Developer: Affect Publisher: Seta Release: 1993 Genre: Puzzle
Taito’s Qix is one of the few Gameboy games I played at release. I never owned the handheld myself but appreciated it from afar. Qix, much like Tetris seemed tailor made for quick pick up and play sessions with its addicting gameplay. It also inspired a number of clones, one of those being Cacoma Knight in Bizyland. This is as underrated as a game can get; even now most still don’t know it exists. Cacoma Knight may be frustrating at times but it is a nice little hidden gem in the SNES library and worth tracking down.
Although I was not as familiar with every developer back in the day I immediately knew Cacoma Knight came from the same studio as Kendo Rage based on its cutscenes and art. The game’s wacky premise sees Bizyland, a once bright and happy place, turned into a dismal and dark land by Queen Wagamama. As if that weren’t enough the princess has also been kidnapped. King Cacoma calls on the player to save the princess and restore Bizyland to its former glory. While it may sound like an action RPG in the making Cacoma Knight is essentially Qix with a story.
As much as I do not want to constantly make the comparison it is unavoidable. Cacoma Knight is Taito’s Qix in everything but name. For those not familiar the mechanics are very simple. You have a choice of three characters that play slightly differently but perform the same function. Using your magic chalk you draw an outline that follows you. Drawing a complete square will restore that part of the land, with each stage requiring a different qualifying percentage to move on. Squares can be as big and small as you like. When completing a massive square (such as half the board) the smaller half fills in. Occasionally you uncover power-ups although they are few in number. You will mostly get by on your ability to draw as fast as possible.
While simple in concept the game throws in a number of factors to make it exciting. Danger comes in the form of enemies and obstacles. If either touch your outline before it is complete you die. Some enemies are indestructible and you must work around them. Others are very aggressive and will follow your patterns to catch you. While it is possible to kill most enemies they respawn within seconds anyway, making it fruitless. Balancing avoiding enemies and judging how large of a square you want to draw at any given moment is what makes Cacoma Knight incredibly addictive. Although the single player campaign is short it is one hell of a ride.
For the most part Cacoma Knight has a smooth difficulty curve. The initial rounds ease you into the mechanics with incredibly low stakes. Some might even say they are too easy depending on the character. As you progress they introduce aggressive enemies that add more excitement to such a simple concept. That balance is almost completely ruined toward the end however. In the later rounds where you need 70% or higher completion it devolves from being exciting to frustrating. So many enemies patrol each stage that most of the time you won’t even see how you died. It becomes bad enough that the game is no longer fun at that point. I should have been ecstatic at finally completing the final set of levels but was so angry that I was happier that it was finally over.
Outside of the insanity of its final levels Cacoma Knight isn’t a particularly long game. Multiplayer saves the game however. Tackling the single player campaign with a friend is insanely fun, to the point I almost feel as though they balance the late game around it. But even more fun than that is two-player versus. I never owned Cacoma Knight but rented it often enough that I probably should have just bought it. For a title that I didn’t expect much of its multiplayer was just as entertaining as Super Bomberman. That is high praise in my opinion.
In Closing
Cacoma Knight is a hidden gem in the SNES library and a solid puzzle game. It rips off Qix wholesale but when has originality ever mattered when it comes to video games? It is a bit pricey as it has the lowest profile imaginable but if you find it cheap go for it.
