Developer: Capcom Publisher: Xing Entertainment Released: April 2, 1998 Genre: Compilation
I loved Capcom’s Three Wonders in the arcade. Released before the fighting game boom would take over the arcade it offered three enjoyable titles in one convenient package. But although I liked the game I did not have the chance to play it as much as I would have liked; the only store that had it was pretty far out of my way. Although I hoped it would come to the Genesis or SNES it stayed in the arcade that was probably for the best as the later PlayStation and Saturn versions are arcade perfect. Though import only Arcade Gears: Three Wonders is a great bundle of fun.
The title alludes to the fact that Three Wonders is actually three separate games in different genres. Midnight Wanderers is an action platformer along the lines of Gunstar Heroes (to be fair this came first in 1991), Chariot is a scrolling shooter, and Don’t Pull is a puzzle game similar to Pengo. It is an odd mix made even stranger still as Don’t Pull does not share the same characters as the other two and comes across as the odd man out. Each title in Three Wonders could have been a separate release on its own with a little more work. The fact that you get them all in one gives excellent value for your money.
Midnight Wanderers is the star of this package. Essentially this is Ghouls ‘n Ghosts starring elves. The two hit point system is present, you lose your clothes when hit and you even find power-ups in treasure chests that appear randomly. Thankfully our heroes Lou and Siva are more agile than Arthur and can climb most any surface. Midnight Wanderers has a large selection of power-ups, from tiny summons to four different primary weapons. Unlike the game that inspired it you can rack up extra lives easily by collecting cards dropped by enemies. You will need them as it shares a bit of GnG’s difficulty.
This is a faster paced game than Ghouls ‘n Ghosts and just as good in my opinion. Each of the game’s five levels is full of all manner of imaginative scenery and such. From the Jules Verne inspired airships of stage two to the twisted toy land of its final full level Midnight Wanderers feels endlessly creative for what amounts to a minigame in a three game set. I say minigame but in reality this feels fully fleshed out. Every stage has two distinct halves with a mid-boss and end boss. You could totally take Midnight Wanderers out of Three Wonders and it would stand on its own. But as the signature title of this compilation it serves as a nice introduction to this world. Shame Capcom never expanded on it.
Chariot takes the characters from Midnight Wanderers and places them in a shooter. While it would be easy to dismiss this as a sub-game Chariot is a complete title. Siva and Lou can choose between wide beams or a more powerful force shot. The most unique is Chariot’s take on options. You can collect up to seven but these do not follow your movements. Instead they form a tail that can absorb bullets and damage enemies. In addition you can temporarily sacrifice an option to fire a more powerful shot. They regenerate after a few seconds but the trade-off in power makes for some good strategy.
As a whole Chariot is solid but you can see how they cut corners. The game reuses a good chunk of the art from Midnight Wanderers, from enemies to bosses. It recycles the same three backgrounds with slight palette changes. It sucks as what new art they did create is fantastic. Nearly all of the bosses are new and based on the Zodiac. These fights are intense and makes me wish that amount of attentions were lavished on the rest of Chariot. While I admit it is pretty cool seeing the same characters in a vaguely new setting it does come across a little cheap.
Don’t Pull is the runt of the litter. The gameplay is simple: the goal of each stage is to kill all enemies by squashing between two blocks. You can kick any block on screen and if nothing is in its path it will slide until it hits a wall or leaves the boundary of the stage. Technically you can walk outside of the map but there are boulders that roam constantly that will more than likely kill you. There are bomb blocks that explode on contact and heart blocks that when combined net big score bonuses.
There is a solid foundation but Don’t Pull is incredibly limited overall. It has only two enemies, bouncing jelly beans and fire breathing dragons. The maps change and are at times very clever but you are still facing the same two enemies over the game’s thirty-two levels. The difficulty curve is also extremely high. You have a very brief window to smash all enemies before they go berserk and actively hunt you down. I am not joking about how small that window is and it makes the game extremely not fun. After about ten levels I couldn’t stand it anymore and moved on.
In Conclusion
Arcade Gears: Three Wonders is a great package overall and its multi-genre setup offers something for everyone. I was worried nostalgia may have clouded my memories but that is not the case. It has some slight warts but in the end I would say Three Wonders has held up over the years. Don’t let this arcade classic pass you by.
