Game Boy Works

Game Boy turns its focus to the far east this episode, with an action game based on Chinese martial arts and an RPG centered on battling (and being) Japanese yōkai. Neither one is particularly world-shaking, though Kung' Fu Master does have a direct line to the early days of the NES, and ONI kicks off the Game Boy's most prolific exclusive game franchise that I'm aware of (there's probably some pachinko or mahjong franchise I'm overlooking) as the first of five adventures created exclusively for the platform. Of course, none of those ever reached the U.S. Americans? Playing RPGs!? What a strange notion.

Puzzle platformers are in their Game Boy; all's right with the world. Yes, this episode brings us not one but two—two!—puzzle action games for Game Boy. As if we'd have it any other way. As often happens, one of these is far more fun and playable than the other in hindsight, reflecting poorly on the lesser of the two. For once, the better game received a U.S. release while the merely-OK one remained stranded overseas. Nail'n Scale from Data East offers much: Two-player simultaneous action, fluid and friendly jump mechanics, and a fun platforming gimmick that also doubles as the key to the puzzle-like level designs. Pri Pri: Primitive Princess... doesn't have these things. It's not terrible, but its plodding pace does not pair well with its unforgiving, trial-and-error design. Weirdly, this one's from Sunsoft, whom you'd expect to have presented a more respectable showing than Data East... but there are no rules on Game Boy! Nothing makes sense!

A curious case here on Game Boy Works: A game that is somehow two games. While Klax on Game Boy plays about the same as the Klax we've already seen on Atari Lynx, it takes two very different approaches to its presentation depending on the region you bought it from. The American release from Mindscape, which actually shipped in 1991, has the same vanishing perspective seen in other versions of the game. The Japanese cart from Hudson, on the other hand, looks like no other rendition of Klax to be found on competing platforms. It's two separate takes on the same property by two different studios. Ah, but which fares better on Game Boy? As for Ginga, the game's full title is Card & Puzzle Collection: Ginga, and that's exactly what it is. It's a video version of all the disused traditional games your grandparents kept in a storage bin in their basement. But you can call it Tornado Appetizer, if you're nasty.