DORAEMON : MEIKYÛ DAISAKUSEN
( Cratermaze )
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(c)1989 HUDSON SOFT
(c)FUJIKO SHOGAKUKAN TV ASAHI
vol.22
Release : 1989-10-20 (¥5600)
HuCard (4 Mbits) HC89023
Backup Ram
Action / Puzzle game
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Released in America as
CRATERMAZE
( TGX020027 )
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Doraemon: Meikyuu Daisakusen is based on the ultra-famous anime
and manga character Doreamon. Nobi and his friends are time travelers
and they spend most of their time at school. Nobi, thanks to Doraemon, also
spend his time exploring time periods, from the dangerous and wild Jurassic
to robotic-cities of the future. But things do not always go according to
plans, and the evil god-statue has kidnaped your friends.
Your mission is now to travel through time and to rescue them.
Doraemon: Meikyuu Daisakusen is a classic puzzle/action game.
Collect all yummy hamburgers and find the key and run to the next
stage. Baddies, of course, will try to stop you. Your only way
around it is to dig holes around the maze. When a monster falls into
one, just fill it up before the baddy goes out. This concept is not
new and was borrowed from earlier games like Space Panic.
However, enemies here happen to drop special icons when defeated.
All of them only work for a short amount of time. Those items are
numerous and varied, like the helmet that makes you invincible and
allows you to go through life without struggles or the roller-skates
to walk faster. Other items also include weapons, like the freezing-Beam
or the incredible yo-yo. One of your friend will be rescue every
fifteen levels. But beware of the last stages, the god-statue won't let
you run away that easily.
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Teaser text from the American version:
The evil Kublai from Zenzombie land, has kidnapped four of your friends as you
time-travelled on a magic carped. Now you must rescue them. But run for your life !
You're in a maze of monsters! Hit them with your Yoyo! Dig a hole so they'll fall in!
Shoot them with your Freeze Beam! Kill them dead with your Bubble Gun! There are 60
incredible levels of action. So wear your helment and watch your step!
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The funny looking robot-cat was created by
Fujimoto Hiroshi (Fujiko F. Fujio) and Motoo Abiko (Fujiko Fujio A)
back in the 1970s. The series started as a manga and featured a glasses wearing
boy named Nobi Nobita. His great-great grandson from the 22nd century decide to
send him a cat-shaped robot from the future to teach him to become a smart kid.
Because of Nobita's laziness, his descendants will live in poverty and they see
in the robot-cat named Doraemon a way to change their fate. Doraemon
always use tons of new gadget and crazy devices often created out from his
4-dimensional front pocket. The most common ones are the Dokodemo Doa, special
door allowing do travel anywhere and Nobita's desk drawer, turned into a
traveling machine. The series also features other kids, like Shizuka, nice
girls and Nobita's best friend. Or Gian, the bully and Suneo the rich kid.
Doraemon is easily one of the most famous and beloved cartoon
character in Japan.
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Once again, the American version of the game, renamed Cratermaze
was highly modified. The blue robot-cat was obliterated and replaced
by a human kid in a blue space-suit. This kind of make sense, Doraemon,
even today, is not very known by young players. Most of
the introduction sequence is also different. The title screen features
the kid being chased by a green dinosaur. However, elements of the
animated sequence have been changed. They are not flying a magic-carpet
anymore, but a space-ship. Interestingly, magic-carpet
is still present in the translated text and became the name of
the ship. Finally, our character doesn't
collect hamburgers but red treasure chests. Overall, the graphics
quality is nevertheless very good and very close to the original game.
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Interestingly, the American version is probably the one closer
to the truth behind Doraemon: Meikyuu Daisakusen. Let me explain.
Nichibutsu released in 1987 in Japan an arcade game called Kid
no Hore Hore Daisakusen (aka Booby Kids). The game, pictured on the right,
features a kid in a blue space suit wondering around mazes and the goal of game was
to collect red treasure chests and to dig holes in the ground. The game is virtually identical to
Doraemon: Meikyuu Daisakusen, or more precisely, to Cratermaze (notice
the blue space suit and also the dinosaur on the game's title screen).
I wonder if Hudson Soft didn't originally created a port of
Kid no Hore Hore Daisakusen for the PC Engine and the Doreamon's
franchise came later. So they maybe re-used the graphics for the American version.
In all cases, Doraemon: Meikyuu Daisakusen is
definitively based from Nichibutsu's Kid no Hore Hore Daisakusen.
Kid no Hore Hore Daisakusen was even converted for Nintendo's
Famicom system in 1987 as Booby Kids (pictured on the right).
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Click on picture to enlarge |
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LK
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Add your Pov here !
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P
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Doraemon: Meikyuu Daisakusen is a nice little game and is
the first of two games featuring Doreamon for the PC Engine system. I personally
prefer the other one, Doraemon: Meikyuu Daisakusen being only a
blend in-between Bomberman and Space Panic. Graphics
are cute and well drawn and there are enough power-ups to keep you
busy for a while. Sadly mazes tend to look the same after a while,
even if the time period changes. Not a bad game but just a bit
dated I guess.
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