🎵 Received: January 2nd, 2019 🎵 Written: November 5th-14th, 2023 🎵
Hello, gamers and readers alike, welcome to my blog and thank you for taking the time to tune in today, I really appreciate it! 😃
Image from MobyGames
In May of 1973 the Kudo brothers Yuji and Hiroshi founded the Japanese firm Hudson Soft, named after the Hudson locomotive due to their childhood admiration of trains, in Toyohira-ku, Sapporo. Originally set up as an amateur radio shop called CQ Hudson, Hudson Soft would enter the video game software business later in the decade where they began with a quantity over quality approach to releasing games until the lack of success in that regard changed their stance to a quality over quantity one where they found much better luck. It wouldn't be until 1983 that they actively worked on developing games for the MSX and then later Nintendo's Famicom console with Bomberman, Nuts & Milk, Binary Land, and their Nintendo 8-bit port of Brøderbund's Lode Runner and would work on many more noteworthy titles throughout the remainder of their tenure until they voluntarily chose to merge with Konami in 2012 following years of negotiations.
Image from GameFAQs
Milon would make a return a decade later with the Super Famicom sequel DoReMi Fantasy: Milon no DokiDoki Daibōken (the subtitle translating to "Milon's DokiDoki Adventure", with "DokiDoki" being an onomatopoeia for a beating heart). Directed by Yukiko Mikami, produced by Shigeki "Bomber" Fujiwara and Takashi Sawaguchi, designed by Tadayuki Kawada and Kōji Innami, and programmed by Yasuhiro Kosaka, Atsuo Nagata, and Tetsuharu Takashima, Milon's second game originally only saw a release in Japan on March 22nd, 1996.
Just then the sky suddenly dims itself which catches everyone's attention at which moment there's a sudden lightning flash which is soon revealed to be the dark wizard Amon who uses his evil magic to steal away Alis from her friends
Left: Starting Milon's new adventure | Right: Flattening a bird enemy so it can be used as a makeshift platform
In the sidescrolling platformer DoReMi Fantasy: Milon no DokiDoki Daibōken you take control of Milon whom you can move left and right, duck down, press up to go through doors, and climb ladders, you can jump in the air with the B button (with the altitude gained based on how hard you pressed the button), propel yourself in the direction you're swimming towards when underwater by holding down a direction and pressing B, and you can blow bubbles with the Y button which can also be used to dash by holding it down alongside the left and right directions. Once in a while there may be a row of blocks that are situated above or below you that you can destroy in the normal way, so all you need to do is hold down the Y button until Milon flashes and then to let go to amass a vast array of bubbles around him. Throughout the game are eighth notes and beamed notes for you to
Left: Those poor bush enemies are so oblivious to what's about to happen to them | Right: Log ride
collect that are scattered about for collecting a hundred of them will reward you with a life. By blowing your bubble at destructible blocks you might uncover a hidden item that will help Milon on his adventure: a double bubble icon to augment the number of bubbles you can blow at a time, an oblong bubble icon to increase Milon's bubble blowing range, a singular pair of overalls to replenish your health by one or double overalls to fill it up by two, bubblegum to save you from a fall should you fall offscreen with it on hand, winged boots to help you glide in the air provided you keep the B button held while in midair, and an
Left: Blowing bubbles at a breakable block to reveal clothing | Right: Leaf hopping 🍃
invincibility star with Milon's face to render you invincible for a momentary period of time (he even becomes invincible upon collecting a hundred notes should the life count be at 9). DoReMi Fantasy has got a color-coded health system where Milon is at his most vulnerable when he's colored red, wears blue when he's got a health of two, and when you've reached the health cap he adorns the green palette, where collecting overalls while wearing green will net you a good number of notes to add to your count. When it comes to the myriad of enemies attempting to impede your progress you can either jump on them to briefly incapacitate them
Left: Invincible | Right: Bouncing on soft, cushiony clouds
thereby rendering them as makeshift platforms or you can encase them in a bubble which you can send away by simply moving towards them afterward (otherwise if you leave the encased enemy in a bubble too long without doing anything further then they will break free). Access to the next level in the map is granted once you reach the end with the goal sign present, and should you revisit a level you've been in before and wish to return to the map all you need to do is hold down the Select button. The end of each map culminates in a boss fight, and once they're defeated you can make way towards the next map for which you can switch between with either shoulder button. If you're revisiting a level you've already played through and wish to return to the map screen, simply hold down the Select button.
Left: Be mindful of the occasional bolts of thunder here while the winds are whooshing against you | Right: Blowing bubbles against the forest guardian
The visuals of DoReMi Fantasy were done by Mika Kakutani, Maki Nagayama, Yumi Mukai, Kazue Tanaka, Akemi Ihara, Yukinori Goto, and Hideki Sōma with art direction by Shoji Mizuno and Naoto Yoshimi for it is a very pleasant game to look at. 😃 Aiming for a pastel-toned aesthetic, the color palette in each world is very effective with how soft and relaxing the colors of each different location's backgrounds are. The first stage's levels have got amount of foliage with the trees and abundance of leaves, in half of the second stage's delicacy-themed
Left: In the land of desserts| Right: Tearing away the dessert one bit at a time with each bubble
levels there's an effectively gradient starry sky with the constellations, I like the stained-glass windows in the third stage levels (especially in that one level where it is adorned by color layered curtains acting as a frame), the color layering blues of the waters Milon swims in in the fourth stage levels are soothingly effective, there's a beautiful Aurora Borealis seen from a distance in snow-laden fifth stage's levels, and I like how in the middle levels of the sixth stage the inside of the volcano glows perpetually as it alternates from bright to dark and back. I particularly liked how the penultimate levels before confronting the stage boss had a
Left: Climbing the delicacy ladder | Right: About to unleash a super bubble attack to destroy those breakable blocks above
darker colored environment with the first stage's penultimate level having cuckoo clocks as well as Pinocchio puppets whose noses grow and retract, how it is filled with frosting inside a gingerbread house in the second stage's penultimate level, and in the fifth stage's penultimate level how it is snow-heavy taking place inside an icy cavern. Milon is a very solidly designed character with an endearing amount of charm in terms of how expressive he is and how smooth his sense of animation is. What I particularly like, and this was either a conscious decision or happy accident, is how his hair is shaped like the letter "M" at pretty much all times in-game. His running and swimming animations are good, I like how does a front flip
Left: Greeted by stellar constellations | Right: Procured a musical star
when jumping, and there's a couple isolated levels where it is so windy that Milon is holding onto his cap as it blows behind him when facing the wind (or ahead of him should he face the opposite direction), I really like that attention to detail. I even like the different animations he has got depending on how he lost his health or lost a life all done in a lighthearted anime fashion, like flailing his arms while being engulfed in flames and passing out upon being touched by fire and should you fall offscreen without the bubblegum at your disposal he will momentarily pretend to swim upward like a fish to a point until he covers his nose with one hand while raising the other as he falls straight down. One of my favorite animations is when
Left: Two pumpkin enemies waiting outside 🎃 | Right: Being drenched by a perpetual amount of wine inside a wine glass pyramid 🍷
he remains idle long enough, particularly when you're inside the wine glass pyramid as it fills up with wine, how he will cover his whole face with his cap while his eyes and mouth as still visible through it, it's so charmingly lighthearted and endearing. Each stage has got their own set of enemies that you will not see again in the subsequent ones, which is appropriate as it makes them very all distinguishable: sentient bushes and purple birds in the forest levels, happy hopping candles and enemies who toss their pumpkin heads at you which regenerate in the delicacy levels, floating G clef sheets and pirate mice with eyepatches in the musical
Left: Happy hoppy candle minding its own business | Right: Teetering
levels, piranhas and imps of different professions (including ones that swim with flippers) in the water levels, green penguins that toss snowballs and sea lions and rodents strapped to balloons hanging in midair in the snow levels, hairy troglodytes and hedgehogs and eggs that hatch fire-breathing birds in the volcano levels, and in the final set of levels sentient toy planes that fly around in a literal circle and jack in the box-style foes and ghosts adorning witch hats as well as sword-wielding knights, et al. They all have a lighthearted charm to
Left: About to be popped out of a champagne bottle | Right: What a lovely swan cake 🦢
them and all react in a comically incredulous manner upon being trapped in a bubble or upon being jumped on. The enemies you face in the series of penultimate stage levels are likably designed, too, like the sentient gumball machines, sentient headphone and sunglass wearing microphones, large frogs and pollywogs, and tanuki with a mini-volcano strapped to their back. The bosses Milon faces look great as well, and I love how many of them have their own entrance before the battle begins proper: like the out of control chef who pretty much gets
Left: "Doughnut defile this sweet-tasting domicile with your diminutive presence, human!" 🍩 | Right: It's only Bullet Bill's more colorful and smirky obscure cousin
drawn to life before the background shifts to a star-laden sky, the colorfully dressed masked magician who's preceded by a series of sparks before entering the scene, a snowman mostly operating by Mode 7 scaling and rotating effects as it occasionally bounces its own head on its body and sometimes tosses its own head towards you, and the sun boss who emerges from
Left: Take down those cupcakes | Right: Watch out for the food sprouting from the chef's toque that's going to rain down on you
behind the rocky architecture with a bright sky as it tends to switch to the moon side affecting the area in a way that will turn into night. I love how DoReMi Fantasy begins in the form of an anime cutscene without any dialogue in it immediately drawing you in to its world, and whenever you bring the five stars to the respective musicians you get a nicely drawn close up of them playing one of the five instruments needed to seal Amon once and for all.DoReMi Fantasy's music was composed by Jun Chikuma who has done an impeccable job at immersing you in the game's various worlds with how she approached it.
Chikuma began her career at Hudson Soft in 1985 creating music for the Famicom version of Bomberman lending it the iconic sound and motifs that would recur throughout the long-running franchise as she would continue contributing the music to the series for the Nintendo 8-bit sequel, the Game Boy game Bomber Boy/Atomic Punk/Dynablaster, the NEC PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 iterations (including Westone's Sega MegaDrive/Genesis adaptation of Bomberman '94, Mega Bomberman), the Nintendo 16-bit Super Bomberman games which were a joint production by Produce and Hudson Soft, the Saturn Bomberman games, and the PlayStation One-based Bomberman World,
she even provided music for the spinoffs such as the puzzler Bomberman: Panic Bomber, the Game Boy platformer Bomberman Pocket, the A.I-developed 3D platformer Bomberman Hero for the Nintendo 64, and Eleven's Game Boy Color action-adventure game Bomberman Quest, with Chikuma's final musical contribution to the series being Bomberman Story/Tournament for the Game Boy Advance in 2001 before she left the company.
For inexplicable reasons, Konami decided to digitally release Jaseiken Necromancer, an RPG, outside of Japan on the Nintendo Wii U Virtual Console downloadable service in 2018 untranslated
Outside of the series Chikuma also composed music for Hudson Soft's Takahashi Meijin no Bōken Jima/Adventure Island, their Doraemon license for the Famicom as well as Nihon Bussan's NEC PC Engine license Doraemon: Meikyū Daisakusen*, Faxanadu licensed by Nihon Falcom, Jaseiken Necromancer, Victor Musical Industries' Makyō Densetsu/The Legendary Axe, the NEC PC Engine CD-ROM²/TurboGrafx-CD port of Westone's Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair, the original Nectaris/Military Madness as well as the Matrix Software-developed PlayStation One entry Nectaris/Nectaris: Military Madness, Birthday's Crystal Beans from Dungeon Explorer,
* Like Jun Chikuma's soundtrack, the game would receive a complete facelift when released for the North American TurboGrafx-16 as Cratermaze
Left: "Get off me, you inconsiderate little pest!" | Right: Know to jump off immediately after landing on a platform that is prone to flipping at the slightest touch
For DoReMi Fantasy the soundtrack is a bit unique in the platforming genre in that there is music, but there are certain levels where the current of atmosphere is tangibly felt because of the awe-inspiring and wonder-filled ambience and on occasion there are sound effects of the ambient variety that act as part of the themes. I like the pleasantly casual theme that plays whenever Milon converses with an amicable NPC made complete with the chirping of the birds throughout, I like how the map theme starts off with minimal instrumentation which
Left: Block pushing and enemy shoving | Right: Encased a pirate mouse inside a bubble
soon elevates itself with the joining of other instruments little by little, the theme for when you start the game proper in the forest (which also plays in the outdoor volcano levels) sounds incredibly bouncy and super catchy as it eases you in to Milon's world, this one atmospheric theme is replete with the sounds chirping birds and rolling boulders, and I like the appropriate vibe of the windy theme as there's a light melody playing simultaneously with the sound of whooshing winds. The pleasantly charming theme that plays during the
Left: Bell hopping 🔔 | Right: Put that pirate mouse in its place
rainbow cathedral makes me think of Takeaki Kunimoto and Daisuke Inoue's main theme from Meikyū Kumikyoku: Milon no Daibōken/Milon's Secret Castle, and if that's what Jun Chikuma was aiming for I think it's a very nice and subtle callback to the first game's theme while at the same time adding just enough melody to make this one her own. The dessert theme is infectiously catchy and invitingly absorbing to listen to, the night sky theme is
Left: Flattened a pirate mouse | Right: Entering a doorway
drenched in so much star laden atmosphere that you could practically swim in it, one of the water themes is so soothing and relaxingly tranquil with its reliance on ambient instrumentation, the frozen ice plain theme sounds pretty with the glacial-sounding opening and ambient quality, the toy level theme is very pleasant and fits in with that environment (it even gets its rewarding rendition during the end credits which is satisfying to hear every time), the haunted castle theme is suitably menacing and lightheartedly creepy-sounding,
Left: Skyrocketing up to high places by jumping from drum to drum | Right: Climbing the curtain off to the side while simultaneously contending with sentient G clef sheets 𝄞
and the theme for the levels where you're looking for the keys to access the bosses is atmospherically foreboding and perfectly complements these creepy-looking lairs. I like how DoReMi Fantasy has got a different array of boss themes which gives them their own sense of identity: the first boss theme is quirky but catchy as you're facing off against an automaton who falls to pieces at the end, the chef's boss theme has got a fun hip-hop vibe to it, the masked magician's boss theme sounds menacingly pressing, the snowman boss theme is
Left: Jumping on an innocent mouse poking its head out | Right: "Pick a card, any card"
hectic-sounding but bouncy, I like the imposing organs used for the sun and moon boss theme, and Amon's theme has got a fast-paced do or die quality about it. DoReMi Fantasy was sound programmed by Akihiro Sato, Hironao Yamamoto, Ichirō Shimakura, Akihiro Honma, Katsunori Takahashi, Takayuki Iwabuchi, and Hideki Oka while it was sound produced by Meikyū Kumikyoku creator Toshiyuki Sasagawa and Toshiaki Takimoto, and I think everyone did a good job in the audio department. 😃 The sound effects are all
Left: Shoving away a bubbled imp | Right: Swimming towards a bubbled piranha
endearingly made like when Milon blows bubbles against his enemies as well as the crumbling sound for when they hit against breakable blocks, the wet sounds for he when walks on water or milk, the appropriately instrumental sounds for when he steps on bells or drums, the soft bubbling sounds for when Milon swims underwater, the flaming sounds for when a fireball flies out of the lava, and I especially like how the musical notes sound happier as you collect them all in a quick sequential manner.
If you wanted to listen to Chikuma's music by itself outside of playing the game, simply input the number 7 on all four slots in the password screen, which you can access from the title screen, and you'll be taken to a sound test with a lovely pastel-toned image of the hero child Milon conducting an orchestra full of adult musicians.
Left: The bubblegum is very convenient to have should you be so unfortunate as to fall down with it at your disposal | Right: Duck!
The main objective when it comes to each level is to reach the goal post, but on occasion DoReMi Fantasy will attempt to throw a curveball at you by having you go through possible detours along the way through either the upper or lower path or by entering through specific doors. The goal post must specifically say "goal" on it for if you find yourself across a goal post that doesn't have that specific word you should turn back if you're allowed to. Entry through the next level is guaranteed only if you reach the correct goal post, otherwise you'll clear the level but have no way of continuing until you find the right exit. Some of the doors Milon goes through will either take him to an optional segment, make you progress, or might take to a bonus room that consists of one of three mini-games.
Screengrabbed while watching KK Nintendo DS Game's ミロンのほしぞらしゃぼん : パズル組曲 (JP) video on YouTube
Milon would make another comeback ten years after the debut of DoReMi Fantasy on the Nintendo DS with Milon no Hoshizora Shabon: Puzzle Kumikyoku (which translates to "Milon of Soap Starry Skies: The Puzzle's Suite") released by Hudson Soft on July 2006, a falling block puzzler developed by Takumi Corporation of Kyukyoku Tiger II/Twin Cobra II and Giga Wing fame which plays in a similar manner to Taito's Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move and Data East's Magical Drop respective franchises which sees Milon* blowing differently colored bubbles above him through a horoscope theme while "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is playing in the background. Unlike the other two Milon games which saw a Western release in one form or another this one remained exclusively in Japan, meaning the only way to play it would be by importing it if you lived outside that region. Imagine had Hudson Soft not become a part of Konami, though, we might have gotten a fourth Milon game in 2016 what with each iteration being released a decade apart from one another. 🫧* For this game Takumi decided to redesign Milon but in a way that made it appear as if his nose was dripping perpetually anime-style... 🙁 Why would you do Milon dirty like that, Takumi? Why? Now he looks so undignified compared to how he appeared in his first two games 😞
Left: Oh no, now Milon is the one that's trapped inside a bubble, guess karma's come back to bite him even though he's the good guy | Right: Riding on a fish's water projectile
A few years later in the Summer of 2008 I learned that it got a formerly Super Famicom-exclusive sequel in the form of DoReMi Fantasy: Milon no DokiDoki Daibōken which was just released on the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console. The screenshots looked appealing and it appeared like it was a fun platformer, but I was hesitant at first due to it being in Japanese even after having read a couple of separate reviews giving it glowing praise. Those gave me a bit of confidence at least, but I still needed a bit of convincing: I saw a random Top 10 video concerning Super Famicom games that average Western gamers have not played but should,
Left: Destroying acorns with his bubbles | Right: Riding the stream on a board
for lo and behold it appeared at number 2. It was only about seven to ten seconds' worth of footage, but it was enough to make me want to play it, so I invested 900 Wii Points in the downloadable digital service since it was the only Super Famicom title available to play in North America. It was the second of only two titles I downloaded on the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console during the Summer break from high school that year (the first one being Hudson Soft's Neutopia), but little did I know that I was in for a real treat! 😃
Left: Harpoon-firing flipper-wearing imps are my favorite | Right: Amass your super bubble attack to access certain otherwise inaccessible parts of the water
After Hudson Soft's surprise decision to release DoReMi Fantasy on the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console in the West there had been a growing speculation that other previously Japan-only Nintendo 16-bit titles by other companies might possibly follow suit. Like a lot of people, I foolishly believed that we might receive more downloadable Super Famicom imports down the line, but that ended up not being so. With the exception of Ape and Jupiter's Mario no Super Picross in the European continent the year prior, that was it. A bit of a bummer, really. For what it was worth, it was nice to get a taste of Japanese gaming.
Left: Swimming in the deepest depths of the water | Right: Sharing the same waters as pollywogs
DoReMi Fantasy has made many top lists over the years, is considered by many to be a massive improvement over Milon's Secret Castle, and is generally lauded as one of the best Super Famicom games ever made in the history of Nintendo's 16-bit console. Given all the positive appraisal that it is receiving and is continuing to receive, it's all the more surprising to learn that apparently reviewers didn't share that sentiment way back when as the Family Computer Magazine gave Milon's second go-around a 19.1 out of 30 while Famitsu awarded it a 23 out of 40. 😕 That is not a misread, they genuinely gave this game a 23 out of 40.
RIP Ai Iijima (1972-2008), who voiced Princess, you were taken too soon 😔
It's worth noting that exactly a year before DoReMi Fantasy came out Famitsu gave Polestar's sophomore venue and Super Famicom-exclusive Magical Pop'n, yet another game generally considered nowadays to be among the top-tier titles in Super Famicom platforming history, a 23 out of 40 rating as well. That is absolutely wild it just doesn't seem real.
Of the Milon games that Famitsu reviewed, DoReMi Fantasy ended up getting the lowest score out of the three. For comparison, they awarded its 8-bit predecessor Meikyū Kumikyoku: Milon no Daibōken a 29 out of 40 and gave its subsequent Takumi-developed Nintendo DS installment Milon no Hoshizora Shabon a 25 out of 40.
One might get the impression, despite being catered towards family audiences supposedly, that Famitsu might occasionally come off as strict or harsh when it comes to passing down their final verdict. This same magazine ended up giving Nova Games' empathy generating story platformer Xandra no Daibōken: Valkyrie to no Deai and Sting's oft-random yet endearing and challenging cute'em up Flying Hero: Bugyuru no Daibōken a 24 and a 25 out of 40 respectively, but I can understand how the difficulty and/or gameplay of those games could have a polarizing effect for certain people. DoReMi Fantasy is the most enjoyable and accessible game of all of them, and yet they gave it a lesser score. 🤨 It's just one of those things that doesn't make any sense in retrospect, though I suppose it could be a matter of generational upbringing in terms of how games were covered then compared to now.
Left: Do not be fooled by her pleasant veneer, she's not as pretty as she is on the outside | Right: The more you blow bubbles at her, the more her real frog self gets revealed
but for DoReMi Fantasy Hudson Soft heavily curtailed the puzzle aspect of its predecessor in favor of something completely action-oriented and comparatively straightforward.
Awww, cuties 😊
It's also much lighter in tone too. 🤗 You know the instant you're greeted to the title screen that you're in for something wholesome, colorful, endearing, and incredibly lighthearted, and fortunately the rest of the game manages to live up to that feel-good vibe.
Left: Prettyyyyyyyyy 😍 | Right: Dashing through the ice
I love DoReMi Fantasy for a good number of reasons. I love how much heart it's got, I love how lighthearted and endearing the proceedings are, and I love how it brims with so much personality and character from the word go (I love how when you pause the game to see Milon's status, depending on what color he's presently wearing, the current color of the overalls he's wearing perform their little individual dance). Milon controls with a great deal of polish and he's rather versatile in certain moments that call for it. What's nice is that bringing the instruments with the five stars to the respective musicians not only purifies these instruments needed to seal off Amon but also grants Milon a few more abilities along
Left: Slip and slide | Right: Surrounded by the arctic wildlife
the way, like swimming underwater, breaking out of a trap or a trance by repeatedly tapping direction buttons simultaneously with the Y and B buttons, constructing a ladder of musical notes by holding up and A which you can climb after, and making platforms appear by shooting at sparkles that appear in midair. On top of all that, this game is full of imagination and creativity in terms of the numerous gameplay scenarios you have to go through.
Left: Duck down | Right: Destroying as much ice blocks as he can with his super bubble attack
Here is a game where you find yourself going down a log ride, be propelled by a wall-spring in order to dash through a thick barricade of rocks, running against strong winds as you must evade or incapacitate any enemy that's unfortunate enough to be blown by it, jumping from snack platform to snack platform amidst a starry sky with the occasional shooting star, coming across and walking past a wine glass pyramid that fills itself with wine at the top until pours all the way to the bottom, being skyrocketed by drums that skyrocket you up high upon jumping on them, riding across and above on beamed notes that emerge from music boxes,
Left: Platforming upward | Right: Sprung up by an invisible spring
jumping from platform to platform of the variety that flips itself upon being stepped on (if not falling through them) a la Konami's Akumajō Dracula/Castlevania franchise, hopping from bell to bell (including the occasional one that has seen better days that looks like it might fall upon the slightest touch), carefully timing your jumps with a mouse that pokes its head out as you make use of it as a makeshift platform to reach higher places, swimming through the depths of the waters, running across a row of snowy platforms that melt upon
Left: Milon's just become frozen stiff | Right: Gliding
being stepped on, initially sliding on the ice upon trying to run fast until you procure a pair of snow boots after revisiting the cabin after clearing the first snow level helping Milon with his stability, bouncing on invisible springs that are positioned in midair and all while gazing at a beautiful Aurora Borealis gracing the cold sky, snowboarding down slopes and inclines while occasionally being mindful of retractable ceiling spike traps,
Left: I love how he momentarily freezes in midair to notice that he's going to have a long fall, such a lovable anime charm this brings | Right: Now to move where the wind blows
creating a ladder composed of musical notes to reach higher places that you wouldn't be able to access with a normal jump, timing your jumps with the pillar-style platform that rises and lowers itself in the lava as the screen automatically scrolls in two separate levels, climbing the mountainside as a boulders of different sizes roll down thanks to the troglodytes, being shot out of a cannon where its aim is based on the direction it was facing by the time you press a
Left: Careful not to make direct contact with the oncoming bigfoot enemies forcibly being pushed by strong winds | Right: Blowing a bubble towards a snow vixen
button, riding along a pair of carousel horses as you put up with sentient flame enemies and parasols at the same time, making your way through conveyor belts and occasionally bouncing yourself on large mattresses, entering warp paintings where the correct path is secured upon selecting the right one, going seemingly innocuous stairs that suddenly turn into an escalator moving downward, and sometimes jump on platforms that are only faintly seen through their glimmer as they're seemingly invisible at first glance, et al.
Left: Flex | Right: Happy snowman ⛄
There is a wondrously unique quality to Jun Chikuma's approach to DoReMi Fantasy's music with the occasional accompaniment (if not total use) of ambient sound effects that I cannot envision this platformer any other way. There is a nice and smooth gradual sense of progression in terms of how it slightly augments its difficulty the farther you go along while never straying too far from the easy-normal difficulty spectrum. Most of the boss battles are easily manageable with the simple strategy of blowing bubbles at them, though there are exceptions (sometimes it's hard to evade the flurry of snowballs the snowman lobs at you, when the sun switches over to the moon side it occasionally rains a meteor shower at you that happens so swiftly, and Amon is pretty difficult the first several tries until you memorize his pattern and know exactly how to avert his harmful seeker powers when doubled).
Left: Hedgehog about to roll ahead | Right: Climbing on a musical note ladder
With all the good that the game has got going for it, there are a few nitpicks I have; they don't ruin the game for me or anything, it's just something that's difficult not to notice when they do occur. Once in a while there is the odd moment of slowdown when there's too much activity happening at once which is bizarre for a 1996 Super Famicom game, but it's worth bearing in mind that this game was made for an 8-MegaBit sized cartridge. I always found it a bit odd in retrospect that Amon showed up at the introduction as a musclebound entity yet when you eventually face him in the end he doesn't appear as such. As I got older I figured that he's a shapeshifter and can make himself appear as anything he wants, really, though in hindsight it's baffling that he just wanted to show off his muscles at the beginning.
One could make the argument that these two exclusively amount to over-glorified cameos in this game, but I do still appreciate these little Easter eggs nonetheless
I do feel the need to address the elephant in the room, and that's the one thing about DoReMi Fantasy that has aged the least well over time. At the beginning of the second stage there is a path that has been blocked by a giant candy cane which cannot be eaten, which is when Milon encounters the dentist Dr. Memory who informs you that the only way to get through is to enlist the help of his Bombermen that he has created who will blow it up for you to get through, but you can only choose either Black Bomberman or White Bomberman to help you.
Admit it, you all chose the first option the first time you played it without even having been aware of what was going to happen... yeah, I did too 😓
The outcome depending whom you choose is a very huge contrast, albeit of the "yikes" territory retrospectively. 😬 Now I don't believe Hudson Soft meant any ill will when creating this brief scenario, but I don't think they fully considered how this major contrast could be interpreted or read as for the implications are incredibly unfortunate if you stopped to think about it long enough. I almost always choose the second option because of this.
Left: Don't stand too long on the broken wood of the rope bridge lest you wish to fall down along with it | Right: Mountain climbing
On the subject Bomberman, Milon himself has made his share of appearances in the forty-year old franchise, having shown up as a cameo in the password screen of Produce's Super Bomberman 2 and shows up as a playable character alongside other Hudson Soft alumni in Saturn Bomberman. 💣 It all comes full circle with these two separate IPs.
Left: Where there's a sun, 🌞 | Right: there's a moon 🌙
I think what impresses me the most about DoReMi Fantasy is learning that prior to this game, most of the people involved have not had a direct involvement in the platforming genre, particularly its game designers* and programmers**.* Tadayuki Kawada and Kōji Innami
** Yasuhiro Kosaka, Atsuo Nagata, and Tetsuharu Takashima
My all-time favorite NEC PC Engine CD-ROM² game ever! 🥰
Kawada previously worked on the design for Inter State's vertical shoot'em up Super Star Soldier as well as Inter State and Kaneko's cute'em Star Parodier while Innami had experience on Red Company's Tengai Makyō RPG series with quality assurance and game planning support. Meanwhile, Kosaka previously worked on programming for Hudson Soft's racer Victory Run: Eikou no 13,000KM/Victory Run, the maze game Bomberman II/Dynablaster, and Red Company's Tengai Makyō: Fūun Kabuki Den, Nagata programmed Hudson Soft's vertical shoot'em up Hector '87/Starship Hector, Sofix Corporation's interactive digital comic Sadakichi Seven: Hideyoshi no Ōgon, and Hudson Soft's first NEC PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 Bomberman, and finally Takashima had only worked on Tengai Makyō: Fūun Kabuki Den as programmer before this.
Left: Wooden toy train | Right: Fired from a cannon
All different genres for sure, but you'd never surmise based on DoReMi Fantasy's quality control and polish that they never had a hand in the platformer genre and that this was their first rodeo, and yet against all odds they managed to not only succeed at stepping out of their comfort zone but also manage to craft one of the best top-tier platformers on the Nintendo 16-bit console in my humble opinion while doing so. 😲 I'd imagine that in their off time they decided to explore the genre to see what worked and what didn't when it came to these types of games, and if that was the case I'm glad they did. Amazing!!! Just when I thought I couldn't possibly have enough reasons to love this game, I found yet another. 😍
Left: Balloon hopping 🎈 | Right: Making my way towards a cannon
With all the positive traits and qualities that DoReMi Fantasy has got, all the creative scenarios I've mentioned, the high amount of imagination and infinitely lighthearted anime charm, not to mention how absolutely polished the game feels in regards to its controls and structure and level design... absolutely none of that sounds like it even is remotely descriptive of a game warranting a 23 out of 40--that's less than 60% if you do the math. It's still shocking that anyone would even give this game that low of a rating, I have to wonder if Famitsu simply had a bad day and took it out on a game that didn't deserve it (when there are games that are far more deserving of it than Milon's second venue). But that's just
Left: Going through a door designed like a king's mouth | Right: Mattress bouncing
speculation or conjecture, the truth is we weren't there therefore we do not know what happened behind closed doors. Obviously given the accolades that DoReMi Fantasy has been receiving these past fifteen years or so, not many people agree with Famitsu's score on this one, I don't even agree with it. I just want to clarify that this is not an anti-critic stance so much as an anti-gatekeeper stance, it helps to know how to distinguish between the two. When it comes to works of fictional media, there is no right or wrong when it comes to having an opinion on them (like something or not, that's all subjective in the end, so long as you're respectful about it), no one person's opinion is an end-all be-all nor is it meant to be taken as gospel (i.e. to be viewed as fact). It is just that: an opinion.
Left: Contending with parasols and sentient flames while riding on carousel horses 🎠 | Right: Bubbled a bothersome drum that sprouted a couple bombs instead of a jack in the box clown head
Even if DoReMi Fantasy wasn't considered to be among the best platforming titles, it is generally thought of as a very good game by many who got to play it. It may not have as historical a significance as Nintendo's Super Mario franchise (especially their Nintendo 16-bit launch title Super Mario World) as far as the platforming genre is concerned, but it has a very important significance to me. It was the first Super Famicom game I ever played, my love and adoration for it at the time got me to discover RVGFanatic's website where I learned about more Super Famicom games that it genuinely made me interested in Japan-exclusive games. It wouldn't be until 2012 that I would actively seek Super Famicom games in their physical format, on the RetroDuo system*, starting with HAL Laboratory's Alcahest. Throughout the years, I would catch up with so many Super Famicom games that I never would've thought possible or dreamed beyond my wildest dreams when I was younger.* Had I known that the Super Famicom console had an outlet plug just like the North American Super Nintendo console at the time, I would've gone for that from the start but wouldn't receive it until the Christmas of 2015
Both games turn 30 this year, incredible!
DoReMi Fantasy is one of those special Nintendo 16-bit games that mean so much to me as a gamer that I could never envision life without having played it, like Ocean Software's Mr. Nutz and the aforementioned Alcahest just to name a couple others. There are a lot more I could name, but the point I'm trying to make is that it's got a special place in my heart. 💗
Left: Tongue ghost 👅 | Right: Grounded
DoReMi Fantasy is my favorite platformer with Hudson Soft's name attached to it in one form or another, and I love coming back to it every now and again. 😊 As Christmas of 2018 was approaching, I figured, "Why not ask for the physical Super Famicom cartridge this year?" so I put it alongside three other Super Famicom games on the list but wouldn't receive any of them until after Christmas Day because I wasn't punctual when making the list. It arrived at the start of 2019 and it is just as fun to play in its native Super Famicom format as it was in its downloadable format on the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console.
Left: It's a boss that's literally gift-wrapped for you | Right: Oh no, now that the ribbon is gone the boss has gone crazy and cannot maintain control of itself!
With the closure of the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console in 2019, there was no longer any way to add Nintendo Wii Points funds or to download games off of there. Until that point it was the only Western exposure DoReMi Fantasy ever had outside of Japan for the one-plus decade that it lasted, and now it's no more. In its native Super Famicom format, its status as a classic has made it somewhat of a collector's item that's highly sought out. Sometimes it's a good idea to have a way to play a game on more than one platform, and it is not exclusive to this title specifically, for should anything happen to my Super Famicom or to my Nintendo Wii, I'll still have a way to play DoReMi Fantasy. It's a win-win! 😄👍
Left: Beware the ghost witch 👻 | Right: It's a hoppy guy
At best, DoReMi Fantasy takes roughly two and a half to three hours to play through to the end which is doable, but if you don't feel like you have the time to do it all in one go there is a password system. The thing about the four-digit password is that you're only given it in the game over screen after losing your last life, but it's not really that hard enough of a game that it's going to happen all that frequently (if at all) unless you were playing it on your worst of gaming days. The manageable difficulty makes its length fairly reasonable in my opinion.
Left: Jumping inside a warp painting | Right: Standing on an initially invisible platform
I think it helps too that this game has got a lot of replay value thanks in no small part to its incredibly polished gameplay and structure, too, whether you decide to do the same thing in your playthroughs or if you decide to explore its different avenues in the more spacious and open-ended levels like the optional doorways that sometimes lead to random rooms or mini-games that sometimes could be accessed through new abilities that Milon learns. It's all up to you. You could focus on the main path by ignoring some of the doors and secrets (most of which are completely optional) or you could explore the levels to your heart's content. It's an incredibly fun game to play either way. That is how much I love this game.
Left: Time to battle a jolly flatulent king | Right: At last, the battle with Amon has come at hand
I wholeheartedly recommend this game, it's enjoyably immersive and enthrallingly fun to play every time. If you own a Super Famicom console (or an SNES console should you stumble across an SNES repro cart and own an SNES) I recommend checking Milon's second game out if you can somehow afford it. It's got all the best qualities a 2D platformer could have and then some, and for its special place that it's got in my heart it is one of my top favorite Nintendo 16-bit video games of all time. I felt that way fifteen years ago, and I still feel that way today. My affinity towards it knows no bounds.
My Personal Score: 10/10
● I originally reviewed this game on my blog back in November 2010, which I also gave a 10 out of 10 back then. My overall feelings have not changed, but my reviewing skills have which is why I don't feel all that fond of my old reviews because it doesn't feel like I wrote them in as effective a manner or articulated myself well enough back then as I've been trying to these past few years. Which is why I decided to delete it recently, I'm sorry if anyone liked that review, but I need to live with myself, I'm better off how I tackle reviews now than I ever was when I was younger.
● I worked so hard to create this review, and yet I'm not trying to make the ultimate in-depth DoReMi Fantasy retrospective of all time. No, I simply aimed to make the ultimate in-depth DoReMi Fantasy retrospective that I could make, not of all time. I'm not the best video game reviewer out there, I don't even consider myself a good reviewer sometimes; it's not that I don't appreciate it whenever praise comes my way when it comes to my reviews when I do get them, but sometimes I think it sounds a little too good to be true. 😔 I'm just... me. That's all I am, I'm me, I cover these games the only way I know how and which makes me comfortable.
● I love how the ァ ("A") kanji symbol in the title was stylized to look like an ear, that was very clever of Hudson Soft. 👂
● In irrelevant news, two weeks ago (10/30/23) while it was free to watch on YouTube I watched John Carpenter's 1974 feature-length directorial debut Dark Star. It was... interesting. 😬 Look, I don't want to be mean because it was his first film and I know that it wasn't made on a big budget but I thought it a bit odd, certain scenes felt like they dragged on which made it easy for my attention to trail off, the visual and sound quality made it seem like a home or college movie (and in fact, it was), it was unusual to watch a John Carpenter film specifically designated for theatrical distribution that wasn't shot in CinemaScope, some of the comedy I pity laughed rather than found genuinely funny, and I can't say I'm a fan of stories where boredom is the major overarching theme permeating throughout. That said, it's pretty wild to think that this is where the late Dan O'Bannon (RIP) started off his career before writing Ridley Scott's Alien, John Badham's Blue Thunder, and Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall, he's practically the main character (yet isn't top-billed) and his Sargeant Pinback is the closest thing Dark Star has got to a likeable character (I even found his voicing the sentient Bomb #20 in such a casual human-like manner pretty amusing). Carpenter's music was good ("Benson Arizona" is a very catchy number), I appreciated the late Douglas Knapp's cinematography even if it wasn't 2.35:1, some of the special effects look pretty solid given its small budget, and it was fascinating to see how this movie in part served as a template for Alien (the look and interior design of the spaceship, the lonely atmosphere, the corridor chase with the alien, and I'm genuinely curious if Dark Star was where James Cameron got the idea for Bishop's knife trick in Aliens because... it's there). All in all not my favorite Carpenter, I thought it was fine for what it was, but at least it's not Vampires (I'll take anything over watching Daniel Baldwin physically assaulting a vampiric Sheryl Lee in such distasteful fashion even when having a romantic attraction to one another, NO!!! 😣 That's abuse, plain and simple!). Nick Castle also voices a beachball alien, funny enough.
● Because I was shocked to see that it popped up on Peacock, I recently (11/7/23) caught up with John Carpenter's subsequent 1976 film Assault on Precinct 13 which I thought was a substantial improvement over Dark Star. How do I describe this one? It's basically the equivalent of a Western film produced in the '50s but taking place in contemporary times with contemporary sensibilities as well as featuring a shocking amount of blood and viscera than I'm accustomed to from a film made during the mid '70s. 😮 Like, oh my God! Quick disclaimer, I knew what was going to happen to Kim Richards' character because I read about it before watching, I dreaded what was going to happen so much because of her tender age, and yet it when it eventually occurred I still found it mortifying to watch, Christ Jesus! 😧 I cannot imagine what must've gone through her head when Carpenter explained to her what was going to happen to her character Kathy, she was just a little girl! Truly the most horrific thing I've seen happen in a John Carpenter film bar none, nothing is going to come even remotely close to that. Nothing! That's going to stay with me for a long time, I blame myself for being in a John Carpenter kick and wanting to catch up on more of his filmography. 😔 Setting aside the trauma of having witnessed that, the late Douglas Knapp's (RIP) second and last collaboration with Carpenter as cinematographer is truly effective and arresting marking the first time the director used the CinemaScope format which he would use throughout the rest of his theatrically-released films (John Carpenter, like Steven Spielberg, truly is among the masters of using CinemaScope, which makes me feel all the more bad for all the years TV has massacred and butchered his movies by pan-and-scanning them because the anti-art ignorance-breeding TV overlords have no inkling or understanding about the importance of shot composition, cinematic integrity, and filmmaking processes--I'll be damned before I willfully choose to watch a 2.35:1 film in pan-and-scan, my philosophy is to either respect the director's artistic vision and watch the film in the aspect ratio that was intended or don't bother, I want to see the entire canvas from left to right, not be exposed to one half of it because they want it to "fit the size of the television screen" because they don't believe in borders that exist to preserve the aspect ratio!!! 😠) with an incredible sense of lighting contrasting with the darkness, Carpenter's music is as great as people have described it to be (that title theme is so iconic), the late Austin Stoker's Lieutenant Bishop (RIP) was a very likable protagonist and I liked the rapport between him and Darwin Joston's Napoleon Wilson, Laura Zimmer's Leigh, and the late Tony Burton's Wells (RIP) and what mutual respect they had for one another in their dire predicament while the precinct they're inside of is under siege plus they're all well-acted (especially Zimmer, I was sad to learn she didn't have much luck with acting after the fact as I thought she was very compelling and she was a strong female character who could hold her own), the intense shootout sequences were well-shot inside the precinct, and for those who like to play John Carpenter Bingo this movie's got Charles Cyphers and Nancy Kyes in it who've both also collaborated with him in The Fog (the 1980 film which I still want to watch) and the Halloween movies (of which Kyes appeared in the first three, but as a different character in her ex-husband Tommy Lee Wallace's Halloween III: Season of the Witch albeit a completely underutilized one). A very good film and deserving of classic status, but not one I feel I'm going to revisit any time soon; not because of the violence happening to the adult characters, but because of the violence committed against an innocently aged child (it was devastating watching that scene once, I have no desire to rewatch that haunting scene again). Still not Vampires, but then anything beats Vampires from what I've seen of John Carpenter's filmography.
● One John Carpenter movie I can easily watch over and over again is Big Trouble in Little China, such an insanely fun film that I felt compelled to watch it two times on YouTube (while it was free to watch) in the same week (I've seen it before two times on Netflix several years ago). 😄 Great performances (I love the fact Kurt Russell's Jack Burton is the charismatic yet bumbling sidekick to Dennis Dun's Wang Chi who's the actual main character, it's so *chef's kiss* 😙🎔, I love that expectation subversion 😆), great music, great action set pieces, great fight choreography, reasonably great special effects for 1986, the comedic moments are expertly timed, is very quotable, is infinitely rewatchable, and I cannot stress my love for Dean Cundey's cinematography enough (absolutely stunning lighting and camerawork throughout).
Thank you for reading my review, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think (neither spam nor NSFW is allowed); hope you have a great day, be a kind human, and take care! 😃
