Rakugaki Showtime INFO BOX SYSTEMS Playstation RELEASE DATES Japan - 06/30/99 PUBLISHER Enix Rakugaki Showtime, that game from Treasure that no one seems to know about. This could be due to the fact that most of you are likely never to play the game since there's very limited numbers of the game released out there, and it was only released in Japan. Perhaps it's the hefty price tag it carries (over $100 usually, if you can find it that is), and you don't want to spend that kind of cash on a game you barely know anything about. Whatever the reason, it doesn't really matter since you're not missing all that much by missing out on this game. As usual, Treasure has tried to create an original game, and thrown in a bunch of wacky ideas to top it off. You know, zany characters in some crazy game where the action never ceases. Well, basically it's just a party game for up to four players where you run around a small arena while picking things up and throwing them at each other. It's similar to games like Bomberman 64's multiplayer, or Poy Poy (probably, never played that game but you picked up stuff and threw it at each other right?). Anyway, it can get a little frantic, and more often then not the screen is just a mess of scribbly explosions, and you can't really tell what's going on. Graphics Here's an interesting idea: make really simple crayon drawings of your game characters and then cut them out from that piece of paper and use them as the sprites for the game. The characters are actually just that, pieces of paper with crayon drawings on them that wiggle around all the time. Thanks to the Playstation's weak capabilities this ends up looking really bad and makes it hard to see your characters. Other things, like items aren't done too much better since they are also scribbly crayon drawings that are very pixely and don't stop jiggling. It's a very messy graphical style which, despite being very simple, ends up looking really bad. Backgrounds have nothing to argue about, since they're usually just texture less squares here and there that are placed in such a way to form primitive shapes. It's not like the backgrounds need anymore detail because if they did it would likely be even harder to see what's going on when the action starts to get a little too intense and everything won't stop jiggling and wiggling. If you can't tell, I don't like the way everything is always wiggling around, and the poor pixely graphics. It's a good idea to try and implement now since the capability of the newer systems could use it properly and actually make it look like a bunch of cut out drawings fighting it out. Sound I'm not going to lie to you, the music is bad. There's no memorable music in this game. I can kind of remember one song from the beach area I believe, but really even that song wasn't very good. It's hard to explain the music since I can't really remember how it sounds at the moment (or ever really, unless I'm playing the game). It's simple happy music, that fits the game, although it really just isn't very good. The characters are all voiced though, and they say things here and there, but they don't end up saying very much. There's dialogue in the movies of the game, but since its Japanese most of you likely wouldn't understand it anyway, but the voice actors do a fine job and it's funny to watch the opening video. Sound effects from the game sound fine, although they're fairly generic as well. They get the job done and that's all that's really needed from them. Gameplay The basic premise is to beat your opponents using various objects scattered around the arena before they finish you off. It's a pretty simple process: you run up to something, say a missile, and grab it, then depending on what direction you're pushing when you throw it determines the speed and power of the attack. That's pretty much it for using items, although there is one certain item that's a little more complicated then that (just a little more). The super smiley ball is the key item of the game, and is likely what will lead you to all of your victories (it's that powerful). The super smiley ball is like any other weapon, only when you throw it it gets mad and starts changing color. After being thrown around enough the super smiley ball will start to flash and now when someone throws it they can perform a character specific super attack that can do retarded amounts of damage to anyone who happens to be in your way. Other then using weapons to fight it out, every character has pretty basic melee attacks at their disposal. The problem with these attacks is that you have to run right up to someone to hit them, and since it's pretty easy to get from one end of the arena to the other in a second, that's not something that happens often, plus melee attacks are really weak anyway. The reason you can get around the levels so quickly is because there are small jump pads (or warp pods or something) that you can jump to. All you have to do is jump, and while in the air aim towards a pad and hit jump again and you're character will magically jump right over to the pad somehow. You can also jump straight to those super smiley balls as well, so it's really easy to get those things mad. In single player you get to play the exact same missions in the same order every time, although a few levels change depending on the difficulty you're on. There is the one neat thing about the game, if you're playing well and not using continues the game will put the difficulty on hard and the levels will have noticeably harder enemies. Its fun the first time or two, but after a while you just don't want to go through it anymore, but since it's the only way to earn all the 20 characters or so you have to. Even so, earning all the characters isn't as rewarding as it sounds since they are all so terribly imbalanced that the winner in multiplayer games is often decided by the characters everyone chose. It sounds like it could be fun, but it's really way too simple to offer any real challenge. Basically it just feels like a party game made to be played only a few matches at a time. Single player really does not help the game either since it's both boring and repetitive. Overall There's no real point to try and hunt this game down. You're not missing anything by not owning, or playing this game. It's simple brainless fun that does not offer hours of repeated entertainment. You'll likely be bored of it after only a single day with the game and will regret spending the insane amount of money you did on the game. I'd recommend you rent the game, but since it's import only that's likely not going to happen for any of you, so just do yourself a favor and forget about this game.