Pocky & Rocky with Becky

Enough of that ninja and samurai junk! Natsume reveals who really gets the job done in Japan with this SNES revival.

Few people remember the original Pocky & Rocky, and admittedly it's not that difficult to see why. While one of the most well-constructed action games on the Super NES, the original P&R is among the toughest games ever made?even with infinite continues, getting past level three in single-player mode was nothing but a faraway dream to eager SNES youngsters. There's even an unconfirmed rumor that Nintendo "game master" Howard Phillips went mad and retired from the industry after failing to complete the game. (It's unconfirmed 'cos we just made it up. Sorry.)

Pocky & Rocky with Becky brings the old shoot-em-up to the GBA with little in the way of modern enhancements. As before, you go through seven stages filled with Japanese-style demons and fairy tale characters, fighting a large boss at the end of each overhead-view world. The three characters have different weapons, but it makes little difference who you pick as the name of the game is rapid-fire?you'll be whacking the GBA's poor little A button endlessly while playing this game, trying to defend yourself against the waves of ghostly projectiles everyone shoots at you.

Once you get used to controlling your character, though, you'll find that Natsume has toned the challenge down by quite a bit this time around. In fact, even if you don't consider yourself a very good gamer, the only thing that will prevent you from finishing the game in the first sitting is catastrophic battery breakdown. All the challenge lies in the Expert mode, unlockable with a code you receive after the ending demo, and it's every bit as frenetic and frustrating as the original SNES version was. Whether you'll have the patience to go through the same seven levels over again, though, is pretty questionable.

Presentation-wise there's very little to moan about. The graphics are lovingly drawn and full of cutesy characters, and the music is generic but catchy in the same inscrutable way most SNES soundtracks were. There is one noticeable design flaw: When you pause the game, all the characters and enemies are removed from the screen to make room for a large "PAUSE" display. As a result, if you happen to pause while the screen is filled with enemies, you'll likely get killed immediately upon return by some ghost or projectile you forgot about.

A less forgivable error is the lack of a two-player cooperative mode. Why didn't developer Altron implement the one thing that made the original SNES title so?well?original? It would've been a simple enough thing to implement over the Game Link cable. Hell, why stop there? There could've been a three-player Gauntlet-style mode with all the characters exploring a large cemetery or temple at the same time?but now we're probably asking too much from what's essentially a simple SNES remake.

It's not that P&R (with B) is a fundamentally flawed game?the children of the 16-bit generation who will buy this will be extremely satisfied. It's just that the series hasn't advanced very much with the times. As a result, what used to be the epitome of action shooters is now just something maybe worth a play every now and then.

[NOTE: Quite a lot has happened since I reviewed this game, way, way, back in the September issue of the print mag. After a couple months in limbo, P&RwB finally came out earlier this week--with zero fanfare at all, in kinda limited quantities (some web sites don't even list it), and for the astoundingly low price of $20. Even if you manage to find it in a store for that price, though, I'd be hard pressed to recommend buying it unless you're some kind of gonzo rare-game collector.]

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