Last year I played a game called Magical * Taruruuto-kun for the Mega Drive and it was a fun license game even if it wasn’t perfect. I’m surprised in my old terrible review for it that I never mentioned the engine used for it would be used for this game, Pulseman! One of the most popular games Game Freak did before making the Pokemon series. You might be wondering how have I not played this considering I’ve played some of their older games like Quinty, Yoshi’s Egg, and Jelly Boy 2? I honestly don’t know, I guess I’ve just never thought to try it. Last week they added the game to NSO along with Street Fighter II’ Plus: Champion Edition, Flicky, and Chameleon Kid. Finally I gave it a go.

Pulseman is a 2D platformer where you’ll go through 7 stages and fight a boss at the end of each stage. One interesting choice is allowing you to select from stages 1-3 and then stage 4-6 once you finish those three giving some small replayability though there’s no benefit to do them in a specific order. Pulseman’s controls are kind of weird, he has two speeds where he goes faster if you go a specific amount of distance. He also has a problem of stopping and you can get hit because of this problem. Thankfully he does have a few combat options. Your normal attack is a small ranged punch that puts out a little bit of electricity that can hit enemies. You can also do a kick on the ground by holding down and attack and you can do this jump attack with up and attack. Here’s a tip, that jump attack has i-frames throughout the whole move, you even have a second of it after the move ends so keep that in mind. You can also do a dash maneuver by double tapping left or right, I’m telling you this now because I didn’t realize it was in the game till the room before the final boss, I’m an idiot.

When you reach your second speed your body will get electrified letting you do additional moves. The most notable is the Voltteccer where you’ll become this ball of electricity and can dash diagonally to reach areas you couldn’t before, make sure you bounce off walls for additional time. You can actually use this when it’s not charged but it’s only for a couple of frames and goes nowhere but you can use it to attack if you like a challenge. You can also change your default attack into a slash arrow that makes your punch attack a projectile. Both of these moves however will get rid of your charge so keep that in mind. Pulseman also can’t use any of his electric moves underwater for some reason, they say it’s his weakness so I guess that’s a fair enough reason.

Level design is pretty interesting in Pulseman. While I’d argue some of it is simple, I think Pulseman’s movement options make it better. Though there are times where it can be uninteresting. I think it’s at the worst when they try to limit your moveset with the water. This game tries to have very unique looking locations that lead to some “blocky” level design but personally it never felt too dull to me. I do like when they have stuff like wires or orbs that you use your voltteccer on for navigating through the level leading to creative ideas. I do have another complaint which is just the speed of some levels being slow. While it never had anything frustrating, I do think some levels could use refinement. They also are pretty long so don’t get a game over which by the way you have a limited amount of continues.

You do at least have some helpful items to get you through the game. First is the spark ball which if you collect 10 will refill your health to full and give you a 1-up. Second is life up which will fill one piece of light up. Should mention that you can only take three hits, you’ll know how much health you have depending on the color of light on the top left which goes blue, yellow, red, and then death. There’s also your usual 1-up that just gives what it says. Lastly there is voltecc energy which lets you use as much of your electric moves for that entire section. Wait why is there only one t for that item name but the move name uses two t’s? You can also do bonus stages to get more points. It’s basically an odd take on breakout where you use voltteccer to break blocks. It’s a neat idea and even has a weird electricity paddle but they get too hard for me personally.

Bosses in this game are a mixed bag. You got some cool ones like the wireframe boss in stage 1 and the boss in stage 3 where you fight at the beginning and at the end. What really kills them though is just how easy a lot of them are and not in the good way. Remember that jump attack I told you about? Well they break some of these fights like the 2nd to last boss where I think they wanted you to use slash arrow but I ended up using the jump move for i-frames to get a free punch on him and then continue to do more of the jump move. The fight with the black Pulseman annoyed me because I wasn’t sure why he wasn’t dying until I realized you have to hit him with a punch as you make contact with your voltteccer. Here’s a tip if you want to make contact with him easily. Just use voltteccer right in front of him and he’ll activate his a little after and you’ll usually make contact every time making the fight one of the easiest. The final boss is also a joke because again they forgot how good the jump attack is. Like seriously look how easy this is! It really makes me wonder if they even knew how broken this move is.

This game uses a lot of colors and I mean A LOT! Seriously if you have epilepsy problems please do not play this game. While this game does push the limits for the console with the colors, I’d argue it’s still done poorly in a few areas. While it can look really nice, some of these stages just hurt my eyes. This game will also certainly make you feel like you’re in the 90s with the way this game portrays the more techy stuff. At least the character designs done by Ken Sugimori are really good looking. Seriously it pains me these designs are just used for one game! The music by Junichi Masuda is good but I swear when I hear the OST a lot of it blends in to me. It’s still good but not my favorite for the console. The voice samples however are terrible, seriously what happened here? It’s not all bad but stuff like the newscaster does not sound good. Is this just a console limitation?

Pulseman is a good but flawed game. I have fun playing it but I wouldn’t call it a must play either. I’d argue it’s the best Game Freak game I’ve played from them before Pokemon but I wish it got a sequel to iron out the flaws. The game sadly never got a US release till the Wii virtual console which is a shame and I can’t really see why this stayed in Japan. Maybe it was the seizure potential. I think it’s a game any platformer fan should try and it’s a good reminder that not everything Game Freak made was bad since people like to have that narrative sometimes. Still though, come on Game Freak make another game! You know what, considering the rush they do nowadays to get things done, maybe it’s for the best it was a one-off. Does anyone find it weird this wasn’t on either Mega Drive mini console? Feel like that was a missed opportunity. OH WAIT GUYS AND GALS! Before we end, I gotta tell you the most obscure fact about this game. Did you know the voltteccer move was what inspired Pikachu’s volt tackle move!? Wow such a cool fact I love hearing every time this game is brought up! Anyway umm bye! (That was such an awkward way to end this review...)

Pulseman is a game that looks better than it actually is. Which is a shame.

Aesthetics wise, this game is a treat. Under the surface of those beautiful sprites though, the gameplay tends to become a bit of a drag. You have a fun physics based mechanic, but you don't really have much control of it. Combine a very basic move set, a lacking of enemy variety and level/enemy design that's made to slightly annoy you rather than test your skill, and you're left with a game that's unfulfilling. And that's a shame, because parts of this game can be trip! But I guess it's hard to find a pulse when your gameplay is only so skin deep.

... That word play breaks down under scrutiny, I know.

I loved Clan of the Gray Wolf as a kid, thankful he introduced me properly to BS Zelda, but he told one of the greatest lies in all of Gaming Youtube when he said this game is extremely well-polished.

This is the game where your jump kick has I-Frames for the entire 1-2 second animation. You can use this to trivialize the first part of the final boss

This is the game where every time you press the Volteccer button uncharged you get like 2 whole seconds of invincibility for no reason. The cooldown time for pressing the Volteccer button again and refreshing the invincibility is shorter than the invincibility period. You bet your ass you can abuse this for boss quickkills, walking on spikes, and anything else you can think of

This is the game where jumping while rocking the D-Pad after skidding can make Pulseman zip all the way across the screen. It's fairly easy to do, you can abuse it in speedruns of course, but you'll prolly do it accidentally during the first Stage 3 boss as well

This is the game where you have to platform on small triangle surfaces during Stage 3

This is the game with some unbearable underwater mechanics and that horrific stupid-ass tube descent section in Stage 6 which gave me so much pain and frustration as a 12 year old

This is the game with that section of Stage 5 where the Penguins are extremely tough to react to and legitimately spawn out of thin air, like you can actually see it happen for yourself.

It's like a lot of Pokemon games really. Pulseman is a broken fucking mess if you really try play it deeply, but damnit this game's just fun and charming and super duper unique. But you already know the graphics are a beautiful headache-inducing fever dream, the soundtrack is some killer electronic tunes, and the game has some really iconic moments, like the rival fight whose theme sounds like the Gen 2 Rival theme, the casino, the arcade game that, once you beat it leads to the super minimalist depths of a computer, and the 2nd room of Stage 4 is scary as hell wtf. Oh, and lots of Pokemon references !_!

Lately people have been mad that we keep letting Game Freak get away with their releases. I havent bought a new Pokemon game since Sun/Moon (which I loved, and I still play Showdown mind you), but the truth is, Game Freak has ALWAYS been getting away with it.

Nunca pensei que jogaria essa joia esquecida, e aqui estou eu, por culpa da SAGE 2022 que apresentou um fangame PROMISSOR DEMAIS sobre essa perola, decidi jogar.

Primeiramente, Pulseman tem uma gameplay muito única, acho que funcionaria BEM DEMAIS se lançasse um remake ou sequencia hoje em dia, principalmente com os controles atualizados. Da pra criar uns bagulhos muito louco no jeito que a gente controla.

A parte visual do jogo é a melhor coisa dele (junto com a gameplay). O jogo abraça o abstrato e o surrealismo de uma forma maravilhosa. É maluco, surreal, lindo e com certeza matou alguém de epilepsia porque puta que pariu esse jogo é louco. O jeito que ele mexe com a tela é mo daora também, principalmente no boss final.

Meu problema é com o level design e algumas escolhas questionaveis. O level design e o posicionamento dos inimigos é muito injusto, e o Pulseman é um cara muito rapido e que morre facilmente com 3 golpes, ou seja, tu vai morrer muito. Pra piorar, o level design é muito cansativo, tem várias fases que usam bem a mecanica do jogo, com algumas gimmicks interessantes, mas a maioria só fica chata da metade pra frente, principalmente algumas que mexem um pouco com labirinto.

O segundo problema, o tamanho das fases, elas são ENORMES e pra piorar tem checkpoints bem mal colocados (com o bonus do jogo ter continues, ou seja, boa sorte). Os bosses se destacam por serem bem legais, mesmo que os checkpoints também ferrem alguns deles.

Enfim, Pulseman é uma experiencia daora, não diria que é um bom jogo, mas é um jogo único.

Pretty unique mega drive platformer. Visually looks fantastic for the system, everything is colorful and the art style is great, the game could visually easily pass off as a sega CD game honestly. The gameplay itself is basic platformin fare, with a charge gimmick where running for a while builds static electricity and then you can either have a charged up regular attack or move around better with the volt tackle, which bounces off of certain objects. The level design is just kinda eh but really this games more about the vibes anyways. Deffo give a shot if you have the means to play it.

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If this is true, then Capcom’s Mega Man should be humbled by Pulseman. While Konami’s flagship franchises paved their way into gaming royalty on Nintendo’s consoles, their third-party status meant they weren’t contractually obligated to commit 100% of their properties to the SNES. Konami dabbled in playing for both sides in the 16-bit console wars, releasing exemplary exclusive titles of their franchises on the Genesis such as Castlevania: Bloodlines and Contra: Hard Corps. Capcom, on the other hand, did not do the same for Mega Man, for the extensive number of titles on the NES and the neo-spinoff Mega Man X on the SNES signified that Nintendo had Mega Man wrapped around their finger. Sega felt deprived of a Mega Man exclusive, so they enlisted future Pokemon developer Game Freak to craft something supplementary enough so Genesis owners wouldn’t be tempted by the allure of Mega Man on the SNES and switch systems. Unfortunately, Pulseman never made it overseas, or at least not in physical form. During the Genesis era, Sega showcased something called the “Sega Channel” which featured Pulseman for a limited time on a streaming service like a primitive Netflix. After its western availability over a decade after its release, Pulseman hasn’t been graced with a second wind of praise, and it’s not hard to see why not.

Let us first examine the Kirkland-brand Mega Man that Sega have created for their console. Pulseman already sounds like a scrapped Mega Man robot boss, so Sega clearly did their homework in the naming department. Pulseman is however not a robot built by a jolly old scientist to protect their futuristic society from evil. Pulseman is a half-breed cyborg; the love child of a man and his procedurally-generated AI, which is as Japanese as an origin story comes by. However, Pulseman’s human half is irrelevant to his gameplay. Pulseman cannot acquire the attributes of his enemies, for he specializes in the power of electricity. Pulseman’s base attack is an electric smack that must be performed in close range, but he can also compensate for his lack of range by creating static by moving. Once Pulseman gains enough momentum, a volt of static will encompass his entire body with a charged sound accompanying it. If the player presses the attack button, Pulseman will turn the static into a short-ranged projectile attack. By pressing another button on the controller, Pulseman will use this additional energy to create a volt ball. With this move, Pulseman will precariously rocket across the map, ricocheting off of every surface in his path. He can also use this move to be carried along with the current of various wires used to traverse through various levels. For not having a diverse arsenal that grows with progress like Mega Man, Pulseman’s moveset still manages to be dynamic and inventive while being practical for both traversal and dealing with enemies.

The Mega Man comparisons are even more warranted regarding the levels. Capcom’s franchise pioneered the concept of a seamless level select, and people are bound to draw comparisons between any game that also features this. In a game like Pulseman where the Mega Man influences are tremendously apparent, it’s almost an obligation to feature this sort of level selection. Naturally, Pulseman does incorporate this, but there are a few key differences. For one, the levels are not themed around the end bosses, but a diverse range of real world locations. Japan is depicted as a sterile metropolis, India as a jungle, and the USA is specifically located in Nevada around Las Vegas. Sega sure does love casino levels, don’t they? Three more levels are unlocked after completing those three in whichever order, an unconventional form of progression compared to Mega Man whose levels are all available from the start. Perhaps the developers thought unlocking the other half of the game at a certain point was a more satisfying progression point, but the unlocked levels aren’t any more difficult than the former three. Regardless, Thailand, Alaska, and Australia each have their level theme like the previous levels. Unique level theming is something I’m a sucker for, but the standout aspect of each level is art direction. I’ve stated that each level is a 16-bit depiction of a real-world location, but I neglected to specify that the levels are a liberal rendition of these locations. Game Freak’s artistic efforts have formulated a consistent meld of what can only be described as Tron on an ayahuasca trip, contrasting the primal and the futuristic. The dazzling visuals are undoubtedly striking, but the harsh, seizure-inducing lights indicate a wilder era of gaming that didn’t give a rat’s ass about the sensitivities of others.

As I played Pulseman, the Mega Man comparisons slightly dwindled, and the game started to remind me more of Sonic the Hedgehog. Sega might see this sentence and beam with pride at the notion that their Mega Man clone is up to par with their spiky, blue pride and joy, but I mean it as anything but a compliment. Sonic’s core complication is that his speed is impractical for a 2D platformer, even if the roundabout level design in his games somewhat suits his swift nature to some extent. Pulseman reveals itself not to be a carbon-copy of Mega Man but a hybrid of Mega Man and Sonic. It’s a hybrid as unholy as Pulseman himself because it doesn’t work. Because of Sonic’s speed, enemies are placed sparingly, and at least the plentiful amount of rings acts as a fair system for receiving damage. On the other hand, Mega Man is a more action-intensive 2D platformer that provides a steady health bar for dealing with multiple enemies. Pulseman attempts to integrate those elements, but it fails in execution. Pulseman has acceleration issues like Sonic, in which moving too quickly will cause his premature demise. Pulseman can afford to be more patient than Sonic, but this will often happen due to Pulseman’s need to generate static through movement. Enemies are sparse in Pulseman to avoid constant collisions, but the levels are designed more with Mega Man in mind. This design philosophy makes each level feel rather uninvolved as both action and platforming are relatively minimal. I can be thankful for some degree because the developers decided it would be imperative to grant Pulseman with only three measly health points. Pulseman also adopts Sonic’s vexing “trial and error” difficulty, so the player is expected to memorize the level layout and die countless times in the process. It’s incredibly unfair in Sonic, and the parameters presented in Pulseman make it even more egregious.

Once the player manages to endure the repetitive trials in Pulseman, each level comes with a boss to conquer. No, they are not fellow cyborgs represented by a gimmick with the title “man” in their names. However, technology and its corrupting influence are consistent with Pulseman’s formidable foes. Pulseman’s main antagonist is the boy’s father, a man who has been corrupted by the virtual world that has turned him into a futuristic evil scientist hellbent on world domination. His motives and appearance scream Dr. Wily, but his boss encounters highlight plenty of influence from Sega’s own Dr. Robotnik. Besides the big, maniacal cheese running the operation, Pulseman’s other bosses were the clear standout among the game’s other aspects. Whether fighting against the titanium sphere or the giant, unrendered arm, Pulseman’s bosses are as uniquely designed as their respective levels and require clever tactics to defeat. A personal highlight is the boss of the Alaska stage, another cyborg with darker armor that mirrors Pulseman in every way. The barrage of the ball move during his fight is like a sporadic, high-voltage (no pun intended) duel similar to Dark Link in the Zelda games.

The sad thing about Pulseman is that it isn’t almost good: the game is almost great. One would expect a game that unabashedly apes the foundation of one of old-school gaming’s most popular franchises to be shallow and derivative. Still, there are plenty of distinctive elements to Pulseman that greatly discern it from its obvious inspiration. Pulseman’s electrifying moves make him a wholly different force of nature from Capcom’s blue, arm-cannoned wonder, and Mega Man’s stages have never been as visually staggering. Sega, however, couldn’t help but implement Sonic as an intrusive influence that dilutes and complicates the gameplay to a fundamentally broken degree. I’m starting to think that Sonic’s gameplay foibles aren’t unique to him but are simply Sega’s signature, flawed philosophy for every other 2D platformer they’ve created. The catch-22, however, is that all the conspicuous elements from the blue blur are what make Pulseman discernable from the blue bomber. Pulseman is a game that ends up being as unnatural a hybrid as the game’s protagonist. A sequel would’ve most likely refined the formula significantly, but it’s far too late for Sega to export any effort into a game they evidently never had much faith in at the start.

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Attribution: https://erockreviews.blogspot.com

Go Pulseman! Go out and zap to the extreme!

I'm going to disappoint some people but I really didn't care for Pulseman. I mean, the graphics, art direction and music are all top notch but the actual level design just can't keep up, even feeling like an afterthought. Sometimes the levels are way too barren, sometimes they are way too cramped, everything just feels very basic and block-like in design with very little actual challenge. As something to look at, its stellar, but the reality is gameplay wise, it's a pretty basic platform game. It does feel like, at least to me, that Pulseman is 100% carried on its aesthetics, developer legacy, and lack of real release outside Japan. Unfortunately average.

How is this not a masterpiece? Released in the end-of-life of the Sega Genesis by GameFreak, 2 years prior to the release of their famous "Pokémon" series, Pulseman has all the elements of what could have been a successful brand, with amazing concept art and flawless execution, a graphical style, and style far ahead of its time, reminding us of a "Gameboy Advance" title rather than something out of a late-80s console. Perhaps GameFreak has always had a flair for innovative games. Unfortunately, this one massively flew under the radar, perhaps due to being an exclusive for the "Sega Channel" in 1995. In this title, a young hero, "Pulseman", must defeat his father - the tragic Doc Yoshiyama - gone mad from his loved creation, the artificial intelligence known as the C-Life. The game features amazing cutscenes and seven bosses battles spread across a good, no-baloney one-hour of frantic gameplay. The game clearly draws inspiration from the Astro Boy and Mega Man media and has an overall Osamu Tezuka feel to it that you just can't ignore.