π€ Received: December 14th, 2022 π€ Written: October 8th-12th, 2023 π€
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Image from MobyGames
On June 26th, 1992, the Japanese development company Tamsoft was founded in Asakusa, Tokyo by Toshiaki Εta as well as a group of former staff who previously worked for Toaplan.
Image from GameFAQs
The same month Battle Arena Toshinden got released in the West, Sega Saturn owners got to play Tamsoft's sophomore video game SteamGear Mash which Takara published on September 29th, 1995. Produced by Takayuki Nakano, executive produced by Nobuyuki Okude and Toshiaki Εta, designed by ShintarΕ Nakaoka and Hideki Kobayashi, directed by Akihiko Kimura, and programmed by Hideki and Toshimi Matsumoto (main), Shinya Kusunoki (enemy and effects), and Toru Kawashima (system), this game never got a Western release for it remained exclusively in Japan.
Renowned 62-year old Tamworld scientist Dr. Hiroto Sendagaya has just finished work on his latest creation, a loyal and benevolent sentient robot named SteamGear Mash, whom his 13-year old granddaughter Mina instantly takes a liking to and befriends. One day while Mash and Mina are hanging out in the park,
The lens falling out of the telescope upon turning into a heart, combined with the bouncy and cartoony sound effect, is funny every time π
Upon seeing her, Gash falls in love and wants her badly,
so he orders his robotic second-in-command Kotenpan to descend to Earth to take Mina away so that he could have her for himself.
"Mina-chan! I'm going to help you now!!"
Shortly after the fact, Dr. Sendagaya finds and restores Mash, installing an arm cannon in his missing limb thereby preparing him for his mission to go after the robots that snatched Mina away and to bring her back safe and sound.
Left: Gearing himself up to begin his adventure to save Mina | Right: Stepping out
In the isometric action platforming game SteamGear Mash you take control of the eponymous sentient robot whom you can move around in all eight directions. The default controls are B to jump in the air, with the A button you can fire from his arm cannon (pressing or repeatedly tapping will allow you to fire little blasts, but by holding down the button you can charge up your blast until it becomes bigger which you can unleash by letting go of the button at the opportune moment), the C button lets you use Mash's secondary weapons which you can toggle between with the Y and Z buttons (or revert back to the first choice with the X button),
Left: Meet Mike, the first cat who accompanies you | Right: Take heart π
and by holding down the right shoulder button you can operate Mash's gyroscopic controls which you can toggle between with the left shoulder button. During the course of the game you'll be contending with a myriad of enemies which will randomly drop either a heart or a missile, small or big, after having disposed of them which you can gather to replenish your health and your missile gauge respectively.
Left: Destroy the gate | Right: Surrounded by creatures in weird costumes
As long as you've got enough of a gauge for the latter you will be able to use your secondary weapon (which is the only way to eradicate certain color-coded boxes), but if it's empty you've only got your primary charge blaster to rely on. Thorough exploration will lead you to a series of boxes with the letter "M" on them to be shot at which will either have a heart or a missile powerup to fill up either gauge or it might have a new powerup to add to your arsenal of secondary weapons (or to the gyroscopic controls) which will allow you to make further progress by eliminating color-coded boxes that have blocked your path before.
Left: Welcome to the warp room, be sure to activate them first in order for them to work later on | Right: Shoot at both the clown and the ball
There are a couple of rooms that may be of use to you: the save room or the warp room. As SteamGear Mash is a relatively nonlinear game for the most part you can leave and revisit certain rooms to your liking (and consult the map by pressing Start should you feel lost for whatever reason letting you know which rooms you have and have not explored), and with the warp rooms you can backtrack to a prior stage should you feel the need to, but be forewarned that if you have not activated the three warp boxes
Left: "Lucky and Shu. π₯ Make the green block go over with this punch." | Right: Break open those M boxes
by standing on them the first time around you won't be able to use them. As for the save rooms, simply stand on the purple box and approve the prompt to save (and override) in one of four slots, provided the Saturn console's memory has at least 71 blocks to spare, which you can resume from upon having your health fully depleted for there are no continues and will take you back to the title screen should you have lost it all.
Left: π | Right: Hope it doesn't land on the joker card
SteamGear Mash is an exuberantly colorful and lightheartedly pleasant game to look at, the main design aesthetic by Toshihiro Ichino and each stage's background designs by KΕ Ogura really bring a likable quality to this game. When exiting outside of Mash's house you're greeted to a series of grassy plains around a quaint promenade-style environment with the occasional graffiti on its walls (like the eyes) and card-themed posters which foreshadow the first boss you will face,
Left: π₯ | Right: Charging up his power blast
the second stage is set in an environment with purple and green flooring with the red beam structure adorning its walls, there's an atmospheric quality to the third stage underwater as it constantly alternates between pitch dark to bright revealing the blue watery depths, and Gash's space station in the end has an industrial quality.
Left: Mech foes ahead | Right: I got you cornered
Mitsutoshi Nomura's character design is adorable, Mash is a very cute robotic protagonist with his blue visor, expressive nature, steam that's occasionally generated, and remarkably fluid walking animation (especially when the gyroscopic controls come into play), Mina is a likable human character, and after finding the orange and black cats Mike and Moon they will follow you around wherever you go as well as sway left and right when remaining idle.
Left: Bye bye, birdie | Right: Dropping down the steps
Aki Kobayashi's robotic enemy designs have got a lighthearted anime charm about them for they all animate well, comprising of jester-like enemies, enemies that fire from a cannon, winged bird-like creatures that fly back and forth until they spew projectiles at you who suspiciously share a similar color palette to TwinBee and WinBee from Konami's TwinBee cute'em up franchise, mech-riders, tiny creatures wearing mallet costumes, drill-nosed fish of different sizes, army creatures, and sentient aircraft with big eyes, and there's something satisfying about watching them go up in a colorful explosion blast upon being taken out.
Also, he's a scientist wearing sandals, I had no idea that between him and Dr. Hans Dis from Iguana Entertainment and UK's Aero the Acro-Bat 2 that this kind of lab worker was a commodity when it came to fictional media... π
Also, perhaps it's just the different character design between official artwork and rendered cutscene, but this is supposed to be Dr. Hiroto Sendagaya? I understand how the limitations of the technology at the time couldn't fully replicate the intended look so the 3D rendering had to work with what they could, but it doesn't even look like the same character to me.
Left: Firing at the spike-heavy enemies | Right: Punch that green box out of the way
The music in SteamGear Mash composed by Makoto Mokai (who also did the music for Tamsoft's first Toshinden/Battle Arena Toshinden), Yasuhiro Nakano (whose audio credits comprised of the Toshinden franchise as well as Tamsoft's Abalaburn and Knight and Baby/Guardian's Crusade), and Fumio Tanabe (who made audio contributions to the Toshinden sequels, Abalaburn, and Guardian's Crusade) and coordinated by Etsuhiro Wada (who acted as sound supervisor and driver for the first and third Toshinden games respectively) is very engaging and well-composed, successfully bringing life and playfully lighthearted atmosphere to Tamworld's various locales with its likable sound quality. π The title theme is fantastically charming with the energetically bouncy calypso symphony and masterful saxophone work by Hisashi Yoshinaga which instantly hooks you in with aplomb,
Left: Aim carefully at the dragon's body while it's still hovering around the playing field | Right: The quest to save Mina continues underwater
the first stage theme is unapologetically lighthearted and occasionally silly for it is the kind of loud noise fun I can get behind evoking the unmistakable '90s sound for it is a good way of setting the tone to come, the second stage theme is a little darker-sounding while simultaneously evoking the adventurous sense of wonder, the fourth stage theme is an incredible-sounding way to let you know that Mash is gradually getting closer and closer to reuniting with Mina and makes for good infiltration music, the sixth stage theme for when you infiltrate Gash's space station harkens to the intense melodies of Brad Fiedel (of James Cameron's two Terminator films and True Lies fame, there are even aggressive-sounding percussive drum beats similar to the former) as you're reaching the final threshold,
Left: Met by a row of red menacing-looking drill-nosed fish | Right: There are blue ones, too
the main boss theme is menacingly action-oriented and the final boss theme ups the ante for when you face off against Gash. A special shoutout goes to the third and fifth stage themes, the former of which is so beautiful and hauntingly melodic while the latter is appropriately elevating and breezily atmospheric (especially with the guitar riff near the end)... it's just too bad that they're drowned out by the sound effects that overpower them when playing the game proper, but at least you can insert SteamGear Mash on a CD player or the Sega Saturn's main menu and listen to its music by itself (but only for the in-game tracks). Always a positive when a game disc doubles as a soundtrack CD. π
Left: Imagine Taito's Darius franchise with the fish-themed enemies but isometric-viewed and not playing itself straight, and that's one of the vibes the third stage exudes | Right: Give that end of stage fish boss everything you've got
Recorded at EPICURUS Studio and recording engineered by Seiji Sekine and Satoshi Takushima, many of the sound effects were provided by InVision Interactive's Sega Sound Library and most of them sound pretty decent even if they can come off as stock sometimes (like the anime explosion sound effect), Mash's jump sound is as cute as he is and lets out an audible gasp when sustaining damage, I like the lighthearted moving sound effect for when you set the gyroscopic controls to dash, and there's even the cute little meow sounds from the cats Mike and Moon once in a while.
Left: Made it | Right: And now we meet the second of the cats that will follow you around, Moon
Alas, there is one element here that I really dislike, and that's the constantly beeping sound effect for when you're seriously low on health (increasingly so when dangerously low) until you have it replenished again above that point. π I feel this trend might have begun with Nintendo's Zelda no Densetsu/The Legend of Zelda franchise, and it's annoyingly intrusive whenever that happens regardless of the overall quality of the games in question and is akin to a constant reminder. Nobody likes constant reminders, I've be very concerned if anyone felt the exact opposite. I do not understand developers' enigmatic need to impose this bothersome constantly beeping sound effect for when you're so low on health, it's been used in Hudson Soft's Neutopia games, Produce's Brain Lord, Ancient's Thor/Oasis games,
Left: "Let's go!" | Right: Alcove firing
Sonic! Software Planning's Shining Wisdom, Pax Softnica's MogurΔnya/Mole Mania, Lenar's Ganpuru: Gunman's Proof, and Matrix Software's Alundra games, et al, almost as if they don't trust us to have eyes to look at how much health you have at your disposal in the HUD at any point without an audio prompt (I really hate the terrible precedence this sets). A less obnoxious way of handling this would've been to play the sound effect once, let it lie for a bit to relax your ears so as to not have them assaulted, and then play it again after a half a minute if not a full minute, not every second or every half second to the point that it's grating! π Of all the elements to have been influenced by Zelda in any way, shape, or form, this is one such thing that should've been left well enough alone. Goshdammit, I wish SteamGear Mash didn't rely upon that sound. π©
Left: Pushing | Right: Beware of that tank rider
For the majority of the game you can maneuver yourself around in an open-ended environment as well as revisit rooms you just stepped out of which helps with the enemy respawning in the event that your health and secondary gauge weapons are low should they randomly drop off either item for you, every little bit helps should you manage it. Where SteamGear Mash becomes strictly linear is during the third and fifth stages when it turns into an isometric shoot'em up a la Aicom's Viewpoint
Left: "You're pretty good, Mash-kun. Come on, let's put it on!" | Right: Payback
which is a nice detour from the normal gameplay as you shoot with the A button and launch homing missiles with the C button as you move around in every corner of the screen while still flying the same direction, you can even mash these buttons repeatedly to increase chances at survival. But because these two stages are straightforward it means there's no backtracking here meaning that it is absolutely imperative that you play through them and survive in one sitting, otherwise you'll have to pick up from your last save in the prior stages and begin them anew.
Screengrabbed and cropped on YouTube
It wasn't until last year that I learned of SteamGear Mash. A few weeks after my 31st birthday in April 2022 I made the crazy decision to purchase an American Sega Saturn (with Sega's Clockwork Knight) which quickly grew to become one of my favorite consoles, and after experiencing ten American games for it I wanted a taste of Japanese Saturn fare so I took a chance and got an Action Replay Plus cartridge (with Success' Popoitto Hebereke) to bypass the region block. I've seen a few videos (or rather the first five or ten minutes of them) by Saturn Memories, and I suppose for that reason I've seen recommendations for their video on SteamGear Mash. I knew nothing about this game, so I decided to look up the cover art of it on GameFAQs and what little screenshots I've seen of it had me intrigued. Even though it would've been easy to, I've held off on clicking the video because something in the back of my mind told me not to spoil it for myself. At the end of October 2022 I ordered two Japanese Saturn games on eBay, Double Atelier's Zap! Snowboarding Trix and SteamGear Mash, my fifteenth and sixteenth games for the system. The former came first,
π₯ΊHe's fishing even though it wouldn't be conducive to his circuitry... that's adorable! π
I shared my brief thoughts on SteamGear Mash on the first part of my Random Saturnday III post which covered games 10 through 16 while the second part covered 17 through 20
but the one I really looked forward to playing was the latter. It did not arrive until a month and a half after I ordered it (the longest I've ever had to wait for something to come after ordering it on eBay), and the reason was because I ordered it directly from a Japanese seller which I had not done since before COVID-19 hit in early 2020. Evidently, the way I understood it anyway, the shipping laws had changed in Japan for it was supposed to arrive roughly two weeks later. Thankfully things got settled when my family got contacted about it, and it managed to arrive in mid-December, less than two weeks before Christmas. So, was SteamGear Mash worth the wait?
That hug at the end is so cute, Mash and Mina are the heart of this game π
The moment the first cutscene played after the Takara logo I was instantly won over with the way it began through Mash's point of view of Dr. Sendagaya and Mina by his side with the two subtly changing expressions when nothing seems to happen at first which turns to excitement after the sentient robot blinks, and there's a lot of heart through the music and lighthearted expressiveness of the characters. It's very endearing to watch, and seeing Mash and Mina become friends is adorable. The engaging music helped too, running the gamut from heartwarmingly pure (creation and family) to bouncy fun (Mash and Mina playing) to mysterious (cutting to Gash peering down on the planet) to lighthearted danger (Kotenpan showing up to kidnap Mina) to tragedy (the defeat of Mash) culminating in a triumphant sound of resolve (as Dr. Sendagaya repairs Mash with the gun arm so he can save Mina).
Left: Pedaling up to the sky | Right: Incoming boss whooshing by below you
Fortunately, I found the sprite-based isometric gameplay to be very good as well, at its core it is a bit arcade-like in terms of structure and I liked the experimentation when it came to Mash's controls, especially with his secondary weapons and gyroscopic controls. Admittedly some of it took a little bit to get used to, but once you've come to grips with them it becomes second nature to play. I did like how the secondary weapons could be used not just as a means to defeat (or incapacitate) certain foes but also to destroy certain color-coded boxes, for red boxes are destroyed by flamethrowers, green boxes are destroyed by punches, and black boxes can be taken out by a potent homing missile. You can even freeze enemies, once you procure the ice sub weapon, to use them as platforms to get yourself higher later on.
Left: Homing missiles | Right: Arguably the hardest boss in the game, for survival is highly dependent on mindful and careful maneuvering
And as for the gyroscopic controls, while I pretty much exclusively find myself relying on the lock setting (where Mash aims his weapon in the same direction regardless where he moves), I do like that there are other options too (like roll to fire off at all cylinders while moving and back to have Mash face 180 degrees opposite of where he's heading). There is the occasional dialogue spoken by Mash (or enemies Kotenpan and Gash later), but it's not difficult to pick up what you have to do and are not required to understand Japanese to enjoy it as it is not narrative based. Many of the enemies, and Gash, can only move in four diagonal directions, and since Mash can move in all eight of them you can use that to your advantage. π
Left: Made it to the aircraft carrier | Right: "Freeze!" ❄
The bosses have got a manageable strategy to take them down should you find yourself getting in the proper rhythm, like with the dragon-like second stage boss and Kotenpan in the fourth stage where you'll have to find yourself rotating around them to get a clear shot at them every so often plus the jack in the box boss at the end of the first stage relies on card-themed attacks against you based on what suit it falls under (if not the joker card, in which case you want to keep moving so as to not be grabbed by his disembodied hand and shaken up like a roll of dice), like the spade card which will result in missiles raining down on you but if you're lucky it might fall on the heart card which will grant you replenishments for your health or secondary gauges.
Left: Knights, knights, everywhere! | Right: Shooting at the rotating spike-ringed enemy
I also love how SteamGear Mash rewards you for your thorough sense of exploration, sometimes leading you to a special powerup that may be very fruitful to your aid. I like too how, because of the overly nonlinear nature of the game, that you have a choice whether to explore every nook and cranny or to simply journey through the pertinent sections of Tamworld's stages for it's completely up to you. At best the game can be beaten in roughly fifty or so minutes, so theoretically you don't really need to save if you don't want to but it's nice that you're given the option should you be playing this on your less than best of days. Miraculously, the second time I played through SteamGear Mash I managed to do it in one sitting without even saving once because there are certain days when I'm pretty decent at playing it and then there are certain days when that is not the case (that could apply to any game, really, we've all had our best and not so best of gaming days).
Left: "I did it! Shoot with a heart shot. π€ I'm going to get my energy." | Right: Missile
I wouldn't say it's difficult per se (I wouldn't go so far as to call it easy either) but it is manageable once you've got it all figured out, though the bosses do take a bit of time to take down when survival is also the main focus. The sound effects do overpower the music at points, it's not as noticeable when played sparingly but when a lot of sounds are playing all at once it tends to slightly obfuscate the background music which is a bit annoying as a music lover, especially with that damn constant beeping sound for when you're low on health. I know I make a big deal of this, but two things can be true at once: Nintendo's Zelda franchise is among the most iconic series in video game history and are among the most revered games in the action adventure genre that are fun to play but at the same token you dread the moment you're so low on health because you know there's the constant beeping sound that comes along with that should you be playing them on your less than best of gaming days. Ears like music, not constantly ringing alarm bells. π
The "notice me, senpai" energy here was through the roof
Emperor Gash is a pretty pathetic villain though, it's not like this game is played for the sake of plot (it's not) but his motivation was out of pure selfishness. He throws a temper tantrum after having lost to Mash, beckons to Mina who rightfully rejects him due to being taken against her will, has an overdramatic reaction to heartbreak, and proceeds to self-destruct the place when he doesn't get what he wants. A sore loser without any sense of grace, and a lanky one at that. You brought this on to yourself, Gash, now reap what you sow.
SteamGear Mash is such a good character, too, I love how expressive he is and how he's got big googly eyes whenever he comes across an important item
A weak villain and the obnoxiously unwelcome constant beeping sound for when you're low on health aside (mandated or not, it was wrong either way), I love SteamGear Mash, I think it's a very fun and enjoyable isometric game to play every once in a while. π It knows exactly what it is and is not ashamed about it: a sweet and lighthearted action romp with some of the most adorable robot designs in a '90s video game with a semi-arcade feel to it. It is too bad that it never got a sequel nor got exposure outside of the Sega Saturn, but by the same token I do feel that it manages to stand well on its own two legs that it doesn't really require one.
Left: Fighting the lanky robot boy Gash | Right: "Shu in Thai Heso! I'm going to have a hard time. Let's hurry and run away!!"
I'm sure there might be some who are put off by how cute and adorable the game is, but if that doesn't bother you I think you might really enjoy this game should you have a Saturn console and an Action Replay Plus cartridge to let you play Japanese games. It's not a very long game as it takes fifty or so minutes to play through depending how you play, but again if length doesn't concern you and you're looking for a game that is simply fun to play then I think it's an isometric game worth recommending. For lack of a better descriptor, I personally consider SteamGear Mash to be a real blast. π
My Personal Score: 8.5/10
● Just wanted to mention so I don't forget: nearly a month ago, after over six and a half years of owning and using it, the old Surface Pro I worked it stopped working so I had to get a new one which is a bit annoying because I just started a new review, but oh well plans change. The new Surface Pro I own is pretty nice, took a bit to accustom to, but is a lot lighter and easily portable. SteamGear Mash has the honor of being the first game I reviewed with this newer model Surface Pro, so that's great! π«‘
Screengrabbed and cropped to show what I mean
Also, for anyone's pondering, the emojis are different than they were on my old Surface Pro. This is how the emojis appear on here, I don't know about anyone else.Did you enjoy this review?
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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 nice human, and take care! π
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