One of the first game I ever have the memory playing was DK: King of Swing for the GBA. A Donkey kong apinoff that takes the gameplay formula of CLu Clu Land and kind of expands upon it.

So it was my main curiosity to check out the OG and.... yeah it is kind of a divisve title for a reason.

Don't get me wrong: I ADORE how Bubbles moves. Once you get the hang of the weird movement and grabs, you feels like a young fish swimming in the sea at high speed.

The main issue is that the map is less than a sea and more of a tiny fishbowl: the maps feels a little too cramped, full of invisible bouncing walls, claustrophobic wall, and 2 spiny enemies that are Items in Smash for some reason... I feel I was able to enjoy the fast and weird movement only on bonus stages, where you don't have all of these hazards to think about.

Not to mention that, compared to other arcade games like Pacman, the objective of each stage is kinda wierd: basically you gotta "draw" specific things by passing through certains zones of the map, that will glow once you pass through them..... the issue is that you never know what picutre you gotta "draw", and the images themselves don't even have a certain theme. SOmetimes you gotta draw a bird, or a submarine, or a smile.... and other times it's just a bunch of squares that don't really form anything "concrete"

I dunno, I hadn't the wost of times, but I can see why many peeps are not really into the Clu Clu Land..... at least some of its elements were able to survive in other games.

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.

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.

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!