The Shockmaster

It’s a weirdly good time to be a fan of Shockman. It’s not an intensive collection, consisting of three video games on the PC-Engine (the Japanese model of the Turbografx-16) and one title on the SNES by way of its Satellaview add-on. Nonetheless, we solely acquired one in every of these titles within the West, which was the second sport.

Nonetheless, we only in the near past acquired a fan translation of the Satellaview sport, and never lengthy after that, Ratalaika has seen to publish an official translation of the primary sport within the collection, Kaizō Chōjin Shubibinman. Selecting the identify Cyber Citizen Shockman to distinguish it from the 1992 Tuborgrafx-16 title, Shockman, it feels as if it got here out of nowhere. And whereas it’s perhaps not a must-play title, I’ll at all times have a good time a title getting localized.

Cyber Citizen Shockman (PS4, PS5, Change [Reviewed], Xbox Sequence X|S)
Developer: Shinyuden
Writer: Ratalaika
Launched: Could 19, 2023
MSRP: $5.99
Whereas Shockman was one thing of a Mega Man clone, Cyber Citizen Shockman has extra of a slashing ingredient to it. Your default assault is only a sweep of your sword, and if you wish to hearth rainbows, you’ll have to get permission from the sheriff. That’s only a incredible meeting of concepts.

Cyber Citizen Shockman is a narrative about youths combating Darth Vader. You’re perhaps a robotic. You get pushed out the door by a scientist who repairs you whenever you die. There are dragons? It’s a bit insane.
Relatively than a collection of ranges, you’re given a map of the town, and you’ll select your path and backtrack if you wish to. After clearing a stage, you’ll be rewarded by a citizen for saving them and might typically purchase gear from particular spots on the map. It’s not a nasty setup, although navigating it’s surprisingly unwieldy. Most significantly, although, you don’t should repeat phases in the event you die. You’ll be able to simply proceed the place you left off.

Johnny Turbo

Talking of unwieldy, nonetheless, Cyber Citizen Shockman controls like a dumpster on wheels. It was initially launched in 1989, and I don’t know what it was about PC-Engine video games on the time, however a bunch of them tried some actually half-assed method to momentum-based motion. So your character is sluggish to rise up to hurry and troublesome to cease, which makes platforming really feel such as you’re controlling it with a mouse ball.

The extent design doesn’t assist, both. It should use excruciatingly quick platforms and ones that can simply drop or transfer in unpredictable instructions. There’s no actual prompt loss of life in Cyber Citizen Shockman, but it surely simply sucks to helplessly watch your robo-teen repeatedly bounce on a hazard as a result of they’re solely able to working jumps, and the platforming received’t accommodate this.
To make issues worse, the hit detection is simply balls. You’ll be able to finally adapt by determining what hazards ought to be ducked below and which ought to be jumped over, but it surely’s a needlessly painful course of. The bosses, nonetheless, good luck. You’ll be able to actually be taught the sample, however you must be overly cautious to not stumble upon the air round them. I suppose they’re carrying an excessive amount of Axe physique spray as a result of getting anyplace close to them is hazardous to your character.

Hero of justice

The port isn’t dangerous. I don’t have any complaints. Weirdly, it appears to be working on the identical emulation platform because the latest Ninja Jajamaru-Kun Assortment. On the very least, they share extraordinarily an identical UI. I’m unsure why. Whereas Ratalaika was concerned in each merchandise, Metropolis Connection dealt with Jajamaru whereas Shinyuden localized Cyber Citizen Shockman.

Regardless, whereas the Jajamaru assortment had, uh, issues, Cyber Citizen Shockman doesn’t share them. Most noticeably, the CRT filter features with out fully destroying the framerate on the Change model. I additionally didn’t discover any practical points as I encountered with the bosses in one of many Jajamaru titles. These menus make me very suspicious, however I by no means discovered an issue with the port.
The supplemental materials isn’t something particular. They embrace the instruction guide, but it surely wasn’t translated into English. I believe it’s value noting that Cyber Citizen Shockman is being launched at a particularly cheap $5.99. So whereas the latest Assault Go well with Valken re-release not solely included translated directions but additionally a beforehand Japan-only information, it was considerably costlier at launch.

I can’t communicate for everybody, and I don’t normally like to include the fee into my critique, however $5.99 is mostly the worth I anticipate for a straight retro port. The truth that Ratalaika and Shiyuden not solely ported the sport but additionally translated it’s sufficient. The guide, even not being translated, is simply an appreciated additional.

Passionate effort

However, Cyber Citizen Shockman simply isn’t an excellent sport. It’s hardly a nasty sport, both, but it surely’s not notably pleasurable to play. Poor hit detection and management fully overshadow any of its creative qualities. That stated, I drastically admire the trouble that went into localizing it. Good or dangerous, any PC-Engine title from 1989 goes to be very area of interest on this a part of the world, so there’s clearly lots of ardour concerned in bringing it right here.
I can’t precisely advocate Cyber Citizen Shockman in the event you’re simply on the lookout for a great platformer to play. Nonetheless, if you already know what you’re moving into, you may relaxation simple figuring out that it’s a good porting job that does precisely what it says on the bundle. Then once more, it doesn’t value all that a lot to seek out out for your self, and may additionally encourage Ratalaika to localize extra area of interest titles. So, I suppose what I’m saying is: Sure, undoubtedly purchase Cyber Citizen Shockman.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}