Saiyuuki World
Dec. 31st, 2021 09:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yamamanama78 days until the vernal equinox
Saiyūki is the Japanese title for Journey to the West (Xī Yóu Jì. Notice how they sound alike).
We open on some monks.
Tang Sanzang is the main character of the book.
The translators made a conscious decision to give the Monkey King his proper Chinese name Sun Wukong, meaning Awaken to Emptiness, while, on the other hand, some characters like the Bull Demon King, get a literal translation of their names into English.
It's dangerous to go alone! Take this!
It's a port of Wonder Boy in Monster World, and alas, a rather shoddy port.
The amulets are a hint system. You don't really need them when you have Gamefaqs, so spend your money on better things.
Sandals make you move faster. You start out moving very slowly.
I think you can only enter shops once. At this time, I'd suggest buying a shield.
You don't really need this.
General Yin, a tiger, is one of the first demons Tang Sanzang encounters on his journey. He just floats around the screen and you attack him with your dinky sword. And like in Fantasy Zone, he turns into a heap of money when he dies.
You're going to want this info later.
You get a health refil at the end of each level.
This is from my first playthrough, where I missed something and had to restart. These red guys throw spears at you and if you have the shield, you can block them.
Xiong Shanjun, the bear demon, bounces around and also tosses rocks at you.
This is Techu Shi. You'd have to look that up to know because the game doesn't mention it. He's a water buffalo. He throws those mushroom guys around, and they yield nothing when you kill them, and bounces around. Hitting him causes him to reverse direction.
I don't know why they're using western Zodiac symbols and not Chinese ones.
The terracotta warrior just moves forward and attacks with his sword.
Don't miss this.
The music is kind of grating but it's not the worst thing I've ever heard, mostly beause Action 52 and its attempt to read an entirely different part of the game's code as music and Rocky and Bullwinkle and its goof bombs that interfere with the music exist (I'd say accidentally, but maybe Boris Badenov's diabolical plan is to make you shut off your NES). It's also a lot easier to make things not sound terrible in a pentatonic scale.
These alligators were crabs in Wonder Boy.
If you have the letter, talk to this guy.
Unfortunately, the flute just leads you to a room where you can fight a few enemies in exchange for powerups.
Getting ten lanterns from enemies gives you a health increase.
The King of Confusion is basically just the bear.
There are only eight monks and twelve zodiac constellations.
The cavemen jump at you.
The bats just drop down and fly at you. They're annoying.
I'm not sure if the trees are on fire or just losing their leaves for the season.
You just fight some bats to rescue this guy.
These guys shoot arrows at you.
Once again, it's everyone's favorite part of old school games. It's not that bad but the tiger bosses are back in endlessly respawning mook form.
This is Princess Iron Fan, who is married to the Bull Demon King but is rather pissed about his affair with a huli jing.
So she just quizzes you. If you get the question wrong, you fight her. The answer is not "humans," that I know.
She asks different questions. If you get it right, you skip the fight.
He’s pretty easy.
On his last hit, he switches up his pattern somewhat, and by that, I mean, if you don’t get out of the way, he’l stunlock you and you’ll lose all your coins. You get a sword for defeating him.
This terracotta warrior can lunge at you while jumping.
This game has a real problem with you getting stunlocked. Fix that and you'd have a pretty good game.
The huli jing like to spawn here, along with the bats.
This guy is really fast and he spawns those ogre guys from his pot.
For whatever reason, hitting him causes him to take on a different facial expression. He's pretty tough.
These guys look like octoroks.
You have to jump into the lava here. Not only that, but you have to jump in and land in a specific spot or you'll just take damage.
Your final weapon is a pole, which makes sense because Sun Wukong used a pole in the story.
Thankfully you have my screenshots to help you.
This place is filled with bosses.
At last, the showdown with the Bull Demon King himself. You hit him in the head and he gets pushed back and stunlocked. It does take a while, though.
The second form isn't much more impressive.
The End. The worst thing I can really say about this game is that there isn't actually a whole lot to talk about.
burning question: How was J.K. Rowling of all people top spot on The Guardian's Person of the Year poll?
Saiyūki is the Japanese title for Journey to the West (Xī Yóu Jì. Notice how they sound alike).
We open on some monks.
Tang Sanzang is the main character of the book.
The translators made a conscious decision to give the Monkey King his proper Chinese name Sun Wukong, meaning Awaken to Emptiness, while, on the other hand, some characters like the Bull Demon King, get a literal translation of their names into English.
It's dangerous to go alone! Take this!
It's a port of Wonder Boy in Monster World, and alas, a rather shoddy port.
The amulets are a hint system. You don't really need them when you have Gamefaqs, so spend your money on better things.
Sandals make you move faster. You start out moving very slowly.
I think you can only enter shops once. At this time, I'd suggest buying a shield.
You don't really need this.
General Yin, a tiger, is one of the first demons Tang Sanzang encounters on his journey. He just floats around the screen and you attack him with your dinky sword. And like in Fantasy Zone, he turns into a heap of money when he dies.
You're going to want this info later.
You get a health refil at the end of each level.
This is from my first playthrough, where I missed something and had to restart. These red guys throw spears at you and if you have the shield, you can block them.
Xiong Shanjun, the bear demon, bounces around and also tosses rocks at you.
This is Techu Shi. You'd have to look that up to know because the game doesn't mention it. He's a water buffalo. He throws those mushroom guys around, and they yield nothing when you kill them, and bounces around. Hitting him causes him to reverse direction.
I don't know why they're using western Zodiac symbols and not Chinese ones.
The terracotta warrior just moves forward and attacks with his sword.
Don't miss this.
The music is kind of grating but it's not the worst thing I've ever heard, mostly beause Action 52 and its attempt to read an entirely different part of the game's code as music and Rocky and Bullwinkle and its goof bombs that interfere with the music exist (I'd say accidentally, but maybe Boris Badenov's diabolical plan is to make you shut off your NES). It's also a lot easier to make things not sound terrible in a pentatonic scale.
These alligators were crabs in Wonder Boy.
If you have the letter, talk to this guy.
Unfortunately, the flute just leads you to a room where you can fight a few enemies in exchange for powerups.
Getting ten lanterns from enemies gives you a health increase.
The King of Confusion is basically just the bear.
There are only eight monks and twelve zodiac constellations.
The cavemen jump at you.
The bats just drop down and fly at you. They're annoying.
I'm not sure if the trees are on fire or just losing their leaves for the season.
You just fight some bats to rescue this guy.
These guys shoot arrows at you.
Once again, it's everyone's favorite part of old school games. It's not that bad but the tiger bosses are back in endlessly respawning mook form.
This is Princess Iron Fan, who is married to the Bull Demon King but is rather pissed about his affair with a huli jing.
So she just quizzes you. If you get the question wrong, you fight her. The answer is not "humans," that I know.
She asks different questions. If you get it right, you skip the fight.
He’s pretty easy.
On his last hit, he switches up his pattern somewhat, and by that, I mean, if you don’t get out of the way, he’l stunlock you and you’ll lose all your coins. You get a sword for defeating him.
This terracotta warrior can lunge at you while jumping.
This game has a real problem with you getting stunlocked. Fix that and you'd have a pretty good game.
The huli jing like to spawn here, along with the bats.
This guy is really fast and he spawns those ogre guys from his pot.
For whatever reason, hitting him causes him to take on a different facial expression. He's pretty tough.
These guys look like octoroks.
You have to jump into the lava here. Not only that, but you have to jump in and land in a specific spot or you'll just take damage.
Your final weapon is a pole, which makes sense because Sun Wukong used a pole in the story.
Thankfully you have my screenshots to help you.
This place is filled with bosses.
At last, the showdown with the Bull Demon King himself. You hit him in the head and he gets pushed back and stunlocked. It does take a while, though.
The second form isn't much more impressive.
The End. The worst thing I can really say about this game is that there isn't actually a whole lot to talk about.
burning question: How was J.K. Rowling of all people top spot on The Guardian's Person of the Year poll?
