Punky Skunk (PS1)- "Unfinished" or just ignored?

[Tupin]

One of the more interesting games in my collection (not for the content, it's just a passable mascot platformer though it does look exactly like a SNES game on PS1) is the Jaleco game "Punky Skunk" on PS1. Notably, because of the lack of discussion of the game, an interesting sentence about it on its Wikipedia page has lasted for years, without being challenged:

 

"It remains a collectors curiosity due to the generally unfinished nature of the game and the unfavorable reviews given at the time of release."

 

I've never beaten the game myself, but there's clearly an ending to it and it is easily accessible online. So yeah, guess this is just another example of Wikipedia misinformation? Anyway, anyone else ever play this "hidden gem?"

[Austin]

"It remains a collectors curiosity due to the generally unfinished nature of the game and the unfavorable reviews given at the time of release."

I can't comment on the quality of the game itself, but it's possible someone let a little too much of their opinion get in the way of their Wikipedia edit.

 

I'd be interested to hear more about the game from people experienced with it. I've seen it around over the years but never bothered picking it up.

[CatPix]

It's possibly a personnal opinion, and more possibly, a "feel" of the time.

2D games on PS1 and/or other consoles of the time were seens as "obsolete" and were treated like dirt. I remember reading a test of a 2D JRPG on PS1, published in 1998, and the comments were mostly "Too bad that game isn't in 3D".

So if the game was a bit "simple" the testers might have feel it was unfinished.

[Tanooki]

Sony also in the earlier years of that console had rules against making 2D games as they tried to pitch them as the dying quality of the past, and they'd go as far as slapping fines on developers for it. I'm sure that did not sit well with Capcom carrying over their 2D fighting arcade powerhouse titles as that didn't last very long I wouldn't think. It may be part of that culture of aggressive stupidity against the past to move forward. The Wiki often gets paged locked because people act like d-bags on there writing opinion as fact trying to get a rise or change history.

[Austin]

I checked out some gameplay just now. I had no idea this was a 2D game--I always assumed it was a typical 3D platformer of the time. I might have to check it out.

 

I can see why reviewers may not have liked it much back then. It doesn't look heavily improved over platformers from the 16-bit era, both visually speaking and gameplay-wise. It sort of reminds me of the Japanese Hermie Hopperhead in that regard, an early 2D PS1 game. It still looks fun in a basic kind of way though.

[Jess Ragan]

There was a lot of bias against 2D back in those days, but Punky Skunk looks kind of half-baked even when judged by those standards. I think it was originally designed for the Super NES, but development switched to the Playstation when it was pretty clear the Super NES was going to be retired by Nintendo.

 

I've seen footage of the game and while it's brilliantly colorful (like many Super NES games), it's not very original... and those mini-games are pretty boring, too. I wouldn't spend too much time tilting at this windmill.

[Punisher5.0]

That jumping noise would drive me insane after a while. I had to stop watching footage of it.

[derFunkenstein]

It looks super-boring, and as Punisher5.0 said, the SFX are grating.