Hamster Thursday might�ve hit a snag, but Strange Anime License Friday rolls on! This
week, new friend of the show Kevin in NANTUCKET took time away from being the object of bawdy
limericks to send us the Game Gear version of CLAMP�s Magic Knight Rayearth, a touching
tale of three color-coded girls trying to rescue their industry-mandated cute mascot
animal thing. And, in a move that shocks absolutely NO ONE, it�s an RPG! Again, due to industry
mandate. So grab your... um, feathers... and put your persocom to sleep... Okay, so I�ve
run out of CLAMP references. Here�s some gameplay footage.
Sorry, I should�ve mentioned that you should take something for motion sickness before
watching this video. In a move that left me completely baffled, the mechanic for battle
timing boils down to... a roulette? A roulette where full-body sprites indicate recovery
from their last attack, and close-ups indicate readyness. You can speed up and slow down
the roulette, which I�m led to believe increases or decreases your attack power... I think.
In truth, Kevin from NANTUCKET didn�t include an instruction manual, and the game isn�t
big on telling you exactly how much damage you�re dealing, so it�s mostly intuition
and guesswork. As much as we might complain about interminable tutorials in this day and
age... frankly, I could�ve done with one right here. Regardless, the combat itself
reminds one of Final Fantasy�s ATB systems, with certain characters becoming active at
different times instead of taking one solid turn. That�s pretty decent, for 1994 on
the Game Gear. What�s not decent, though, is the rate of random battles. If you ever
thought Pokemon was bad, this game will make you hug every Tentacool and Zubat you come
across. Behold: One step. ONE STEP.
But while the combat is fairly decent, the design of the quest is a bit questionable.
The first three types of enemies you face are the same exact sprite, with a different
number stuck on their forehead. Get past a forest of those jerks, and you get to a village
where you fight the SAME DUDE SEVEN TIMES IN A ROW. And you thought those freakin�
moles in EarthBound were bad. Still, if you can stomach the constant spinning, it�s
a pretty fair experience, and can be used as a placeholder if, like me, you�re still
selling off internal organs in hopes of obtaining the US release of Magic Knight Rayearth for
the Saturn. So. Anyone need a kidney or three?