Developer: Sting Publisher: Taito Release: 06/94 Genre: Platformer
Taito did an amazing job creating good platformers around the Hanna Barbera properties during the 8 and 16-bit eras. I freely admit I had low expectations for these games yet time and time again they proved me wrong with mechanically sound games that were incredibly enjoyable. I was particularly impressed with the Jetsons: Cogswell’s Caper; they made me give a damn about a property I tolerated more than enjoyed. They would continue the streak with Invasion of the Planet Pirates, a game that combines the mechanics of a Treasure title with good level design to be better than the sum of its parts.
The Jetsons: Invasion of the Planet Pirates goes pretty deep for its story. Zora, the leader of a band of space pirates called SPREE (Space Pirates Reveling in Evil Enterprises) who rob and pillage planets of their resources has set her sights on Earth. Captain Zoom has done his best to stop them but is too drained from their last encounter. He enlists George Jetson to battle the space pirates in his place and gives him the Pneumo Osmatic Precipitator or P.O.P. to assist in the task.
There is an interesting bit of history with regards to Invasion of the Planet Pirates. The game was created for the US market first. A year later Kadokawa Shoten enlisted developer Sting to retool the game using their mascot Ruka to promote their magazine Marukatsu Super Famicom. Yōkai Buster: Ruka no Daibōken is largely the same game with identical mechanics. However the setting, levels, and bosses are all brand new. There are a number of changes that make it play better such as a tutorial that explains the various uses of the P.O.P, more focused level design, and redesigns of the some of the more frustrating bosses. It is worth playing both games; while they are similar there are enough differences to make the experience feel unique.
The P.O.P. is the main mechanic of the entire game. Essentially a portable vacuum cleaner the P.O.P. can suck up items or enemies and blocks to use offensively. George cannot slide but can use the P.O.P. to drag himself through tight passages. Mainly however you will use it to assist in platforming. The P.O.P. can stick to walls and ceilings allowing George to become a nimble yet clumsy looking platforming superstar. It is even more versatile than that; while underwater it is a scuba tank. Any time you suck in enemies or other such objects George can only hold his breath for so long like Sonic, a nice touch.
Considering the P.O.P. is the crux of the game Sting and Taito have done a good job creating a varied set of scenarios to play around with it. At first the level design seems straightforward but if you pay attention there are many opportunities to deviate from the main path to find items and such. Sure you could use your suction to climb around a wall to collect that heart. But why not position yourself closer and vacuum it through the wall instead? I love the diverse ways Planet Pirates calls on you to use the P.O.P. although its implementation is not perfect. The game becomes too adventurous at times leading to confusing maps. It also calls on sticking to ceilings constantly and the controls for this are questionable leading to cheap deaths. As annoying as it is I will never fault a developer for daring to be interesting.
The difficulty curve in Invasion of the Planet Pirates is surprisingly high. By the midpoint the level design suffers under its complexity. Cheap enemy placement and instant death pits become common and the slippery controls don’t help. While most standard enemies are pushovers there are some that frustrated me to no end. Life restoring hearts become rare and there are few checkpoints. The boss battles see the biggest spike. The patterns are simple but they have a lot of health and small vulnerability windows leading to drawn out battles that are tedious. The flying cat of stage four in particular is egregiously bad. The boss rush and subsequent multi-part final battle tested my patience like few others. I do not mind a big challenge as long as it is fair. That does not apply here. This is the one area Yōkai Buster benefits from the extra year of development.
In Closing
The Jetsons: Invasion of the Planet Pirates is another solid adventure starring the popular futuristic family. I am continually impressed with the work Taito put in with this license as well as the Flintstones. While other publishers were content to do the bare minimum in hopes of cashing in Taito were crafting underrated gold with such old characters that is far better than the generic mascot trash at the time. Fun mechanics and good level design make this a hidden gem.
