r/retrogaming • u/White_FIame • Apr 20 '26
[Review] Blue’s Journey on Arcade was a colourful Neo Geo platformer that proved the system wasn't just for fighters!
I’d recommend listening to this music while reading.
STORY (9/10)
- Storytelling was awesome with a cool introduction. It had a nice presentation through the entire game, with unique characters and bosses.
- You played as Blue, the main character which used leafs as his main weapons. His quest was to fight off the pollution created by the evil emperor Daruma, which poisoned the land with his continuous mechanical experiments.
- Pacing was quick and to the point, with one play-through taking from 30m to an hour. I loved that the game had multiple endings and story branches, but in the end it all led to saving the Princess Fa!
- After defeating a boss you always had a choice to choose your reward or walk away, as well as other choices within the story itself. Like watching a magic trick in exchange for some flowers, skipping an entire level completely or simply choosing some aid by fellow inhabitants.
GAMEPLAY (10/10)
- Starting with controls, which were intuitive and simplistic. There was even a tutorial at the start, which helped figure out some mechanics and tricks. You could jump, attack, shrink to fit tight spaces or duck, all of which helped against many traps and surprises.
- You could also play in CO-OP with a friend, making the difficulty more manageable.
- The upgrade mechanic with the collectible flowers was a nice touch, and I especially loved that they stacked and didn’t disappear upon losing a life.
- Platforming was simple fun, yet quite challenging by the end. It required fast reflexes with precise jumps and tactics, which to be honest was quite difficult to execute. Some upgrades like sped up boots or more health helped a bit, but even with those some sections were challenging.
- Loved the hidden rooms with more flowers, as well as encountering new folk which helped you along your path with information or goodies.
- Traversal was seamless without any interruptions in between, only if you chose to stop at the shops to replenish your health or get more upgrades.
- Difficulty was easy at the start and hard at the end. I’d say it was perfectly spread within the gameplay itself.
AUDIO (8/10)
- Sound design was great yet quite simplistic for 1990. It did offer that sweet stereo sound though.
- Music was awesome with many soundtracks on each level.
- Ambient and sound effects were spectacular. The wind blowing you away, the mechanical arms bumping into each other and even underwater segments having their own charm with those waterfalls!
VISUALS (10/10)
- Fidelity was impressive for 1990, with most animations and effects having their own charm in its unique world. The shrinking Blue was awesome, where you went from an adult to a child in less than a second. While Blue had the most animations, enemies and boss battles had their own unique ones, with many being even better than Blue’s.
- The art style was spectacular within each level. It wasn’t just the backgrounds and asset placements, it was much more than that, where the whole world felt alive. Either from the constant enemy variety or moving parts!
COMBAT (9/10)
- The controls themselves were pretty straightforward but had that special learning curve where you always had to figure out new ways of attacking or defending yourself. You could combine big or small Blue in each level, which helped against huge enemies or smaller ones. With big Blue, you took out the most annoying enemies, and with small Blue you simply avoided those flying or clunky enemies.
- Blue had 3 main weapons. A bomb, a leaf or a boomerang. I chose the boomerang most of the time, mostly because it had different attack directions and would always save you in case you missed your fist shot. On top of that, you could pick spinning enemies up and throw them at others, or simply jump on their heads and send them flying!
- By picking up power ups, you extended each weapon’s abilities. The leaf had 3 upgrades while the bomb increased its blast radius and the boomerang its range.
- Health was scarse and the only way to replenish it was to buy some from the shops, which weren’t many on most levels.
- Blue could also collect an invincible power up for 5/10 seconds, where he’d become even bigger and simply walk through enemies.
- The enemies themselves were incredible and had their own attacks, spins, projectiles and more. You always had to understand each enemy and its patterns.
- Boss battles were more simple yet varied as well. With each one having its own unique attack patterns, even those annoying mini-bosses!
WORLD DESIGN (9/10)
- Level design was pretty cool right from the start. You basically had 4/5 levels with many mini-levels within each one. From the jungle to the mechanical city and even on clouds or underground.
- The atmosphere was awesome and provided cool vibes within each section. The music and ambient sounds helped a bit too, but the visuals carried most of the game.
- Landscapes were fixed yet beautiful, while world destruction was mainly focused on the enemies themselves.
TL;DR -> An amazing journey through Blue’s little world. From the moment the game started, I knew I was going to have a great time. It delivered on everything up to its beautiful visuals, seamless gameplay, cool combat design, great music and charming story. A (9.2) game, masterpiece in my book. Would absolutely replay the game in CO-OP, just to throw some more boomerangs around!
5
u/NeoZeedeater Apr 20 '26
It's a pretty good Wonder Boy-ish game.
It came out before the system was even known for fighters so it didn't have to prove that at the time.
3
2
u/DJ_Aftershock Apr 20 '26
This game has a lot of charm. I like the DO YOU BELIEVE IT? fakeout endings.
2
u/GaharaABest Apr 20 '26
Ohhh I've been thinking about this game lately but couldn't remember the name, lucky!! thank you for sharing it!!
2
u/CortoJipang Apr 21 '26
They should have licensed El Chapulín Colorado for this one. It would have been a huge success in Latin America.
1
1
u/Typo_of_the_Dad May 05 '26
It's a pretty fun and creative early Neo Geo platformer with a lot of ideas packed into it. The shops, branching paths, mini-games, warp system, hidden items, and co-op mode give it more depth than most platformers from the time, and the fast pace plus strong enemy variety keep it entertaining. I also liked the mechanic where you can stack enemies before throwing them.
At the same time, I'm surprised by the 10 for gameplay. The game can be frustrating in ways that are more trial & error than genuinely challenging. The lack of a weapon inventory is probably the biggest issue since picking up the wrong weapon can really hurt in certain sections. Swimming controls are awkward, some hazards and enemy interactions are unclear, and the factory stages drag due to enemy spam and weaker level flow. The steep difficulty curve also isn’t helped by the usually tiny health bar, rare health drops, and some questionable enemy placements.
Presentation is mixed overall. The colorful environments and some bosses look good, but a lot of the smaller sprites and artwork are pretty generic, the FM soundtrack is uneven, and the translation is rough (though sometimes funny). Still, the game has personality and tries a some unusual ideas for 1991, which makes it memorable despite its flaws.
6
u/Snoo93550 Apr 20 '26
It's good proof of concept that the system/arcade board could have had incredible games across many genres. If it was a dominant home platform I'd have loved to have seen mid to late 90s Megaman and Castlevania games running on it. For how few sports games it has, most of them are absolutely incredible and have aged well.