The Game Boy games of August 2-3, 1991, were A-Mazing Tater, Chachamaru 3, Fleet Commander Vs., and Peke to Poko.
A-mazing Tater (Atlus) (August 2nd)
This one is displayed as Amazing Tater on both Wikipedia and MobyGames, but there’s a dot between the ‘A’ and ‘m’ in all versions of the title art. It’s a sequel to Atlus’ earlier Sokoban-like Kwirk, and once again has you navigating mazes of rotatable boxes. It’s basically like if the Fortree City Gym was an entire game. The music is really good, but the graphics are pretty lame compared to what else was available by now.
It’s aggressively not for me and did not impress the Famitsu reviewers either, who gave it a 22/40. It did far better with Western critics, earning an 80% average on MobyGames from a bunch of scores that were all near that mark. It seems forgotten in Japan, but Western user reviews are largely quite positive and someone still cared enough to make a full wakthrough for GameFAQs in 2008.
Rating: 3. It seems good if you want this specific kind of puzzle.
Chachamaru Boukenki 3: Abyss no Tou (Human Entertainment) (August 2nd)
This sequel to Chachamaru Panic has a name meaning “Tower of the Abyss”, which is fitting since you start at the top of a giant tower that has a pit going all the way down. You can’t progress through the final door, so the only option is to jump into the pit and stop at every floor along the way to see if there’s something you can do there. Usually, there isn’t. I can see this system getting really annoying later, but it’s at least interesting, and the game is also notable for displaying enemies in the overworld despite being an RPG. Bumping into one triggers a real time battle against a mob. These work almost like Ys in that you have to run into enemies to attack, but attacking is manual and not animated. It is not a good combat system.
The game is almost completely forgotten. I found one review, and that site also hosts a walkthrough. The review basically gives it credit for having some charm and being an ARPG, but strongly criticizes the battle system. Nobody else remembers it, which is probably down to Seiken Densetsu having just released like that review points out.
Rating: 2. The concept is interesting, but the execution isn’t there.
Fleet Commander Vs (ASCII) (August 2nd)
This is a sequel to the 1988 Fleet Commander for Famicom. It’s a naval combat sim that feels pretty close to a tabletop game. You have an absolute crapload of units and need to select actions for all of them each turn, but weirdly movement happens in a zoomed-in view with better graphics and no grid rather than on the tactical map. Visibility is limited to your radar range, so the enemy starts invisible. Actually playing a full game of this would take forever because a human turn could easily go beyond 10 minutes and the CPU took at least a minute to execute the one turn I let it play.
I found almost nothing about it. ASCII never made another, so it’s probably safe to say that it did not leave a mark.
Rating: 1.
Peke to Poko no Daruman Busters (Birthday/Banpresto) (August 3rd)
A puzzle game where two boys who I assume are Peke and Poko try to destroy all the blocks underneath a living darumaka I assume is Daruman. It’s a pretty standard match-2 except that you can press A or B to have Peke or Poko shoot a block from their side out. If it hits a block of the same color, it will remove all the other blocks of the same color that it’s touching in that direction. If it hits Daruman, it will fall to the ground and potentially create a vertical match. Daruman will jump around as you remove blocks from under him, and more blocks come up from the ground every now and then. The music is good, but the gameplay is pretty standard stuff.
I did not find any professional reviews, but there were a few Youtube Let’s Plays in both English and Japanese, someone made a GameFAQs guide, and there was a somewhat positive atwiki post, so it earned at least a few fans. Might be worth trying for puzzle fans.
Rating: 2
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