Developer: Publisher: Virgin Release: 09/29/95 Genre: Beat em up
The Super Famicom library is a treasure trove of beat em ups that never left Japan. Many are solid to great arcade ports like Undercover Cops and Ghost Chaser Densei. But it is the original titles that deserve a closer look. Gourmet Sentai Bara Yarou is a truly odd beast that I am struggling to sum up. Mechanically the game is sound and its food theme certainly makes it unique. But it is also has a few problems that hold it back from being truly great.
In the future World War III has left the world a devastated ruin. Among this ruin a haven known as Zeus Heaven Magic City arises. While it is a safe space food is scarce leaving the people to seek sustenance any way they can. An organization known as Bath begins to try and take over Zeus for its own nefarious ends. To prevent the leaders of Zeus launch a special project to create cybernetic humans to fight on their behalf. Three soldiers are created to beat back the forces of Bath.
The three playable characters (Bonjour, Très Bien, and Mademoiselle) fall into the standard genre niches of well rounder, fast but weak, and slow strong man. However defying conventions Mademoiselle is the strong one. Original I know. Despite these categories mechanically all three play so similarly that the differences are not as pronounced. While that is disappointing it does mean everyone can pick up and play any character with little difficulty. As a bonus there are eleven (!) more playable characters accessible with a code. These are the standard enemies in the game and while they obviously are not as developed as the main characters it is a cool bonus.
Gourmet Sentai Bara Yarou is deceptive at first with its fighting mechanics. It has the standard beat em up list; a multi-hit combo attack, a jump kick, and the ability to run and perform dashing attacks. However it branches out further from there. When attacking enemies they will enter a stunned state. There are two levels of stun, low and high. The only way to grapple enemies is to stun them first. Once you grab them you can hit them with a wall crush to send them flying or Irish whip for a clothesline. Or you can perform one of two command grabs that will decimate their life bar. These use simple button combinations (R,L,R) and rely on the stun level. Enemies will not stay stunned for long so you must be quick but the results are worth it.
But there is more! Sometimes a command grab will spike the enemy in the ground. You can jump on their legs and execute a few different moves from there as well! Interestingly everyone has a blast punch. This silly move will set the enemy on fire at which point they will run around aflame while their health ticks down. They can pass this to you or other enemies making this move risk/reward. One of the coolest aspects of the gameplay is the clone item. At the start of every level a cyborg will appear that will drop a special item. This creates a clone of your character that is controlled by the AI. Amazingly the CPU is competent; in fact too competent. They are every bit as good as you are and can possibly carry you through the game. The help is much appreciated.
The game gives you a lot of options to work with but does little with it. Once you acclimate to the controls you will find a slow plodding brawler. For the first few stages your will only face one or two enemies simultaneously. This is because the enemy variety is low. Each stage introduces at least one new type but considering how short the game is that does not amount to much. The pacing is also inconsistent. In the beginning it is brisk and maybe a little too fast. But the last three stages go overboard with tedious enemy waves and damage sponge bosses with multiple phases. It is a damn shame as the mechanics are well thought out but the game surrounding them needed more polish.
The gourmet in the game’s title refers to its focus on food. There are no secondary power-ups of any kind including health. Defeated enemies drop food that restores about 1% of your health. The game also does not restore life automatically between levels. Instead you participate in a gourmet cooking game using the ingredients you have collected. You choose two ingredients to cook items that will restore your life. Each character has a favorite food so different dishes will restore more or less health. With the mountain of combinations available unless you consult a FAQ I guarantee you will fail and receive a sliver of life. Maybe if it were more intuitive it would be a cool mini-game. Instead it is busy work that can hinder your progress.
Gourmet Sentai Bara Yarou is not a difficult game in spite of its ridiculous cooking mini-game however. Most enemies are brain dead and pose little threat. Some do not even bother to attack! I was not joking when I said your clone can do most of the work. Until I learned the mechanics the clone played the game better than I did. You have a single life and unlimited continues but will probably only need one or two to finish the game. Once you master the command grabs outside of two bosses you can decimate every enemy in seconds. It makes an already brief game that much shorter sadly.
In Closing
There is a lot to like about Gourmet Sentai Bara Yarou. The mechanics are sound, the production values are fantastic, and it is fun for a little while. But once you have seen all has to offer (which is not much) you will never revisit it. With a little more work this could have been a great game.
