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« Last post by Naniyue on October 13, 2025, 12:06:27 AM »
Finally cheated my way fully through Panic Bomber. Never again! Sooo annoying! Sure, I'll legitimately play a couple stages now and again, but not the whole game.
I've just finished watching almost all of the Cobra animated features, so why not play the games?
NAG - Cobra 2, Part I
I know there's a previous one. I'll get to that later.
I played the Sega CD version back in the day, and rather enjoyed it! I knew who Cobra was, but at the time I had never seen any episode of the TV show or the movie. I thought the game was rather imaginative, more science fantasy than science fiction, but fun nevertheless. Naturally, I'll play the PCE CD version this time, but wish to compare the two. I'll be referencing a longplay of the Sega CD game while playing the PCE CD one. It's a good game, and I haven't played the Sega CD one in forever, but I don't feel like playing essentially the same game twice in a row.
The graphics are of course, very similar. I like the titlescreen music of the Sega CD one better. And the II of the intro was removed, understandably.
The English intro text is different. The Sega CD lines sound more natural, but the PCE CD ones still get the point across. Funny how the Sega CD text portrays Cobra as simply badass, whereas the PCE CD text describes him as more of an ultra Robin Hood.
The written and spoken lines between the two are not always exact translations, but the meaning is there.
I'm actually finding the Sega CD music better so far.
The voice acting of the PCE is naturally good, but even the English of the Sega one is better than usual for the time.
Because of the Sega CD game, I always thought the bad guy was named Crystal Boy. I came to find out, however, that it's actually Crystal Bowie! Yes, it sounds like boy, but the katakana shows the difference:
ボイ - Boi, Boy. Short o sound
ボウイ or ボーイ - Boui, Bowie. Long o sound.
The blue and gold colors of his 16 bit rendition actually look cooler to me than in any of the anime, probably because of their simple vibrancy.
Okay, confession:
Unfortunately, I never became fluent in Japanese. I can get by playing a video game as long as I have my kanji dictionary handy, but my listening comprehension, or more accurately, my level of vocabulary, is terrible. Sometimes I understand just fine, other times I'm completely lost, so subtitles still help. Unfortunately, most jokes are beyond my comprehension. If I'm wrong about something in Japanese, kindly correct me, as I still want to learn.
Okay, I changed my mind. I'm actually playing through both. Watching the video is just boring. Something about actually taking part in the decisions is just more satisfying.
Piano computer music:
PCE sound chip vs Genesis sound chip.
I wonder if such a computer interface would actually work. The basic story of the game is from the manga/TV show/movie, making it a late 70's/early 80's fantastic concept of a computer. Maybe there's some psionics involved?