The Retro Critic

City Hunter

So I recently realised that I had never reviewed a HuCard PC Engine game, which isn’t so crazy since I grew up playing consoles and only discovered the crazy world of computers much later, but also because I kinda… forgot those games even existed.

Thinking about anime-themed games, I remembered a specific one based on one of my own personal favourite anime series which I had painstakingly tried hunting down through the dark backwoods of the “interwebs” some time ago: City Hunter.

You play as perverted yet reliable and handsome bodyguard-for-hire Ryo Saeba and, from what I can gather seeing as the game is all in Japanese and I am, to date, not Japanese or super familiar with the Japanese language (not yet, anyway), you go around tackling various missions for various lovely ladies. You can choose which missions to do in the order you want, which is always good, but then the final level is its own thing you can’t pick any earlier.

Kaori, Saeba’s colleague who famously always hammers him on the head with giant mallets whenever he gets out of line, is always there telling you what to do or in the menus, giving you different options. You can get health from nurses scattered around the game.

Actually, despite the game being a side-scroller, it does have slight RPG elements in that you can talk to some characters and go through various, random rooms, but every time you stop talking to someone, the game lands you in this awkward “I’m gonna shoot you in the face” position that looks positively violent and wrong:

Jeesh!

Ryo Saeba’s goofy but he’s not The Joker!

As clueless as I am about these missions, it’s still relatively easy to know what’s going on. The game itself is pretty straight-forward: essentially, all you need to do is run around, shoot bad guys, pick up better weapons like bazookas, battle weird-looking bosses and that’s it. Although, you might need to back-track a bit, if, like me, you’re kinda just winging it mission-wise.

Speaking of bosses, this game really goes for sci-fi more than anything else. Hell, in the first season of the show, 90% of the bad guys were just evil-looking dudes with moustaches. In the game, you fight the likes of big robots:

Cougars:

Stormtroopers:

And… Power Rangers?

What’s with all the lightsabers, by the way?

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like it but it’s not exactly the first thing I think of when I think City Hunter.

The normal bad guys you face are standard and multiplied several times like in so many beat ’em ups. Take these purple-suited guys, for example:

I’ve killed oceans of them!

The main pickups throughout are keys, which, obviously, open the many doors you see everywhere.

If you’re a fan of the show, chances are you’ll mostly really enjoy playing as Ryo Saeba, the look of the game, which is simple but pleasant enough, and the music, which is pretty cool. That said, the crazy sense of humour of the anime isn’t really there, as far as I can tell, despite the cute little animation that appears whenever you pause the game:

Although, chances are something silly’s going on in this scene but I wouldn’t know:

Then there’s the whole aforementioned sci-fi aspect which feels really out of place and the fact that you don’t really get to play in any of the main locations from the show. It’s a real shame there’s no variety in terms of gameplay as well since the show could have easily inspired a driving level, an arcade-style shooting level or even a goofy puzzle mini-game in which, I’m just throwing an idea out there, Ryo Saeba tries to undress a female character little by little until he gets hit by Kaori’s iconic mallet at critical moments.

Yes it would have been a bit too bawdy and risqué for a kids’ game but at least it would have been true to the spirit of the show!

Overall, though, I do recommend this game, especially to fans of City Hunter. It’s an enjoyable little side-scroller that looks decent, is genuinely fun to play and certainly has its moments.

Plus it’s definitely better than that weird online flash game I found also called City Hunter:

I know, that looks pretty good so far but just you wait.

One click and the game will get crappy, promise:

Internet games lol

Adorable.