(2/21/2016 - 2/27/2016) Game of the Week: Yo, Bro!

[SamIAm]

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February 21 - February 27: Yo, Bro!
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(chosen by grolt)

For most, the Game of the Week is a chance to celebrate a fun game from the past.  Resurrecting a classic for the world to experience anew.  For me, it's a support group.  YO, BRO! is a game that has haunted me for a long time – not because it is terrible, although that's a sentiment many here believe, but because of that damned Amoeba stage.  Before that, it's kind of a charming game with some great Beach Boys chiptunes, a zany assortment of bad guys (including dinosaurs with sneakers, fire throwing gargoyles and bunnies, lots of bunnies) and unique isometric map-traversing gameplay.  Taking out the hub bosses, rescuing kids and skateboarding around levels makes for a fusion of gameplay experience that you don't really get in other games.  Unfortunately, you also don't get control this frustrating in other games either, as the usual pitfalls of an isometric vantage point make it tough to gauge direction, which is only exacerbated by the speed of the bear's wheel-based motion.

Still, once you get a hang of the perspective and the controls, the game's originality mostly carries it through, but then that Amoeba stage happens.  There are just so many of them, and they take so many hits to die, and the longer you take to blast them the more they multiply.  Even saving all your weapon power ups for that single level still proves futile.  And then those skateboarding dogs come to take you out every time you get settled in a good spot to attack.  That level is just impossible, and despite all my best efforts over multiple playthroughs, I just can't break on past it.  I'm hoping that by making this the game of the week that someone else can beat it for me, or at least offer a strategy that will allow me, and the other brave souls who have tried and failed, to finally beat that level.  Looking at videos online, the levels following seem more comparable with the levels before it, that is to say not all that difficult.  But that level is the level from hell and must be conquered, and it must come from you, PCFX.

But why play this game in the first place, you might ask?  It's allegedly one of the worst on the system.  Again, don't get me wrong, the control is tough and the Amoeba stage uncompromisingly difficult, but otherwise it is a fun time.  There's a lot of personality to the game, with colorful graphics and that California cool.  On the bottom on-screen console there's even some commentary from the main character every time you encounter an enemy.  "It's cool, mon!" our rasta bear says, or perhaps more fittingly to the Amoeba level he often asks "You like pain?" And when it comes to this game, I just sorta do.  ICOM Simulations, who made the game as well as many others in the TurboGrafx library, never seem to get much credit, but they always made games with a lot of character and strived for new kind of gaming experiences.  Games like the SHADOWGATE and SHERLOCK HOLMES: CONSULTING DETECTIVE series show their commitment to presentation, and YO, BRO!'s sequel, CAMP CALIFORNIA, which is a completely different platformer, show they were a company that never just rested on their laurels.  GHOST MANOR is another favorite of mine from ICOM that shows that they knew how to give their games creative charm.  Even looking within YO,BRO! there are essentially three gameplay engines throughout, including bonus shooter levels, one from an overhead vertical perspective and another from a side-facing horizontal position.

Yeah, yeah, YO, BRO! is not a game for everyone, but I always like it for a quick jaunt.  Even if you're having a rough time with the control, those great Beach Boys tunes are all fun.  But enough fun – this is work...PCFX, I implore you: The Amoeba stage...we must prevail.  I lose sleep thinking that that level has done to me.  So help me, Rhonda, help me get the Amoeba out of my heart!

Soundtrack link:

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GOTW Schedule:
1. (1/3/2016 - 1/9/2016) Liquid Kids (lukester)
2. (1/10/2016 - 1/16/2016) Buster Bros. (Punch)
3. (1/17/2016 - 1/23/2016) Super Dimension Fortress Macross 2036 (Gentlegamer)
4. (1/24/2016 - 1/30/2016) Fushigi no Yume no Alice (EmperorIng)
5. (1/31/2016 - 2/6/2016) Valkyrie no Densetsu (Gredler)
6. (2/7/2016 - 2/13/2016) Bikkuriman World (jtucci31)
7. (2/14/2016 - 2/20/2016) Dragon's Curse (seieienbu)
8. (2/21/2016 - 2/27/2016) Yo, Bro! (grolt)
9. (2/28/2016 - 3/5/2016) Formation Armed F (nopepper)
10. (3/6/2016 - 3/12/2016) Silent Debuggers (MNKyDeth)
11. (3/13/2016 - 3/19/2016) Super Star Soldier (o.pwuaioc)
More submissions welcome!

Rules:
-All members are allowed one submission. When there are no further submissions, we will have a reset and everyone will be able to submit another game.
-Each game may only be submitted once.
-If you wish to retract your submission, please do so at least two weeks before your game is due. Your next submission will go to the back of the cue.
-Please don't submit games that have a high language barrier or will take too long to complete (particularly RPGs).

[ParanoiaDragon]

Grrrr, I just can't recall if I did ever beat those damn amoeba's!  They suck!

[itsatarp]

One of the few TG games I never did complete. Should give it a go again but my skills kinda suck nowadays.

[esteban]

Grolt's post is great. It mirrors my own experiences. I love/hate this STOOPID game.

I know I am guilty of getting your hopes up, but I am the first (and only) person to claim that Yo Bro is the poor man's Zombies Ate My Neighbors. NO, Yo Bro is not nearly as great as ZAMN, but I think that if you can compensate for the crappy controls and awkward trajectory of your projectiles/weapons...

...you can have some fun.

I was hoping the PSG Beach Boys tunes would be better, to be honest...but I am just really picky (I grew up listening to Beach Boys).

I had to adopt a "bruh" alpha male persona for this video (I don't wear bro hats):

Hard to believe that was 3 years ago.

[grolt]

Grolt's post is great. It mirrors my own experiences. I love/hate this STOOPID game.

I know I am guilty of getting your hopes up, but I am the first (and only) person to claim that Yo Bro is the poor man's Zombies Ate My Neighbors. NO, Yo Bro is not nearly as great as ZAMN, but I think that if you can compensate for the crappy controls and awkward trajectory of your projectiles/weapons...

...you can have some fun.

I was hoping the PSG Beach Boys tunes would be better, to be honest...but I am just really picky (I grew up listening to Beach Boys).

I had to adopt a "bruh" alpha male persona for this video (I don't wear bro hats):

Hard to believe that was 3 years ago.

Haha what is this? This is amazing.

It's definitely like ZOMBIES ATE MY NEIGHBORS. The saving kids dynamic is akin to the NES FRIDAY THE 13TH too (and the bad weapon trajectory feels oddly similar).