Blue’s Journey | Fear the Leaf Dump

[00:00:00] Hey Aaron Yo Do you wanna... I got nothing. Blues Journey, everybody. It's happening. On Neo Geo Go! Hey everybody! We're here. We're back. Neo Geo going down a rabbit hole.

[00:00:29] I almost said we're back and we're slack, as if that makes any sense. I don't know why I would say that. I like that. We're back and slack. Back and slack! Back! To the tune of Highway to Hell or something? Back and black, dude. I know. I've just... You know what? Support me. Scoofing? Okay. Let's talk about... You never support me anymore!

[00:00:59] We're... Talk about Blues Journey, released on December 31st, 1990. Why would you ever release a game on New Year's Eve? That's crazy! That is very weird. They were like, we can't hold it in any longer. It's gotta come out. We can't wait until 1991.

[00:01:18] That's so fucking weird. You know, okay, well, let me finish the information. Developed by Alpha Denchy and published by Alpha Denchy and SNK, and Blues Journey is a cutesy platformer featuring two forest-bright dudes trying to save their girlfriend. That's about it. Two little guys in the forest. Two guys, one girlfriend? Mm-hmm. You've never heard that before. Sweet.

[00:01:45] I was gonna say that, like, it's fitting that this episode already has very weird energy because Blues Journey is a very bizarre game. Oh, fuck yeah.

[00:01:55] Jesus Christ, this game is weird. Like, it's one of the most bizarre, tripped-out, fever dream of a platformer I've ever seen, and I don't even think it was intentional, Aaron. I really don't. I think everything that's in this game, all of it just happened to come together into one fucked-up cocktail. It's just weird. Like, there's so many fucking ideas in this game.

[00:02:25] First off, this next line you have down in Japan, Blues Journey is known as Ragui, R-A-G-U-I. Ragui? Ragui? I kept seeing that name mentioned in the game, and I was like, who is this? That name was never mentioned at the beginning. Who is Ragui? I always said Ragui. Ragui. Spaghetti sauce? Yeah. Who the fuck is this guy, but now I know.

[00:02:51] Maybe it's the name of the land, right? They live in Ragui. Okay, maybe I wasn't paying enough attention at the beginning, then. I believe. That's what I gathered from the neo-environmentalist intro. Because, you know, it's the 90s. It's the early 90s, so everything has to be about pollution. Pollution is bad. Remember that era, man? That shit was between, like, Captain Planet and, like, Ferng Ali and, like, all that shit.

[00:03:16] It was always like, we must save the entire planet from pollution. You were trying to get us DMCA'd so hard. I don't know. Maybe that is fine if we sing it. No, but I love the intro. I love the anime-ass, like, forest sprite main character throwing the leaf in that very dramatic anime style. And it's like, as if a fucking leaf is supposed to be badass or something.

[00:03:46] It's like, I'm not scared of that. And then the intro states, his name is Blue. He is a specialist of the Leaf Dump. Me too, baby. Leaf Dump? That's the name of the move? Yeah, that's his, like, main attack, isn't it? You just drop a leaf or, like, throw it. I don't know exactly if he's throwing it or dropping it, but a leaf just appears and hits an enemy and they fall over. And then you pick them up and then you throw them. Yeah, it's so interesting.

[00:04:15] It makes them fall over when you do the Leaf Dump. And then you can, like, pick them up and throw them. I know, it's so stupid, right? Leaf Dump. Hey, baby. Let me dump your leaf. I mean, I don't even have anything good. Let me dump them leaves, baby. We are. Okay. So you can, like, pick them up and throw them.

[00:04:40] Or you could, like, stack up a few different fallen ones and, like, throw them in, like, one big mass. But then you can, like, also stand on top of the enemies and then, like, kind of kick them out of the way. So it kind of has, like, a Mario 2 feel to it to a degree. But that's what I was thinking. Yeah. Aaron, it's so. Yeah. Okay. This game is just so fucking weird. Yep. Oh, my God. You can do all these things at once. And then the enemies don't even make sense.

[00:05:07] You would think that, like, oh, it's like it's a forest and they're shrunken down. Maybe we should use bugs or maybe we should use something that makes sense. But then they have, like, these little brown mounds that are, like, everywhere. These, like, little. They're not turtles. They're not, like, I don't know, any kind of bug that I know of. It's just a little brown mound. And you just jump on it and throw it. And then there's, like, purple turtle-like creatures everywhere, too.

[00:05:35] And, like, I don't know what any of these. Yeah. The music is, like, happy and cheery, as you would expect a platformer like this to sound like. Right? But in this context of so many weird things happening, it almost sounds like a joke. It almost. Yeah. It's like it gives us, like, unintended surreal effect because the game's so fucking weird. And even, like, when you start a level, it does that whole, like, goofy jingle.

[00:06:03] It's like, I can't remember what it is off the top of my head, but it's very goofy. And then when you complete a level, like, when you jump on the Mario 2-ass, like, tree thing, it does another goofy-ass little jingle. And it has, like, kind of chorus voices. Like, wah, wah, wah, wah. It's like a tree full of bells, and, like, the bells shake and ring. It's like, what in the world is this? Who conceived this?

[00:06:30] Did mushrooms and LSD conceive this? Clearly. Like, what is happening? Oh, God. Did you like that the first boss is basically Fred Flintstone? Like, anime Fred Flintstone? It was so weird. He was just, like, wearing, like, the tiger, like, leopard, like, fucking overall thing and everything. And you just, you kick him out of the way, and it's like, he just goes, yeah! And then it's like, stage clear. And it's like, okay, man, this game is on something.

[00:07:00] My favorite boss was the one that comes after that, the raccoon beaver witch. I tried real hard to figure out what the fuck she is, but I don't know, man. It's just a raccoon beaver witch. I'm rolling with that. And then when you hit her, she's like, aye! And then, you know. Very, very anime-sounding clip. You can, oh, yeah, another thing you can do. You can grow small if you press the C button.

[00:07:28] Oh, I forgot about that. Yeah. Yeah, we forgot about that because the game doesn't ever really make you do it. Like, you can find some little crevices and get some, like, power-ups sometimes. Or you can, like, drop down into, like, a- I dropped down into, like, one hidden room in the first level, so you get into, like, a Mario kind of, like, oh, you went down the pipe and here's all this currency or something. Yep. But, like, dude, it's just- why even include something like that in a game like this?

[00:07:57] It just seems like so many- you know what it is? This game almost feels like a console game, doesn't it? It does, yeah. I feel like this is made for an arcade. Because then there's the shop with the sexy fairy, where it's, like, you can buy power-ups and maybe have, like, the strangest conversations ever with NPCs. Yep. And, like, again, this feels like something you would play- it feels like an early Super Nintendo game. It does not feel like something that should be at the arcade. Yep. Yep.

[00:08:27] I mean, if it weren't for the timer that counts down from 30 when you're in the store, this would totally feel like a full-blown console game. Mm-hmm. The shit that she says when you highlight stuff, like, Ocarina, it's toy. Oh, I love the guy at the beginning where, like, you're trying to go over the river or something. You go in a thing, and he's like, it's good if you know it. You can rip my boat.

[00:08:56] And it's like, what? And there's, like, oh, God, the continue screen. The continue screen with the girl. And she's like, aren't you going to- she, like, shames you into putting in more quarters. Yep. And if it's counting down, she's like, you're a bad guy or something like that. And it's like, oh, my God, I'm sorry I'm out of money. Good God. I'm eight years old. Leave me alone. I was going to say that, too. God, sorry I'm, like, ten years old and don't have a shop. I don't have any more quarters.

[00:09:26] Jesus. Yeah, dude. Like, Blue's Journey, to me, is, like, the king of SNK bad translations. Like, this has to be the best one or at least, like, the most surreal one. Like, there are much more famous lines, especially from the fighting games that we'll get to in time. But almost every single line of dialogue in this game is incomprehensible.

[00:09:53] And, like, this game feels like a mishmash of a million different ideas, too. Because, like, you'll be running along and collecting all your flowers. Then, like, you'll get, like, four power-ups in one, like, four power-ups in a row in, like, one area. And it's, like, okay, well, for one, I don't really understand what each power-up does.

[00:10:17] Like, I'll pick up, like, a fireball and something that looks like a seed. And then something that looks like this and that and this and that. And there's no way to switch between them. You just pick them all up. And, like, what happens to them? What do they do? What did I just pick up, man? I don't know, man. I wish I had answers for you. This game is just ultimately bizarre. I think I'll... I would give it a B-.

[00:10:46] I might give it lower if it wasn't so completely head in outer space out there. But, I don't know. It's a decent enough, very average platformer, again, that I would otherwise usually give, like, a C. This is just middle of the road. But I'm going to bump it up to a B- just because it's so wacky. Yep. I did the same thing. B-. It's unique as fuck.

[00:11:11] Well, now that I think about it, it's not so much unique as it is just, like, a million ideas mashed into one package. But, yeah, it wasn't... I didn't hate my time with it. If anything, I liked all the goofy, weird shit that happened. B-. Ocarina, it's toy. B- It's toy. B- Um... What toy are we playing next time, Aaron?

[00:11:39] B- Next week, Legend of Success Joe. B- Oh, boy. That's a doozy. B- See you then. B- Until next time, Neo Geo. B- Go on down to Arby's because the fried turkey is back. B- In our book. B- Go on down to Arby's because the fried turkey is back.