Reviewed by: Funkadelic
Rated: 
Posted on: 06/22/00
Oh no! The notorious Pinki gang has taken over the Professor's favorite amusement park, Pao Pao Park, and filled it with traps, rogue robots, evil monsters, and magnetic contraptions. Pinki, a 2-year-old baby complete with cute mouse costume and pacifier, rides around on a floating rubber ducky while dishing out orders to her henchmen, Yasu and Gasu. In order to restore peace and tranquility to Pao Pao Park, the Professor decides to use his latest robotic creation known as Neo, a magnetically equipped robot with artificial intelligence based on the Professor's own mind. Neo won't be alone on his quest, however, as PeeDee, the Professor's "special" robot helper, will help Neo find hidden items along the way. So does Crave and Genki's quirky platform game have enough magnetism to attract Dreamcast owners? Let's take a look.
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| Neo's head looks like a cross between a cereal box and a toilet bowl. |
As much as I love fighting, racing, and rhythm-action games, my favorite genre will always be the platformer: I rescued Princess Toadstool from the ferocious Bowser in Super Mario Bros.; freed hundreds of captured animals and defeated the evil Dr. Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog; and put the dastardly Dr. Neo Cortex out of commission in Crash Bandicoot. Naturally, Super Magnetic Neo (a.k.a. Super Magnetic Niu Niu in Japan) instantly drew me in with its platform magnetism — literally. You see, Super Magnetic Neo has a unique concept, one which involves, well, magnetic properties. Instead of simply running through the levels and jumping on enemies' heads, Neo must use his magnetic abilities to defeat enemies, clear obstacles, and solve puzzles. The A and B buttons control Neo's North and South magnetic fields, respectively, while the X button makes him jump and the right trigger makes him run.
Although the game's control scheme is very simplistic and allows for digital and analog control, the 2.5D gameplay contains many nuances. Neo's two magnetic fields (North & South) form different colored domes when used: the North field is red, the South blue. Throughout the game you will encounter a variety of enemies and magnetic contraptions that are either red or blue, and Neo's North and South magnetic fields will produce a different effect for each. For example, by using a North field (red-colored dome) around a red-colored enemy, Neo will push that enemy away from him. Likewise, if Neo uses his South field (blue-colored dome) around a blue-colored platform, he will be repelled and thrust into the air.
On the other hand, if Neo uses the opposite colored magnetic field of an enemy, Neo will pull that enemy toward him. Unless an enemy has spikes or an electric current surrounding it, Neo can safely pull his enemies toward him and transform them into Eno-Cubes (small blocks of energy), which he can use to attack other enemies or clear obstacles. In addition, when Neo uses the opposite colored magnetic field around a magnetic contraption, he will stick to it. As long as you remember that similar colors repel and opposite colors attract, you shouldn't have too much trouble adjusting to Neo's magnet-filled world.
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| Because this game originated in Japan, the graphics have a very quirky style. |
Of course, there are more than magnets to worry about, as Super Magnetic Neo contains all the standard platform game elements. Besides the obligatory mine cart and arctic levels, the game also contains forward- and side-scrolling elements; tons of coins to collect (here they're called Zebi — collect 100 to score an extra life); bonus and boss levels; and even a couple of stages where Neo rides atop an animal à la Crash Bandicoot. In all, there are 16 levels divided between four different worlds (four levels per world), and a total of five bosses (one boss per world, plus the final boss). The levels themselves are fairly short and linear, but very challenging nonetheless. In fact, you will need quick reflexes, excellent timing, and nerves of steel to complete most of the later levels (those who hate timed puzzles need not apply), especially since one hit kills our magnetic hero.
Luckily, there are around 2-4 checkpoints on most levels and plenty of Zebi and one-ups scattered about — both of which regenerate after you die — so it's always possible to rack up some additional lives. If that weren't enough, you have an unlimited number of continues, and there is a special power-up called the Invulnerability Capsule that protects Neo from one hit of damage. You won't find many Invulnerability Capsules on the regular levels, but you will find them on every boss stage. Unfortunately the bosses are not nearly as challenging as the levels themselves. This is mostly because they have the same old patterns you've seen before in dozens of other games. Nevertheless, the last two bosses in the game do put up a pretty good fight, but nothing that an experienced platform gamer couldn't handle.
Besides the 16 regular levels, Super Magnetic Neo also has 16 bonus stages. In order to make it to the bonus stage, though, you must find a Bonus Ticket somewhere on the level. Most of these are easy to get, while others will take some work. Like the regular levels, the bonus stages start off easy enough, but quickly increase in difficulty.
As with most other platform games nowadays, simply beating the final boss does not mean you have truly beaten the game. In order to do that, you must earn pieces of treasure on each level. You earn treasure items by completing levels under a certain time, collecting Pinki Medals, and by finding hidden items. Depending on the level, some of these tasks will be easier than others. Oh, and if you don't have a VMU, you can forget about finding the hidden items, because you'll need to listen for a VMU beep to know where to find them. (Super Magnetic Neo also displays some cool animations on the VMU, which is another reason to pick one up if you don't already own one.)
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| Surprisngly, Neo shows a lot of emotion for a robot. |
If you need a little practice, or are up for a good challenge, you can try your hand at 100 challenge stages in the Challenge mode. These stages consist of unique challenges involving all of the magnetic objects/obstacles you encounter in the main game. Much like the regular game, the Challenge mode starts off easy, but soon turns into an exercise in frustration. This mode can be quite addicting, however, especially if you enjoy giving your reflexes a workout.
Graphically, Super Magnetic Neo is pure high-res eye candy, and it has a tremendous sense of style. Developer Genki, best known for its Tokyo Xtreme Racer series and handling of the Virtua Fighter 3tb Dreamcast port, has done a terrific job filling the game with sweet graphical effects. Granted, the game does have a very cutesy look, which is most evident from the start of the opening movie, but hopefully many gamers can overlook this and appreciate the smooth 60fps frame-rate coupled with the excellent animation.
Neo, while an awkward-looking character, displays some facial expressions and occasionally busts out a funny little dance or two during his idle animations. (Although I could be mistaken, I believe one of Neo's dances is modeled after the infamous Pee-Wee Herman dance from Pee Wee's Big Adventure.) Also, Neo leaves behind several tiny smoke clouds while running, which you will be doing a lot of, incidentally. To top things off, Super Magnetic Neo contains some great-looking water and cool-looking metallic effects (e.g., the shiny crystals on level 3.2 give off reflections similar to Dural's in Virtua Fighter 3).
Unfortunately several flaws hamper the graphics. The most critical of the bunch is slowdown, which plague parts of certain levels. For instance, during the camel ride on level 2.1, there is a point where the game slows dramatically and negatively affects gameplay. Some levels have small amounts of pop-up and fog as well, but you really have to look for it. There are also points in the game where the camera pulls back a little too far, making difficult jumps even more difficult.
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| Ride 'em, cowboy! |
Sound effects and music are good for the most part, but some of Neo's sound effects really got on my nerves, especially the sound he makes when he is electrocuted. The voice acting is typical platform cuteness, with a babyish voice for Pinki, Bart Simpson-esque voice for Neo, squeaky robotic voice for PeeDee, and haughty voice for the Professor. I did, however, take a liking to Yasu, Pinki's right-hand man, and I enjoyed the stories he told during the cut-scenes before boss encounters, which help explain how each boss came into being. Gasu, on the other hand, is perfectly content slurping banana milk from a straw, so don't expect to hear much from him during the game.
The music fits the mood and theme of each world, but there is a heavy synthesizer-like feel to it. This isn't necessarily a bad thing — and, in fact, I enjoyed most of the music — but it becomes stale after a while. Unfortunately you cannot adjust the sound levels, so if you don't like the music, you're going to have to make do.
Super Magnetic Neo is a great title for any gamer who enjoys playing action-packed platform games. While the game is far from perfect, Neo's innovative magnetic abilities and the game's unique graphical style and challenging gameplay make this a game I can recommend to fans of the genre. However, if you have slow reflexes, bad hand-eye coordination, poor timing, or very little patience, you should rent this one first to see if it will grow on you.
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