You might not think a game called ChuChu Rocket! describes itself, but it actually does. Sort of. Such a title doesn't tell you anything about the genre, or what it looks like, or how difficult it is, but - according to the story in the manual - it actually is descriptive.
Our task is to load safely load ChuChus onto rockets. ChuChu Rockets, if you will. And that's all the explanation you nee- of course it isn't. This is an action puzzle the likes of which I probably have seen, but the form I've seen it in wasn't ChuChu Rocket! but I'm willing to bet was inspired by ChuChu Rocket! because I can't think of any other game like it right about now.
I need to get a move on though, as these rockets need some passengers.
Fun Times
I have ChuChu Rocket!, another 'found in a tip' find, but I haven't yet laid hands on a Sega Dreamcast - now or in the twenty years since its release - so I'm emulating this one with Redream and it's purring like a content cat.
Only cats are the enemy! Though they're actually KapuKapu, or 'Space Cats'. Either way, cats are bad, mice are good, rockets are the best.
The main meat of this game is that each stage is a navigation puzzle, with autonomous and startled ChuChus in desperate need of guidance towards the safety of a rocket - any rocket - with any amount of failure being deemed unacceptable.
That sense of direction comes from you, as you have the ability to plop down arrows which force the ChuChu to move in that particular direction, and therein lies the game - plopping down arrows.
The ChuChu are like Lemmings in that they just keep coming, and will follow strict movement rules so as to make your life easier. Thematically they're running in panic, but practically they're following the rules of 'walk forward until wall, turn right, repeat until rocket'.
As you might imagine, the first few stages of the Puzzle mode get you warmed up with simple goals and introducing ideas one at a time, and in no time at all you've got an idea of what you're doing.
The ChuChu won't move until you start them on their merry/panicked way, but you can always set them off just to see what they do on their own because there aren't any consequences for not doing so. You'll be able to see exactly which piece of the maze traps them in a loop or otherwise puts them in peril, and can then act accordingly to fix the problem.
Delightfully, the ChuChus don't give a damn about their rocket getting in the way of the scoreboards and stuff, which is a reminder that despite how flat this game looks, everything is a model. Well, not everything, but the moving bits. You know what I was getting on about.
While some levels allow you to place multiple arrows, it's because - so far at least - that there's only one solution to a puzzle. Once you put an arrow in the right place, you can usually watch the level just play itself, which isn't ideal on the one hand, but these are still very early introductory stages on the other hand. I can forgive it and hope that there's more uncertainty in future stages.
The introduction of the KapuKapu spices up the game a little, as running into them is the exact opposite of what you want to do, and they roam about the stage (following their own rules) without a care in the world. One gobbled ChuChu in this mode and it's back to the drawing board.
One stage pits a lone ChuChu against four KapuKapu, and while placing an arrow here was going to lead to an unwanted loop of up, down, up, down, up, down, up until a KapuKapu claimed a kill, it was an arrow that got me to think about arrows as having multiple uses, or rather users.
The KapuKapu also follow the arrows, and suddenly the board is opened up for the ChuChu as his KapuKapu threat is pushed towards a corner.
Frustrations
If this is the kind of puzzling you want to be doing, then just stop here and explore the many stages that ChuChu Rocket! has to offer, as well as modes to allow you to create your own to see how you fare.
For me though, I was already beginning to feel like I wanted more. I didn't just want ChuChu Rocket! to be a puzzle game like this. I know there's a multiplayer mode. I know there's only one of me. I know computer-controlled opponents aren't everything, but I've got to try a 4 player game.
Further Fun Times
This is what I want. This is multiplayer mayhem perfectly suited for a large couch. Four players guiding any ChuChus they can coerce and persuade into their own rockets, while also pointing KapuKapu towards opposition rockets to reduce scores and cause havoc.
But if that's not frantic enough, every time a mystery ChuChu enters a rocket, a wheel of powerups and bonuses and special events is spun, and hell breaks loose again. ChuChus (strangely called 'Mice' now) spew out of their spawns at alarming rates, or KapuKapus are unleashed, or the gameplay is slowed down to a snail's pace, before speeding all the way back up again.
You literally can't look in enough places at once to stay on top of things. You just have to focus on your own rocket as best you can, and if the opportunity arises to screw over another player, do it.
There's so much happening that I didn't know how well I did until the last few seconds. First place changes time and time again, and when a single KapuKapu in your rocket will eradicate a third of your score, whatever lead you had could be slashed with one arrow placed in one second - probably in a location you weren't looking in.
I can - sadly - only imagine how this plays with people, and not computers.
Final Word
There's not too much going on with ChuChu Rocket!, but that just means it doesn't need too much going on with it. I'm aware that might contradict what I said above, in that it might be too dull if it's just puzzles, but those puzzles are what makes the game a puzzler, and the multiplayer is what makes it an action puzzler.
ChuChu Rocket! has something for those who want to think in peace and those who want to scream and panic and shout in the company of friends. The multiplayer mode even has gloating and taunts, though they're another pop-up distraction from your goal of not screwing yourself over, so be careful with them.
A few hours ago, I had no idea what the game was about. Even having had it in my possession for a while now, I never bothered to look at it early, I just waited for its turn in the 1001 list to arrive. Its time is now, and I'm going to be playing some more multiplayer stages when I'm done.
It's just hectic. I don't think I'll play much of it, or for extended periods, but I'll probably enjoy my time with it, and that's got to be the sign of a good game, no? Why do we play them otherwise?
Even if you're not interested in the puzzle side of ChuChu Rocket!, you should have a bash at it anyway, because it's not a bad way to spend some time at all.
Fun Facts
The game was as much an experiment as it was a game, putting the Dreamcast and its online capabilities to the test, with lessons learned to go into the development of titles including Phantasy Star Online.
ChuChu Rocket!, developed by Sonic Team, first released in 1999.
Version played: Sega Dreamcast, 2000, via emulation.