TRIO THE PUNCH
Original Release: Data East, 1989, Arcade
Other Releases: PlayStation 2 (2007), Switch/PS4 (2022)
A surreal experience that kinda defies description, but has strong beat-em-up/hack-em-up elements combined with platformer gameplay
Trio The Punch (Arcade, 1989, Data East)
Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: Arcade Emulation Guide
Review by: C. M0use
Trio The Punch is a game that defies quick and easy categorization simply due to how shitty it is. It appears to be a rougher and clunkier version of Data East's Bad Dudes engine, so it's kinda a belt scroller by default, but also a fantasy hack-fest with melee weapons and monsters and such. But also kinda a platformer? And on occasion it turns into a run-and-gun?
When you find these older games that on the surface just appear to be the product of a few Japanese guys doing hallucinogens and not caring much about the quality of their output, I like to dig a little to see if there's any documented clue as to how they came about. In this case things take an even weirder turn than you might expect. Some old Japanese game magazine from the early '90s documents that it was originally planned as a "sugoroku" board game title before being totally overhauled during development into this weird brawler/platformer. But aside from that little tidbit there seems to be nothing else available about the game's production. The best theory I've seen so far is that it was Data East's attempt to have their own version of Konami's Wai Wai World, sort of a self-parodying platfomer with a lot of company cameos which had come out a little over a year earlier. It explains the occasional inclusion of random other Data East characters like Karnov and Chelnov at least.
What all this boils down to is that you pick one of the Trio to start out: White Guy T-Shirt Samurai (who actually plays like a ninja), Jim Kelly Conan (who gets the vitiligo and turns white in-game somehow), and uh ... Filipino Claws? You take your fighter through a long series of small levels that are just all over the map in terms of theming and enemies, my headcanon is that these guys are just Quantum Leaping around but instead of helping people out of a jam they just have to slaughter every living thing in the vicinity. In between levels you get a free lottery spin from Bad Teeth Master that might get you a life bar increase, weapon upgrade, chance to select one of the other two characters, or nothing at all.
There are 35 of these little levels total, with the game getting pretty difficult to complete about halfway through as dying makes you start the same segment over again from the beginning, you can't really buy your way through if you hit a segment that's really giving you trouble. A short and suitably weird ending awaits if you can survive the whole thing.
It's pretty bad to play, despite some creativity the stiff character movement and primitive hit detection starts wearing on your right from the beginning. But it's so bizarre it's kinda compelling just to see what comes up next and how long this weird experiment will rattle on for. It has its occasional little secrets too, like get done in by the sheep boss and you get to play as a sheep for a little while ... which is actually a general improvement over all the characters as it's pretty powerful! Pretty good soundtrack chugging along in the background as well. Maybe not worth actually playing, but probably worth watching a video.
Comments
Post a Comment