Cho Aniki Zero Game Sample - PSP
38Also known as "Cho Aniki Zero: Muscle Brothers", for those who know of the Cho Aniki series, this game probably needs no introduction... but for those who don't (the vast majority), you'll need to know right now that this was a controversial and fairly polarizing series (almost entirely comprised of SHMUPs) built on the theme of "intense brotherly love" and loads of innuendo, most of which lacks subtlety. I've actually known of the series for a long time now (diehards of the channel would recognize one of the characters, Mami-19, in an old channel banner way back in 2013) and the original game that debuted back in 1992 for the Turbo CD was just weird and campy... but its sequels took the MANLY nature of the game to a whole new level of kitsch extreme, earning it the honor of one of "the strangest game series ever made".
Of course, this verbiage is used to be polite, but the reality is that the games are deliberately some of the most homoerotic titles ever produced outside of straight-up yaoi / boys love games, and that's okay... you only need to see the game's trendy and phallic Western logo to know this series had almost no chance of leaving Japan, but the bold folks over at Aksys Games brought this over in all its unadulterated glory... if you don't mind digital-only releases on your PlayStation Portable. Truth be told, this is actually NOT the first title in the series to get released outside Japan; the first game was released for Wii's Virtual Console back in 2008, but considering this game was much tamer than the other releases (and the small amount of text wasn't even translated proper) and a slightly above average shooter at that, it was relatively inoffensive (but still plenty strange). The latest game (developed by extreme Co., Ltd.) would get released a little over a year later for PSP (2012 for Android) in an attempt to capitalize on the market of Western fans who played the previous releases... all thirty or so of them.
All jokes aside, this game is an incredibly upfront satire of shoot-em-ups and "Bro-tastic" culture... I just wish it was handled with a little more care. A quick summary (from Aksys) of the story goes as this:
"Since the death of Balzac, the Builder Planet has celebrated a long period of peace.
However, as time goes by, protein becomes scarce, and protein deficiency is soon a serious problem for the Builder Planet. As people struggle for control over what protein is left, Balzac II begins his subtle rise to power…
Learning of his return, Idaten and Benten take up arms and begin their man-tastic voyage…"
Besides our well-named antagonist, you'll also be focusing on "Man-on-Man" action (allies and paths alter your endings), blasting your "Men's Beam" as hard as you can (a three-stage special which is stronger depending on the level you use), "Erupting" when you just can't take any more action (Bomb), and doing your best to preserve your "Gallons of Man Juice" (lives) while snatching up protein to improve your firepower (a max of five times) and flexing half-naked male statuettes to improve your score. Lose a continue, and you have the "luxury" of mashing those buttons to fill up on protein until your character is filled with ecstasy and takes the fight to the bad guys once more. Your character customization is pretty limited but choosing your sub-weapon (allies) determines what additional firepower you have, and each one also acts as an option that can protect you from small bullets.
Let's forget this title's rather high shock value for a minute and look at it objectively as a game: it's a bit sub-standard for reasons that could've been avoided. The biggest reason is that it's fairly soul-less. While I think the transition to 3D (versus the digitized live-action and 2D of previous titles) is part of the reason, it doesn't help that backdrops and objects are bland and pretty non-descript; many things blend together and are hard to see, you can shoot in both directions but there's no warning indicators anywhere for which direction enemies are coming from (like previous games, though it could've been fixed here, and some literally just pop up on screen, creating cheap deaths), your characters are large with no clearly defined hitbox, controls are slightly laggy (a no-no for shmups), and it takes a bit of effort to upgrade your weapon. Conversely, the game still has a plethora of strange enemies, most of whom are from previous entries such as "Undead Elvis Ship" and "Buff Thomas the Tank Engine", but they're not as appealing as before. The soundtrack is also still strange and reasonably good-- Idaten and Benten have their own boss themes.
The game is way too hard starting out due to design flaws and is brain-dead easy once you memorize what to do. It lacks the smooth progression a title like this needs for lasting appeal and comes across as neither a worthy throwback nor a current-gen shmup experience. This is regrettable considering the risk it took to localize.