Shin Megami Tensei is one of the many popular RPG series in Japan that for the longest time never saw release outside of there. It was rife with dark themes and religious context, after all, and that was a big no-no back then. What’s interesting is the fact that the first game in the Shin Megami Tensei series released stateside was for the Virtual Boy. This spin-off, called Jack Bros, is one of the most rare releases for the already hard to find platform. The game ditches the RPG mechanics of the series and instead is a top down shooter. Unfortunately it regularly commands an asking price around two hundred dollars. I was lucky enough to get my hands on it for a little cheaper than that, but was it worth it? Well let’s take a look here and find out!
Trouble is brewing in the real world as three of the Shin Megami Tensei mascot characters (Jack Frost, Jack Lantern, and Jack Skellington) have discovered a way to travel to our world from the land of fairies. This portal is open for just one night (which just happens to be Halloween) and it’s up to you to guide them back home. Should you fail to do so they will be trapped forever. This scenario is told via a pretty neat opening sequence complete with a text scroll and graphics. That’s more than most Virtual Boy games have. I also really like the lighthearted approach to the Shin Megami Tensei universe as seen for the first time here.
From the start you get to choose which of the three Jack characters you want to play as. Their differences are more than just cosmetic. Jack Frost has the weakest firepower of the bunch but can shoot projectiles at the fastest rate. Then we have Jack Lantern whose shots are largely the opposite. Jack Skellington is the most different beating both in power. Unfortunately his range is limited because he can only strike enemies with his sword. The basic gameplay has you running through maze like areas from an overhead perspective. Each level has multiple tiers that you drop down into (you never have to worry about going back up thankfully). They’re all set up like confusing labyrinths.
You have to travel from the beginning of the stage to the end, fighting foes along the way moving as fast as you can because you only have a limited amount of time. You can gain items that increase this meter, but you’ll never have the opportunity to procrastinate. There are also keys distributed throughout each arena and you’ll need to find and collect these to open the way forward. At the end of each stage awaits a boss encounter. These are the most challenging moments in Jack Bros because you are still working against the clock. This can cause you to become impatient and ignore the patterns you’ve been working to memorize. These can be tough and a little frustrating, but they’re enjoyable overall.
The first major difference between this and most other similar games is the fact that you don’t have a life bar. Instead you’re battling just the timer which I already mentioned. Each stage is littered with dozens of enemies and getting touched by these shaves precious seconds off of your timer. Thankfully you can get items that replenish the countdown in specific increments as well as bombs that clear the screen. There’s also a bomb item which you can stockpile but these are best saved for the challenging boss encounters.
One aspect of this game that I really like is the enemies and their attack patterns. Things start off easy enough but in the later stages you will need to memorize some pretty complex patterns. Thankfully this is one of the few Virtual Boy games that takes advantage of the unique controller and this allows you to navigate with one directional pad and fire projectiles in any direction with the other. It takes a little practice to get used to this, but when you do it becomes like second nature.
Jack Bros. does suffer from a few minor issues though. For starters there’s no battery backup. You can only continue using passwords. They’re only a few numbers apiece. When it comes to the Virtual Boy it really hurts the eyes to keep going back and forth between looking through the goggles and writing down a password. In addition the game is really tough. It’s never unfair, but after the first few levels Jack Bros becomes a mad scramble to race through.
The environments are all very confined which often makes avoiding enemies impossible. The fact that you must play at a slow pace in order to avoid and wait for monsters can be annoying. The worst feeling in the world is when you finally make it to the boss in a stage but have only a few seconds in which you must take them down. Jack Bros. can be extremely frustrating. I don’t think a game that requires such intense concentration is a good match for the eye sore that is the Virtual Boy. This would have worked a lot better on a true portable system.
The graphics aren’t astounding by any means but they’re charming and look quite nice considering the hardware. The sprite work is really well done and the style is a welcome fun take on the franchise. The framerate holds up decently, but there’s rarely a lot of action on screen at once. It’s a little disappointing that Atlus didn’t put more emphasis on the 3D capabilities of the system. Regardless, there are a few cool effects here and there.
When moving between the floors things pop out pretty well, and the characters also stick out. It’s pretty decent, but in this case I really wish the developers had gone all out. The soundtrack is really good, and this might be the best use of audio I’ve seen in a Virtual Boy game. It’s all bleeps and blips, but there are several layers of notes, and the spooky Halloween style is really memorable. Overall I really like the music in this game.
Jack Bros. is a very rare game that can run a really high price. It’s a fun title for sure, but unless you’re looking for it purely for collection sake I can’t really recommend fronting the bill on this one. Jack Bros. has historic value as the first Shin Megami Tensei title to be released in the US, but considering the circumstances it’s one you can pass on without missing out too much.
