Sushi-X Breaks Loose

Sushi-X Breaks Loose

Release type: Freeware
Release date: 1993
Levels: 3
Author: Don'Pan Software
Related games: none

Around the turn of the '90s, I read whatever game magazines I could find. There were only so many at the time. I subscribed to Nintendo Power, and enjoyed the early issues. Heck, I subscribed even before it was Nintendo Power. Even before the newsletter became a glossy magazine! It was just pinkish folded-over paper stock. GamePro was sort of the standard, so I read that. When I could find it, I puzzled over VideoGames & Computer Entertainment. That one was often a little headier, and it covered many topics that I didn't understand. Its back pages were also where I saw my first ad for RSD's Game-Maker.

As an adolescent, the magazine that struck the best balance for me was EGM. I don't remember why I so enjoyed it. I think the Review Crew may have had something to do with it. By that time, games were coming out rapidly for several systems. It was getting hard to keep up with everything. To cover as much ground as possible, three of the magazine's editors and one fictional character would offer short blurbs about each game. Although they never commented in much depth, the blurbs were lined up in columns so you could cross-compare their responses.

Pushing the limits of journalism in Sushi-X Breaks Loose

The most intriguing of those writers was of course the fictional one, a mysterious fellow named Sushi-X. He dressed like our cultural consciousness of a ninja and obsessed over tournament fighting games. In reality he was a placeholder for whatever intern wanted to contribute an opinion or whatever editor wanted to speak anonymously. That would not become clear for another decade or so. In the early '90s, Sushi-X was the coolest dude in the coolest band of game journalists. Which is to say, a boy's club that set the stage for twenty years of stunted and exclusionary gamer culture. But hey, adolescents look up to big kids.

One of the club's more memorable shows of adolescence was its yearly April Fools pranks. In 1991 they insisted that with the right code you could call forth Castlevania's protagonist into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II. It sounded plausible, as both games were by Konami, and it played into that vague sense that anything could be out there. The following year brought the Sheng Long prank, which was reported as fact worldwide, and in changing people's expectations for arbitrary nonsense changed the way that fighting games were designed and perceived.

By 1993 I had a good three months of experience with Game-Maker, so I felt ready to play my own prank on EGM. I borrowed resources from A-J's Quest, drew approximations of EGM's Review Crew avatars, and sent Sushi-X on a quest to locate a fabled Street Fighter II arcade cabinet. Along the way he faced the logos of competing magazines, and could regain energy by picking up issues of EGM. I credited the game to Sega, and sent it in anonymously with plenty of lead time for the April issue, to see how they would react.

They didn't. Fair enough. The game was kind of terrible, anyway. The best part was probably the sound clips. The monsters had an entertaining death noise, and whenever Sushi-X found an issue of his parent magazine he would sing "Ee-Gee-Eh-hem ruuuuuules!" I quickly forgot about the game, only to unearth it when looking for useless games to scavenge in the assembly Tony & Me and Operation Killbot.

A few of the background tiles also made their way into Sign of the Hedgehog, which perhaps justifies this prank a little further. Also as my second attempt at a platformer, Sushi-X Breaks Loose probably taught me a pile of lessons in what not to do. I don't believe that I repeated my mistakes here.

- [Azurelore Korrigan]

Story

Tired of reviewing boring games over and over for EGM, Sushi-X has decided to break loose and search for the mythical Street Fighter II machine.

In his way stands a preponderance of other publications, which must all be vanquished. Punch, kick, and slash your way to victory!

Ed, Martin, and Steve help him on his quest, and he needs you, too, to guide him the right way.

instructions

Level 3 of Sushi-X Breaks Loose

Sushi-X can be controlled with these keys:

left, right: walk those ways.

down: duck.

g: attack left.

h: attack right.

7: jump-kick left.

9: jump-kick right.

1: attack low left.

3: attack low right.

[ins]: jump left.

[del]: jump right.

(all #'s on numerical keypad).

Credits

Level 1 of Sushi-X Breaks Loose

Prototype Copy

Sushi-x Breaks Loose (c) 1993 SEGA Enterprises, Ltd.

CHARACTER BASED ON:

Sushi-X

OTHER STUFF BASED ON:

Electronic Gaming Monthly and the logos of GamePro and Video Games and Computer Entertainment.

Availability

This game was distributed on local bulletin boards (e.g., The Kobayashi Alternative), contemporary to its development.

Archive history

Sushi-X was retained as part of the archive from the game's inception.

Links

Interviews / Articles

• The History of A-J Games, Part Six

Misc. Links

• Play Sushi-X Breaks Loose online

Downloads

• Sushi-X Breaks Loose (417.3 kB)
• Level 1 Map (78.7 kB)
• Level 2 Map (57.2 kB)
• Level 3 Map (218.2 kB)