-pet
type sim, very worthy in its own right!
Next are the sub games! 30 in all, all are, one level games,
based on or inspired by classic arcade games!
Pressing the B button will access these games
from sub screens (In yet another hysterically funny way!).
Each game has a locked warning symbol to begin
with, as Ganbare works on them, a percentage figure rises,
until it reaches 100% and the game becomes playable!
The games themselves, are based on such diverse titles as,
Pong, Galaxian, Shinobi, Pool, Star Wars Arcade, Asteroids,
Jetpac, KOF, and many more that I wont tell you, because
it really is the most fabulous surprise, when you open a
new game and find that it is a childhood favourite, with
Ganbare in the leading role! Almost every genre is represented!
Its a miracle that it all fits on a Neo Pocket cart!
Successful completion of these games, seems to influence
Ganbares willingness to open new games. Also, there are
various medals awarded for exceptional scores
in these games. Not exactly Gold, Silver and Bronze! More
like bits of food! You'll see!!
To miss this game, is to deny yourself, arguably the best
title on the NGPC. It is so unique and so refreshingly bizarre,
that the language barrier isnt a problem at all!
The Graphics and sound effects range from, adequate to superb,
but the gameplay, is the most varied that you will ever
find in a single game. This game is quite simply in a league
of its own! Buy it now, while it is still so underrated!
You will kick yourself when it is gone!
VERDICT.
Graphics. 8/10
Sound. 8/10
Game Play. 10/10
Replay value. 10/10
OVERALL. 9/10 SUPERB! UNMISSABLE!
-by Metal Slug
"If you're gonna pray, do it now!"