As much as I want to make fun of this game for being...ya know...Clu Clu Land...I actually kinda like the gameplay. It's like pac-man but different. And anything that even barely resembles pac-man I'm contractually obligated to enjoy.
played on NSO NES
played on NSO NES
Somewhat fun once you figure out what to do/how to play but that barrier of entry is hard to get over, simply not fun after about 10 minutes, terrible controls. At least we got a cool Smash Bros Melee trophy out of this one, I also remember the NES Remix levels for this game being pretty brutal
2/10
2/10
really confusing to first understand, decent arcade fun when you do
Genuinely enjoyed the hell out of this. Although I will say, I think the copy I played on had something weird wrong with it, as there were certain tiles in the top row that I would get stuck in. Like, the little character would just get sent back and forth endlessly and the only way to break out was either getting hit by an enemy or running out of time. The "player 1" text was also stuck in the top row and wouldn't disappear so I wonder if those were related.
Un juego entretenido, repetitivo, si, pero jugarlo cooperativo era divertido.
(Played using Nintendo Switch Online NES)
"Mum...that one"
"Mum...that one"
erm
I basically don't have anything to say about this game. It's functional!
So yeah the movement in this game is absolutely insane and feels like trying to steer a car with your feet. Booting it up for the first time was such a shock that I just started laughing and muttering “what the fuck is this”.
That said this is still an enjoyable game that’s dramatically enhanced by the weird movement scheme - that’s basically what makes this game fun. Without it this would be an incredibly easy and boring little maze game.
Biggest critique is that the gameplay gets boring relatively quickly. Each level is pretty much the same with incredibly slow and gradual difficulty progression after approx level 4. Before this, Bubbles - the player character, who is constantly moving - gets faster each level, which ramps up the difficulty very quickly. After this point, however, the game is basically just the same thing over and over again. There are only four level layouts and having a different picture to reveal each time doesn’t do much to change the experience of the levels. I think it’s a testament to the brilliant design of games like Pac Man or Space Invaders or Tetris that they can give the player the same thing over and over again and still remain incredibly fun and addictive. I’m not sure why this isn’t the case with Clu Clu Land, but it just isn’t - not for me at least. Would recommend this to basically anyone to play once if it’s readily available e.g if you have Nintendo Switch Online or already own it. It’s honestly a hilarious experience and one of the most joyfully unhinged movement schemes I’ve ever seen in a game. Would probably make for a good laugh if you play it with a friend.
That said this is still an enjoyable game that’s dramatically enhanced by the weird movement scheme - that’s basically what makes this game fun. Without it this would be an incredibly easy and boring little maze game.
Biggest critique is that the gameplay gets boring relatively quickly. Each level is pretty much the same with incredibly slow and gradual difficulty progression after approx level 4. Before this, Bubbles - the player character, who is constantly moving - gets faster each level, which ramps up the difficulty very quickly. After this point, however, the game is basically just the same thing over and over again. There are only four level layouts and having a different picture to reveal each time doesn’t do much to change the experience of the levels. I think it’s a testament to the brilliant design of games like Pac Man or Space Invaders or Tetris that they can give the player the same thing over and over again and still remain incredibly fun and addictive. I’m not sure why this isn’t the case with Clu Clu Land, but it just isn’t - not for me at least. Would recommend this to basically anyone to play once if it’s readily available e.g if you have Nintendo Switch Online or already own it. It’s honestly a hilarious experience and one of the most joyfully unhinged movement schemes I’ve ever seen in a game. Would probably make for a good laugh if you play it with a friend.
Obviously, while playing this, the first thing you'll notice are the controls, which are impossible to get use to. Thankfully, on the first level, you move pretty slowly, making it easy enough, but once you get past the first few levels, it literally becomes impossible. Clu Clu (no fucking clue what his name is) moves so fast, its impossible to get all the tiles while avoiding the enemies at the same time. Okay premise, bad execution.
For reasons I can't quite explain, I love Clu Clu Land. My best guess is Animal Crossing - this was the first NES game I got in-game, so it follows that I'd have some fondness for it. But this love held even after I (used codes to get) all the other NES games. So even given the options of Excitebike, Balloon Fight, Super Mario Bros., and The Legend of Zelda, I always found my way back to Clu Clu Land.
But I don't think the love is misplaced. This is probably the closest Nintendo came to developing their own Pac-Man. From that perspective, I like the twist on the formula - switching the focus from stealth (kinda) to puzzle as the player focuses on building shapes makes moment-to-moment decisions more impactful on lower-skill play. I love how Bubbles moves, too - looping around poles and bounding off walls always feels like a deliberate choice the player has to make, and she always glides around the level so smoothly. That Sound Wave attack is pretty nifty, too - stunning the Unira and mashing them into walls feels pretty great, since you do have to plan that out a bit. And it's hardly a gimme, since it's easy to run out of time or fail to plot out your route and careen into a hazard. There's a lot going on, but it doesn't feel like the game is asking anything unfair of the player, just challenging 'em to be a little better. Plus, even if you lose, you get that fun Game Over jingle and get to see Bubbles dance while the game calculates your score. What's not to love?
Question - is Bubbles Nintendo's first leading lady? All the more reason to revive Clu Clu Land. It's not too late to make it in time for the 40th anniversary!
But I don't think the love is misplaced. This is probably the closest Nintendo came to developing their own Pac-Man. From that perspective, I like the twist on the formula - switching the focus from stealth (kinda) to puzzle as the player focuses on building shapes makes moment-to-moment decisions more impactful on lower-skill play. I love how Bubbles moves, too - looping around poles and bounding off walls always feels like a deliberate choice the player has to make, and she always glides around the level so smoothly. That Sound Wave attack is pretty nifty, too - stunning the Unira and mashing them into walls feels pretty great, since you do have to plan that out a bit. And it's hardly a gimme, since it's easy to run out of time or fail to plot out your route and careen into a hazard. There's a lot going on, but it doesn't feel like the game is asking anything unfair of the player, just challenging 'em to be a little better. Plus, even if you lose, you get that fun Game Over jingle and get to see Bubbles dance while the game calculates your score. What's not to love?
Question - is Bubbles Nintendo's first leading lady? All the more reason to revive Clu Clu Land. It's not too late to make it in time for the 40th anniversary!
The controls are so wack that it's hard to master. I can give props to try to make the mecanics of the game more unique than other games, but it didn't landed for me unfortunately.
Game # 17 of my challenge
Game # 17 of my challenge
This was Nintendo's answer to the pacmania mazelike craze.
That's right, the 'soulslike' phenomenon is hardly a new thing.
a lot of people just view this as a mid entry to that pile. but honestly, I love it.
I find it super satisfying to play, and can easily jump into it anytime I want an arcadey game to play for 5 minutes.
It genuinely innovates on the mazelike formula and can be decently challenging without going overboard like 90% of games from its era.
That's right, the 'soulslike' phenomenon is hardly a new thing.
a lot of people just view this as a mid entry to that pile. but honestly, I love it.
I find it super satisfying to play, and can easily jump into it anytime I want an arcadey game to play for 5 minutes.
It genuinely innovates on the mazelike formula and can be decently challenging without going overboard like 90% of games from its era.
Eu não acho tão ruim assim, só muito mais desafiador do que precisava kkkk
É interessante principalmente quando pega velocidade, e a música tá presa na minha cabeça até hoje
É interessante principalmente quando pega velocidade, e a música tá presa na minha cabeça até hoje
I have never met a single soul even mention this game. No talk, no tweets, no forum posts, its left an invisible mark on history. I genuinely feel like im probably the only person to play it to completion and I feel like i should be put in a asylum
Clu Clu Land is weird, like seriously weird. You're this little fish dude spinning around to uncover gold bars, all while avoiding goofy sea urchins. The controls are wonky, and it gets crazy hard, but there's something weirdly charming about it. Not for everyone, but I dig its retro oddness.
A game about collecting coins.
A surprisingly cute and charming action/puzzle game while still being a early NES game.
I've just never liked the controls in this game. It's regular maze game controls with extra steps in an attempt to be unique.
When she Clu in the Clussy idk I'm not beating 20 stages of this bullshit
takes a little to wrap your head around, but once you do, it's fun. I mean, for a little bit, at least
I actually like this game, but who chose the name clu clu land
Controls like aaaaaaassssss
never unlocked this during my normal animal crossing time, but i did play it sommmmeeething. i think i got it with a cheated password.
WTF is this
Bubble's dumb fucking sprite on the score screen is top 5 worst sprites of all time
Unique, interesting, and moderately challenging mechanics that simply lacks the catchy-ness of Pac Man. Clu Clu Land would have done great if it wasn't for the obvious call to comparison, unfortunately. Decent little game! Fun for the whole 10 minutes!
clu clu land was considered for smash bros melee before they decided on ice climbers. we could've had it all
NES Week: Day #4
When I was doing this NES week the one game I was slightly looking forward to playing was Clu Clu land. Surprisingly I actually wanted to give it a try and see what the big deal about it was after hearing so much from it. I almost wanted to see what you actually did in the game and if it was any good.
Was I disappointed? For once…I sadly was
So what do you do in Clu Clu land anyway? Well, you play as a red blob who has to spin around and find gems which will make some sort of shape. You do this whilst avoiding these spikes. In a way, imagine Clu Clu land like picross but nothing like picross. The controls really get on my nerves and I just don’t like it. The spikes really really get on my nerves as they seem to come at you at the exact wrong moment and to be perfectly honest with you it’s just not really that great of a game. Sure it has some interesting shapes to make but it’s still really not that interesting and only seems to get on my nerves more then it does give me any form of fun.
Interesting shapes, red blob, I fucking hate spikes
When I was doing this NES week the one game I was slightly looking forward to playing was Clu Clu land. Surprisingly I actually wanted to give it a try and see what the big deal about it was after hearing so much from it. I almost wanted to see what you actually did in the game and if it was any good.
Was I disappointed? For once…I sadly was
So what do you do in Clu Clu land anyway? Well, you play as a red blob who has to spin around and find gems which will make some sort of shape. You do this whilst avoiding these spikes. In a way, imagine Clu Clu land like picross but nothing like picross. The controls really get on my nerves and I just don’t like it. The spikes really really get on my nerves as they seem to come at you at the exact wrong moment and to be perfectly honest with you it’s just not really that great of a game. Sure it has some interesting shapes to make but it’s still really not that interesting and only seems to get on my nerves more then it does give me any form of fun.
Interesting shapes, red blob, I fucking hate spikes
it's like pacman but you're on rollerskates