Blues Journey

As one the earlier releases on the Neo-Geo, Blue's Journey (Raguy in Japan) came out as a launch window title in the arcades on MVS and made its way to the AES in mid-1991. While it may surprise modern gamers, platformers were not uncommon in arcades in the 80's and 90's. While usually hit or miss, there are some standout titles like Capcom's Strider or the Makaimura (Ghouls & Ghosts) series. Blue's does not stand up to those classics, but it does bring to the table true co-op play in the style of the more modern New Super Mario Brothers (NSMB). 

Blue's Journey is Alpha Denshi's (ADK's) first Neo-Geo game published under their own brand and serial number. This is significant due to SNK handling publishing for Alpha's games up to this point on the hardware. Given the close relationship between the two arcade publishers, and their joint venture with the Neo-Geo's hardware design, one would think that Alpha was a first-party developer and subsidiary of SNK - which isn't the case. SNK wouldn't go on to acquire ADK until 2001 after SNK's own bankruptcy debacle and the formation of the Playmore corporation.

Like many Neo-Geo games, Blue's Journey has little sales data available across the internet and the Wiki articles (both Wikipedia and the SNK Wiki) are littered with holes and superfluous information. As usual, we'll have to make some educated guesses using the little data we do have in order to see the full picture. According to the Wiki, the publisher RePlay in the US recorded the game as being the "sixth most popular game at the time." That doesn't tell us much. These publications only measure the first month or so of a game's release in the arcade, so let's look at some subjective evidence that can help us glean a bit more insight into what Blue's was up against at the time of its release.

Despite Wiki articles saying the game was generally well received when it came out, that is is not entirely true. Critics and gamers alike were always a bit mixed concerning the game. Blue's Journey released on the AES in the summer of 1991 - and the timing could not have been worse. Not only did it have to compete against arcade games, it also had to compete against the polished home-console platform experiences that were either already on the market or would be coming soon. For example: Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Genesis was released that same summer to universal critical acclaim. 

To make matters worse for Alpha's bug-costumed hero, Nintendo's own Super NES released in the US that summer as well, introducing western audiences to Super Mario World and the stunning Castlevania 4 later that year. Blue's Journey released at an eye watering $200 (about $450 in 2022 money). So, it cost as much as a brand-new SNES console. As a kid, the value proposition just wasn't there to spend over $800 (almost $1800 in 2022!?) on a Neo-Geo and a game that didn't have the attitude or speed of Sonic, the methodical pacing of Castlevania, or the finesse of Mario. That's not to say Blue's is a bad game, though, as the sum of the game is better than its individual parts. Still, Blue's Journey didn't exactly set the heart's of avid gamers on fire. And with the release of Street Fighter 2 earlier that year in the arcades and the eventual release of SNK's own Fatal Fury that same year, Blue's was destined to fall into not only home console obscurity but arcade obscurity as well.

All that said, is Blue's Journey worth your time? Let's dig a bit deeper.

The story goes: An evil empire wants to steal the planet Raguy's (pronounced Ra Gi) natural resources and pollute the galaxy. Blue sets out to save it. That's it. As with most arcade games of the day, the story is just serviceable enough to give a setting and reason to do what you're doing, but it doesn't need to go any further than that. I wonder if Blue can come save humans from themselves when he's done saving Rayguy?

Gameplay is simple platform action game fare. Players can make Blue jump, attack, and turn into a chibi (small) version of himself. Blue's jumping ability is quite good, reaching an apex that is higher than most action game heroes. If you hold the button down during the duration of your jump you can make Blue's decent slightly slower, which can come in handy with some of the more tricky jumps starting around the second stage. 

Blue's default attack is a leaf that falls directly in front of him that produces a small gust of wind. Because it's a leaf that basically drops like a stone, you can use it to drop on enemy's heads from a higher platform as well. When an enemy is hit by Blue's leaf, they become briefly stunned and you can pick them up and hurl them at other enemies to knock them out. There are other weapons as well, including a boomerang and bomb. Each of these weapons can be switched with weapon drops you'll find scattered around the world hidden in flowers you'll have to hit to open - like a treasure chest. Your weapons can also be powered up to three levels the more weapon icons you collect. There are no new properties, but the effects, sprites, and hit boxes become larger so they either do more damage or cover more ground. Finally, you can also aim your boomerang up, making it one of the better weapons to equip in stages where there is a lot going on overhead. 

In addition to Blue's weapons, he can also jump on enemy heads. This isn't the best way to attack, though, as jumping on an enemy will send them spinning and hurling in the direction your facing. This wouldn't be so bad if you couldn't be hit, but the enemy you used as your weapon can also hurt you if it bounces against a wall or you fall into it...which happens almost every time you try to use the technique. 

Blue's ability to turn into a chibi (small) version of himself is more of a gimmick than anything else. While small, Blue moves faster and still jumps quite high, but he cannot attack. There are some clever little paths that you can access as Chibi Blue, but these are often hidden in plain sight. This mechanic feels half baked, kind of like the rest of the game, where the idea needed fleshed out more to be an engaging part of the meta. 

Along his journey, Blue needs to collect pink flower icons he can use a currency in the various shops you'll come across. You can buy life potions to refill your health gauge, flippers to help you swim underwater (the swimming physics are awful without this item), seeds to make your movement speed faster, and other items of varying degrees of usefulness. You can also visit mushroom houses you see along your adventure, and these huts contain an NPC you can chat with that will give you helpful hints. Well, helpful as in you can skip these entirely as you'll come across whatever they have to tell you about on your linear path to each stage's goal anyway.

Blue's Journey is set up a bit like Sonic the Hedgehog where you have 6 unique zones and four acts each with the fourth act being your boss battle. The first zone only has two acts, though. After you clear the first zone, you are presented with a branching path on the world map. This happens after you clear the second zone you choose as well. All in all, you'll encounter about 10 levels on each play through with some variety due to being able to somewhat choose which zones you want to play each time. After three play throughs (about 30 minutes each if you credit feed), you'll see everything the game has to offer in an hour and a half total game time. The challenge comes in trying to beat the game in the default four credits you're provided on the AES version.

Don't let the bright, colorful atmosphere fool you - Blue's Journey is quite hard. There are four difficulty settings on the AES version that dictate the number of enemies on screen, hits the bosses take, and the amount of life points you have. You can also change the difficulty dip-switch settings on the MVS version, along with other adjustments. I highly recommend playing on Easy as the game is still quite hard, but you have three life hearts instead of the Normal mode's two. It makes the game a bit more palatable...well, when the game doesn't get in its own way and kill you through some of its signature jank. 

Like a few other aspects of this game, the abundance of glitches in Blue's Journey have not often been reported on through my research. See, the Neo-Geo hardware, unlike other consoles, used sprites to comprise every part of the game screen. This includes the background layers, which often had their own unique hardware feature in most consoles. Where this gets in the way is that sprite data can become jumbled when a lot is happening on screen at once. So, you'll often see platforms blink in and out of existence, floating in the air and making it impossible to interact with as the collision detection logic doesn't load with the sprite. This happens in single player, but is even more egregious in the co-op mode. This isn't a single instance unique to my set up, either. I've owned two distinct copies of Blue's Journey and have played the game on two unique AES consoles (one with video mods and other stock) on both a modern display with upscailers and a direct RGB Scart feed to a high-quality PVM (broadcast CRT television). In all instances these glitches happen, and they can quickly ruin your game. 

When Blue loses all of his lives you get the chance to continue where you left off. While the game does take you to a continue screen where the bug princess person encourages you to continue, upon pressing start Blue will begin just about where you died rather than at a set checkpoint. In co-op mode this all happens instantly. 

Unlike many other two-player arcade platformers, Blue's Journey is true co-op. Two players can complete the entire story campaign together, which is a nice touch. Although, the second player controls an orange version of Blue called "Shadow Blue." While co-op doesn't change up the game too much, there are some additional mechanics to explore. For one, you can ride on each other and use each other as a weapon to mow down enemies. The other mechanic happens when you lose a life. Not unlike New Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo Wii, the downed player will ride back in on the screen on a balloon. While on the balloon you have some control over your trajectory and can whiz past tricky platforms or enemies as you are generally invincible in this state. Once the balloon pops, though, you will drop directly down. 

Across the 10 or so stages, the level designs are just okay. I wouldn't call them bad, per say...maybe serviceable? The platforming overall isn't too hard, but the floaty controls and wonky hit detection get in the way more often than not. Still, Blue's Journey isn't the worse designed platformer. But when competing with the likes of Mario, Sonic, Mega Man or other contemporary platform heroes, Blue ends up feeling undercooked.

Blue's Journey's visual design is a mixed bag of explosions of color with bland tile work. While the sprite work overall is bright and colorful due to the much larger color pallet of the Neo-Geo compared to other hardware of the day (around 4000 colors on screen), the tile work is boring and the backgrounds often look out of place. I get that Blue and pals are supposed to be...bug-people (seriously, they all look like humans wearing bug costumes) and quite small, but the oversized leaves and flora that comprise most of the level art work ends up looking a bit static and out of place. Like, it tries to convey a sense of scale without translating that sense of scale to the actual play area. It all just looks and feels a bit too "by the books" rather than providing an interesting landscape to try out innovative new mechanics.

The character and enemy sprites are detailed, but are all quite small to convey the sense that you're a bug person doing bug person things in a big world. Unfortunately, Blue moves with less than 10 total frames of animation - that includes your run cycle, jumping, and attack animations. It makes you wonder where on earth all that memory went to as 16-bit games with a FAR smaller memory footprint somehow shoehorned more detail and animation onto character sprites while keeping quality high in the rest of the game. 

As mentioned before, the game often gets in its own way due to the unsightly and dangerous sprite glitches, but that isn't the only performance woe. When playing co-op the game can quickly overwhelm itself and tank the performance. You can instantly go from a smooth, 60 frame per second refresh rate (which is standard) to a sub 20 frame per refresh rate making the game feel like you're playing in molasses. It's not just distracting, but can also affect your platform timing resulting in even more unintentional deaths that are not your fault. 

Aurally Blue's Journey is a joy to listen to. The up-beat, Samba inspired soundtrack fits the game perfectly and the sound effects are well programmed. Alpha's early sound driver they created for the Neo could produce some awesome tunes, so the audio design of Blue's Journey ends up being one of the stronger aspects of the experience. 

Is Blue's Journey playable? Yes, entirely. Is it good? It's fine. Still, Blue's Journey is a mess of performance and under-baked mechanics. You can't blame Blue's issues as a "product of the time" due to the Platform Action genre being very well established by 1991. You can see the influence of many of the genre's most standout games on Blue's Journey, but the execution of that influence is seriously lacking. 

I've heard apologists say, "Blue's Journey is an arcade game, so you can't compare it to home platformers." That is incorrect. Like it or not, the AES is a home-console platform that competed directly with the 16-bit home machines and marketed as having the best software line up comparatively. That's not my own conjecture, it was blatantly stated in the marketing material for the AES in the West. Even if Blue's was an arcade-only experience, comparing the game even to maligned and forgotten platformers like Capcom's Willow and Little Nemo, it still comes up quite short (pun intended). In a world devoid of Mario, Sonic, and Mega Man, Blue may have had a fighting chance. As it stands, you'll have fun with Blue, but it will be a slightly frustrating adventure to reach of one of the four unique endings...all of which are ultimately unsatisfying, much like the game itself. 

Blue's Journey is a hard value proposition. The Japanese and US AES copies of the game are around $250 on the low end to $700 on the high end for a game in excellent condition in 2022. The Neo CD and MVS copies are cheaper, but still carry a hearty price tag compared to other releases on those platforms. For all but the Neo and SNK die-hards, I don't recommend spending over $100 on a sub-par platformer that is ultimately more of a curio than a solid release you'll revisit time and time again. 

The novelty of Blue's Journey being one of only two platform action games on the Neo (the other being the Alpha developed Magician Lord) does carry with it some sense of wonder and it helps to break up the 2D fighting game heavy library of the Neo-Geo to give some variety to what you can play on the hardware. There are other side scrolling action games on the Neo, though, like Top Hunter and Spinmaster. But these games have far less in common with the games Blue's Journey takes its chief inspiration from, so I don't consider them in the same genre category. 

Should you buy it? No, not the AES version at least. Spend $8 and grab the release on the modern Arcade Archives series and call it a day. Better yet, emulate it! There were no ports to home-consoles of the day either - which I think is a smart choice by both Alpha and SNK. Little Blue just wouldn't be able to compete in that space with far more polished experiences in the same genre. 

At the end of the day, Blue's Journey could be worse, and is entirely playable. But saying a game "could be worse" isn't the highest form of praise you could give a platformer in 1991 when the genre was the most established and popular type of the video game in the market. Because of that, it's a little hard to look over Blue's flaws, especially through the context of the world in which it was released; a world where Mario and Sonic already existed.