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Hamster Thursday might�ve hit a snag, but Strange Anime License Friday rolls on! This
week, new friend of the show Kevin in NANTUCKET took time away from being the object of ***
limericks to send us the Game Gear version of CLAMP�s Magic Knight Rayearth, a touching
tale of three color-coded girls trying to rescue their industry-mandated cute mascot
animal thing. And, in a move that shocks absolutely NO ONE, it�s an RPG! Again, due to industry
mandate. So grab your... um, feathers... and put your persocom to sleep... Okay, so I�ve
run out of CLAMP references. Here�s some gameplay footage.
Sorry, I should�ve mentioned that you should take something for motion sickness before
watching this video. In a move that left me completely baffled, the mechanic for battle
timing boils down to... a roulette? A roulette where full-body sprites indicate recovery
from their last attack, and close-ups indicate readyness. You can speed up and slow down
the roulette, which I�m led to believe increases or decreases your attack power... I think.
In truth, Kevin from NANTUCKET didn�t include an instruction manual, and the game isn�t
big on telling you exactly how much damage you�re dealing, so it�s mostly intuition
and guesswork. As much as we might complain about interminable tutorials in this day and
age... frankly, I could�ve done with one right here. Regardless, the combat itself
reminds one of Final Fantasy�s ATB systems, with certain characters becoming active at
different times instead of taking one solid turn. That�s pretty decent, for 1994 on
the Game Gear. What�s not decent, though, is the rate of random battles. If you ever
thought Pokemon was bad, this game will make you hug every Tentacool and Zubat you come
across. Behold: One step. ONE STEP.
But while the combat is fairly decent, the design of the quest is a bit questionable.
The first three types of enemies you face are the same exact sprite, with a different
number stuck on their forehead. Get past a forest of those jerks, and you get to a village
where you fight the SAME DUDE SEVEN TIMES IN A ROW. And you thought those freakin�
moles in EarthBound were bad. Still, if you can stomach the constant spinning, it�s
a pretty fair experience, and can be used as a placeholder if, like me, you�re still
selling off internal organs in hopes of obtaining the US release of Magic Knight Rayearth for
the Saturn. So. Anyone need a kidney or three?