Toward the end of my Turbo Grafx-16 fanboyism Shockman was one of the last titles I looked to in order to justify owning the system. The Turbo CD/Duo was still out of my price range and so CD games like Ys remained a distant dream. But Shockman was supposed to elicit the same action platforming thrills as Mega Man. Well, at least in my eyes. What was supposed to be a bad ass action title instead turned out to be one of my biggest gaming disappointments. Shockman is simply not good.
First a bit of history. Shockman is the second title in the (bear with me) Shubibinman series. The Shubibinman games were lighthearted action titles that poked fun at sentai tropes. They weren’t the greatest games in the world but were at least solid. Shockman is the only one released in the US and I can see why. It trades the sword swinging action of its predecessor for Mega Man style action. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do it well and comes across as a pale imitation.
As either Arnold or Sonya you are armed with a Mega Man style arm cannon. I don’t want to make the comparison too much but it can’t be helped. Shockman really is Mega Man in a different skin. You even have a charge shot although here it charges faster. The only difference is you can fire straight upward. Unlike Capcom’s title there are no other power-ups. The only items present either increase your attack power, restore health or extend your life bar.
Shockman mimics the looks of the title that inspired it but does not nail the minor details. The simple mechanics wouldn’t matter if the level design were interesting. Instead it is incredibly straightforward and dull. You won’t find any of the kinds of intricate platforming that make these types of games great. It’s a shame too as the controls are a step up from the original. There are numerous niggling issues that ruin the “feel” of the game as well. Hits lack impact, making combat boring. Since there are few power-ups and enemies are strong you are better off avoiding enemies if possible. The two-player coop could have spiced it up but the fact that you both share one life bar kills it.
While I have come down on it Shockman does have its good points. There are three shooting levels are the game’s best. Fast paced and with excellent enemy placement they are extremely well done. No surprise seeing as the system excelled at shooters. The boss battles are fantastic and the game’s best element. You may not receive a powerful weapon but will thoroughly enjoy deciphering their patterns. The second half of the game is similarly strong, with at times creative platforming. If that ingenuity were spread throughout the rest of the game this would have been excellent.
And that is the rub. For every element that you like there is something else that ruins it. If Shockman were more polished it could have been special. This is a short game which is doubly disappointing considering the structure of its predecessor. Shubibinman used a similar map system as Star Fox, offering three paths to its conclusion. The difference was you could still hop around the map to find items. The lack of gold and secondary upgrades robs this of any depth.
The one thing that truly dooms Shockman though is its over the top difficulty. Imagine playing Mega Man with a single life and no energy tanks. And just for extra measure life restoring items are scarce. Doesn’t sound fun does it? Welcome to Shockman. Death comes swiftly as enemies are strong and healing items are in short supply. You’ll be hard pressed to reach the end level bosses with half a life a bar. It makes enjoying these otherwise enjoyable battles a chore. Even with infinite continues you’ll get frustrated and quit long before reaching the end.
Shockman plays like Mega Man and also looks like it as well. The early stages aren’t very impressive but much like the gameplay it picks up in the latter half. The late stages feature multiple layers of scrolling and intricate amounts of detail. More so than its backgrounds the sprites, especially the bosses, are the most impressive. Large and well animated they play to the system’s strengths. Sadly the music and sound effects don’t reach the same height as they lack punch.
In Closing
Disappointing is the best way to describe Shockman. You can see what could have been with more polish. But you shouldn’t have to tolerate myriad bad design decisions to appreciate a game’s good points. There might have been a dearth of pure action titles for the system, but you are better off looking elsewhere.
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