Cho Aniki Collection

レビュー兄貴 クリア時の下から上にいくカットイン等、やっぱジノーグのリサイクルだよなあ ただ兄貴と葉山音楽のインパクトが色褪せてないのは流石 サントラ機能一緒なのはうれしいけどプレイヤーで聞きたかったのでDLCでも良かったかも この流れからシュビビンマンはくるかな？

After reading through the Steam discussions, the Slush Pile write-up, and some of the other coverage surrounding the Cho Aniki Collection, I bought it during the recent sale and still ended up refunding it. The games themselves are still pure fever-dream gold. The original Cho Aniki starts off relatively restrained, at least by this series’ standards. You choose between characters and blast through bizarre biomechanical stages filled with protein-fuelled weirdos. Then Ai Cho Aniki goes completely off the rails. Samson and Adon take centre stage, oiled-up muscle men fill the screen, the dancing invincibility move shows up, and the whole thing becomes gloriously unhinged. The soundtrack is ridiculous in the best possible way. The bosses constantly make you wonder what you are even looking at, and underneath all the absurdity, the shooting is actually pretty solid for PC Engine games. The ports also seem well handled. Save states are extremely useful, rewind is included even though it doesn’t feel especially necessary, and the visual and sound modes are nice additions. Longtime fans should be satisfied with the emulation and overall presentation. The biggest problem is the price. Launching at $45–50 for two old PC Engine games that a decent player can clear in well under an hour combined is tough to swallow. That doesn’t feel like collection pricing. It feels like the publisher was testing how much the meme status and cult following would bear. Edia has put out other shooter collections with more games for similar money. People on Steam were calling this one overpriced right from launch, and even when it went on sale it still didn’t feel worth keeping for what you actually get. Edia, and Limited Run Games on the physical side, should take this feedback seriously. Pricing the collection this aggressively shuts out a lot of the same people who kept these games alive through imports, word of mouth, and emulation for decades. It also turns what should’ve been an easy entry point for newcomers into an obvious “wait for a sale” purchase — and even then, plenty of people are still refunding it. The physical editions are going to be even harder for collectors to justify once shipping and import costs are factored in. There was a real chance here to bring a genuine cult classic to more people. Instead it feels like they’re cashing in on the franchise’s weird reputation. A permanent price drop would help a lot. Expanding the collection later with more entries from the series (Bakuretsu Ranto-hen included) would also make the asking price feel more reasonable. As games, these are easily an 8/10 for personality, presentation, and surprisingly fun shooting. As a collection at full price though? Hard to recommend. Wait for a substantial sale or pass. Given that both games combined can be cleared in well under an hour by most players and Edia has released other shooter collections with four games for the same launch price, this should have been priced around $20, not $45–50.