Doraemon

Do you have any idea how many Doraemon games there are? Well, I was pretty mind blown to find out that this franchise is stacked with games. The one I am looking at today is called, Doraemon: Yume Dorobou to 7 Nin no Gazans, and as you have probably guessed it is a game that was only released in Japan like most of the games that feature this weird looking blue cat.

What Is Going On?

As I stated, this game is from Japan and all of the text is in Japanese so I have no idea what the heck is going on in terms of the story. From what I gather, Doraemon is trying to save the day and there are these chickens and other weird animals that for some reason or other want to stop him

To be fair Doraemon: Yume Dorobou to 7 Nin no Gozans is a 16-bit platformer so we do not really need a big story. I will say that there is a fair bit of text here so if you can read Japanese you will at least be told the reason for doing what you are doing.

Cute As A Button

I will admit that my knowledge of this franchise is not exactly vast. However, I do know a good-looking game when I see one. Doraemon is very cute looking and I love the way he is animated. When you are falling from a fair height, he has this really cute animation. The levels are full of color and have some nice background details and many of the enemies are a decent size and are well animated also. I cannot attest to how close to the source material these are, but I can tell you they look good.

Super Doraemon World

I get the impression that the goal of Doraemon: Yume Dorobou to 7 Nin no Gozans was to try and make this similar to Super Mario World. You select what level you want to play, but each one is a platformer. Doraemon controls well enough. He can run, jump and he has a weird gun that can stun enemies so he can jump on them, or you can hold the button to do a strong shot and kill them.

You can also get a power-up. One lets you glide when you jump and the other flat out lets you fly. These are pretty handy when you get the, but I found the flying one a bit overpowered as you can just zoom through the level. There are boss fights, but these are done via a game of paper, scissors, rock which I hate as it is just a game of chance. You do also have a few mini-games as well which is a nice change of pace.

I am not what you would call a fan of this franchise, but I must admit that there is something very charming about Doraemon: Yume Dorobou to 7 Nin no Gozans on the Sega Genesis. I would not say that it is the most amazing platform game I have ever played. However, when I fired it up, I actually spent way more time with it than I thought I would and I had a fairly decent time while doing so. If you are looking for a more obscure and odd Genesis platform game, give this one a try.

Pros:

• It is a very cute looking game
• There is a decent variety to the levels
• There are mini-games
• Many of the characters have great animations
• I “think” it has a story

Cons:

• The power-ups are too powerful
• You need to understand Japanese to get the best out of it