Pasokon Retro is our common look again on the early years of Japanese PC gaming, encompassing all the pieces from specialist ’80s computer systems to the completely satisfied days of Home windows XP.
I actually cannot keep in mind precisely after I first determined to present this vibrant slice of simian silliness a go, however since then taking part in it has grow to be a winter ritual. I all the time come again to it presently of 12 months, when in my a part of the world the brief days are chilly and darkish, and the lengthy nights are colder and darker. It is an ideal recreation for the vacation season, a time when there all the time appears to be one million issues to do and my mind’s left a well mannered message thanking me for my curiosity in coherent pondering, but it surely will not be again till March.
Saruyama Tengoku 2 calls for completely nothing of any PC I’ve ever owned, which might give it an enthralling nostalgic really feel even when I hadn’t constructed an annual ritual round it. The entire set up folder does not even clear 7MB (that is proper, megabytes), or to place it one other manner—the whole recreation takes up much less room on my SSD than a single trendy screenshot. It is unfussy about the place it will get performed too, fortunately working with out criticism or esoteric tweaking on each PC I’ve ever copied it throughout to, from creaking machines which can be barely on nodding phrases with USB ports to glossy trendy {hardware}. I all the time have a system helpful that may play it.
It is good as a result of it calls for even much less from me than it does my {hardware}. The one factor I’ve to do right here (or can do, actually) is drag a number of random objects into an enclosure containing 5 of probably the most expressive monkeys gaming has ever seen, after which sit again and benefit from the unfolding chimpy chaos. That is it, that is the entire recreation. There aren’t any survival-y affection or leisure gauges to fret about, no zoo funds to keep watch over, and any consuming or consuming the monkeys do is only for present. And I actually would not need it some other manner.
Saruyama Tengoku 2 is a toy, actually. A little bit of enjoyable. A Home windows 95-based snack for a drained, sunless, thoughts. However as a result of that is all it was ever meant to be, it nonetheless feels full. Developer Compile is understood for the Puyo Puyo puzzle sequence, although it additionally made shmups, RPGs, and just a little of all the pieces else. Saruyama Tengoku 2 wasn’t a typical recreation anybody was anticipated to pay premium costs for. In contrast to most PC video games of its day, there was no gigantic cardboard field or color handbook to flip by means of—it was an amusing little further included with quantity 14 of Compile’s Disc Station journal.
This was a form of selection journal/floppy disc/CD combo the developer produced throughout a number of codecs all through a lot of the ’90s, containing all the pieces from a number of playable chapters of Wander Surprise and Puyo Puyo fan artwork to odd little one-offs like this. However the creators of evergreen puzzle legends and extra hardcore shmups than I’ve the house to say had no problem making an odd little one-off nonetheless really feel particular.
Saruyama Tengoku 2’s zoo routinely goes by means of a easy day/nightfall/night time cycle, with the monkeys left unsupervised within the evenings. After a number of in-game days the enclosure will routinely transfer on to the subsequent season—perhaps exhibiting fireworks on a summer time night time, or snow on chilly wintery floor—with this visible change bringing new objects together with it. A cup of shaved ice is all the time a pleasant deal with on a scorching day, even when the monkeys are inclined to shovel it down their throats so quick it provides them a nasty case of mind freeze.
Regardless of the season, I by no means have to attend very lengthy for one thing enjoyable, humorous, or absurd to occur. I have been idly passing the time with this little .exe for years now, and I nonetheless cannot make sure what’s coming subsequent. Possibly a monkey will decide up a Walkman and luxuriate in listening to some music. Possibly one in every of them will pull off an impromptu Again to the Future gag, leaving flaming scorch marks of their wake. Possibly one in every of them will inexplicably evolve into a unadorned human (full with a tasteful black bar to cowl their uncovered—ahem—”banana”) after which get whisked away by a UFO in the course of night time after a dramatic particular announcement that is designed to ape (no, I am not sorry) these seen in Taito’s traditional shmup Darius. Completely nothing is just too bizarre for this recreation—in the event you can think about it, and particularly in the event you can solely think about it after consuming one thing attention-grabbing and of questionable legality, it is most likely in right here someplace.
Parachutes? Twisters? Jessica Rabbit type girl monkeys? Positive, why not.
Nothing is just too small to flee Compile’s meticulous consideration to element. The personalities of every cheeky chimp actually shine by means of of their bespoke animations, the large brash lumps of muscle clearly completely different from the smaller simians. Some monkeys dislike sure objects a lot they will throw them straight over the again wall in the event that they discover them earlier than another person does. Some monkeys get into fights extra typically than others, full with Looney Tunes-esque mud clouds and disembodied limbs flying in all places. Some will stuff a plain previous fish straight of their mouths and munch on the entire thing without delay, whereas one other would possibly expertly slice it into sashimi earlier than tucking in.
This “recreation” is simply barely extra interactive than an animated screensaver, however again within the ’90s even animated screensavers might be ingenious storytelling gadgets in a position to depart decades-long marks on our imaginations. On this context, Saruyama Tengoku 2’s obvious strangeness is simply one other instance of an experimental style of game-ish applications which have since sadly pale away.
And that is why I come again to it each winter. It is cosy. Innocent. Cosy. Whether or not I go to sleep on my keyboard with a glass of eggnog in my hand or simply need to have a quiet half an hour doing nothing specifically, Saruyama Tengoku 2’s all the time completely satisfied if I am completely satisfied, and by no means greater than two minutes away from throwing monkey lasers or magical clouds into the combo. What extra might I ask for?