Developer: Taito Publisher: Taito Release: 08/03/90 Genre: Action
Taito were one of the earliest publishers to support the PC Engine in Japan. As such they graced the system with many great arcade ports with Ninja Spirit being one of my favorites. While NEC would bring some of their output overseas they left a lot of the good stuff in Japan. Jigoku Meguri is a somewhat obscure arcade release that most probably have never heard of. It’s a shame too as it’s a pretty good action title that would have added some much needed variety to the Turbo Grafx-16 library.
The King of Hell, Enma has lost his marbles. Literally. With his sanity gone the Underworld is in chaos with evil spirits running rampant. Bonze Kackremboh is tasked with finding Enma in Hell to restore order and maybe kill some yokai along the way. Jigoku Meguri was released in US arcades as Bonze Adventure which is an odd title but is quite literal. Most who have heard of it probably did so through the Taito Legends 2 compilation. I myself will admit I ignored it as I thought the title was a misspelling of Bonk’s Adventure. It was a pleasant surprise to find out it was different title and a good one at that.
The easiest way to describe Jigoku Meguri is Ghosts ‘n Goblins starring a Buddhist monk. There are plenty of similarities. The games have the same pace, you find objects hidden in the environment by shooting them and some of the enemies are the same. They even have a map showing your progress to the end of the game just like Capcom’s classic. However the Yokai theme gives the game a unique hook and more enemy variety than you would expect. To say nothing of the weapon of choice.
Mala, or prayer beads are your primary but these are not your ordinary beads. These start out small but grow in size with every power-up collected until they are the size of your character. Beads come in multiple colors with different elemental powers. Red is fire, purple is lightning, and green is earth. By default they do not possess any other properties. But by holding down and pressing attack you can unleash a powerful spell unique to each color. Unfortunately this sacrifices one level of attack power and if used too much will leave you with the default blue orbs that are small and weak. There are numerous secondary items such as extra lives, points, and invincibility. Most items reside in breakable headstones but can also be found by hitting parts of the environment, taking a page from Capcom’s game.
Jigoku Meguri urges you to move at a measured pace. Enemy placement is deliberate and Bonze is not the most nimble protagonist. The control is not as rigid as the game it takes after but care still needs to be taken with every step. There is a fair bit of platforming and luckily the control is up to the task making it a welcome addition to gameplay. The various levels of Hell make for a varied journey as it isn’t all fire and brimstone. They use the Yokai source material for a large number of creepy and unique enemies. Oddly enough there are only three boss battles which to some will be a blessing in disguise. But they are memorable, especially the final two but unfortunately for the wrong reasons.
Overall Jigoku Meguri is has a medium difficulty. Even though you die in a single hit with a little patience the game is easily manageable. The mala beads at full power are a little too powerful and allow you to mow through enemies. Even though there is a time limit I forgot it was present as there is only one level where it potentially becomes a factor. This keeps up until the final three levels where is a dramatic spike in difficulty. The game suddenly employs every cheap trick in the book which, considering this was originally an arcade game, I guess should not have been a surprise. But it still comes out of left field and saps a lot of fun out of it. The final battles are something else; you will need the patience of a saint to see the end of this one.
In Closing
Jigoku Meguri is an underrated gem and a solid action title. I did not know what to expect with this one and it surprised me. As a port Taito have done an excellent job. As a game it was pretty good to begin with. Its low profile means it is cheap and worth the price of purchase in my opinion.
