Developer: Scitron & Art Publisher: Pony Canyon Release: 12/26/87 Genre: Action
I was not a Sega Master System owner growing up. I was fortunate to have friends with one and had the chance to occasionally swap systems. While I did not regret owning a NES I will admit there were plenty of MS games that made me jealous. Phantasy Star is one but Space Harrier was especially a big one. There was only one title in the US that was slightly similar to that Sega classic. But the less said about 3-D World Runner the better. In Japan however there were many, many clones. Some are lost classics like Cosmic Epsilon. Others are…..yeah. Attack Animal Gakuen surprised me. The goofy name is why I gave it a try. And it is far better than I would have ever thought. I am not saying you should go out and buy it right now. But you can certainly do worse. Far, far worse.
Attack Animal Gakuen is distinct as you play as a Japanese schoolgirl rather than a boy as in most games at the time. A mysterious force has driven animals around the world mad, and somehow Nokko has been blessed with supernatural powers that enable her to fly. She uses these powers to fight the invaders and to rescue her friend who has been kidnapped. It is obvious Space Harrier is the inspiration for this game. But you have to admit it is pretty funny seeing a school girl in various outfits in a fast paced shooter, especially for the time.
The main question is how does Attack Animal Gakuen fare against the game that inspired it? Very well I must say. The sprite work is colorful and often surreal: you’ll be shooting elephants, spiders, and octopi mostly with some aliens sprinkled in. The bosses are a highlight although like most games of this type on the platform there is no background to avoid distraction. Nokko’s sprite is small but changes outfits for every stage which is cool. Backgrounds are boring—simple scrolling fields and clouds—but the sheer weirdness of the enemy designs makes up for it. Surprisingly despite the speed and pace there is no slowdown, ever. At most there is occasional sprite flickering which is not surprising, the game is pushing a lot of sprites. Attack Animal Gakuen is a much better technical achievement than the Famicom version of Space Harrier, ironically.
As a rail shooter Attack Animal Gakuen follows the formula of Sega’s game to a tee. You can run on the ground or fly indefinitely to deal with enemies or avoid hazards. The crazy animal theme helps distinguish the game although I wish the drab backdrops helped enforce it more. The action is intense; the game’s speed and pace are unlike most action games on the system. There is never a dull moment that is for sure. It is not perfect: hit detection is sloppy and collision detection is unforgiving: even grazing an animal sprite means instant death. There are not power-ups per se but statues can be collected that boost your attack, speed, and rate of fire. These stack and are only lost when you die. I wish there were more as the game can get repetitive at times.
As much as I do enjoy Attack Animal Gakuen its simplicity compared to other shooters cannot be denied. There are multiple stages with different animal types, but the gameplay loop quickly feels repetitive: shoot, dodge, die, repeat. With so few power-ups to spice things up the game becomes predictable to a degree. The lacking distinction between worlds in terms of aesthetics does not help either. What works in its favor however its brevity is. The game is only six stages long next to Space Harrier’s eighteen. The game knows when to end rather than dragging it out. Getting to that end is a task in itself however.
As with all scrolling shooters of this type the difficulty is unrelenting. Attack Animal Gakuen is brutally hard, not in the carefully tuned way of Gradius or Star Soldier, but in a cheap, frustrating manner. The speed of the game is a factor but the view point is another. Even though Nokko is a small sprite it is still hard to gauge if an object or enemy is close or far. Enemy waves spawn from all corners unexpectedly and is at times unfair. The enemies are aggressive and there are many, many unavoidable deaths in my opinion. The boss battles are especially bad as there hit boxes are nigh incomprehensible and it feels random. There is a sharp spike in the final two stages that I would not have managed were it not for the game’s generosity with extra lives due to scoring. Beware.
In Closing
Attack Animal Gakuen is a cult oddity. Today, it is mostly remembered for its sheer weirdness if at all.You have to admit a cheerful, anime-style schoolgirl taking on a mechanized zoo, backed by upbeat chiptunes and wild difficulty spikes is certainly unique. It is not the first import shooter I would go for but it is a solid endeavor nonetheless.
