Chew-Man-Fu has Invaded China! My Journey into Chew-Man-Fu on TurboGrafx-16

The people have been deprived of their favorite foods-fried rice and egg rolls! But fear not!! 

The latest game in my TurboGrafx journey is Chew-Man-Fu!

Chew-Man-Fu was released in July 1990 in North America, the same month as Double Dungeons and Timeball.

To start, let's review the story and overview from the manual, which is graciously hosted at necretro.org

FROM THE MANUAL

Story

The people have been deprived of their favorite foods- fried rice and egg rolls! But fear not! Those two fiesty sisters, LaLa and LingLing are about to turn the tables on those evil-doers.

Normally I wouldn't just restate what I opened this article with, but since this is the extent of the story for this game, I decided to include it for completeness. Typically I have more to work with. LOL. 

  

Objective of the game

In Chew-Man-Fu, you push, pull or kick colored balls around a room onto plates of the same color before one of Chew-Man-Fu's evil henchmen gets you. When all four balls have been put onto the correct plates, any remaining bad guys are destroyed, and the points screen is displayed. Team up with a friend as you fight off the evil Chew-Man-Fu's cronies through all 5 stages. There are 10 different games for a total of 550 rounds. Use Power-up Items to increase your advantage and collect diamonds to play "1 UP" games for extra lives.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

After reading through the manual I jumped into Chew-Man-Fu to see what it was all about. 

While the title screen and intro are nothing too special, when the game starts I was surprised at how large the sprites were. The whole game is very colorful and reminds me of those one screen arcade classics. The basic gameplay is immediately apparent, with your character needing to move four different colored balls (black, red, blue and green) into a corresponding colored square. Once you move all of the balls into their corresponding squares you beat the level and move onto the next.

Depending how fast you do it, you get a bonus, and you also collect diamonds which can be traded at various times for extra lives (from what I've seen so far it's one extra life per five diamonds).

But this basic gameplay loop gets more involved and the enemies get smarter and harder to dodge as you clear stages. (Typical of games like this.)

Most of the stages in the beginning are pretty easy to clear, but you still have to be careful not to get turned around so your back is facing an enemy, since you can't simply turn around when you're pushing one of the balls.

The control scheme is actually quite thoughtfully designed, and adds an element of strategy to your movements, even though it can occasionally be very frustrating when it results in death.

You can see my very first time playing Chew-Man-Fu in the video below:

REVIEWS & COVERAGE

Most historic coverage I was able to find reviewed the PC Engine version of the game as an import, and I didn't see any US-based gaming magazines that reviewed it back in the day. Most of the US-based reviews were of the rereleased version on the Wii's Virtual Console. 

Among the more notable reviews of the Virtual Console version:

• IGN gave it a 7 and noted that for most gamers the gameplay was too simplistic, but it was good for fans of classic games.

• Nintendo Life also gave it a 7, noting it wasn't going to be for everyone, but classic arcade fans would probably like it.

• GameSpot gave it a 6.7, and noted it wasn't for everyone but would likely be a hit with maze-based puzzle games.

PRICING

According to the TurboPlay review of Chew-Man-Fu, but clearly it wasn't a big hit back in the day, as copies tend to be a bit pricey today. According to PriceCharting.com, a complete-in-box (CIB) version of Chew-Man-Fu can cost around $150, and there aren't many sales to benchmark against, while a loose copy generally sells for around $80. 

Here is a current CIB listing on eBay (as of the posting of this article):

CHEAT CODES

Here are the following cheats I was able to verify for Chew-Man-Fu: 

• Golden Balls: at the title screen hold I and Select while you press Left+Up on the D-pad. You'll hear a chime when done correctly. Now all the balls are gold colored and you can't tell which is which. Not sure why you would want this, except if the game simply isn't hard enough as it is for you.

• Fight Enemy: at the title screen choose the password option and then enter 075653. You will hear a chime. Now select 1 Player and you will fight in an arena where you only have one ball and you have to defeat waves of enemies.

REPLAY & OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

After reading through the manual, and more about how it recommends to play each game, I was ready to jump back in and see how the game would be after I knew more about it. 

When playing the game for a second time, I finally understood better how your character moves and the ways to quickly maneuver the balls in the proper direction. This doesn't mean I didn't get hit occasionally though. Sometimes you have such little space to move around in that you still get stuck and the enemies kill you. I did finally understand how the different power ups work that you can walk over. I still didn't find them super useful but at least I knew what they would do when I activated them. I got a bit further on my second play session, but not super far. I think it's easy to get overwhelmed by the enemies in the later stages, and honestly it can get pretty frustrating.

Overall, Chew-Man-Fu is a lot more fun that I thought it might be, but some of the puzzles and the way you get turned around can be quite frustrating. On the flip side it's very colorful and another well made game for the TurboGrafx. Not sure how excited I would have been to get this game as a kid though. 

I can see where IGN and Nintendo Life's reviews of its release on the Wii Virtual Console came in at a 7 out of 10. I think that's about the right score, and what I would give it as well. 

NEXT UP

The next game I'll be playing is Double Dungeons!

I've owned this one for a while, but I was waiting to play it until I got to this part in the TurboGrafx chronology. Very excited to finally play it.

Until next time!

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Get Ready for the Most Realistic Video Casino Games Ever! My Journey into King of Casino on TurboGrafx-16

Welcome King of Casino! 

The latest game in my TurboGrafx journey is King of Casino.

(VIEW MANUAL)

To start, let's review the story and overview from the manual, which is graciously hosted at necretro.org

FROM THE MANUAL

Story

Get ready for the most realistic video casino games ever. King of Casino features brilliant graphics, realistic sounds and true-to-life action and odds. 

You take off on a whirlwind adventure with action that rivals "Vegas," Reno and Monaco! Your adventure begins when you check into your hotel. You stock up on information, listen to some music and then you're on your way to becoming "King of Casino." As you stroll out onto the street, you can choose one of 15 different casinos-some big, some small. Each Casino has its own characteristics and specializes in 2 or more of 5 different games-poker, blackjack, slot machines, Keno or roulette. Roam around inside. Watch what the other players are doing. Check out the action. Choose your game and prepare yourself, because in a couple of moments, you're the "odds-on" favorite in this fascinating journey of luck and skill.

  

Objective of the game

King of Casino offers the same kind of enjoyment as staying at a Casino Hotel. But to become the real "King of Casino," you must win at least 10 million dollars by the end of the various games.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Typically I would read through more of the manual before jumping into a game, but given I generally know how to play casino games, I decided to get right into it.

At the very beginning of the game you are greeted by the front desk staff of the hotel you're staying at. You enter your name and what game mode you want to play.

• Normal - the way the game was intended to be played, with all sounds and animations inside each casino.
• Fast - for gambling sickos who just want to jump straight into the action (I can see skipping to this after playing for a bit, especially if you want to just play a quick round of something).
• Party - the game's multi-player mode so you can see which of your friends is the worst gambler.

Once you "check-in" you see an image of your hotel room and you can pick from various functions, including:

• Front Desk - you can go back and switch between Normal and Fast mode
• Music - you can listen to the different music tracks in the game
• Password - you can enter a password to continue play from that point in the game
• Graph - this shows you a chart displaying the increase (or decrease) in your money from playing at the various casinos
• Shop Data - this lets you purchase information about the various casinos, their betting limits and the number of tables available, with the rank displaying the difficulty of a casino)
• Exit - this is how you leave the hotel and begin your adventure (of course I quickly chose this option)

Once on the map you use a "mouse cursor" to navigate around and select which casino you want to play in. Frankly it would have been much cooler to have a little character that walks (or drives) around that worked much the same but would at least make you feel more immersed in the experience. The mouse-simulation is a little odd. Just "click" on the casino you want to enter it.

Once you enter a casino you again use the "mouse" to navigate around. You can only interact with a few things on each casino floor: the different game tables (and when you mouse over them you see the minimum and maximum bet at that table), the Keno game board on the wall (if the casino offers Keno), and the cashier which lets you exit the casino. Each casino has a bar as well, but you can't interact with it (missed opportunity, but I get it).

To start playing a game you just have to "click" on the table you want to play at (or slot machine).

Each game has animation for the betting portion and then the actual playing of the game. If you play Blackjack then the dealer deals out the cards as you hit. If you play Poker then the dealer deals out the various cards. If you play Roulette then you see the entire gameboard and see the ball spinning around the wheel until it lands in its final position (I'm sure these are not the right terms to use, but whatever).

I know enough about each game to roughly know how to bet and not be completely confused about why I win or lose, but that's about the extent of my knowledge. Since there aren't that many game types to play, I spent about 30 minutes in my first game session and purposely lost to see what the losing animation was like.

You can see my very first time playing King of Casino in the video below:

REVIEWS & COVERAGE

Video Games and Computer Entertainment magazine reviewed King of Casino in their August 1990 issue and generally gave it average scores. The reviewer admits they didn't enjoy "gambling simulations" in general, so perhaps a bit biased of a review, but some of its gameplay complaints do seem accurate regardless.

PRICING

According to the VG&CE review for King of Casino, it retailed for $49.99 when it first launched. Now, according to the latest from PriceCharting.com, a complete-in-box (CIB) version of King of Casino can cost around $30, while a loose copy generally sells between $15 and $20. 

Here is a current CIB listing on eBay (as of the posting of this article):

CHEAT CODES

Here are the following cheats I was able to verify for King of Casino: 

• Championship Round: at the password screen enter "--KI NGof CASI NO--". This will put you into the Championship Round where you square off against four computer players to play across all 15 casinos and see who can get to $10M first. You normally get this code after you reach $10M and beat the game.

• Rich Mode: at the password screen enter "MCU1 LPYX LE6K W2MN" to start with 9 continues (instead of 10) and $9,989,000, which should enable you to win fairly easily (since the goal is to reach $10M)

REPLAY & OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

After reading through the manual, and more about how it recommends to play each game, I was ready to jump back in and see how the game would be after I knew more about it. 

First I wanted to just try the game again properly and see how far I could get. I started again just like I did the first time, selecting the Normal mode and heading to my hotel room. This time though, I decided to check out the stats on each Casino (little did I know it costs you $10 for each one you look up - whoops!). Here is what I found:

• Strawberry: Rating 2 - Size 3
• Melon: Rating 3 - Size 3
• Kiwi: Rating 2 - Size 3
• Papaya: Rating 2 - Size 2
• Cherry: Rating 4 - Size 1
• Pear: Rating 1 - Size 1
• Blueberry: Rating 3 - Size 2
• Lemon Lemon: Rating 1 - Size 1
• Orange: Rating 3 - Size 4
• Grape: Rating 2 - Size 3
• Pineapple: Rating 4 - Size 2
• Tomato: Rating 2 - Size 3
• Banana: Rating 3 - Size 4
• Peach: Rating 2 - Size 2
• Apple: Rating 4 - Size 4

I decided to try the Kiwi Casino since its only a 2 for difficulty (I think that's what "rating" means - but has 3 for size so more variations in its game types and betting limits). I scrolled around the city for a while and I realized that the casino designs really don't have anything to do with their names, at least not in English. Maybe the Japanese language version makes more sense with the visual design, but in English there seems to be no relation.

In the Kiwi Casino I decided to start with Blackjack at a $5,000 limit table. The hands started off well and I made a quick $10k with few losses, but it dawned on me that getting all the way to $10M this way would take forever. So I decided to try my hand at a game with a larger payout.

I decided to try Roulette next, since the payout multiplier can be a lot higher. The max table at the casino was a $5,000 limit. Not great but it was a start. I decided to watch a few rounds before deciding where to place my bet. Typically I go with either red or black, or betting on a range of numbers, either the upper half or lower half (again, I'm sure there are proper terms for these things , but I don't know what they are). 

Let me tell you, it's a good thing I don't try and gamble for real. Whew. I'm really no good at it. I wanted to try my hand at some of the larger payouts at the Roulette table, but of course those coincide with more specific bets and greater risk, so I decided to start small by simply betting on red or black, which grants you an almost 50/50 chance (there are two green spots it can land on as well, so not quite 50/50). I got it wrong ALMOST EVERY SINGLE TIME. If there was a streak where it landed on red a bunch of times in a row I thought, surely it can't land on red again. Well guess what? IT DID. Until of course I thought well ok fine I'll bet on red then. Then next time it came up black!

Check out this graph of my activity:

There's no way I'm making it to $10M like this.

Next, I decided to try the Rich Mode cheat to see how easy it would be to win (since there is no way I was going to win any other way - LOL). 

And...yeah. I won on my first game. LOL. I decided to play Blackjack. I bet $10,000 and nailed a perfect 21 on my first try! Easiest win ever.

This ending hits different after the whole Epstein scandal

The ending is... interesting. Probably felt a lot different when they designed it, but now (at least for me) it just brings up thoughts of the Epstein scandal, and feels a bit icky. But hey, at least the game has an ending. I half expected it to just go on forever, or have just a simple text-based ending screen.

Overall, King of Casino was a lot more fun (and had a lot more depth) than I was expecting from a collection of casino games. I liked the graphics and I really enjoyed the chill music. It's the kind of soundtrack that stays with you after you've finished playing and it never annoyed me while I was playing. For most games you can also just leave it idle in the background while you multi-task, which is perfect for me.

NEXT UP

The next game I'll be playing is Chew-Man-Fu!

I don't know anything about this game, but from a quick screenshot I saw it looks to be very colorful and crazy. The cover art itself looks like some kind of puzzle or dodgeball like game. I guess we'll find out.

Until next time!