Super Cooks (MSX, 1989)
Graphics-8.5 Sound-8 Control-7.5 Challenge-6.5 Story-6.5?
Level Design-7 Frustration-7 Fun-7 Originality-6
Overall Score-7
+
Parody theme (cooking themed remake/reimagining of Golvellius - Kelesis has a chef outfit, bibles turn into cook books, your sword turns into a frying pan, etc.)
Improved platforming segments (can turn around, better variety and more interesting level design)
Sometimes better bosses (some have multiple phases)
Mini-bosses
Better visual variety
Less grinding than in Golvellius
Save feature (anywhere on the overworld, three slots)
Alternate main weapons (salt & pepper, kitchen knife, fire)
Alternate attacks taught by NPCs (shift+space - you can freeze enemies temporarily with the pan, create a temporary shield/spin attack with the salt & pepper, throw the knife, make the fire move back and forth around a spot; each use of these costs a bit of money, somewhat easy to accidentally switch weapons instead)
Spinach replaces herbs (saves your from death)
Great art direction overall
Kelesis learns some new real world languages during the adventure to understand NPCs in some new areas (shallow gameplay-wise as it's just a lock and key/trigger to be able to buy items but it is immersion building in a way)
NPCs change outfits to fit the theme of each new area
Partially destructible environment (can melt the giant chocolate santas in the christmas candy area with the fire attack)
Some minor puzzles (large cake room)
Diagonal movement (but not attacks)
Pretty nice cutscenes (artwork stills and text, splash screens while loading each new area and dungeon)
+/-
No run move
Re-uses some encounter themes from Golvellius
Very common life drops early on but then none in the second area (emulation bug?)
Forced collecting in the dungeons
Can't switch weapons during dungeons but you do get to choose which one to take before entering
Can't turn around in mid-air
Features Edvard Munch's "skriet/skrik" character (from a painting) as an enemy (it can't be killed and doesn't attack - just moves away)
-
Poor and incomplete fan translation ("Super Cooks UK" rom)
Overly linear structure (the world is divided into sub areas and you need to find each hole or cook book in a specific order which leads to backtracking, even certain enemies don't spawn until you have enough books)
Many overworld enemies are dumber and the spawning points seem a bit glitchy (all enemies spawn from the same spot on a screen - probably an emulation error, sometimes they'll stop spawning for seemingly no reason)
Still can't move backwards/left in the dungeons
Some trial & error (platforming segment paths, some cheap enemy placements)
Some loading time between areas (10+ seconds)
Alternate attacks can only be used in the overworld segments (would've been cool to have to use them against bosses)
Short invincibility time after taking a hit can mean that one mistake takes you out of a dungeon since you'll keep getting knocked back
A bit short
Kinda basic final boss
Comment:
Super Cooks is to Golvellius what Parodius is to Gradius, pretty much; it keeps the gameplay but wraps everything up in a cooking theme, with some unrelated visual gags thrown in like the Skriet painting character being an enemy/npc later on. For what's basically a spoof/spinoff thing (I think it had a short development time considering its brevity) what's really cool is that there are also some gameplay improvements here and there and an enlarged weapon arsenal, with each weapon also having an additional special attack taught by an NPC in each area. Unfortunately, the experience felt gimped due to the fan translation being even worse than the Shin Maou Golvellius one, and even messing with some of the enemy AI (spawning points are a bit glitchy making enemies always spawn from the first spot when you enter a screen). The other big issue I had was the linearity - it takes the Shin Maou approach but makes progression even stricter and this leads to unnecessary wandering around and backtracking. You shouldn't skip it if you're into Golvellius or other early action adventure games, but you might want to wait for an update to that translation.
Level Design-7 Frustration-7 Fun-7 Originality-6
Overall Score-7
+
Parody theme (cooking themed remake/reimagining of Golvellius - Kelesis has a chef outfit, bibles turn into cook books, your sword turns into a frying pan, etc.)
Improved platforming segments (can turn around, better variety and more interesting level design)
Sometimes better bosses (some have multiple phases)
Mini-bosses
Better visual variety
Less grinding than in Golvellius
Save feature (anywhere on the overworld, three slots)
Alternate main weapons (salt & pepper, kitchen knife, fire)
Alternate attacks taught by NPCs (shift+space - you can freeze enemies temporarily with the pan, create a temporary shield/spin attack with the salt & pepper, throw the knife, make the fire move back and forth around a spot; each use of these costs a bit of money, somewhat easy to accidentally switch weapons instead)
Spinach replaces herbs (saves your from death)
Great art direction overall
Kelesis learns some new real world languages during the adventure to understand NPCs in some new areas (shallow gameplay-wise as it's just a lock and key/trigger to be able to buy items but it is immersion building in a way)
NPCs change outfits to fit the theme of each new area
Partially destructible environment (can melt the giant chocolate santas in the christmas candy area with the fire attack)
Some minor puzzles (large cake room)
Diagonal movement (but not attacks)
Pretty nice cutscenes (artwork stills and text, splash screens while loading each new area and dungeon)
+/-
No run move
Re-uses some encounter themes from Golvellius
Very common life drops early on but then none in the second area (emulation bug?)
Forced collecting in the dungeons
Can't switch weapons during dungeons but you do get to choose which one to take before entering
Can't turn around in mid-air
Features Edvard Munch's "skriet/skrik" character (from a painting) as an enemy (it can't be killed and doesn't attack - just moves away)
-
Poor and incomplete fan translation ("Super Cooks UK" rom)
Overly linear structure (the world is divided into sub areas and you need to find each hole or cook book in a specific order which leads to backtracking, even certain enemies don't spawn until you have enough books)
Many overworld enemies are dumber and the spawning points seem a bit glitchy (all enemies spawn from the same spot on a screen - probably an emulation error, sometimes they'll stop spawning for seemingly no reason)
Still can't move backwards/left in the dungeons
Some trial & error (platforming segment paths, some cheap enemy placements)
Some loading time between areas (10+ seconds)
Alternate attacks can only be used in the overworld segments (would've been cool to have to use them against bosses)
Short invincibility time after taking a hit can mean that one mistake takes you out of a dungeon since you'll keep getting knocked back
A bit short
Kinda basic final boss
Comment:
Super Cooks is to Golvellius what Parodius is to Gradius, pretty much; it keeps the gameplay but wraps everything up in a cooking theme, with some unrelated visual gags thrown in like the Skriet painting character being an enemy/npc later on. For what's basically a spoof/spinoff thing (I think it had a short development time considering its brevity) what's really cool is that there are also some gameplay improvements here and there and an enlarged weapon arsenal, with each weapon also having an additional special attack taught by an NPC in each area. Unfortunately, the experience felt gimped due to the fan translation being even worse than the Shin Maou Golvellius one, and even messing with some of the enemy AI (spawning points are a bit glitchy making enemies always spawn from the first spot when you enter a screen). The other big issue I had was the linearity - it takes the Shin Maou approach but makes progression even stricter and this leads to unnecessary wandering around and backtracking. You shouldn't skip it if you're into Golvellius or other early action adventure games, but you might want to wait for an update to that translation.