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激写ボーイ
©1992 Irem Corp. / Vol.7
Release : 1992-10-02 (¥7000)
HuCard (4 Mbits) IC04007
Action game
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Gekisha Boy (aka 'Photograph Boy' or 'Gekibo' for short)
is a rather unique action game developed
by Tomcat System and published by Irem, which stars a young student named
David Goldman who recently enrolled at the prestigious Los Angeles
photography school. David has always been a photographer at heart and he
knows it would be his career path - but as he begins his course of study, fate has
a different plan for him and both his parents abruptly die in a dreadful plane
accident... Devastated, he decides to give up his studies, but the school's dean
offers him a surprising deal - if he succeeds in passing a special photography
test, then he will graduate! In this unusual action game, the player takes control
of David and helps him in his quest to become a professional photographer.
However, more than guiding him, the player also controls the lens of his camera
on the screen. And in Gekisha Boy, this cross-hair reticle is at the core
of the gameplay. The aspiring photographer has a limited amount of rolls of film
(which double as his health), and he must capture the most bizarre and unusual
pictures in order to increase his score and eventually complete each level
(the goal of each stage is to fulfil a given point quota). Each area features
all kind of extraordinary and wacky events that can appear and disappear in
the blink of an eye - from flying saucers, aliens to other
strange occurrences such as the Terminator, Marilyn Monroe,
Michael Jackson, King Kong or the modified DeLorean
from Back to the Future! Some events automatically happen whereas
others need to be triggered by the player (such as shooting at closed windows).
When captured on film, these events also release all kind of special items for
the player to collect, such as extra film or upgrades that can
increase the reticle's speed and size on screen. Additionally, the game puts a
large series of hazards in David's path, such as bouncing balls,
skateboards or falling flower pots. Although he can simply avoid them, they
also don't resist the blinding flash of his camera. Gekisha Boy
consists of eight levels (called 'takes') and is single player only.
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This PC Engine version was curiously ported to the Playstation
in 2002 as part of the Simple 1500 Series (Vol.94). The game,
called The Cameraman Gekisha Boy Omakefu, is fairly identical to the
PC Engine version tested here, but features a slightly enhanced soundtrack.
A sequel to the original game was released in 2001 for the
Playstation 2 - the game, called Gekibo 2 (picture on the right),
uses the unique gameplay
of the original and takes it into full polygonal 3D with all-new elements
(the gameplay is still 2D though). Interestingly, the game was reported to
be compatible with the PopEgg, a color ink-jet printer for use with
the PlayStation 2 in Japan. The game was announced in North America
and Europe as 'Polaroid Pete' (apparently a tie-in with JVC
and Polaroid), but was cancelled shortly before release - well,
although it was definitively not released in the United States, it
is actually not clear if it was officially released (even in limited
quantities) in Europe or not (the game was reviewed in British
magazines, TV shows and even had an alternate box art).
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Gekisha Boy was fan translated in English by Zatos Hacks in 2001
(Hacked by Zatos and translated by Alexander Beetle).
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Game Staff (Copied from the end credits) :
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Game Designers
Ōkubo Ryōichi
Nagashima Masato
Sakai Kazuhiro
Programers
Ōkubo Ryōichi
Sakai Kazuhiro
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Graphics
Nagashima Masato
Yoshiba Takao
Tsujimoto Fumiko
Kasahara Ken
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Musics
Ōkubo Takane
Advisers
Yoshioka Motoyuki
Saitō Takahiro
Nodera Masari
Takahashi Yukio
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Producers
Yoshioka Motoyuki
Sakai Kazuhiro
Presented by
IREM Corp.
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Click on picture to enlarge |
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Stage select:
On the title screen, hold I, II and Select.
Then press Run. Keep holding the buttons and when the
dean starts talking, press Run again. A take
option should now be available on the top/right corner
of the screen (picture on the right).
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LK
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Add your Pov here !
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P
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Gekisha Boy is such a unique and awesome concept! When you first
play the game, you can't help but genuinely smile in response to all the
unexpected and (really) wacky stuff the game throws at you.
Gekisha Boy's goofy (sometimes twisted) sense of humor is
certainly what makes the game so fun. However don't be misguided
by appearances - Gekisha Boy is a fun and silly looking
game, but it is also one tough nut to crack! It is heavily based
on memorization, and although the gameplay seems easy at first,
it starts adding new tricks at a quickening pace - trying to
capture the perfect shot of a wall-climbing Spiderman
while jumping over bouncing balls and flying knives quickly
becomes a serious challenge (and controls take time to get used).
But Gekisha Boy is such a fun ride from beginning to end,
and it also has a lot of replay values - there are tons of special
events hidden throughout the game and some can only be unlocked
with your camera - and to this day, I still discover new ones
that I had never seen before! All in all, Gekisha Boy
is a fun and addictive game, but it is also a game that doesn't
fit into any established genres, and for this reason, it may
not be to everyone's taste... and at $50/$100 a pop, it is not
cheap, so maybe you should try it first... but trust me, the
game is fun and utterly brilliant!
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