Game:

Tokimeki Memorial 2 (1999)

Duration: 53:11

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Are you a fan of truly forgettable late 90s anime? Have a thing for science and robots (or mecha in general in this case)? Do you like inventing things with a cast of oddly-named characters and games that are well-intentioned but kinda rushed with unfinished elements here and there? If so, then good job -- "Hatsumei Boy" is the short-lived franchise for you! Originally released in 1998, Hatsumei Boy featured the mis-adventures of Kanipan, a young ten-year-old boy who dreams of being a world-class inventor and to get the coveted Taishi-Class inventor's license, but fails quite a bit initially. Starting as a fledgling C-Rank inventor, he meets a variety of characters on the artificial planet, Shark (a technologically advanced planet with an environment created by a genius inventor, Dr. Taishi, roughly 200 years prior that is similar to Earth that is stuck in everlasting Spring to create "ideal" living conditions), on his quest to be the best. The series was immediately followed by "Chou Hatsumei Boy" a few months later in 1999 that featured various associated media and a few games. The original series was meant to feature a game for Sega Saturn (by Quintet) but it never materialized.

"Chou Hatsumei Boy" (or "Super Inventor Boy") is a bit of an odd duck from a media standpoint. The story takes place five years after the original where Kanipan, now 15 years old, is still aiming to reach Taishi-rank status and is currently an A-Rank inventor, but the games contradict this and borrow certain elements from the original series (likely to pad the games out and also due to the original game being cancelled). As a C-Rank inventor, Kanipan and his trusty Interface Robot (Kid) are hard at work on becoming the best on Planet Shark when Kanipan's mentor, Dr. Shu, is kidnapped by a nefarious group lead by Namul who aim to use inventions for evil and Kanipan goes to rescue him. On a planet where humans and robots coexist, Namul denies such a reality and uses his means to create another artificial planet where only humans can live. Most of the characters are named after food (with Kanipan himself meaning "Crab Bread") and the original character designer was the prolific legend, Hiroshi Kanazawa (who was involved with works such as the 1971 version of "Lupin the 3rd", the original 1989 "Dragon Quest" anime, "Captain Tsubasa J", "Initial D", etc.).

The games were released for both PlayStation (Taito) and Dreamcast (Sega) as "Robot and Invention Simulations"; the PlayStation version was intended to be released first but due to unforeseen circumstances, was delayed and instead released first for the Dreamcast under the title of "Chou Hatsumei Boy Kanipan: Bousou Robot no Nazo!?". The Dreamcast version has better graphics (mainly due to having anime-style clips even though they're very low-budget and better graphics during 3D robot battles), different cutscenes and spoken dialogue that was removed from the later PS game due to lower storage capacity (allegedly, as GD-Roms could hold significantly more data) and basic VMU functionality. However, this version of the game was a little rushed and, as such, has a few locations that are unfinished from an event standpoint and locations that don't go anywhere. Conversely, the PS game (Chou Hatsumei Boy Kanipan: Hirameki Wonderland) has worse 3D graphics (but added 2D accents including new pixel animations and particle effects) but an improved interface, altered cutscenes, and added areas that were intended to be in the Dreamcast version that didn't make the final cut. The release of both versions is less than three months apart.

Either way, the games are somewhat interesting but take a while to get decent; Kanipan travels the world while interacting with various characters and objects that will give him hints or ideas for new inventions -- some of these inventions are used to interact with your surroundings or progress the plot, but most are used to upgrade your Interface Robots. Players can create all types of items as well as "Cores" which will give you new frames and increase the number of IRs you can have. You will occasionally do battle which you control manually and use items and bombs you create to fight enemies on a grid; most grids are littered with obstacles you can take advantage of and attacks can be charged to improve damage or accuracy. Interacting with the environment is finnicky which is my main complaint and there are TONS of hidden goods to discover (one item, the MiruMiru or "Twinkle" Scope, can be equipped to Kanipan to help you find them). You can also later use Zenny (money) to procure goods, heal your Robos and partake in various events.

This is a vid of the game in action. At first glance, I thought this was somehow affiliated with Robopon, lol. Enjoy.

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