One of the oldest forms of arcade games, the
pinball machine has seen a steady decline
in popularity following the Golden Age of
the Arcade of the 1980s.
It's getting harder and harder to find a physical
machine these days, much less an actual arcade.
Despite all that, however, the pinball experience
has endured over the years, and a number of
pinball simulations have been made for home
computers, consoles, and even handhelds.
The newest generation of gaming has only just
begun, but pinball games are already being
made for the latest consoles.
One quality pinball video game that perhaps
not too many people are familiar with is Kyuutenkai,
a Japan-only, 1995 release for the PlayStation
One and Sega Saturn from Tecnosoft.
I own a copy of it for the Saturn, so I'll
talk about that version for this video.
Anyway, this game was published right after
Tecnosoft completed Nekketsu Oyako, which
I talked about in my last video, and in fact
Kyuutenkai is advertised briefly in that game's
start-up sequence.
The game is a light-hearted, 2D fantasy-themed
pinball game with colorful graphics and a
quirky cast of characters that truly is "fantasic,"
as the cover so proudly proclaims, typo and
all.
Three heroes have been called upon to fight
in a pinball-esque world to prevent the resurrection
of the devil, who was previously sealed away
centuries ago by the ancestors of the protagonists.
With this story setup, you'd expect the game
to be structured into levels like Sonic Spinball
for the Sega Genesis, or have adventure game
elements like an epic quest mode...But NO--the
game takes place entirely on one long table,
split up into three different sections--heaven,
earth, and the underworld.
It's unfortunate that the game is limited
to this one table, but it's really well-designed,
the ball physics are pretty good, and there
are tons of interesting things to accomplish
on it.
The three selectable characters all have a
unique special skill and theme song to set
them apart.
There is the swordsman "Sword Shield," yes,
that really is his name, whose Strike Sword
special skill increases damage by three times,
making him the power character.
The mage Yuuki Tonae has a fire comet ability
which will multiply score by 3, which makes
her best suited for getting high scores.
And then there is the newly-born Dragon man,
er, dragon baby Midoran, whose special ability,
the option shell, creates a set of extra balls
that trail the main one, multiplying both
attack and score by 1.5 and thereby making
him the most balanced choice of the three.
These special attacks are activated when certain
conditions are met, and last for a very brief
period of time.
Control and gameplay are very basic in Kyuutenkai.
First off, you have the option between a fast
or slow ball.
Pressing any direction on the d-pad controls
the left flipper, pressing A, B, or C controls
the right flipper, and pressing either of
the shoulder buttons will nudge the game table
in their respective direction.
In my opinion, this setup can be problematic,
since using your index or middle finger allows
for faster reaction times than using your
thumbs, something that is crucial when twitch
gameplay is involved.
Sadly, there is no option to change controls,
as I would have preferred that the shoulder
buttons control the flippers and the face
buttons to nudge the table, but I got used
to it soon enough.
Pressing any of the top row of face buttons
brings up a menu, and from there you can turn
off the BGM, check the score board, and save
your progress, which includes your scores
and how many lives you have remaining.
Saving is a nice feature, and if you're fast
enough, you can save just before you die,
because when you reload your file, you begin
at the plunger rather than in the exact location
you were previously.
When you lose all of your lives, there is
no option to restart the game and you're sent
back to the title screen.
This can be frustrating because of the somewhat
long load times in Kyuutenkai.
There are a lot of different characters scattered
throughout the game world and make things
more humorous and intriguing than your standard
pinball game.
One example I'll bring up is the goddess in
the earth section, who will send you up to
the heaven section if you land in her hand.
But smack her in the face a few times and
she'll get pissed, and the next time she catches
you, she'll shoot lasers out of her eyes,
killing any enemies on screen.
From there, she'll rearrange some bumpers
and release you back into the earth section.
Anyway, the goal of the game is to defeat
the four bosses that inhabit the game world
so you can go on to fight the final battle--There's
Succubus, who is trapped in a waterfall in
the heaven section.
Usako, a strange girl in a bunny suit who
is constantly climbing up the neck of a derp-faced
dinosaur in the Earth section, and who also
looks eerily similar to Rami from the Keio
Yuugekitai series.
Harpy, who resides in the underworld and looks
like she should have been the succubus character
for obvious reasons.
And finally there's Satan, lord of the underworld,
and basically Kid Dracula when he runs out
of hair gel.
You fight these bosses by getting two or more
of their portraits to appear on the earth
section bumpers, which basically function
as a slot machine.
An entry way will open up near the boss and
from there, you must complete a mini game
using one ball and within a time limit to
achieve victory.
These boss fights are pretty fun and remind
me a bit of the bonus rounds in the aforementioned
Sonic Spinball.
Harpy's stage involves you destroying all
items in a small room within a short time
limit, and to defeat Satan, you must score
four soccer goals against him as he dons the
role of goalie and dives sporadically around
the net.
I love how his cheerleaders pout when you
score a point against him.
This method of progressions sounds good, but
it's these slot machine bumpers where my only
really big gripe with Kyuutenkai stems from.
Since the conditions for unlocking boss challenges
is essentially random, it can take a long
time before you can partake in all of the
battles.
I was able to challenge and defeat Satan,
Harpy, and Succubus relatively early on, so
the only boss that remained was Usako.
Well, after playing the game for several hours,
defeating the other bosses time and time again,
and in the process capping the high score,
I FINALLY got to challenge Usako...and then
proceeded to fail miserably at her stage.
I tried playing a few more times, but I couldn't
get to her boss challenge again, so I was
unable to face the final boss, who looks like
a lot of fun, judging from the back of the
game case.
One more small thing that I took issue with
in this game was how gaining extra balls are
handled, which is also related to the slot
machine bumpers.
Normally in pinball, extra balls are gained
with score, and sometimes you get extra plays
when you lose all your balls.
But not in this game...even maxing out the
score gives you nothing.
In order to get an extra life, you must get
three crab enemy portraits to appear simultaneously
in the earth section, which only happened
to me twice over the span of five hours.
Well, that's Kyuutenkai--a great pinball game
marred only by a few bad gameplay design choices.
Maybe someday there will be a great fantasy
adventure RPG pinball hybrid, but in the meantime,
the world of Kyuutenkai will have to do.
The wackiness and charm of its characters
and game table makes it worth picking up even
for people who aren't really big into pinball.
As always, thank you for watching and please
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enjoyed what you saw.
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