Going into one of the random games that Capcom just happened to re-release in their Arcade Stadium is always an interesting time, because you have a good idea of what you are going to get, but there is always an unknown factor to them. You can take a pretty accurate guess on how the game will look, play, sound, and feel based on when it was released, what genre it is in, what setting it has, and so on, because a lot of them do tend to be extremely similar to each other. Although, there always seems to be a unique element that is exclusive to one of each of these games that makes them stand out, and therefore, interesting and exciting to check out. This just so happens to be the case with Tiger Road, another title that is pretty unassuming on the surface, but when you dive into it, it has some interesting features that I did end up really liking, and I wish they were in more games like this. These features, however, don’t ultimately save it, as it isn’t anything more than just being an ok arcade platformer, one that can be fun for a little bit, but nothing further than that.
The story is pretty generic and a little inventive at the same time, with the village Oh-Lin being attacked by the Dragon God Ryuken, who then kidnap all of the children from the village, so it is up to the master Lee Wong to defeat these warriors and save the children from their doom, which is a fine enough plot for this type of game, and the dialogue does help give the character’s some personality (even if they are a flat as paper). The graphics look pretty much exactly like you would expect from a Capcom arcade game at the time, having a very similar style to Ghosts ‘n Goblins and Trojan, but for what it is worth, it is still good to look at, the music is good, sounding appropriate for the setting it takes place in, but not being too memorable apart from one or two tracks, the control is fairly simple, although the jumping mechanics can take some getting used to, and the gameplay is fairly straightforward, while changing things up slightly to not make it feel too much like just another arcade game to add to the list.
The game is a 2D hack ‘n slash platformer, where you take control of Lee Wong, go through five different levels, four of them you can go in whatever order you want, use your trusty weapon to take out many different enemies that will cross your path and try to stop you on your quest, gather plenty of different weapons, health items, and powerups to give you an advantage against your foes along the way, take on several bonus stages in-between levels to test your worth as a master of the Tiger Technique, and take on plenty of bosses that will also provide a challenge, testing you to see how fast you can spam your attack button before they go down. All in all, the gameplay is what plenty are familiar with at this point, but it can still be fun from time to time, and the weapons you get are decent and varied enough to where you want to experiment with them. It also helps that the powerups do progressively make you feel stronger as you keep going.
Speaking of feeling stronger, that is one key aspect of Tiger Road that sets it apart from others like it: the bonus stages aren’t a complete waste of time! In most arcade games around this point, most bonus stages are simply there to just give you more points, and while that can help in getting the top high scores (you know, for those of you who care about that sort of thing), they don’t really do much else to add to the game. In this game though, the bonus stages actually serve a purpose, with them all being different in what you do, and whenever you do complete them successfully, you receive some sort of upgrade, such as more health or a more powerful weapon. This is how all bonus stages in arcade games should play out, as not only do you want to get these upgrades for what you could potentially face further down the road, but the upgrades themselves are extremely useful, such as getting double the attack power and having an attack that sends out a tiger to attack enemies. How can you not wanna hold onto that skill for as long as possible? In addition to this, they also manage to mix up the gameplay at times, with most of it taking place on foot, but then there are points where you will fly around a room and defend yourself against foes while trying to move forward, and these segments are enjoyable whenever they pop up.
Aside from that though, there isn’t much else the game has going for it that others haven’t done much better. It is a pretty typical platformer for the most part, and what doesn’t help this out much is that it is also a typical arcade game as well, carrying the regular problems they come with like arcade syndrome and repeating bosses. In addition to this, there are also the little problems that also add up at times, such as having items that you can grab that TAKE AWAY health instead of giving you more (fuck you too, Capcom), a jump that feels like it belongs in Castlevania rather then this game, and one boss in particular being one that drains ALL of your health away whenever it touches you. Because you know, all of that is totally fair in a game like this.
Overall, despite having several creative ideas in play here, ones that I wish were more common in arcade titles, I can’t really recommend Tiger Road based on those factors alone. It doesn’t do much else to distinguish itself from other, much better titles that were out at the time, and the problems that I did mention earlier can add on and make the experience more frustrating or undesirable. I guess I could recommend it for those who like Capcom’s other old-school arcade titles, or even those who like any arcade platformer, but for everyone else, you have plenty of other options to choose from. And I can’t think of any joke to end this review off with…. Uh….. hey look, it’s a funny video, WOAH, where did that come from?! I’m bad at my job.
Game #465
The story is pretty generic and a little inventive at the same time, with the village Oh-Lin being attacked by the Dragon God Ryuken, who then kidnap all of the children from the village, so it is up to the master Lee Wong to defeat these warriors and save the children from their doom, which is a fine enough plot for this type of game, and the dialogue does help give the character’s some personality (even if they are a flat as paper). The graphics look pretty much exactly like you would expect from a Capcom arcade game at the time, having a very similar style to Ghosts ‘n Goblins and Trojan, but for what it is worth, it is still good to look at, the music is good, sounding appropriate for the setting it takes place in, but not being too memorable apart from one or two tracks, the control is fairly simple, although the jumping mechanics can take some getting used to, and the gameplay is fairly straightforward, while changing things up slightly to not make it feel too much like just another arcade game to add to the list.
The game is a 2D hack ‘n slash platformer, where you take control of Lee Wong, go through five different levels, four of them you can go in whatever order you want, use your trusty weapon to take out many different enemies that will cross your path and try to stop you on your quest, gather plenty of different weapons, health items, and powerups to give you an advantage against your foes along the way, take on several bonus stages in-between levels to test your worth as a master of the Tiger Technique, and take on plenty of bosses that will also provide a challenge, testing you to see how fast you can spam your attack button before they go down. All in all, the gameplay is what plenty are familiar with at this point, but it can still be fun from time to time, and the weapons you get are decent and varied enough to where you want to experiment with them. It also helps that the powerups do progressively make you feel stronger as you keep going.
Speaking of feeling stronger, that is one key aspect of Tiger Road that sets it apart from others like it: the bonus stages aren’t a complete waste of time! In most arcade games around this point, most bonus stages are simply there to just give you more points, and while that can help in getting the top high scores (you know, for those of you who care about that sort of thing), they don’t really do much else to add to the game. In this game though, the bonus stages actually serve a purpose, with them all being different in what you do, and whenever you do complete them successfully, you receive some sort of upgrade, such as more health or a more powerful weapon. This is how all bonus stages in arcade games should play out, as not only do you want to get these upgrades for what you could potentially face further down the road, but the upgrades themselves are extremely useful, such as getting double the attack power and having an attack that sends out a tiger to attack enemies. How can you not wanna hold onto that skill for as long as possible? In addition to this, they also manage to mix up the gameplay at times, with most of it taking place on foot, but then there are points where you will fly around a room and defend yourself against foes while trying to move forward, and these segments are enjoyable whenever they pop up.
Aside from that though, there isn’t much else the game has going for it that others haven’t done much better. It is a pretty typical platformer for the most part, and what doesn’t help this out much is that it is also a typical arcade game as well, carrying the regular problems they come with like arcade syndrome and repeating bosses. In addition to this, there are also the little problems that also add up at times, such as having items that you can grab that TAKE AWAY health instead of giving you more (fuck you too, Capcom), a jump that feels like it belongs in Castlevania rather then this game, and one boss in particular being one that drains ALL of your health away whenever it touches you. Because you know, all of that is totally fair in a game like this.
Overall, despite having several creative ideas in play here, ones that I wish were more common in arcade titles, I can’t really recommend Tiger Road based on those factors alone. It doesn’t do much else to distinguish itself from other, much better titles that were out at the time, and the problems that I did mention earlier can add on and make the experience more frustrating or undesirable. I guess I could recommend it for those who like Capcom’s other old-school arcade titles, or even those who like any arcade platformer, but for everyone else, you have plenty of other options to choose from. And I can’t think of any joke to end this review off with…. Uh….. hey look, it’s a funny video, WOAH, where did that come from?! I’m bad at my job.
Game #465