Monty and Morgion 061: Cocoron


12Sep03 (Monthenor): The word of the week is Cocoron. My cousin clued me in to this hidden NES gem a couple days ago, but was ambiguous about what it actually was. I picked it up and was instantly assaulted by the most hideous background ever. The game picked up after that, though. The closest analogue I could come up with is early Mega Man (I've also heard comparisons to Little Nemo). But get this: you get to build your own character, and it actually has an effect on gameplay! Like, if you put a heavy robot head on tank treads and give it the shruiken weapon, you'll have a super-armored beatdown character. If you put a ghost head on a dragon body with a baseball weapon, it's a super-light flying character. And if you put a pumpkin head on the spring body and give it a parasol, you get...UGLY.

I would recommend getting the Japanese version of the game, actually. None of the plot text is important, and the game text is easily figured out. Since the plot is so weak, the fun comes when you make your own plot to go with your characters. My poor UGLY (?-?-parasol) was just searching for acceptance in a hostile world. He struck something approximating fear into his enemies' hearts with his battle cry of "I'm a pretty lady!" He's...a little slow. His friend FYGR (ghost-wing-baseball) was searching for another flame-headed dragon to mate with. I even had a character that looked a lot like Cyborg 009 (hero-cyborg-shruiken), and he just did a lot of whining.

Also, my cousin and I spent about an hour yesterday discussing the merits of various body combinations...and by his own admission he's "a terrible gamer". Everybody likes making a team of heros. Joy!

13Sep03 (Monthenor): Do you watch Adult Swim? If so, you might understand where I'm coming from with this. I posted that link in the official AS Merchandise Request thread, and if I don't hear anything within two weeks I'll probably throw it in our own store.

All hail the Ellipse tool!