goood.games
Shockman1991

Shockman

1991 Masaya80Great

Overview

PC Engine Longplay [081] Kaizou Chounin Shubibinman

It's been two years since Arnold and Sonya were made into Shockmen. A message from the professor to return to their bodies has them head to his laboratory, but they are ambushed by a mysterious enemy along the way. After narrowly defeating the enemy, they catch a TV news flash announcing the Ryo Empire invasion. They find that the professor has been abducted and set out to rescue him. Shockman is a side-view action shooter that has eight stages, including Action Stages, where you jump and use special techniques, and side-scrolling Shooting Stages. This game expands on the well-paced story from the previous version and contains cooperative elements like shared life and a powerful Team Shockbeam that can be used during two-player simultaneous play.

Screenshots

Screenshot for Shockman
Screenshot for Shockman
Screenshot for Shockman
Screenshot for Shockman
Screenshot for Shockman
Screenshot for Shockman

Reception

It's true that Cyber Citizen Shockman 2: A New Menace improves upon the original but this buggy port makes it pretty much just as fun.

In the end, people have to decide what they want to do the most. While there’s inherent value in seeking out the first installment to fully understand, the subsequent story is more coherent, more entertaining and fills in the gaps when necessary to bring you up to speed. The action is stronger, but the character development also gives more compassion...

Even with the jank and frustration in parts, you’ll be rewarded with one memorable adventure and some awesome tunes, and I still can’t help but recommend it nevertheless. It may have a lot of rough edges, but Shockman 2 is a fun gem that I’m super excited to see get the treatment it deserved.

It’s rare for a sequel to be better than the original. It’s even rarer for it to so eclipse it that they feel like completely different species. Nevertheless, that’s the magic trick that Cyber Citizen Shockman 2: A New Menace pulls off. It’s a beautiful retro adventure full of great artwork and amazing music, with lots of accessibility options to make...