Crazy crazy game!

Hello everyone, for my first review, I suggest nothing less than the original but unknown Gourmet Sentai Bara Yarou: A beat-them-up went completely crazy, released during the Super Famicom endlife. Be aware that this game is part of the rarest titles on the system, and therefore it's relatively expensive and hard to find. The game was released only in Japan and unfortunately, there is no translation to date. The story takes place in 20XX on what looks like the earth. The planet is threatened by some "evil aliens" rather shady-looking (you'll see) coming from a distant galaxy. It's here that arrive our three heroes, born from the cybernetic manipulations of their creators, and they'll go for a wild adventure! One can choose from the beginning among these three characters, packing very different characteristics. You'll even be able to enjoy cooperative play...

It remains a classic in the roster, one fast and weak, another slow and strong, and finally a balanced one. This is not the game that will revolutionize the concept, it's ok about that, but it only takes to see the look of our three dubious cronies to understand that there's something special with this game. Next, the enemies are not to be outdone, we see in effect at all and anything! The Bunny Girls coming straight out of Playboy, the Punks under acids, the bodybuilders with strange customs, and so on... These creatures are fairly varied and original, to prevent monotony to settle. They sometimes have quite specific poses, very suggestive, having you disctracting from the main action. Nevermind the Bosses, it's complete madness! But what have been drinking or smoking Winds' programmers? On game modes, there is no real choice, only start and options. A little original mode would have been welcome. In the options menu, you can configure the buttons of the joystick and the difficulty level (easy, medium, hard) and that's it. Sure, it's pretty limited but that's  still enough. Directly set hard mode if you want a challenge, because the game is rather easy. You can begin to play from the start, or pick up where you met game over (continue), but beware, this is not a backup, only infinite credits. 

Cool fact: even if you play alone, a second player managed by the CPU will give a hand by getting the bonuses in adequate levels. And fortunately, your partner's I.A is not so good, so much you'll have to give a hand if you do not want him to die quickly. Then, you play through the five stages of the game. Talking about realization now, and first of all graphics. They are just good, without being sensational for a game released in 1995. The stages are colorful and sprites well drawn. We can regret a lack of special effects, indeed, no distortions or zoom like snes can do are featured. By cons, in terms of design it's complete delirium. On the sound effects side, we remain in the same spirit as the graphics. That's to say nice, but not memorable. We can hear some catchy and shifted music, and some "bizarre" sounds.  There's even some digitized voices. Original thing, the music varies depending on the difficulty level chosen. You even might surprise yourself whistling a few ones... Speaking of gameplay, the controls respond well and have a fairly varied range of moves. Y to hit , B to jump, A to provoke the enemy, L and R to perform the special moves and throws. You can even run by pressing forward twice. 

The only regret is having to combine L and R to perform the special moves, which is not always clear when the action gets intense in some parts of the game, but anyway, you get used to it with some practice. Another original thing is that you will, between levels, have to choose from ingredients harvested throughout the levels, in order to have your "cyber-cook" preparing yourself good food... all this in order to regain some energy for the next level. It's up to you to try the many possible combinations and find the ultimate dish! Although the game is cleared quickly with its short five stages, Gourmet Sentaï is a still a nice little beat-them-up as the Super Famicom has few to offer. While it doesn't revolutionize the genre, it's nonetheless full of fun, admittedly rather special, with this japanese style and other oddities. Also, you never get bored thanks to the catchy musics, wacky enemies and frantic action. This game shall please players wanting to try out an unique and original beat-them-up on the Super Famicom. 

SAME ON THE NEO?

No real fighting game on Neo packing cooking lessons, but Mutation Nation reminds of Gourmet Sentaï for its post-apocalyptic world and its crazy enemies.