16bit Chronicles: Super FamiComplete #14: Ultraman (Redux)

Title: Ultraman: Towards the Future

Release Date: October 1991

Developer: BEC, Co Ltd (a joint venture between Human Entertainment and Bandai)

Publisher: Bandai

While most games I covered on this blog had some redeeming qualities, this was the first absolute garbage fire of a game.

Ugh...Yup Ultraman is back on the scene, and this time he manages to make an absolute compost pile of a game. This one is rough to the point of unplayable. Ultraman is a one-player fighting game where the titular Ultraman has to beat alien monsters into submission. It is a promising premise, but it really doesn't deliver.

Background
Now if you remember from SD: Great Battle, Ultraman was the star of the 1967 Tokusatsu (literally meaning "special filming," or a heavy special effects tv show or film) television series, about the giant alien/man-warrior who could fly down to Earth to battle giant monsters when Earth was in peril. The catch was that Ultraman could only stay on Earth for three minutes at a time, so he had to defeat the monster before those three minutes were up. Part of each episode would focus on a normal sized Ultraman, and then he would always "gigantify" and reek havoc upon the local city (or television set) while battling the monster. This was one of the original "monster of the week" shows that gave rise to Power Rangers and VR Troopers and those other shows that made their way to the United States in the 90s. Most of these shows would follow the same formula, with the characters getting into a mech or "gigantifying" to tackle some crazy monster. Of course, these shows bow down to the original tokusatsu film: Godzilla.

Ultraman has managed to remain a popular property in Japan, receiving television shows, anime, video games, and other adaptations up into the modern age (I think there was a new show released this past year on either Hulu or Netflix?). He even appeared in the book version of Ready Player One as the ultimate transformation of the protagonist to save the day against the villain's Mecha Godzilla form. Needless to say, Ultraman will rear his helmeted head many times to come in this blog.

Gameplay

Now the game itself remains pretty darn faithful to the tv series. There are a series of stages, each with a different kaiju (costumed monster) style alien monster to fight, and you fight in a variety of different bland environments. Like the tv show, you only have three minutes to defeat the monster. Sounds simple right?

Well, it's not. One of the reasons this game is a bad game is because it is so darn hard. Ultraman, for being an interstellar monster killer, is pretty darn pathetic. He only has a series of actions available to him: he can punch, kick, jump (with a jump punch or kick), or grapple if he is close to the enemy. That's really it. He does have a special attack meter, which can be filled upon the successful completion of regular attacks, but it is drained instantly when a special attack is used. Ultraman has four different special moves, from the weakest (his famous "Psi-beam") to the strongest attack, a Kamehameha style blast called the "Specium Beam."

Now the game tries to give the combat a twist by forcing the player to perform the Specium Beam attack in order to finish off the monster you are fighting. If you don't perform this attack, the monster's life bar will only regenerate. I could see why the developers wanted to do this, as they thought it would make the end of fights much more climactic and add some challenge to the fights. Also, as far as the canon attached to the show, it is usually Ultraman performing his ultimate attack that allows him to defeat the monster. As a gameplay conceit though, it makes the actual fights much more redundant and wearying; why would you ever use the lesser special attacks since they drain your energy for your final attack?

It doesn't help that the enemies you fight are relentless. The monsters usually have a great bit of reach on you, so moving in close to hit them will usually result in you taking some damage. While using special attacks won't help you in the long-run, the monsters can shoot as many projectiles and special attacks as they want. So usually what happens in a match is Ultraman trying to get in close to attack the monster, but getting pummeled and blasted by fireballs instead. Oh, and I should add that every time the monsters wound you, your special meter goes down. Impossible.

The tough part is that you have only three lives for the entire game, and no continues. Once those are up, you have to start the whole game over. Needless to say, I couldn't get past the second encounter (I tried replaying this game again and had the same result.)

Add the difficulty to the fact that the graphics and music are god-awful, and you have a game that is completely sub-par. Even if you are good at the game, the entire play-through usually takes about 20-30 minutes at most, so it really becomes quite forgettable.

Can we at least hear some of the music?