Most modern gamers scoff at the mere premise of a single screen game. Even I’m almost too young for this at the ripe old age of thirty. Most of my experiences with these type of games was in the arcades. I remember throwing quarters into Donkey Kong and having an absolute blast. Unfortunately there weren’t too many others that I remember, but as I’ve grown up I have also been seeking out more of these older titles. Among these I’ve always found Clu Clu Land to be particularly interesting. This was a launch title for the North American Nintendo Entertainment System, and was released when arcade games like this were all the rave. Of course Super Mario Bros. also released in this time, and due to its popularity caused most developers to focus on screen scrolling and more complicated gameplay. Nintendo has always treated Clu Clu Land like it was a big deal by highlighting its release on the Wii, Wii U, and Nintendo 3DS virtual console libraries. I own the original cartridge, but have virtually no nostalgia for it. Despite this I’ve grown to appreciate Clu Clu Land. It’s nothing ground breaking but in short bursts it’s highly enjoyable.
This isn’t a heavily story based title, and you’d hardly know that there’s any scenario explained here unless you were to read the box or instruction manual. You play as a fish (although the character sure doesn’t look like one) named Bubbles. Apparently a group of evil sea urchins have stolen all of the underwater kingdom’s golden ingots, and it’s up to our finned friend to retrieve these. Gameplay takes place on a two dimensional field viewed from overhead. Bubbles moves automatically through the environments, but it’s up to you to control his path. This is done in a unique fashion by making exclusive use of the fish’s arms. Bubbles can move up, down, left and right through each of the mazes, and you can outstretch its arms by holding a direction on the d-pad. Scattered constantly throughout each arena are turning posts, and grabbing on to these causes Bubbles to hold on. The key is to release at a specific time so as to control his direction. This is your only method of controlling the protagonist. This game was released at a time when players were used to holding the direction they wished to move the character, and though the controls take some getting used to it’s a novel idea. This made Clu Clu Land fairly innovative when it was released.
There are a few elements included to enhance gameplay. First of all, the golden ingots are invisible until you pass through them. They are generally laid out in a pattern that can be recognized to make them more easy to find making shapes and designs. Furthermore you’ll quickly stumble upon hidden rubber bands that you bounce off of, and these work well to make things unpredictable and more strategic. That would be fine and dandy, but the game would be boring without hazards. In each level are black holes from where urchins spawn and subsequently move throughout the stages in random patterns. One touch from these is certain death and though you’re immediately thrown back into the action but you’re only given a limited number of lives before its game over. Thankfully Bubbles does have a means by which to defend himself. By pressing the A button you can shoot long ranger supersonic blasts that stun enemies. You can then defeat them by crushing these confused foes against the wall. The name of the game here is simplicity; the stages never vary considerably from one another but the patterns are randomly generated as are the hazards. Enemies get progressively more aggressive, but Clu Clu Land never throws any curve balls your way. What you see is what you get, and the real challenge comes from beating your high scores.
This is an early release for the Nintendo Entertainment System and so I’m willing to cut it some slack in regards to graphics. The screens are very simplistic with plain black color backgrounds, and the enemies are highly pixelated. It is however genuinely difficult to tell what everything is supposed to be. Nintendo really should have gone with a blue background to better signify the ocean because I initially thought the scenario took place in outer space. Bubbles does not look like a fish, nor do the enemies particularly resemble urchins. I was really impressed by the fact that this is one of the few NES games that doesn’t feature heavy flickering and/or slowdown. Just that fact alone makes this one of the most impressive launch games for the platform. The soundtrack is extremely limited unfortunately. There’s only a few songs packed into the cartridge. They’re memorable and charming but to be honest it left me wanting more. For what it is the graphics and sound are pretty well done but Clu Clu Land came out at a time of scrolling screens.
Considering the fact that it has been re-released digitally on several platforms Clu Clu Land is not a difficult title to obtain. I wouldn’t consider it one of the must haves for the platform though. The gameplay mechanics are unique and enjoyable, but there’s just not a lot to it. Had I asked for it as a Birthday or Christmas gift as a kid I would have felt robbed to be honest. It’s addictive in short bursts, but this game is lacking in content. I still recommend it; despite the unusual controls its easy to grasp even for non-gamers.
