#game-review #finishedgame2025 # Rhyme Rider Kerorican  [Console:: Wonderswan Color] [Status:: Beaten] [Approximate Start Date:: 2025-01-18] [Finish Date:: 2025-02-15] [Clear Time:: 1hr 15m] [Total Play Time:: 1h 20m] [nReplays:: 0] ## [Rating:: 71] Just the flat out good stuff right here, this rating is strictly off of vibes, impressiveness and general game *feel*. I beat it with the timing sound effects rom hack and I encourage everyone else to do the same lol, it was like putting on glasses. # Playthrough Notes - Played in a call on the Mister, had Firethorn translate the Japanese for me. - This game was made by the people who also made [[PaRappa the Rapper]] and [[UmJammer Lammy]], Masaya Matsuura leading the charge. - Lots of [[Space Channel 5]] vibes here too - Same studio made [[Vib-Ribbon]] - I later went to CVGA and played on an actual Wonderswan Color # My Thoughts - This shit's real cool, the vibes are immaculate. - The sound effects when you dodge are top notch - I literally yelled when I heard the shampoo bottle dodge. - Despite the horrendous soundchip on the Wonderswan they made something that sounds fucking DOPE - The pig said Kuso! - the pig said SHIT - What is up with the oblique control scheme? were you supposed to hold the Wonderswan a certain way? - Yes, you were supposed to hold the wonderswan *Diagonally* - The wonderswan was actually a very cool console that often involved holding the handheld horizontally, vertically, or even alternating between the two. Kerorican is I think the only game to be held *diagonally* though. - The last level is kind of burtal with how fast you have to be on your inputs. buit it sounds incredible as hell. - I think that this game only has 4 stages, so I oculd've theoretically beaten if it I tried harder lol - But I think I'm good. - I REALLY want to beat this one, actually, so I might try and patch it and see if that helps at all. - Once you understand the rhythm and pattern of the button presses, the game gets so much more manageable. ## Notes on the Novelty of Playing on Original Hardware - I managed to go and visit the Michigan Computer and Video Game Archive (CVGA) and played a bit of this game to see what it was like to do so. - Rhyme Rider Kerorican has always been one of those games that I figure would be different playing on the actual hardware rather than on my MiSTer. Not that I had a bad time playing on my MiSTer, but I was very curious. - In addition to holding the console a certain way to mitigate the diagonal nature of the gamer, I also had to hold the game console in such a way that the screen caught the light so I could actually see the game. - The Wonderswan Color also doesn't have a headphone jack as far as I could tell, so I was always a little cognizant of the other people in the archive as I was playing my dinky little wonderswan color with the fuzzy little sounds that were coming out of it. The musical nature of the sounds was fun, but I can imagine how annoying it would be if I were hearing these sounds from the front seat of a car. - The faster 16th-note like inputs are doable because of the way that there's multiple buttons that do the same function - I can roll my thumb along the A and B buttons to do those buttons in a faster manner. - Stage 4 is still just as bad lol - But I got to hear the soap dispenser saxophone riff on the original hardware, and I think that's enough. - I wonder if the amount of game is proportional to the Wonderswan Color's battery life. - They put in a brand new battery into the console and then I played with the sound on the second level and with a bright contrast. The battery lasted about a half hour to forty-five minutes. - This was enough time to play up to Stage 4 on my first run of the game (not enough to beat it though lol). The battery died as I was trying to beat Stage 4. - And the receptionist / archivist noted that "and this was when you couldn't really recharge batteries", so I have to imagine this console just*ATE* batteries. ## This Game Needs More In-Game Feedback - I have no idea whether my inputs are early or late, which is just really taxing sometimes, especially if I'm trying to get back on rhythm. - I really do not like that *it feels* like I need to inputs during the animations. - I'm more focused on the animations than I am at the music sometime,s because I HAVE to be. Compare this to something like [[Rhythm Tengoku]], where the animations are necessary, but they're a lot more readable and so I don't feel like I will linger on them ### Holy Moly the RomHack makes this game way more fun - See header. The two beeps before the actual input is lovely and makes the game so much more reasonable to play. - DOES NOT MAKE STAGE FOUR EASIER, and now I understand that stage four relies on the syncopated count in which SUCKS - but I did it! # Favorite Moments / Memories - Shampoo bomb dodge sound effect on stage 4 saxophone. holy MOLY # What were you doing when not playing this? - # Relevant Links - https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5586/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter - romhack to improve audio cues - English manual - https://geneticjen.medium.com/rhyme-rider-kerorikan-wonderswan-manual-in-english-57e0b37aa334