Preliminary: (played the original Japanese PC Engine Kato-chan and Ken-chan) Lol I love the giant head sprites. And I liked the beginning screen, but hadn't heard great things.

Okay yea I didn't plan to give this an earnest playthrough because I read that the controls are terrible and it's overly hard. But here I am already at the last Field of the first Area, and still having fun. It felt like the first Mario where I just keep pushing through and don't explore secrets, etc., tho I figure they're about to force me to. (I have been kicking all Trashcans in case of an important item? I dunno...). I oddly like the music, I love the sprites, and I like that you make a funny face when you skid to stop. Not a huge fan of the toilet humor (I'd rather actually duck than just squat like I'm going to poop), but it fits the colors and Sound vibe. Oh, and this is my first PC Engine game! Finished the first Area, there are 6 in total, let's hope the difficulty doesn't spike too much and the fun stays intact! Not just a playtest type game for sure though, as silly as it is.

Play: 8/10 I like that you can jump on enemies, and kick them, and spray paint them. I love a variety of attack styles available in a platformer, without convoluting it :-p I was going to say that I like that there's no Time factor, but it seems your Vitality goes down over time? Like with all platformers, I love when you incidentally bounce off multiple enemies/projectiles as if you did it on purpose, but really it was just happenstance :-p I live off those in the first Mario. I didn't get into the extra betting bonus things at all. And I would love if you had a bit more control of the bounce-off-enemy feature like in later Marios where you can get a bigger bounce depending on certain factors (still, it was incredibly fun bouncing off several enemies in a row and seeing the score from each go up). Other criticisms include the skid factor, it's a bit too long especially when just trying to attack and your character keeps going forward with lots of momentum. And the overly brutal amount of damage enemies inflict. Overall, tho, nice and responsive controls for the NES era!

Pro-tip: Kick most trash cans (apparently those keys I've been getting have meaning? I didn't have any issues moving forward in the first 3 Areas so far... I kept getting a Key in each Area, which seems necessary), but ignore most trampoline thingies (most). Well, turns out the ignore trampolines part proves impossible in the later part, but at least at the beginning they are often more trouble than help.

Another pro-tip: Pressing up when jumping makes your vertical height substantially higher. Over time the quirks of the controls become clearer and clearer. I was on the final field/stage! Sheesh was that all-the-fires-in-a-row part brutal so you had to bounce off fly after fly while also fireballs coming at you ah! Luckily the death mechanic starts you right in front of where you died.

Sound: 9/10 Oooo great jingle for the first area boss. And the Sound and Look were a large part of what got me to keep playing, with no attachment to the console, characters, etc.

Look: 9/10 Lol when I kicked him at the right time he went upside down into the trashcan, plus this shows my skid face I mentioned

(I wound up bumping this up, I was nervous about my scores so often being 5 or 2 star, but the reality is, the Look is way ahead of its time. Looks like a 90s PC or SNES game.)

Feel: 9/10 Well, that first boss was super easy ha. And nice jingle after. I love when a platformer's challenge comes from just well-down level design, and I can just jump in and figure things out on my own. With secrets and warps that are optional , thus encouraging replayability. I had yet to need to look at the StrategyWiki and I was already done with Area 2! And the music continued to be great! Nice and varied, catchy, fits the vibe. Way ahead of its time. Some had the PS1/N64 era drum n bass vibe (seems that one plays in the cloud segments), others the SNES Earthbound vibe. Impressive. Eventually realized if you squat ("duck") long enough you let out fart gas smh heh. Reality is, even if I'm not a big toilet humor guy (and apparently much of that was removed for the NA release), this felt cute, entertaining, and fresh all the way through. Just as it was starting to feel old, with the same boss format for each boss, same enemies except the new Blue Flame, etc., it ended. Always nice when a game knows it's time to wrap up. Most of all, the Look and Sound were so ahead of its time and deserves credit for that.

Attachment: 8/10 Finally had to look at the StrategyWiki in Area 3 to figure out where the Key is. Turns out the signs are worth kicking too ;) Not just when there's a large gap like I had been doing ha. Keys come from things other than trashcans ;) I was still having a blast. It's movie time now, but yea this definitely surprised me. It makes me nervous just how many 4 and 5 star platformers I will have by the end of this project. Especially considering how many of them are seen as mediocre or frustrating or bad controls. I guess I just like retro platformer controls? I dunno...

(Okay I didn't put it down on first play session and now am far into Area 4 lol. I just did a skid+duck that resulted in a fart and it was perfect and exactly what I needed to do to get by that lightning.)

On my 2nd play session I decided my plan will be just to look up the Key for the remaining areas and otherwise play it blind. Dig it. It took a minute to warm up again, which isn't good cuz the difficulty definitely rises in Area 5 ha. But at last I was at the cute ending, and then the oddly moody credits, great jingle for it as they named all the enemies lol

Completion: Main Story Playtime: ~2 hrs