Developer: KID Publisher: VAP Release: 08/09/91 Genre: Action
In the mid-90s there was an odd surge of 2d platformers featuring soccer. I suppose if cavemen and witches can have their day than football deserves its turn too. While I found it strange I will admit it was a reprieve from the deluge of mascot platformers at the time. Unfortunately nearly all of these games were mediocre at best. Trust me, no one is clamoring for a re-release of the Hurricanes. Doki! Doki! Yūuenchi is a game that I happened to see lone screenshots of in a magazine. It looked like a lost platforming classic that never left Japan. Well looks can be deceiving. Although it has the looks of a winner Doki! Doki! Yūuenchi does not hit the mark the way it should.
Doki Doki Yuuenchi has a weird premise even among NES platformers. On a date with your girlfriend at the movies the Great Demon King reaches out and kidnaps her. Somehow you leap in to the film to chase after her. It is Viewtiful Joe a decade or so before Capcom would unleash that classic. Too bad it does not have that game’s quality.
Interestingly Doki! Doki! Yūuenchi was scheduled for a western release as late as 1993. The game would have been altered and called Crazyland! The Ride of Your Life but was ultimately cancelled. I remember a preview in Nintendo Power and some TV advertising, even on Video Power. It is rare for a game to receive this much pre-release marketing and ultimately end up canceled. Damn shame too as it could have washed away the stink of Circus Charlie. The game did see a European release as The Trolls in Crazyland but used the insipid troll doll license.
Doki! Doki! Yūuenchi seems simple at first. Your means of attack is kicking a lone soccer ball at your enemies. You can also aim it directly upwards while jumping too and kick it at an angle. This is where things get strange—and interesting: you get more powerful as you take damage. With each hit your soccer ball changes, from kicking two smaller soccer balls in a wide shot to one big one. There are no other power-ups so this risk/reward situation is your only means of becoming stronger. I suppose the goal was to introduce an element of strategy but it does not play out that way. At max “health” your normal shot is small and weak. You will welcome any damage to have an attack worth a damn.
Although Doki Doki Yuuenchi mostly takes place in an amusement park it is a bizarre one. The amusement park theme lets each stage experiment with gimmicks: high speed roller coasters, spinning platforms, collapsing floors, and enemy swarms. Levels are short and can typically be completed in a minute or two. This means they generally focus on one of the aforementioned gimmicks. Unfortunately, the controls are loose and slippery, making platforming trickier than it should be. Collision detection can feel unfair, leading to cheap hits and missed jumps. That leaves the action and this is also bad. Even the most generic enemy takes way too many hits and it only gets worse as you progress. It is like for every one good idea there is some aspect that cancels it out.
I would not say Doki Doki Yuuenchi is difficult so much as it is frustrating. Health is limited, enemies respawn quickly, and Toro’s attacks don’t always connect cleanly. The knock back when touching enemies is very bad and the enemy placement is suspect. The frequent slowdown will throw off your timing when platforming constantly. Collision is not perfect and you will miss jumps a lot. I do not like the auto scrolling levels at all. They rely too much on gotcha mechanics and unclear design in the later levels for my liking. It is a damn shame that the game is lacking in polish as there is some good content here that you will struggle to enjoy.
I will say even though I have problems with the gameplay the presentation is decent. The amusement park theme is varied, with stages themed after carnival attractions like roller coasters, graveyards, spinning rides, and circus tents. But it does not stop there as they squeeze in a forest and pirate ship. It gets a bit odd toward the end with the space world attraction which feels less like a carnival attraction and more out of place diversion. The sprites are large and the animation is serviceable which sounds impressive at first but is the reason the game has crippling slowdown. Any time there are two enemies on screen it slows to a crawl. Boss battles are even worse as most run in permanent slow motion. It sucks too as the boss designs are immaculate. The visual creativity is there, but the execution feels slightly rough.
In Closing
I have conflicting feelings regarding Doki Doki Yuuenchi. This is the kind of game that feels more like a quirky experiment than a polished platformer. The pieces are there but the game lacks that one last pass that smooths out its rough edges. Whether you will stick with the game until its conclusion is tough to decide. The game has its good points: its bizarre attack system and amusement park setting make it stand out. But the execution does not quite hold up against genre heavyweights of the era considering its late release. I like it to an extent and wish it were “so bad it’s good” but ultimately I think you can skip this one and not miss much.
