Woody Pop is an Action game, published by Sega, which was released in Japan in 1987.
Reviews View More
Yes it's a Breakout clone, but it does a few things well enough that it doesn't feel like another tired cash-in.
The first are the visuals of the both the powerups and stages. It provides enough diversity to each level that keeps it visually interesting which is something that even the original Breakout/Arkanoid could have done better.
The second is that it's difficult. Before powerups, Breakout could get really boring after a while, but even after they were introduced you could usually settle into a groove by picking the best ones and not getting too greedy with multiple balls, etc. In this instance, the game board is less vertical, so the ball has less travel distance which amplifies the difficulty. I think the developers did this intentionally because they made part of the bottom a solid wall, effectively giving you "side paddles" to work with. Letting you pick the next level was also a nice little non-linear touch.
The first are the visuals of the both the powerups and stages. It provides enough diversity to each level that keeps it visually interesting which is something that even the original Breakout/Arkanoid could have done better.
The second is that it's difficult. Before powerups, Breakout could get really boring after a while, but even after they were introduced you could usually settle into a groove by picking the best ones and not getting too greedy with multiple balls, etc. In this instance, the game board is less vertical, so the ball has less travel distance which amplifies the difficulty. I think the developers did this intentionally because they made part of the bottom a solid wall, effectively giving you "side paddles" to work with. Letting you pick the next level was also a nice little non-linear touch.
Oh, so it's an Arkanoid clone with a funny name and cute aesthetic and...oh...oh.
So what brough about that reaction? It's how fast the ball speeds up when it bounce off things. Even on the lowest difficulty that things goes QUICK. The horizontal level layout doesn't help things either, as that means less time to process where that speedy boy is going. There are power-ups, but you can only have one at a time and they don't stack, meaning you'll just accidentally kill yourself when you think you're getting stronger or hit another power-up by mistake. The controls demand peak precision, but the speed of the ball combined with this simply doesn't make for a good time. The levels don't help either, rather than be designed to be fun, they come in two types: "Haha, they look like a thing" or "I hate you" with no in-between. The game is brutal, the only video playthrough I've seen uses heavy save scumming, and you'll have to do the same here if you want to rescue those gumdrops.
Go pop your woody somewhere else.
So what brough about that reaction? It's how fast the ball speeds up when it bounce off things. Even on the lowest difficulty that things goes QUICK. The horizontal level layout doesn't help things either, as that means less time to process where that speedy boy is going. There are power-ups, but you can only have one at a time and they don't stack, meaning you'll just accidentally kill yourself when you think you're getting stronger or hit another power-up by mistake. The controls demand peak precision, but the speed of the ball combined with this simply doesn't make for a good time. The levels don't help either, rather than be designed to be fun, they come in two types: "Haha, they look like a thing" or "I hate you" with no in-between. The game is brutal, the only video playthrough I've seen uses heavy save scumming, and you'll have to do the same here if you want to rescue those gumdrops.
Go pop your woody somewhere else.
Every Sega Master System Game #31 - Woody Pop
__________________________________________________________________________
This game was quite difficult to get working on an emulator due to the game requiring the console's paddle controller. The emulation was pretty shotty as you would expect from paddle emulation on a joystick, but based on what I've been able to see and play from that odd experience, I can tell this is a pretty solid breakout-style game. I just wish I could play the game properly.
6/10
__________________________________________________________________________
This game was quite difficult to get working on an emulator due to the game requiring the console's paddle controller. The emulation was pretty shotty as you would expect from paddle emulation on a joystick, but based on what I've been able to see and play from that odd experience, I can tell this is a pretty solid breakout-style game. I just wish I could play the game properly.
6/10