Having
played retro games for more years than I care to mention, I am used
to the oddness that comes out of Japan. Games featuring bodily
functions, sexual assaults, samurai cats, unidentifiable creatures
spouting profanities, or just any weird shit you can think of, are
commonplace in the land of the rising sun. So a game about a
photographer taking pictures of exciting newsworthy events in order
to impress his boss doesn't seem too odd does it? The game was
released in 1992 on the PC Engine, a console that was hugely popular
in Japan, but never really took off in the USA or Europe. The 8-bit
machine was home to some extremely bizarre titles, such as Kato-Chan
& Ken-Chan, a cutesy platform game that included fart attacks and
urination.
The
fact it never saw the light of day outside its homeland, and was on a
console known for weird games, was enough to set the oddness alarms
bells ringing, so it was with some hesitation and curiousity that I
fired up Gekisha Boy.
You
play as a young photographer, with super deformed head and manic
grin, who is tasked by his angry boss to take some great action
photos for whatever publication he runs, probably some terrible celeb
gossip mag I'd imagine. The text is all in Japanese of course, but
the plot is pretty obvious via the static screen cutscenes.
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The
game is a 2D side scrolling platformer, and whilst there are no
platforms as such, you still have to jump to avoid obstacles so it
can be vaguely classed as such. The d-pad moves not only your
character, but the on-screen cursor representing your camera lens. It
works pretty well considering, though can still trip you up when you
are trying to aim the camera and avoid things at the same time. You
are armed with limited film so must choose your shots wisely. Photos
of passers by and cars will net you 100 points, while slightly more
interesting shots of planes and such will gain more. The main scoring
lies in finding the action shots, set occurrences that you have only
limited time to snap, rewarding you with 500 points and extra rolls
of film. The events you must photograph can range from UFO sightings
and seedy men flashing in public, to wanted criminals, falling underwear,
and even an appearance of the Back To The Future DeLorean. While you
are trying to keep a keen eye on proceedings, obstacles such as
skateboards and balls can hit you, losing you precious rolls of film,
but luckily they can be photographed, removing them and netting you a
few points. The game is quite tough and requires multiple plays to
memorise where the special events are triggered. It is enjoyable to
do so though, and after numerous tries you will finally nail all the
bizarre happenings and earn a score high enough to allow you to
progress to the next stage.
The
bizarreness level is pretty high as expected. You will find yourself
snapping photos of multiple naked men and women, 80's celebrity
look-a-likes, falling underwear and comic book characters. At one
point you are even walking along the sea bed in a scuba mask taking
pictures of fish getting married. My personal theory is that Gekisha
Boy is a crazed junkie who took too many hallucinogenic drugs and is
now running around his local town taking random photos of anything
and everything at the request of an imaginary boss. This would
explain his wild eyes and insane grimace, and would also go some way
to explaining why every two seconds he sees a UFO, superhero, or
other anomaly. The graphics are very colourful and have that deformed
look the Japanese enjoy, though there are some pretty dubious racial
stereotypes on display here, though you could argue that everyone
looks equally disfigured up so no harm done, right?
Anyway,
I digress, the game is an enjoyable romp and holds more appeal to
casual gamers than a lot of odd Japanese releases. It even gained a
sequel on the PS2, released in 2011, which I am yet to play but looks
awesome. If you have access to a Japanese PS2 then I urge you to
track it down. In the meantime, this PC Engine title will keep you
entertained with its wild and wacky graphics and original gameplay.
Play
it now in its original form on PC Engine, or on Sony Playstation –
released in Japan only as Simple
1500 Series Vol. 94: The Cameraman.
