Blue's Journey, Raguy (1990)

Game: Blue's Journey, Raguy

Release Year: 1990

Time to complete: 1hr
Played on: Neo Geo AES

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Presentation: 7

Difficulty: 5

Fun: 8

Rating on a 1-10 scale

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Cast your mind your back, way back, to a day when cute side scrolling platformers ruled the ruled the world thanks to a certain Italian plumber. Well even the Neo Geo had to get in on the action, and Blue's Journey was their ante. Developed by ADK in 1990, Blue's Journey, or Raguy as it was know in Asia, is a super cute, 2D platform action game. The story is also of interest due to it's environmental slant. You are a hero attempting to save your happy healthy land from evil environmentally insensitive industrialists.  

Visually it’s a safe assumption that the nice folks over at ADK used every single color available in the neo geo's pallet for this one. The graphics are all super cute and somewhat “super deformed”. The musical score and sound effects are equally sticky sweet. Overall it makes for a very nice, consistent package. 

In regards to gameplay, I always though blue's was more of a Mario clone then it really is. Now don't get me wrong, at the end of each level, your character jumps on a poll and the higher you land, the more bonus points you get. But there are elements of lots of different platform games at play and it works well. The game is also a nice length. It took me and the Mrs. about an hour to complete it. Which reminds me of the best thing about Blue's, its one of the few Neo Geo titles that my wife has any interest to play with me and that sir, is priceless.

Ninja Commando (1992)

Game: Ninja Commando

Release Year: 1992

Time to complete: 1hr
Played on: Neo Geo CD

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Presentation: 5

Difficulty: 4

Fun: 5

Rating on a 1-10 scale

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For a system that only had 100 or so games it's funny to me that 3 of them have Ninja in the title but are not related in any way, I guess that’s just the early 90’s for you. Anyway, what we have here is Ninja Commando, developed by ADK in 1992. For obvious reasons, Ninja Commando and Ninja Combat have always got mixed up in my head. I knew one was good and one was crap. This is the good one, kinda...

Visually its not a bad looking game, but it's not amazing. It has some nice colors but the animations and overall style fell a bit clunky. Music wise there is also nothing of much of note, get it, note? Sorry, so the best part about the presentation, and really the best reason to play this game is the storyline or rather how it’s told. There is not much original here, you are a team of heroes/super soldiers trying to save the world from a time traveling villain named Spider and his evil Mars Corporation. This sets up the level design where you jump from one time period to the next, similar to SNK's 1987 Time Soldiers. In fact one could even consider this a spiritual sequel to Time Soldiers. Now to the best part, how the story is told. There is a surprising quantity of dialog and story told in Ninja Commando and it's really, really badly written. Here are some of my personal favorites: "You have defended the history from enemy!", "There must be more tough guys ahead..." I could go on but I'll resist. You really need to play it to get the full effect. 

Gameplay wise, you can think of Ninja Commando as the love child Aero Fighters and Shock Troopers would produce. The game it actually reminds me of is TechnoSoft's Elemental Master. As you play through the different time periods it gets a bit dull. You are also are given unlimited credits, so you can just continue you way through the story, but unlike Metal Slug it's not especially enjoyable or unique.

I know this game is generally well liked in the Neo Geo community but I don't really see it. It’s not a bad game; it's just a game that does not really interest me to every play again. 

Power Spikes II (1994)

Game: Power Spikes II

Release Year: 1994

Time to complete: 3hr
Played on: Neo Geo CD

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Presentation: 6

Difficulty: 7

Fun: 7

Rating on a 1-10 scale

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For years I really believed this was the worst Neo Geo game ever made. Even worse then Legend of Success Joe if that’s possible. I had only played the game once, when I first got a Neo Geo CD, back in 97'. I admit that a Volleyball game does not especially stroke my interest, but I remember very clearly playing this game and thinking it has the worst controls ever. It also didn’t help that visually, its not the most mind blowing game. Now that I have had to take another ride on the Neo Geo volleyball express I'm left with a very different impression of the sequel to Super Volly '91.

The game it's self is broken down into 3 leagues. Two are modern day leagues, one for women, and one for the dudes. These two leagues are essentially the same both visually and gameplay wise from what I can see. The third league however is a futuristic league that looks very similar to Baseball 2020. In the future, according to Video Systems, there will be extreme spikes and a power gauge; all things I admit might help the popularity of the sport. The scoring is also slightly different. 

Volleyball in the future!

Gameplay wise its a really sharp learning curve here. You move your team left and right along a flat 2D plain, again with the not so exciting. There is a lot of automation in what your team members do. One of the aspects that makes this game difficult to figure out at first is understanding exactly what it is you control, and what you don't. The funny thing is once you get this it actually gets pretty fun. There is some interesting strategy that comes in with positioning you team and choosing what types of moves to execute. 

I played through and won each of the 3 leagues and I really found myself enjoying it. I will certainly give this disc another spin in the future. This game is really what makes going back and completing all the Neo Geo games a fun experience. I know I have some real crap coming up review wise, cough, cough, Legend of Success Joe... But you never know, maybe I'll find that its actually the best game ever made, after all I never though I would heartily recommend Power Spikes 2.