Black Panther
Arcade
Nostalgia Factor:
We're moving onto the year 1987. I was five years old at the time and probably just starting to take an interest in video games. One video game I can tell you I never heard of back then was Black Panther for the arcade. I'm not even sure if it was released in the US, or if it was a Japanese exclusive. There's actually not that much info about this game online anywhere. It's shrouded in mystery!
Oh, before we get any further let me just answer what you're thinking: no this has nothing to do with the Black Panther Marvel franchise. This is its very own, and very -urr- unique thing.
Story:
The game doesn't give you much to go on as far as story goes. After the title screen when you insert your quarters and press start, the game shows Earth from orbit and the whole planet seems to be going up in flames. Then you're immediately thrown into action, with no explanation as to what is going on whatsoever.
Since you are mainly fighting robots in this game, I'll venture a guess that you're attempting to quell some kind of robot and/or alien attack on humanity. Seems like a pretty safe bet, right? How mind numbingly deep.
Gameplay:
Taking control of the titular Black Panther, you must run through a series of stages, defeating enemies, jumping over pits and platforms, collecting power ups, and defeating the boss at the end of each level.
This is a game where you are in near perpetual motion. You're almost constantly running to the right, making very infrequent stops. If you take too long to get going, a wave of energy will appear from the left side of the screen and do major damage to your character. As a result, you want to keep moving as much as possible.
You start out with only one way of attacking: with your claws. You can attack while running, although this opens you up to getting hit more frequently. You can attack while standing still, which increases your accuracy and helps keep you from taking damage, but you have to remain stationary and wait for the enemies to come to you. You can also attack while jumping, which seems to be the most accurate attack in the game and also keeps you from taking damage if done properly. As a result, I spent most stages holding down the run button to the right, and repeatedly doing my jump/slash combo along the way. A lot of enemies can only be hit with jump attacks, so if you want to beat this game you'll have to adapt a similar tactic.
Enemies attack you in what I can best describe as formations or groupings. If you can defeat all the enemies in a grouping, they'll drop health items that you can snatch up. Collecting every ounce of health you can find is another key to success in this game. If you manage to exceed the 100 health threshold, your character becomes surrounded by projectiles which you can launch in all directions, causing massive damage to your enemies. And you can do this multiple times. I always felt like a real badass when I'd go on a long combo streak, earn over 100 health, and then reign death and destruction upon my foes. Even better when you can string a series of these together.
As you run to the right, you'll often encounter these glowing electrical orange blobs that get in your way. These blobs can't be defeated, and their only function is to block you and cause damage to your character. You have to constantly avoid these things. They are the most annoying thing about the game, in my opinion. It would be so much better without them. They often pop up before you can react to them. They're inconveniently placed and make jumps very difficult. They block you from getting health items. They make attacking your enemies difficult. If you're trapped up against a wall with one of these things, it'll drain your health and kill you in a matter of seconds. These blobs appear randomly and often, and a real pain in your butt the entire game. So annoying.
Near the end of each level, a bunch of glowing collectibles will fall from the sky. These give you power ups right before you take on the level's boss character. Some of these power ups include extra attack power and the ability to fire lasers ahead of you. Very helpful.
This game is very difficult, and the entire thing must be beaten on one quarter, so be prepared for some frustration. You get three lives, and once you use those lives up you have to start the whole game over again. Jackal, Dragon's Lair, Gradius: why do so many games from this era think that is a good idea?? Please give us a continue option and make beating the game seem like a more attainable goal. I know they want people to keep pumping quarters into the system, but I'm more likely to do that if I feel I actually have a legitimate shot at beating the game. Making it really far and then having to start over again makes me want to stop playing.
Graphics:
This game looks pretty decent. There's bright colors, some imaginative stage design. I like the variety you find in your enemies. The bosses are all pretty slick looking as well. Even though Black Panther doesn't give you much in terms of storyline to go on, the world of the game does a good job selling you on... whatever is happening.
Sound:
I wish I could say that there was really anything from this game that stood out in the audio department. The music has the feel of an early Sega Genesis game to it, like Thunder Force II, but none of the tunes are very catchy or did a good job sticking around in my brain. Sound effects are fine, I guess.
I like the little samurai-sounding jingle that plays after you lose a life and then come back with your next one. That's cool. Unfortunately due to this game's difficulty I heard it more times than I would have liked to.
Best ending text ever
Overall:
I really wanted to like this game. The concept of playing as a black panther and destroying robots in an apocalyptic future is a pretty interesting one, in my opinion. Unfortunately the execution of this game is just plain not good.
The enemies are unpredictable. There's too many annoyances like those orange blobs of light that block you from proceeding. There are a lot of cheap deaths. You have to take leaps of faith quite often because you can't see very far ahead of you, and often these leaps lead to death. The whole idea of the game is to keep you running to the right, but doing so often leads you headfirst into unavoidable enemies that can drain your health in a heartbeat.
It's very repetitive as well. You run to the right, clawing at enemies, and jumping over obstacles. The next stage you do the same thing. And the next stage. And the next. Maybe if there was some kind of continue function, and I didn't have to start over from the beginning each time I lost all my lives, I would have liked this game a lot more. Having to replay the same sections of game over and over and over and over again gets real tiring, real quick.
The game does some things right. It looks good. It's got a decent concept. I enjoyed the design of the boss characters. Some of the power ups you can get add a certain level of fun to the game. When you get into a nice combat groove and you can keep stringing 100 bonuses together repeatedly, that can be pretty entertaining as well.
Overall, however, I just didn't have a great time with this game. I remember not being able to finish it the first night I played it, and it took me several days to come back and try again because the game felt like such a chore to fire up. That feeling never really went away. It's like doing homework or something. I played through this game and beat it because I felt obligated to do so for the purposes of this blog, but I didn't really enjoy it. And I have no desire to return to this game ever again.
Sorry Black Panther. I wish I had better things to say about you.
THE GRADE:
D
1984:
1985:
1986:
1987:
Black Panther (the review you're reading)
and coming next:
the original Street Fighter!
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