Game Tengoku CruisinMix Special is a friendly opportunity to visit with a videogame-about-a-videogames pioneer. As a six-stage shoot 'em up, Game Tengoku is stretched as far as $30 can take it. As a peak into the ultra-novelty of 1995's Japanese arcade scene, it may be priceless. It is both Important and Good that Game Tengoku is now somewhat localized and available.
There was a time when it was a novelty for one videogame to acknowledge the existence of another videogame. When the shoot ’em up Parodius debuted on MSX in 1988, it gleefully lampooned other pieces of Konami’s arcade line-up. Parodius and its sequels would go on to parody the likes of Gradius, Castlevania, TwinBee, and Lethal Enforcers, creating a single publisher’s approximation of a videogame Weird Al Yankovic.
Why didn’t anyone else do that? is a question dutifully answered by Japanese arcade scene pedants and scorned Sega Saturn admirers, both of whom will indignantly point to Jaleco’s preposterous shoot ’em up Game Tengoku as another reasonable answer. Released to arcades in 1995 and then exclusively to the Japanese Sega Saturn in 1997, Game Tengoku vertically oriented the playing field and did for Jaleco what Parodius did for Konami. By 1997 few people (especially in the west) had either awareness of or appreciation for Jaleco’s history, leaving Game Tengoku’s fate to quiet mentions across retro podcasts, articles, and videos.
Titles of Game Tengoku’s modest stature are usually left to fade away. Through the developers at City Connection and with publishing help from Degica, Game Tengoku returned to modern platforms as Game Tengoku CruisinMix last July. It’s back this November as Game Tengoku CruisinMix Special. The Special moniker forms the new baseline product name, and it’s available as free update to those who already own the original Game Tengoku CruisinMix.
Game Tengoku operates as a simple vertically scrolling shooter. Six different ships are available and share a similar control scheme; a basic fire button that can be held into a charge shot and another button for a screen-clearing bomb. P capsules improve the basic shot, the power of which by one upon each death. Two sub ships, adapted from members of the Game Tengoku roster, stay on the left and right side and produce a less intense version of their specific fire patterns. Game Tengoku, in 2018 when Treasure’s Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga remain the most visible members of the genre, is comparatively pedestrian but no less effective in its performance.
Variation is found in Game Tengoku’s roster of ships and characters, all of which are drawn from Jaleco’s modest arcade history. Jeynus flies Fighter EX, pulled from Exerion, and has a standard blaster that charges into a laser. Formation Z’s Z-DYNE Mk. II fills the requisite Giant Flying Robot category and comes equipped with homing fire. Pig, literally one of Butasan’s flying pig, tosses out bombs that are slower in delivery but more powerful upon contact. Momoko 120%’s Momoko fires heart bullets, screams frequently, and obliges 1995’s need to include a teenage girl trapped in anime. Ships from Plus Alpha and, in the Saturn’s exclusive mode, Field Combat round out the cast.
Eggplants, Game Tengoku’s score currency, are responsible for hell and ecstasy. Dropped by vanquished enemies, they increasing in value from 1000 to 10000 with every successive pick-up, provided the player is able to gather them quickly enough. Some larger eggplant sprites are worth 48050 points. Others are worth 50 but can be blasted into smaller parts worth more. In any case the player character (and sometimes the side ships?) deliver a voice sample every time an eggplant is collected. Every. Time. This is one of the more annoying uses of audio in a commercial videogame. It’s hilarious in the Kaufman School of Alienating Your Audience but not one for normal people who are attempting to enjoy an entertainment product.
The art behind Game Tengoku’s levels is its most prized assets. The first stage is a period-appropriate arcade lined with candy cabs and a boss that is a sentient arcade machine with arms. At one point the box art from Tuff E Nuff scrolls past the background. The second stage is set entirely inside a UFO Catcher. Other stages drop references to Space Invaders, Breakout, and other games I am not learned enough to recognize. Game Tengoku’s arcane references probably culminate with the player battling two spinning G-LOC R-360 cabinets, but virtually every asset in every area is pulled from something.
Game Tengoku is willing to go deeper than necessary with its references and callbacks. The last level prompts a windowed user-interface editor that progresses enemies and backgrounds from wireframe outlines, to shaded models, then finally to fully-textures assets. In the fifth level we’re told a 32-bit CPU has been eaten by an 8-bit CPU, resulting in a collection of opponent ships that fly in as nice-looking pre-rendered models before devolving into blocky pixel architecture. This was a wonderfully novel idea in 1995 and still a fairly impressive feature in 2018. Game Tengoku was far ahead of its peers in capturing its moment in time and channeling the history that got it there.
Purely as a shooter, Game Tengoku is in line with peers of its time. The first two levels are cake walks and the final four are harder than shit. Arcades existed to eat money and Game Tengoku’s reliance on pattern memorization ensured that only maiden voyages by savants and mentats could escape unscathed across all six levels. I played through Game Tengoku with all six ships twice (each trophy demands the player plow through the second, harder version of the game and I can’t deny my need to acquire dumb trophies) and, while I did get better, I still couldn’t make it all the way without blowing through continues. The only cost is personal shame because Game Tengoku retains infinite continues for the player.
This release of Game Tengoku is divided into two parts. The first, Classic Mode, appears to be a straight port of the Saturn edition, complete with text that somehow remains 100% in Japanese. Through the use of technology I was able to determine the second menu was a selection between original and arranged modes, the latter being a mode specific to the Saturn port. Arranged mode adds two brand new levels; one where you’re shooting karaoke lyrics out of the air and another “console” themed level complete with Dragon Quest backgrounds and men with Virtual Boy headsets stuck to their faces. Each level also has its own unique boss. Both fit right in with the madcap rhythm and spirit of Game Tengoku.
Arcade Mode + is the second option. This provides the arcade’s original six levels and six ships across a smattering of difficulty options. More amenities are also in place, including the ability to auto-detonate a bomb in place of losing a ship. There’s also a time attack mode (which may be in the Classic Mode too! I can’t read Japanese!) and the option to select individual levels at will. It is unclear why the Saturn-exclusive levels aren’t available in Arcade Mode+, especially with this release of Game Tengoku likely qualifying as the definitive version of Game Tengoku.
Some odds and ends round out the package. Data Mode is a container for nostalgia and references, providing information in what Game Tengoku literally states as “a very half-baked manner.” This amounts to subtitled commentary, screenshots, and arcade flyers. and other documents from Jaleco’s games that inspired and contributed to Game Tengoku’s roster. Special editions of the original Saturn version of Game Tengoku also came with a VHS tape containing original video animation. Apparently that’s part of this package but I either didn’t unlock it or couldn’t find it.
It is not entirely clear what the Special part of Game Tengoku CruisinMix Special implies. Copy that accompanied its press release states it has “exclusive remixed tracks for all characters, a new Clarice bomb, and more [that] will come as a free update…” I don’t think any of this was accompanied with the review code I received. What I played looked identical the version of Game Tengoku CruisinMix that released last summer, indicating the Special content wasn’t yet live. This is weird! Given that it’s a free upgrade containing inessential content, I’m not worried, but it’s somewhat unprecedented in this line of work.
In a time when SNK 40th Anniversary Collection is delivering a smattering of NeoGeo classics across the Nintendo Switch for $40, one may question the $30 barrier-of-entry to the only convenient and legal way to enjoy Game Tengoku. Every release and every license, especially one from a defunct publishers, contains a different cost to everyone involved in the publishing and porting process. For some, $30 is way too much and, for others, it’s a bargain compared to Game Tengoku’s escalating price over at eBay.
The option to own and play Game Tengoku (1) on a modern console and (2) mostly in english (3) now exists 2018. This is both Important and Good, even if it only lives to serve a relatively small number of people.
