Open Sesame (Bit Corp. / Taiwan Cooper)

Entry posted by DoctorSpuds June 21, 2018

665 views

I bought this game expecting the European version, which is the version that had the only other voice sampling apart from Quadrun. What I didn't expect though, was 'I Want My Mommy', a game released in America by Zimag. The version I own is a Taiwan Cooper bootleg which as far as I can tell is exactly the same as the Zimag version. I know these Taiwan Cooper bootlegs aren't known for having very pertinent box art but Open Sesame takes the cake as far as I'm concerned. The box art shows The Tramp from Disney's Lady and the Tramp surrounded by those Chinese stereotype cats that were also from Lady and the Tramp (Except for the green and yellow ones in the bottom right and bottom left corners, those are just scary). Why do I mention the box art though? Because the blurb on the back has absolutely nothing to do with it. Here is the blurb in its entirety:

Poor Teddy. He's had a bad dream and now

he wants his mommy. How about giving him

a hand? Steer him toward the magical

stardust ladders. Help him avoid the

nasty dream demons who try to block his

path. (Mom's sending special kisses to

help him out too.) Now if the little guy

can just maket if up a couple of big

mountains, he'll get a big bear hug.

I know that this is a bootleg but since when was a dog also bear? This is pretty easy to get right, just steal the 'I Want My Mommy' artwork. Seriously these guys have actually stolen the Chopper Command box art for their release of Sea Hawk (Yes the Froggo Sea Hawk). But enough of that, what's the game actually like.

This game has some very nice graphics. Everything is very colorful, which was a trait of Bit Corporation games (This game was actually put out by Puzzy who were a subsidiary of Bit Corporation, just an FYI). Most all of their games were very colorful and rather ambitious, but usually all the ambition was in the graphics. Which is definitely the case here. The sprites for the most part are multi-colored, the floors are bright, colors are vivid, but nothing is an eyesore, which is a common problem in overly colorful games, especially on the 2600. But uh oh... I see a problem! The background is black! I could make a joke about adding a star-field but I feel this was truely a missed opportunity, since many Bit Corp. games have amazing background graphics. Especially 'Bobby is Going Home' that's incredible stuff. So much more could have been done but wasn't, which saddens me. But despite all of that's going on the sprites are remarkably flicker free, with exception to the ladders but those are barely noticeable.

Sounds are your basic affair, there are a few standout sounds, but we'll get to that in time. If this were the European version there would be a voice clip before every level that would say "open sesame" but since this is the NTSC version we don't get that. I don't understand why since the NTSC version without the voice clip and the PAL version with the clip are the exact same file size, so it wasn't a memory constraint since they would have both fit onto a 4K cartridge, and I'm getting off track again. A little jingle plays at the beginning of every level which is nice until you realize you can't move until the jingle is over, and it's a long jingle. The walking sound is strange too, it sounds tinny and mechanical, I didn't know the 2600 could produce a sound like this, it's just weird. There is also a rather annoying sound effect. When you're climbing up the magical stardust ladders a constant tone plays, rising in pitch as you ascend the ladder, this gets really annoying when your stuck on the ladder and a constant high pitched tone is making your eardrums bleed. Whenever you collect a 'special kiss from mommy' a very familiar sound plays, I can't put my finger on it, so if anybody who's played this knows, please tell me this is driving me crazy. I have also discovered that the noise that plays when you extend a ladder sounds remarkably similar to the firing noise from Atari's Asteroids, who knew?

This is a Donkey Kong clone through and through, but with a few notable differences. Each level has two ladders, you MUST extend both ladders on every level and then climb to the top the advance to the next stage, if you don't extend every ladder and clamber to the top level, whatever the hell that demon spawn at the top is kills you. This introduces some much needed strategy to the game since it's rare that you'll be able to extend both ladders on you first try since the patrolling enemies will likely corner you and relieve you of a precious life. Enemy behavior is rather unpredictable since you never know if they're going to turn around or keep moving forward, oftentimes they'll capture you on a ladder forcing you to listen to the succulent sounds of ear death, (Seriously if you have your volume up to high this game will HURT you with noise). If you can manage to collect one of 'mommy's special kisses' in the form of a neon ball bouncing down the level you'll gain temporary invincibility and will be able to knock down those pesky dream demons.

Much like most of these Bit Corporation/Taiwan Cooper games, the story and mystery tend to overshadow the game itself, but... If you can find one cheap enough (I honestly wouldn't pay more than ten bucks for a boxed one), pick it up you probably won't regret it, if you have the volume turned down low enough anyway. On a side note when I first tried to put my cartridge in my system It fit so poorly that I actually broke the corner of the casing, and had to super glue it back on, boy these things were made cheap, they'll break just by putting them into your system.

1 Comment

Recommended Comments

CaptainBreakout 3,945

Posted December 10, 2018

I was also bummed this Taiwan Cooper version lacked the voice sample. That would have made it way more interestingly mediocre. Still I do remember having one fun session with it. And yes... This cart is particularly badly made physically, and I think I rotated it out of my cart display just because ya have to fight it into the console. Also, thanks for mentioning how truly baffling the artwork selection is.