Game:

Mendel Palace (1989)

Duration: 14:34

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One of many bite-sized games released on Compile's long line of "Disc Station" (ディスクステーション) releases, this is one title from DS Vol. 6 (which is not to be confused with DS98 which is an older iteration of the DS series or anything after Vol. 11 of the renamed series as everything afterwards was pretty much for Windows 95/98). While some of the games are demos, most were "bite-sized" full-length games on floppy disk releases of various different genres. DS was originally launched for the MSX brand of computers between 1988 - 1992 before migrating to PC-98 and Windows from 1993 onward. They started as 3.5" floppies packed with cool Magazines that eventually migrated to 5.25" disks and eventually CD-ROMs. Many of these titles had support from Moo Niitani and most of them would remain exclusive to PCs. While many DS games are centered around Madou Monogatari, Carbuncle or Puyo Puyo, several are unique mini-series or one-off titles. A few DS games would also have their obscure characters appear in other Compile / Sega works.

The game is described as an old-time action game where the player character (Mekuuru, aka Mekuru or Mek) gets wrapped up in various situations for some reason and must protect herself with her trusty flat-iron trowel / spatula of justice. Mechanically, it is a deconstructed version of one of my favorite NES/FC games growing up, Mendel Palace, (aka Quinty, Game Freak's oldest game and one of several before Pokemon) with some nuances. Mekuru has no power-ups and two main mechanics, which is collecting panels and flipping them. If you have panels connected together, you can flip a row all at once, where you must collect the panels again if you wish to flip them. Flipping waves of panels is the only way to defeat your foes and while the game is very easy for the most part, you can add some layers of challenge and take advantage of the game's scoring system.

Catching multiple enemies consecutively will rack up bonus points for the player and as there is no time limit, you are encouraged to make use of combos. Another hidden bonus involves collecting all the panels without attacking a single enemy which will net you a hefty bonus but is considerably more difficult. The game consists of four different worlds with four regular rounds, a bonus round and a boss round for 24 total levels. In the bonus rounds, the player has to plot a course and flip all the panels without retracing their steps (you are allowed to make a few mistakes), but these are also very easy if you take a second to trace your steps. Boss battles are stages where the level rival or "boss" has additional hit points and is on a more confined stage with more aggressive enemy A.I., and are also fairly straight-forward.

The game is visually simple with a great (but limited) soundtrack. The PC-98 is known for its bangers, but Compile in particular knows how to put together a compelling soundtrack with each level having an appropriate theme that is a little longer than average (you're much more likely to clear a round before the music loops). As one of many Disc Station extras, it is a little better than average and can be cleared in 20-30 minutes. This is a video of the game in action. One thing that was illustrated in this video is that if you skirt by on the edge of certain panels, you can bypass enemies during certain frames (a life was lost to illustrate this, it seems to work at about a 50-50 ratio). The game is actually free if you're subscribed to Project EGG.

http://www.amusement-center.com/project/egg/cgi/ecatalog-detail.cgi?product_id=1052

Enjoy.

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