Category Archives: Taito

Essentials, PC Engine, Taito

Parasol Stars: The Bubble Bobble Everyone Forgets

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At the time of writing, the world is gearing up for a fourth official installment in the Bubble Bobble series.

Wait a minute, I hear you ask,Β fourth?Β What happened to the third? I don’t judge you too harshly for asking this question; I know some people who weren’t even aware that Rainbow IslandsΒ was theΒ second Bubble BobbleΒ game, so for you to be unaware that there had already been a thirdΒ one is entirely understandable.

It doesn’t stop it being a huge shame, however, because 1991’s Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble IIIΒ is a wonderful game; one of my all-time favourite single-screen “kill ’em all” platformers, in fact, beaten only by Rod-Land. And yet, for various reasons, very few people either know it exists or remember it.

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Essentials, Taito

Taito Essentials: The Electric Yo-Yo

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One of the nice things about the two Taito Legends compilations on PS2, Xbox and PC (and the separate PSP release, which acts as a kind of “best of” compilation containing elements of both)Β is that it includes both well-known games and more obscure affairs.

One such example of the latter is The Electric Yo-Yo,Β an unusual Taito America game from 1982 that is so obscure that it doesn’t even have its own Wikipedia page (shock!). If Giant Bomb’s rather bare-bones page on the game is to be believed, it seems that it wasn’t all that well-received back in the day — but if there’s one thing I’ve learned in MoeGamer’s lifetime, it’s that it’s always worth considering something on its own merits, devoid of its original context and popular reception.

And y’know what? I kinda likeΒ The Electric Yo-Yo.Β I mean, sure, it’s kind of infuriating and I’ve hurled some deeply offensive language at it during my time with it… but I still kinda like it.

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Essentials, Taito

Taito Essentials: The New Zealand Story

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New Zealand, as beautiful a country as it is, is not a place that gets a lot of attention. I mean, it’s tucked away down there right in the corner of the map where everyone forgets about it.

However, back in 1988, the country left a sufficiently lasting impression on one of Taito’s programmers that, upon his return from holiday, he wanted to make it a setting for a new arcade game.

The result wasΒ The New Zealand Story.Β And it’s one of Taito’s most interesting games.

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Essentials, Taito

Taito Essentials: Volfied

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Mid to late ’80s Taito were good at a lot of things, but one thing they wereΒ particularly good at was iterating on an established formula and bringing it more “up to date”.

Probably the most famous example of this isΒ Arkanoid, a game which took the incredibly simple concept of Atari’sΒ BreakoutΒ — hit ball with paddle to destroy bricks, repeat until screen clear or player displays sufficient incompetence — and enhanced it with “enemies”, powerups and a wide variety of different levels.

Well, asΒ ArkanoidΒ was toΒ Breakout, soΒ VolfiedΒ was toΒ Qix. At least this time around they ripped off their own game…

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Essentials, PS2, Taito

PS2 Essentials: Energy Airforce

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A core part of my gaming “diet” in the 16-bit home computer era and onwards into the early days of mainstream PC gaming was the military flight simulator.

I have many fond memories of piloting numerous pieces of military hardware around the virtual skies, dropping bombs on filthy commies (this was the height of the Cold War, after all) and dictators in the desert — but for me, it wasn’t necessarily the action-packed parts of these games that was appealing. No, it was the simple satisfaction of remaining in control of several tons of metal that really had no business being up in the air and not immediately plummeting to the ground.

This was a feeling I hadn’t really experienced for a while, to be honest; theΒ Ace CombatsΒ of the world have their considerable appeal, but they’re not exactly realistic.Β Taito’s 2003 release ofΒ Energy Airforce,Β on the other hand… well, let’s take a look.

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Essentials, Taito

Taito Essentials: Lunar Rescue

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When someone mentions Taito arcade games from the 1970s, the first one that doubtless immediately springs to mind is the genre-defining Space Invaders.

However, this is far from the only game Taito put out in these early years of the games business — and moreover, it’s far from the onlyΒ goodΒ one, too.

Today, we’re taking a look at a game that, while simple, built on the basic formula ofΒ Space InvadersΒ with additional mechanics — and likely played a role in defining subsequent games with “rescue” mechanics such as Williams’Β DefenderΒ and Dan Gorlin’sΒ Choplifter.

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Essentials, Taito

Taito Essentials: Super Qix

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Super Qix is an immensely irritating follow-up to an immensely irritating game.

And, like all the reallyΒ goodΒ immensely irritating games of the world, there’s a magic ingredient in there that keeps you coming back for more.

Super QixΒ is also an interesting game from a historical perspective, in that it’s a game that Japanese developers decided to build on after an all-American original.

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Essentials, Taito

Taito Essentials: Continental Circus

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Ah yes, Continental Circus, the game which UK magazine Sinclair User declared “Cock-Up of the Year” in 1988 for the assumption that its peculiar title had rather prominently misspelled “Circuit”, only for it to become apparent sometime later that this was, in fact, deliberate.

The term “Circus” has been used over the years in both French and Japanese motorsports, and indeed there was even a 1972 French documentary calledΒ Continental Circus, which Taito’s 1987 arcade racer rather cheekily lifted a voice sample from to mark the beginning of each race. Although you can see how Sinclair User might have got confused; many of the original arcade machines forΒ Continental CircusΒ were actually branded with the title “Continental Circuit”.

The game itself is a “vanishing point” racer that attempts to build on what Namco had been doing with itsΒ Pole PositionΒ andΒ Final LapΒ series since 1982. And, despite appearing superficially similar to those classic titles, it remains, to this day, a unique take on the racing genre with some very interesting ideas.

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Essentials, Puzzlers, Taito

Taito Essentials: Cameltry

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What a glorious name for a video game: Cameltry. Say it to yourself a few times. Cameltry. Cameltry. Cameltry.

So far as I can determine, there is no meaning to the word beyond “a 1989 arcade game by Taito”, which is sort of a shame, but, well, a game having such a peculiar name is at least one way to ensure it is memorable.

Fortunately,Β CameltryΒ is also a highly enjoyable if often overlooked installment in Taito’s arcade back catalogue, and well worth your time if you enjoy fiddly puzzle games and obstacle courses.

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Essentials, Puzzlers, Taito

Puzzler Essentials: Puchi Carat

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I’ve always had a soft spot for block-breakers, ever since Arkanoid on the Atari 8-bit, and Puchi Carat makes me happy in all the right ways.

Combining elements of traditional classic block-breakers with mechanics from puzzle games such as theΒ Puzzle Bobble/Bust-a-MoveΒ series, it’s an enormously addictive, highly unusual game that is simultaneously unique and absolutely representative of the time in which it came out.

In short, if you like adorable late ’90s anime style characters, coloured things going “pop” and gameplay that is as much about skill as it is about intelligence,Β Puchi CaratΒ is definitely a game that you should check out.

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