Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa (NES FDS) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
284A playthrough of Konami's 1988 action-platformer for the Nintendo Famicom Disk System, Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa (バイオミラクル ぼくってウパ).
This Konami classic has seen a number of re-releases over the years (including as a Famicom cartridge conversion in 1993), but the west has only ever seen it once in any official capacity. The original disk version (the one I'm playing here) appeared on the Wii's Virtual Console service in North America and Europe back in 2008. It's a bit of a surprise we haven't seen this one pushed a bit more considering how import-friendly it is. The only Japanese to be found in the entire game is the logo on the title screen. "Bokutte Upa" literally means, "I'm Upa," so there. No more language barrier.
It's a charming platformer that really demonstrates how far ahead of the curve Konami was with the hardware compared to other third party developers in early 1988. Especially given the cramped limits of the disk format, Upa is a fine showing of the considerable progress Konami had made up to this point on the NES platform.
You play as the baby Upa who, in a typically ridiculous 80s fashion, happens to be the prince of a kingdom that's being held captive by some goat dude that hovers about on a cloud. Since Upa is apparently exempt from whatever ill-intentioned shenanigans are going on, a fairy gives him a magical rattle and sets him on his way. This baby might not have learned to walk yet, but his kingdom isn't going to save itself!
So Upa crawls around in his onesie, hopping around on platforms while knocking the snot out of bad guys with his magic rattle. But this isn't a generic hop-and-bop game - the gameplay all hinges on quite a unique, fun mechanic.
When Upa bashes an enemy, the victim balloons out like a self-inflating pool toy that is capable of doing two things. First, it can act as a floating platform. Upa can hop aboard and catch a ride to places that would otherwise be unreachable. Second, if you whack the anaphalactically swollen enemy a second time, it will fly away in the direction opposite of which you hit it. This turns it into a hilarious death missile that will wipe out any enemies or breakable obstacles in its path. You have to be careful with them though, because just like a Koopa shell, it can rebound off of a solid wall and hit you.
The action is simple but creative, engaging, and overall a lot of fun. The controls are snappy, the physics feel good, and while it's not nearly as hard as the average Konami platformer - it's much more Kid Dracula than it is Castlevania in that department - it is tricky enough to keep it interesting for awhile.
The graphics are top-notch for an FDS game. Everything is simple but cleanly drawn and vividly colored, the odd level themes are endearing, and the goofy sprites remind me a lot of the expressive style of the Bubble Bobble games. There are also some really surprising stand-out moments, too - just look at how amazing the layered cake in the first stage looks! It's hard to believe the fruit pieces can look so nice that when each piece is only being drawn with 2-3 colors.
The soundtrack is also up to Konami's usual gold-standard. The music is happy, bouncy, and totally memorable throughout, and its heavy use of the FDS's added wave channel gives it a distinct sound. The cartridge version's remixed soundtrack loses a bit in the conversion, but music is great either way.
If you love old platformers or Konami games, don't let the Japanese name or the weird, mutant baby theme scare you away from this one.
I'd love to see someone put it on the Switch Online service!
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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