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Hello, my name is Doofy Doo, and this is a Doofy Doo Talk Through of one of my favorite
games of all time. Not just a great console Roguelike, although it is generally considred
the best console Roguelike, not even just a great Roguelike, a great game period. I
speak of course of Mystery Dungeon 2: Shiren the Wanderer, developed by Chunsoft way back
in 1995 for the Super Famicom. It was finally released in the west in the remake form on
the DS in 2008. I'll be playing the remake that takes what was was already a legendary
game, and really polishes it to perfection. You might be familiar with some of the other
mystery dungeon games, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon being the most popular, this game is really
in another league. I mean, those are good games; Chunsoft has made some good games - they
made the first five Dragon Quest games, Dragon Quest IV, one of my favorite RPGs of all time.
This is the pinnacle of their output. It's a perfect mix of the original Rogue on the
PC and classic JRPGs of the 90's. Just as a sidenote, this isn't gonna be one of those
Let's Plays where I read everything on the screen. If that upsets you... I don't know
what to say - I think it might be time to learn how to read. This could be your year,
you can do it, but... not a big deal, not a whole lot of story to Shiren the Wanderer.
Big, mysterious mountain... shaped like a ***, although it does have a groove in the
middle, like a ***. What's it supposed to be? Some kind of... vagenis? Let's climb
to the top and find out! I'm pretty sure that's the story. As I said before, my name is Doofy
Doo, and I will your host through the awesome wonderland that is Shiren the Wanderer. If
you've played a lot of Roguelikes, you'll feel right at home with this game. If you
have not played a true Roguelike... it's gonna be a crazy ride. And let's get started, with
a cutscene about The Legendary Golden Chicken. The Golden Chicken of Legend amassed a great
fortune atop an... strangely shaped rock. If I may draw your attention to the face of
the Golden Chicken - clearly, she is being orally pleasured beneath the clouds somewhere.
This is what is looks like when a Golden Chicken climaxes - the chorus to a Prince song if
I'm not mistaken. And here we have our silent protagonist, hat from Big Trouble in Little
China, duffle sack from Street FIghter II... but wait! What's this? Something new? That's
right, there's a weasel in my pants! "Look up ahead Pants Weasel! Let's stand on this road
that looks like a strip of bacon and stare majestically outward in a vaguely Ninja Gaidenesque
cutscene." I think that's supposed to be the call of a hawk...maybe? "No, Pants Weasel,
I don't see a mountain - I do see a giant statue in the shape of a vagenis." The one
thing that's not quite as good in this remake is the sound because the Super Famicom and
the Super Nintendo had really legendary sound, when it came to orchestral and ambient music.
Techno music usually sounded a little better on the Genesis. Here we're meeting your
pants weasel, Koppa, who does all of the talking, and he has a little bit of an attitude because
he's from the 90's. It was pretty much law in the 90's that your games had to have some
kind of sarcastic talking animal. It started with Sonic, of course, but there was also
Bubsy the Bobcat - that guy wouldn't shut up... Aero the Acrobat, Crash Bandicoot. Later
that Night **** music* "No means no, Pants Weasel!" Tossing and turning, on this prickly
bed of hay... Shimmering vagenis mountain plus... wavering Golden Chicken of Legend
equals... brown and yellow... liquid, gooey... what even I don'tevenknowwhat'shappening "THE PAIN!"
Aww, it's just the sunlight - look at the attention to detail in that animation, Pants
Weasel stretching, rubbing the sleep out of your eyes, "What is it Pants Weasel? Little
Timmy fall in the creek?" Check out that lens flare on the top screen! That's some swanky,
retro 16-bit lens flare, I like it! "I slept well too Pants Weasel. Sure didn't have any
bizarre dreams about hermaphroditic mountains combining with Golden Chickens, wavering like
some LSD trip... nope, no dreams like that, that would be crazy!" And BAM! We're already
into the game. That's what I love about old games - they don't waste your time with like
twenty minutes of plot. This is the Tutorial level that's new for the remake. In general
the difficulty in the remake is broader, so it starts out pretty easy in this level that
it's almost impossible to die in - although I have, because I was being a huge ***
- and by the end, this game is much, much harder than the original. In particular the
best part of the game - Aww look, he's asleep. That's another new addition, they added some
sleeping animations to the enemies. In the original they just kind of stood there, frozen,
it was kind of weird... but, now they're asleep until you walk past them - yeah, the best
part of this game, Fay's Final Puzzle, is an order of magnitude more difficult and satisfying,
in my opinion, in this game because they removed the cheap trick that everyone used to use
to get through Fay's Final Puzzle in the original. The enemy design in Shiren in particular is
really top notch. If you look back to that first enemy I was fighting, the mamel which
is the slime equivalent - here's a couple of 'em - what... what exactly is that thing?
It like they took the head of a beaver... they, they chopped off the body and then sewed
the tail of a beaver back on the back of a head - a bouncing, disembodied beaver head.
I mean... h-how does that even ***? It's a mystery, another mystery for Shiren
the Wanderer. I'll go ahead and equip my wooden shield. Those sleeping animations are adorable!
And now I will punch it to death... beginning of the game I'm already *** bouncing beavers,
this game is so hard core! I don't even know what to say. You've probably noticed I'm exploring
the entire floor to soak up all this delicious loot and experience - that's important to
do. This second enemy always reminded me of uh, that Chicken Hawk guy from Foghorn Leghorn
cartoons, "I'm a Chicken Hawk," I hated that guy. "Boy I say, Boy," I always wanted Foghorn
to like, boot him across the chicken house. If you notice - here let me see if I can find
another one. There he is, he's got a little red mask and a cape like he's cosplaying Raphael
from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. "I wanna be Raphael, you always get to be Raphael!"
Oh, and here we come to our first palette swap, the Pit Mamel! A... Pit Mamel is what
happens when you take a regular Mamel and you toss it in that prison from Dark Knight
Rises. Leave it in there for a few years, let it destroy its own kind. "You don't know
the hell that beaver's been through!" *laughs* No, sometimes the enemies will kill another
enemy or... kill another person, and they level up so a Mamel would level up to a Pit
Mamel. Not a big difference in that case, just a different colored bouncing beaver head.
In other cases though, it makes a huuuuge difference, and an enemy can suddenly be completely
out of your league after leveling up one time. Here, I'm coming back to the most simple trap,
a wood arrow trap, just does a little bit of damage. Later traps get waaaaay more nasty.
In fact, a single trap can... potentially destroy hours and hours of painstaking gameplay.
Like any true Roguelike, if you die you're back to level 1, lose all your items, first
town. It's kind of like dying without any continues in a game like Super Mario Brothers.
If that level of difficulty does not appeal to you...then, you're probably not man enough
- or woman enough - to enjoy the awesomeness that is Shiren the Wanderer. But as long as
you learn something when you die - and most of the time you will - you will progress. Here
we see another thing borrowed from Rogue, if I uh - "Oh no! Now I'll never go to Comicon!"
- I use a health item when I'm already at full health my maximum health rises just a
little bit. If you're coming to Shiren never having played any Roguelikes, it doesn't make
a great first impression, it looks kinda like a - *laughs* that is the best stomach growling
sound of any game by the way - it looks kinda like a clunky, jerky Link to the Past clone,
but this is a game that gets better and better the more you play... and that's not just Stockholm
Syndrome talking... at least not totally. Now we come to the first town. Talk to this
man checking out my hat... "You starin' at my pants weasel Boy?" Canyon Hamlet's the
town you return to every time you die, so you'll get pretty used to it. Just like in
real life, we'll head immediately to the bar. Check out this foxy lady - everyone always
walks in place in old games - talk to this Old Jar Man. "What's goin' on Old Jar - *laughs*"
Inserting/removing many items at once... "Now I know why you're alone, no thank you sir,
no thank you... I sure am.. uh huh... and dirty young men too. *chuckles* Have I told
you there's a weasel in my pants? Hey! Who you callin' Ho?" It's important every run
to come and talk to the bartender because he gives you a free Big Riceball just to make
sure you don't starve to death. We are well-equipped and ready to begin our ascent to Mount Vagenis
next time. *chuckles* If you look, the two choices for saving are "Quit" and "Give Up."
This game does not like you, and it's not ashamed to say so. Even the save screen has
a picture of Shiren getting beaten by the shopkeeper and sheriff. Chicken on the mountaintop,
burning like a golden flame, my weasel says we've got to climb up - Vagenis was its name.
Let's climb it, Pants Weasel. Let's climb it. "You starin' at my pants weasel boy?"