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chuckroThe second foray into gaming in the 80s with Master Arino was never released stateside, but fortunately, there's a fan-made patch for that. If you want another chance to play 80s-style NES and Arcade games, complete with in-game schoolyard gossip and cheat mags, here you go!
Several game genres that didn't appear in the first game get their due here, along with references to the Famicom Disk System, Super Famicom/16-bit era, and portable game systems.
It seems that they took complaints about the original cart (about needing to pass each challenge to unlock the next game) to heart: I found the challenges to generally be easier (and though that's subjective, often the first couple are just "learn to play the game") and you can call Arino on the phone and beg him to let you pass a challenge for free. They also give you the "Shop" area, where additional games (remakes from the first cart, mostly) without challenges attached periodically unlock.
The first game is Wiz-Man, which seems like a cross between Pac-Man and something like Milon's Secret Castle. You need to collect all of the crystals in the single-screen level while avoiding the ghosts, but you get wands which let you defeat the ghosts and you have to reach the door to exit the level. Because each wand allows you to only collect one color of crystal (blue or red) and defeat opposite-color enemies, there can be serious strategy as to the order you approach each level, especially later in the game.
The second game is Mutekiken Kung Fu, a side-scrolling beat-em-up that reminds me (shockingly) of the NES game "Kung Fu". There's an impressive number of variants to the attacks depending on timing, given that you only have two attack buttons. You need to get a decent handle on the combo system to beat the challenges.
The third game is Demon Returns, a Mario-style side-crolling platformer with slightly wonky controls and an enemy-riding gimmick (that makes platforming trickier than you'd want). And the added quirk that while you collect 100 "souls" for extra lives, you need to collect the "appos" to refill a hunger meter instead of having a flat time limit. Very much SMB-inspired, down to the level designs, with perhaps a splash of Ghosts N' Goblins or Monster Party.
The fourth game is Arino Ace Detective 1, an adventure/puzzle game in the vein of Shadowgate or Deja Vu; though with a lot more watching cutscenes than actually playing (it's almost a Visual Novel, really). The translation here is a little problematic (admittedly, it's very text-heavy and there isn't a lot of space for commands), and the specific thing you need to do to trip the next event flag is often rather obtuse. (There's a walkthrough on GameFAQs, though as of this writing you either need to know Japanese or make liberal use of Google Translate.) It's kind of an awkward, oddly business-oriented set of mysteries that I don't think work for a western audience.
The fifth game is GunDuel, a bullet-hell space shooter "from the same developer" as Star Prince. It adds gimmicks where you can have two weapons and swap between them, or play two-player and merge your ships, but it basically another standard shooter. (The two-player mode is actually the easier way to play--child Arino's 2P AI is really good at the game!)
The sixth game is Arino Ace Detective 2, basically a continuation of the first one. There are no challenges attached to it, so you can skip right over it if you want.
The seventh game is Triotos, a Tetris-esque puzzle game with pattern-matching elements similar to Kirby's Avalanche. It's on the "GameCom Mini", so it's in shades of gray, too. It's fun, but lacks the pure, addictive qualities of a standalone game of this type.
The eighth game is Guadia Quest Saga, the "third in the rpg series" (the first appeared on the original cart). It keeps the Dragon Quest references (resembling the SNES remakes of the first three DQ games more than anything) but also adds Pokemon references with the captured monsters that can be traded via game link cable. Three young warriors want to become Guadia Meisters and, among other things, must enter one-on-one duels with other Guadia Meisters to proceed. Like the first Gaudia Quest, it's a grind-fest with nonsensical spell names, "beef gate" battles, hidden statistics for equipment, and an unintuitive menu system.
The ninth game is Super Demon Returns, the first "Super GameCom" title. If Demon Returns was influenced by Super Mario Brothers and Ghosts N' Goblins, this is Super Mario World meets Super Ghouls N' Ghosts. Same basic mechanics, much better graphics, more free roaming and more things to collect.
(Like the original cart, if you beat all of the challenges, you unlock the "final challenge", which is basically to beat every game in order. That's more hardcore than I can handle doing honestly, and not really worth my time to use the various cheat codes for.)
The first game that unlocks at the Shop ("Joycoland") is Cosmic Gate, the Galaga/Galaxian clone that was the first game on the original cart. The second is, unsurprisingly, Robot Ninja Haggle Man, the puzzle-platformer that was the second game on the original cart. These are billed as "special editions", but besdies minor graphical changes, they play just like they did in the first game. Also returning are Rally King (top-down racing game) and Star Prince (bullet-hell space shooter). The Shop also gets Triotos DX, the "arcade" color version of Triotos.
The fan translators get massive props, having done all the in-game text, the "magazine" text and logo graphical text, as well--they even localized a number of the references. Basically, if I hadn't patched the rom myself, I would have been certain this was a professional release. I didn't spot a single bug or instance of moonspeak.
Overall: It's an improvement over the original in a bunch of ways--except for Arino Ace Detective, the games are as good or better than the ones on the original cart, and the challenges are more accessible. They softened the gamer-purist stance, and as a result though none of these games would really make it as a standalone in today's market, each is amusing for a couple of rounds.
Several game genres that didn't appear in the first game get their due here, along with references to the Famicom Disk System, Super Famicom/16-bit era, and portable game systems.
It seems that they took complaints about the original cart (about needing to pass each challenge to unlock the next game) to heart: I found the challenges to generally be easier (and though that's subjective, often the first couple are just "learn to play the game") and you can call Arino on the phone and beg him to let you pass a challenge for free. They also give you the "Shop" area, where additional games (remakes from the first cart, mostly) without challenges attached periodically unlock.
The first game is Wiz-Man, which seems like a cross between Pac-Man and something like Milon's Secret Castle. You need to collect all of the crystals in the single-screen level while avoiding the ghosts, but you get wands which let you defeat the ghosts and you have to reach the door to exit the level. Because each wand allows you to only collect one color of crystal (blue or red) and defeat opposite-color enemies, there can be serious strategy as to the order you approach each level, especially later in the game.
The second game is Mutekiken Kung Fu, a side-scrolling beat-em-up that reminds me (shockingly) of the NES game "Kung Fu". There's an impressive number of variants to the attacks depending on timing, given that you only have two attack buttons. You need to get a decent handle on the combo system to beat the challenges.
The third game is Demon Returns, a Mario-style side-crolling platformer with slightly wonky controls and an enemy-riding gimmick (that makes platforming trickier than you'd want). And the added quirk that while you collect 100 "souls" for extra lives, you need to collect the "appos" to refill a hunger meter instead of having a flat time limit. Very much SMB-inspired, down to the level designs, with perhaps a splash of Ghosts N' Goblins or Monster Party.
The fourth game is Arino Ace Detective 1, an adventure/puzzle game in the vein of Shadowgate or Deja Vu; though with a lot more watching cutscenes than actually playing (it's almost a Visual Novel, really). The translation here is a little problematic (admittedly, it's very text-heavy and there isn't a lot of space for commands), and the specific thing you need to do to trip the next event flag is often rather obtuse. (There's a walkthrough on GameFAQs, though as of this writing you either need to know Japanese or make liberal use of Google Translate.) It's kind of an awkward, oddly business-oriented set of mysteries that I don't think work for a western audience.
The fifth game is GunDuel, a bullet-hell space shooter "from the same developer" as Star Prince. It adds gimmicks where you can have two weapons and swap between them, or play two-player and merge your ships, but it basically another standard shooter. (The two-player mode is actually the easier way to play--child Arino's 2P AI is really good at the game!)
The sixth game is Arino Ace Detective 2, basically a continuation of the first one. There are no challenges attached to it, so you can skip right over it if you want.
The seventh game is Triotos, a Tetris-esque puzzle game with pattern-matching elements similar to Kirby's Avalanche. It's on the "GameCom Mini", so it's in shades of gray, too. It's fun, but lacks the pure, addictive qualities of a standalone game of this type.
The eighth game is Guadia Quest Saga, the "third in the rpg series" (the first appeared on the original cart). It keeps the Dragon Quest references (resembling the SNES remakes of the first three DQ games more than anything) but also adds Pokemon references with the captured monsters that can be traded via game link cable. Three young warriors want to become Guadia Meisters and, among other things, must enter one-on-one duels with other Guadia Meisters to proceed. Like the first Gaudia Quest, it's a grind-fest with nonsensical spell names, "beef gate" battles, hidden statistics for equipment, and an unintuitive menu system.
The ninth game is Super Demon Returns, the first "Super GameCom" title. If Demon Returns was influenced by Super Mario Brothers and Ghosts N' Goblins, this is Super Mario World meets Super Ghouls N' Ghosts. Same basic mechanics, much better graphics, more free roaming and more things to collect.
(Like the original cart, if you beat all of the challenges, you unlock the "final challenge", which is basically to beat every game in order. That's more hardcore than I can handle doing honestly, and not really worth my time to use the various cheat codes for.)
The first game that unlocks at the Shop ("Joycoland") is Cosmic Gate, the Galaga/Galaxian clone that was the first game on the original cart. The second is, unsurprisingly, Robot Ninja Haggle Man, the puzzle-platformer that was the second game on the original cart. These are billed as "special editions", but besdies minor graphical changes, they play just like they did in the first game. Also returning are Rally King (top-down racing game) and Star Prince (bullet-hell space shooter). The Shop also gets Triotos DX, the "arcade" color version of Triotos.
The fan translators get massive props, having done all the in-game text, the "magazine" text and logo graphical text, as well--they even localized a number of the references. Basically, if I hadn't patched the rom myself, I would have been certain this was a professional release. I didn't spot a single bug or instance of moonspeak.
Overall: It's an improvement over the original in a bunch of ways--except for Arino Ace Detective, the games are as good or better than the ones on the original cart, and the challenges are more accessible. They softened the gamer-purist stance, and as a result though none of these games would really make it as a standalone in today's market, each is amusing for a couple of rounds.
