Nezumiman (18.1Mb)
Nezumiman is an interesting and very enjoyable 2D platform game that mimics or parodies Megaman 3; while having innovative and original levels, and artefacts of its own making. Though to a degree lacking the difficulty of the Megaman series, a difficult mini-game is unlocked on completing the main game which partly makes up for this.
A rat named Nezumi sets out to do battle with the evil fish Dr. Gyoniku,. However, in order to reach Dr. Gyoniku’s stronghold, Nezumi must first defeat his henchmen, seven of whom are his ’ fellow ‘ mice. The eighth is a kangaroo (?!).
The game has you fighting as a rat against various often strange creatures, rather than against robots. The rodent Rat Man has a teddy bear-like head and the game has cute graphics to match. It should be good for at least an hour or two’s play depending on your platforming and shooting skills. Rat Man has just about all of the Megaman’s moves, including a sliding manoeuvre, to match.
Although there are some platform based challenges, the majority of the game involves dodging and shooting enemies. Each of the selectable 8 levels has a boss to shoot and kill. Power-ups give you differing types of projectile weapons, and each boss you defeat gains you extra powers. The boss patterns though original, are fairly straightforward and shouldn’t give too much trouble. Weapons often have other uses later, after the fighting stages, which is all very much to the good. Avoid enemy projectiles while still on-screen. There are also enemies that are near impossible to avoid, causing health damage additional to that caused by your mistakes! Bonus lives are available, though you start off with just one life. If you lose a life it restarts from fairly close by in the level depending on how far through the level you are.
The game is not without challenges though, for instance shooting ice stalactites and jumping accurately on to these, avoiding spikes that are one hit instant death! It does have a useful save feature once you have completed a level, if you prefer to play it through in more than one go. There’s also a hidden extra level that is unlocked by playing through all of the main levels, after completing which, you also get access to the mini-game.
The level designs are very fresh and original. One level for instance has the ground moving in waves, where you have to jump from crest to crest. The art direction and sense of humour are particularly memorable and noteworthy, with things like enemy DJ mice firing from giant speakers, a giant hostile windmill, and Dr. Gyoniku’s fortress, which has to be seen to be believed! Parodies abound and as well as obvious Megaman ones, look out for ones from Mario and Ghosts ’n Goblins to name just two, amongst many!
The graphics are great and very colorful, and there’s tuneful catchy (ogg) music to play along to. The window size can be altered via the resolution setting in the game’s config exe (the smaller exe file) in the game folder. It plays in XP, Vista and Win 7. You may wish to rename the game folder and the game and config file to something more recognisable! IE9’s new multilingual update allows the Japanese manual to be displayed correctly should you wish to Google translate the manual, into very ‘pigeon’ English I might add!
The ‘Z’ key is used to select, start the game and jump, ‘X’ key to shoot and ‘Arrow’ keys to move L/R/Crouch/go Up/Down ladders. and the game is gamepad /joystick compatible. ‘C’ key for weapons (and info) menu, once extra weapons are acquired.
Although not the hardest platformer ever, it isn’t a walkover by any means. It’s refreshingly different and great engaging fun to play!
Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRuwS-waH1k ------ (Video walkthroughs available on YouTube)
Download HERE ----- (Use the second download link as the first is no longer available. The game file is hspcontest151.zip)
