Osomatsu-kun: Hachamecha Gekijō
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 Meet the grandaddy of downgrading games before release.
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Osomatsu-kun: Hachamecha Gekijō (おそ松さん はちゃめちゃ劇場 lit: Osotmatsu-Kun: Hachamecha Theater) or just known as Osomatsu-kun, is a platforming game released on Christmas in 1988 for the Sega Mega Drive, only in Japan and it is based on the manga and anime of the same name. Since its release, it has become one of the most hated games on the platform in Japan, due to the immense disappointment and the legitimately terrible quality of the title. In fact, there was a rumor that the awful quality of the title caused the author of the manga to attack a developer with an ashtray. Hideki Sato, former Head of Research and Development at Sega expressed in an interview his frustration with the final result.
Why It Should Be Kicked Out of the Theater
- The music of the game is atrocious, so much that it actually hurts your ears, and not only is it too loud, but also annoying, hence it's considered to be one of the worst music for the system, since the music is so ear-bleeding to the point of being gratting very fast, it's would even make you want to turn off the sound of your TV just to not listen to the soundtrack of the game, it's also not helped by the fact that the sound effects are very awful (see WIS#17).
- The level 1 music is a notable example of how bad the soundtrack of this game is, since it is so ear-bleeding and gratting to the point of being extremely annoying and repetitive to listen to, while the next levels would have better music than the level 1, they would still end up being really bad.
- The game is insanely short, as it's only three levels long. Not to mention that the game was going to include more levels, but due to how rushed it is, then they had to cut out them, which was mostly the reason why most people would give extremely negative comments to the game developer about how short it is and also because of the terrible level design.
- The level design is absolutely horrendous, as the levels resembling mazes (this was done to artificially extend the duration of the game), and the third level is a living nightmare due to the awful platforms and enemies placements and the awful maze like design, it's also doesn't help that the enemies placements are awful and can make the level design even more horrendous, that's also the reason about why this game is considered to be one of, if not the most infamous games of the entire Mega Drive library, yes, it's this bad.
- Worst yet, some balloons throw you back to the start of the level, just to make some of the levels even harder and being horribly frustrating since it's very hard to know where you should go in the levels, especially the level 2 and 3 that is an absolute nightmare to complete due to that.
- The levels themself are so bad that there are not any good levels in the game at all, as they all either had frustrating platforming or even worst, being absolutely confusing to navigate.
- Level 1 is a bit annoying and can be really easy to get lost and doesn't know where you must go, it is also unfairly hard for all the wrong reasons, since your attack has horrible hit-detection and barely any range, this is also a problem for killing the enemies since they are very annoying and could be harder to beat due to the short range of the slingshot and also because they take lot of hits before dying.
- Level 2 is amazingly awful and even worst than the first level since it is absolutely confusing to navigate in the level and the enemies placements are so abysmal that you might get trouble to kill them, also the level had lot of area that look similar to each other, the platforms placements are also horrible and could make the platforming of the level horribly hard due to the awful controls.
- Level 3 (the last level) is extremely difficult due to being once again extremely confusing to navigate to and also because of how bad the enemies placements are, not only that but if you fail to find the right place to continue the stage, then you might going back all over the beginning of the game, making it an absolute nightmare to complete at best.
- The enemy placement is really dreadful and there are places where avoiding damage is impossible due to how abysmal they are, not only that but if you doesn't had any healths then you will had to lose a life to pass one of these places and if there's was only one life then you're screwed, this is especially an absolute nightmare in the level 3 where the enemies are so horrendously placed, that you might get lot of trouble beating it.
- For some reason in one of the levels you get damaged by bubbles without any warning that they are hazardous.
- The first mini-boss of the game moves too fast and travels distances too long for Osomatsu to dodge, which is the main reason of why the mini bosses are really annoying to fight and are worse than the main bosses.
- The bosses of each stage are extremely easy, or at least they would be if the controls would not be this terrible.
- To get powerups in the houses, you must first beat a really stupid minigame.
- Enemies with projectiles are a chore to fight as their attacks constantly cancel yours, and thanks to the awful controls and pathetic range, it makes facing them an exercise in frustration.
- The water and cave sections of the stage use the same backgrounds, making them look pretty similar.
- The controls are anything but precise, especially jumping which feels like it doesn't get affected by the gravity, not to mention that they are very stiff, clunky and even downright unresponsive to the point of being the main reason of why the difficulty is unbalanced for the most parts, since they are so poor that you might fail a jump or not even moving.
- Osomatsu's attack is a pathetic slingshot with barely any range and makes the first level unfairly hard unless you get an upgrade for it.
- The game is also glitchy, as a lot of players report that the game crashes many times at the last level, not only that, but it's would even make the game having even more negative reviews and being one of the main reasons of why this is considered to be one of the worst games of the entire system along with the awful level design.
- Only five lives and no continues at all, and it's very easy to lose them due to the unbalanced difficulty that is caused with the atrocious controls and the dreadful enemies placements that make the lives extremely easy to lose.
- Awful ending that is almost insulting, it tries to be funny, but with the bad guys screwing you, it ends up feeling like a bad joke.
- The game is notable for false advertisement and being downgraded during development. Originally Sega wanted to use a 4MB cartridge but due to a global level shortage, they had to use a 2MB cartridge instead, which ruined the development of the game like the lack of memory prevented the developers from adding more levels and designing them with more care, resulting in the game being really bad.
- Absolutely awful sound effects that are very ear-bleeding and could be extremely annoying to listen to, not only that, but they are very loud and even repetitive too, in fact they are so bad that you likely might want to turn off the sound of your TV to not listen to either the music or the sound effects.
- The hit detection is dreadful and one of the worst you might see from a Sega Genesis game, since the attack of Osomatsu is not only terrible due to having barely any range, but also it's had horrible hit detection that make the enemies harder to kill than how they we're supposed to, also you might sometime get hit by something that wasn't even close to hit you, this can even be said for the enemies.
- The mini-bosses are annoying at times since they can either be hard or even being hard to hit due to how short the range of your slingshot is, they are even worse than the main bosses who are way too easy, but at least not annoying for the most parts.
The Only Redeeming Quality
- The graphics, while simple, are the best you can see from a 1988 Sega Genesis game with a colorful palette and detailed designs and backgrounds, and that is probably the only good thing about this game, it's even the best-looking Sega Genesis game from 1988 and it's has early 16-bit graphics were the most game in the early to mid-90s had but not 1980s it would be 8-bit.
Reception
Unsurprisingly, this game received extremely negative reviews by the Japanese public to the point of having a lot of mean and negative comments of the game by the fact that not only the game crashes, but the level design, the length and the controls being awful, and it even leads the creator to apparently attack a developer with an ashtray due to how awful the game turned out, in fact it had become one of the most hated game of the entire Mega Drive library in Japan and received a Kusoge title.
Videos
Trivia
- It was the first title of the system that wasn't a port or a sequel to an arcade game.
- This game is the 4th game released on the console in Japan and the only game that was released in Christmas 1988.
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