Review by: Michael Stearns

I'm amazed there aren't any reviews for Keio Geki on here! I've owned it for a while, but I saw it for sale in a store in Seattle for only $40, so I thought I should recommend it to somebody. As everyone should know, Keio Geki is the sort-of sequel to Keio Flying Squadron for the Sega CD. It's a sort-of sequel because the gameplay is totally different. The Sega CD title was a shooter, this one is an action-platform game.

The story, near as I can tell, understanding exactly zero Japanese, is that there are some crystal balls, quite similar to Dragon Balls, that can all be gathered together inside Mt. Fuji and unlock a great treasure. Rami, the cute, bunny-girl hero of the story, has one of them. But it just so happens that the villainous Dr. Pon, a genius raccoon, and a girl named Hibiko (I think that's it, I could be wrong) are also after the balls, and it's Rami's job to find them all first!

Rami's moves are pretty basic. She can run, jump, and attack by stomping or with a weapon. You get three weapons, a big hammer, a parasol, and a bow and arrow. With the exception of level two, I'd say go for the hammer every time. The bow and arrow is pretty useless, and the umbrella isn't as fast as the hammer. But if you're like me and just happen to like umbrellas, you'll like using it more. Also, to save you the trouble of figuring this out, Rami can take all the damage in the world so long as she's carrying a weapon. Once you're hit, just go pick it up again. But that's not always as easy as it seems, and if you're hit when you aren't carrying anything, it's bye-bye bunnygirl.

The gameplay is pretty simple, yes, but that doesn't mean the game isn't fun, no sir. Rami's adventure is fraught with all kinds of interesting levels and enemies, and it's not all run and jump, there's shooter stages, a swimming stage, and even a fun roller coaster ride! And each stage has something unique to offer, you won't get bored doing the same stuff over and over.

But what *really* makes Keio Geki stand out is the wacky hand-drawn art and enemies. This is one of the funniest games I've ever seen, and I don't even understand a word the characters say. If you're into anime, especially the funnier series like Ranma or Dragon Ball, you'll be right at home here. The game has several cinema sequences, which don't look terribly good, even by Saturn standards, but they are a gas. Just wait till you get to the Keio Yugeki Fighters scene.. I admit the humor has worn a little thin, having played the game so many times, but rest assured, I'm busting up on the inside. Oh, and the bosses! No rendered gumbies these, they're all giant, multi-sprite hand-drawn beauties just waiting to smash you up. And they're WACKY! I'm not even going to tell you about them, let's just say they are mighty original..

The music is also really good. It's mostly upbeat Japanese-sounding stuff, and matches the theme of the game *perfectly.* It's all VERY good, and recorded onto the CD so you can listen to it any time you want to. My only complaint about the music is the main boss theme. It's a little too cute. You can have cute stage music, you can have cute bosses, but the boss music should always be serious, if you ask me. Or at least dancy. But as for the rest of the music, est tres magnifique. Also, there's a ton of voice, and I'm sure if you speak Japanese it's very entertaining. Otherwise it's just something you hope your mother never catches you listening to. I think they may have hired a famous voice actress to do Rami's voice, because the woman's face is pasted all over the packaging and manual. Well, maybe just in a couple spaces, but you get the idea.

The game is pretty long and the difficulty is just right, but even when you've finished it there's reason to play more. The bottom option on the main menu opens up a huge selection of pictures of bosses and characters and stuff, and the score you earn in the game reflects how many of these are available to you. Your highest score is saved in memory, so you can look at what you've got any time. The trick to earning more of these is to get red points. These bring your score up. Getting hit, breaking throwable items, and stomping the wrong bad guys will give you blue points, and take your score down. If you come out with a negative score, you gain access to secret tips and things, some of which are actually pretty useful, just by the picture next to the text. Also, there are three difficulty settings, and hard mode really is!

This game will appeal primarily to fans of anime, or people who just really like Japanese stuff. Oh, and you can't be one of those guys who only like 3D games full of yucky polygons and rendered gumbies, because you will find none of them here. Well, there is a huge rendered Kappa in the background of the bonus stage, but that's about it. It's a real shame this game didn't make it out over here. I'm giving this game a might 8.5! Buwahah!