Clear #38 - Makai Prince Dorabocchan (aka 'Kid Dracula')
I give this a slightly above average '6 out of 10'.
This fairly easy platformer seems rather like an NES game. While it is fairly colorful and fun to play through once, I doubt that I'll be playing it again anytime soon. With no additional difficulty modes or 2-player option, there is little to draw me back to playing it again. With unlimited continues and the ability to harvest extra lives for the boss fights, you will definitely be able to beat this game your first time playing it.
You play as 'Kid Dracula' - the son of Count Dracula, and you have to play through about 6 stages, each with a mid-boss and a stage boss. You can attack with your short-ranged wand or with your unlimited stash of tomatoes, which are thrown a slightly further distance than the length of your wand. You throw your tomatoes by squatting down and pushing the attack button. While you are squatting, you are hiding under your hat, which makes you invulnerable to most enemies and their attacks. Along the way, you can also collect extra tomatoes, up to 99, which are then rained down upon the stage boss, depleting his energy somewhat before the battle begins. There are a few power-ups found in the game - some one once or twice in the entire game. These include a cape which allows you to double-jump and spike shoes which allow you to cause damage to enemies by jumping on them (Normally you can jump on most enemies without causing damage to you or it.) along with a few other power-ups.
The game's lack of English is not a barrier at all to playing it. The game does have unlimited continues, but no save or password capability, so it must be beaten in one sitting. Anyway, I do recommend this game to those who enjoy platformers, even though there are better platformers in the PC Engine library.
