Teppoman 2 Jumps ‘n Sneaks ‘n Runs ‘n Guns

July 1, 2010

by Eric-Jon Rössel Tairne

Ikiki, an artist new to me yet well-known in some circles (and hugely active between 1999 and 2005), has reappeared from the woodwork to deliver one new major and one minor opus: respectively, Teppoman 2 and Nozumou.

Both games have sort of a covert SNK flavor to them, which comes across slightly in the design and greatly in the soundscape. The music and effects often have a King of Fighters feel, and with its mix of shooting, platforming, and humor Teppoman 2 will call to mind Metal Slug. Yet something about the game also also reminds me of P.O.W.: Prisoners of War — maybe the sounds, or how you recover weapons from enemies, or the limited ammo.

Anyway, Teppoman 2 brings a new perspective to the run-’n-gun by combining some advanced platformer elements and a slight stealth component.

The controls aren’t the most obvious thing in the world, and the game is largely in Japanese, so maybe we’d best go over those. To start with, you need to hit “shift” to progress every interstitial. So every time you get a blank screen and the words “LEVEL 1″ or what-have-you, hit the shift key.

Aside from the arrow keys, this is a two-switch game: jump (shift) and attack (ctrl). You open chests by hitting the down arrow. That thing right near the start — that’s a chest. Generally the game throws you a weapon at the start of every level. Otherwise, you can get one by sneaking up on an enemy and stabbing him.

Touching enemies doesn’t hurt you in itself, and enemies don’t notice you unless they’re looking at you. If you hide for a while, they will forget about you. Nothing to go crazy about, but it adds to the verisimilitude.

You also have some advanced techniques, pulled from a familiar vocabulary. Double-tap to run. Wall-jump the usual way. If you hit jump immediately after dashing, you do a curious glide move (which has some hidden uses). Each of the weapons has its unique uses; it’s not just a matter of finding the best thing around. And since each level is almost a slight puzzle, you will want to conserve your resources.

To progress, you need to collect keys and bananas; keys to finish individual levels, and bananas to move on past an area.

The game is punishing, though once you get a hang of its thinking things quickly open up. Also, every level you finish, you get another life. So that’s nice.

Almost more of a sketch, Nozumou brings to mind both Robotron and Asteroids. You’re a sumo, and you need to avoid larger sumo while bopping smaller sumo. As you bop opponents, you seem to slowly grow in scale. The board also contains four bowls of rice, or porridge or something; eat a bowl to quickly grow a bit. The over-the-top sounds and rocking MIDI soundtrack help to make the game more addictive than it feels like it should be.

You can find Teppoman 2 and Nozumou at the top of Ikiki’s archive here.