 Shokuman, that's drunk. Shokuman was a perfectly okay side scrolling action platformer for the TurboGrafx-16 released back in 1991 and yeah it's pretty much a Mega Man clone, but it's still a perfectly decent game. It was actually the second game in a series that initially started and later continued in Japan, with the follow up being Kaizo Shoujin Shibibenman 3 Ikai no Princess released for the PC Engine CD ROM, but for the 4th game in the series that Dev teams NCS and Masaya decided to turn to the Super Famicom in 1994, with Kaizo Shoujin Shibiben Man Zero, or just Shibiben Man Zero for short. The odd thing is, this game just wasn't released, it sat on the shelf for three years until it was made available on Nintendo's Sateleview service via download, and that's really strange to me because this game is pretty dang fun. I mean, you see the footage here, right? Well, what you see here is what you get. It's a 2D action platformer that features a lot of beat'em up mechanics running to the right and making stuff go boom, and it's two-player co-op. No menus, no frills, no BS, just pure action. What's not to like here? Yeah, there's some cutscenes with dialogue here, but this game is English-friendly, you don't need to know Japanese to play it. Player 1 plays as Raita, who uses his fists as an attack, giving the gameplay a shatter hand kind of a feel to it. You can also hold the Y button to charge up for a projectile, and you can actually do a dragon punch using the same control input as Street Fighter 2. Now that is cool. Player 2 plays as Azuki, who hacks and slashes away with a sword. She also has a charged attack, plus if you tap the Y button twice while in midair, she'll do a charged up kick. There's also combo attacks here, when you're playing 2-player, where if one player hits another with a projectile, they'll start to flash, fire off another projectile with that character for an even more powerful attack. One thing I should mention though is that unlike Mega Man, you can't move all charging up. You have to stand still, so you really have to be careful about picking your spots on when and where to use it. You may have a ton of moves at your disposal, but the level design here still puts up a pretty decent challenge. There's 7 levels with a ton of boss fights, and this game can really get tough. Some of the bosses toward the end are brutal. You get 3 lives with 0 continues, and if you die 3 times, it's game over. Start from the beginning. No saves or passwords here either. So yeah, if you want to play all the way through this one, be prepared to sit down with it for at least an hour. One flaw I got to point out as well is that if you play this one with a second player, you share continues, so keep that in mind. The visuals here may not be anything spectacular, but they get the job done. Plus there's lots of little touches here, like when you take damage from these enemies. The pickaxe actually stays lodged in your head? Ouch! The name of the game here though is the boss fights. They usually take place in a locked up room, again, a la Mega Man, with a series of platforms that the boss will use to zip around and try and frustrate you. There's one guy in particular who keeps showing up, and each time it's with new moves and is arsenal. You really have to be quick to react, both to dodge his attacks and to get your shots in. The first few bosses are pretty easy, but it can get tough later on. Heck, even just the regular enemies are really aggressive, you can't just sit there and punch and hope they walk into you, you gotta keep moving forward. It's a pretty smart enemy design. As I've mentioned a few times already, the obvious comparison here is Mega Man, and yes, the character's size and range of motion feel very familiar to say the least. I will say though, both the beat'em up style combat and the two player co-op feature make this game stand out as more than just a clone. The music, however, well, I can't really speak for that. Some tracks definitely sound derivative, which is totally fine, I'm just saying don't expect that same kick-ass Mega Man style soundtrack. The sound effects are great, but I think the music falls a little short. So how do you play this game? Well, in 2017, the retro game company Columbus Circle obtained the rights and was able to publish a cartridge release with a box and manual and everything for sale for a short time on Amazon, however there were a limited number of copies made, so you'd have to settle for finding one used somewhere. But yeah, however you decide to play this one, it's well worth checking out. It's a smartly designed, polished game, and a great combination of a beat'em up with an action platformer, and it's a really fun title to play with a second player. And I want to thank you for watching, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.