Page 22 - OSG Presents Classic Gamer Magazine #7

16-Bit Age
16-Bit Age

Classic Import: emy that comes in his path. A crouching
kick and an occasionally useful Pele-esque
PULSEMAN bicycle kick (Up + Jump) round out Pulse-
man's repertoire.
Level design is fairly typical for 16-bit
side-scrollers, with influence from Sonic's
classic outings being evident. There isn't as
strong an emphasis on speed as in Sonic,
By Geoffrey Miller but you'll use Pulseman's Voltteccer to go
through elaborate mazes the same way
Simply put, there's no reason Pulse- Sonic's Spin Dash was used to go flying
man shouldn't have been released in Amer- through loops. You'll even find yourself us-
ica. This 1994 Mega Drive import ing the Volteccer in cool Breakout-style bo-
(developed by future Pokemon designers nus stages (after every main stage). Don't
Game Freak and published by Sega) has it forget to take your time and explore the lev-
all: beautiful graphics, inventive design, and els – there are plenty of power-ups to nab,
intense action. Yet it remained only in Ja- like a heart to repair energy (Pulseman can
pan – an odd choice considering the Mega absorb three hits before he dies), a lightning
Drive was floundering in Japan while its bolt that keeps Pulseman in a perpetually
North American counterpart, the Genesis, charged state for an extended period, and
flourished. It's hard to understand why Sega Spark Balls (collect ten for a 1-Up plus a full
of America skipped over this gem (although energy repair).
it's certainly not the only mistake they're If Pulseman's level design is relatively
guilty of). Pulseman would no doubt have traditional, it certainly balances that out with
been a huge hit if it had been brought its original art design. While there are sev-
across the Pacific. eral levels in realistic settings – like a Japa-
It doesn't take more than a glance at nese city, a Las Vegas Casino, and an Aus- pressive. There's a fine mix of classic, up-
the cover art to realize that Pulseman takes tralian coral reef – most levels take place in beat platformer tunes and more experimen-
a generous amount of inspiration from "cyberspace." See, one of Pulseman's abili- tal electronic beats (the strangest "virtual"
ties is to jack into computers or other electri- levels tend to have the strangest music to
cal devices and enter a surreal virtual world. match). You'll also find a wide variety of
These areas are full of bright flashing lights voices (all in English), including a few fully
and wild psychedelic effects (imagine the spoken newscasts. The voices do suffer
craziest rave ever). Just when you think from scratchy sound, but it's still a notewor-
you've seen everything, you'll find yourself thy feat.
in another creative and beautiful level. The There are a couple problems that
knock Pulseman down a few notches. For
one thing, there's an awful lot of slowdown.
It doesn't affect the game too badly, al-
though it's annoying at times. You'll also find
that there's an abundance of 1-Ups to be
found, perhaps a few too many. It's not a
particularly challenging game, so you have

Mega Man. Pulseman himself could practi-
cally be Mega Man with a coat of red paint,
and the main leader of the nefarious Galaxy
Gang he fights bears more than a slight re-
semblance to Dr. Wily. Despite these super-
ficial similarities, Pulseman doesn't really
play very much like the long-running Cap-
com series. Pulseman doesn't gain the final stage -- a tribute to 80's arcades -- will
powers of his foes, nor does he blast ene- put a smile on any classic gamer's face.
mies with a cannon built into his arm. In- Of course, this level of artistic creativ-
stead, his powers revolve around the use of ity also requires pushing the system's hard-
electricity. ware to its limits, and Pulseman is a bon-
The most basic attack at your disposal afide showcase of the true power of the
in Pulseman is a close-range punch. Pulse- Mega Drive. Layer upon layer of parallax to wonder why Game Freak decided to pro-
man's outstretched arm, surging with elec- scrolling, wonderful warping and distortion vide such a superfluous amount of lives.
trical power, can take out most regular ene- effects, and lush color are all on display. But those are minor quibbles in the face of
mies with one tap of the B button. But store The sheer amount of colors on-screen is greatness. Pulseman is one of the best
up a little electricity – running for a brief dis- amazing; if you have a friend who's always action/platformer games on Sega's 16-bit
tance does the trick – and you'll have more complaining about the "crappy colors" of the machine, and considering the high quality of
options at your disposal. You can punch as Genesis, this is the game to show him. The the competition, that's no small feat.
you normally would with the added bonus of aural component of the game is just as im-
a charge shot of energy (great for taking out
enemies from a distance); however, a more
useful technique, the Voltteccer, can be Omake: Most Japanese Mega Drive games only need some sort of pass-through
used with the A button. Think of the Volttec- converter, such as a Game Genie, to play properly on a US Genesis. Pulseman is
cer as Sonic's patented Spin Dash, except one of a small amount of Mega Drive games with a special regional lockout chip.
Pulseman can go flying in any direction, You can easily bypass this though. Just enter this code into your Game Genie be-
bouncing off walls and taking out any en- fore starting the game: LAXT-AA5L.

Classic Gamer Magazine July 2004 22