Hunter: Maybe it’s just bad timing, but I can’t say I really enjoy Mystic Formula no matter how much I typically enjoy Micro Cabin’s games. This dual joystick shooter – with only one joystick – has game play that has become much more common as of late, but back in 1993 it was still somewhat uncommon to find a game where you could stay pointed in one direction while moving around a stage freely.
Mystic Formula is hectic enough with its two player co-op to be entertaining, and Micro Cabin included quite a bit of its patented cut scenes into the game, but there’s still something missing.
Yes, the graphics are bland, the game suffers from some slow down, and it is relatively easy, but moreover as a single player game I can’t recommend this one.
K.G.: I think you’re being way too hard on the game. Not every PC Engine Super CD can look like Dracula X. Really, if you compare this with Dungeon Explorer which we both like, I think Mystic Formula is a good co-op game that has serviceable graphics and sound with a lot of action.
The game play you describe was fun and original for its time. I can probably count the number of directional shooters I can recall by the early 90’s on one hand. Robotron, sure, but there’s also what, Smash TV and Total Carnage? I think you could sidestep in a few adventure games like Zelda and Soul Blazer, but those weren’t shooters.
Listen; at a good price a PC Engine action game with two-player simultaneous play is uncommon and fun enough to spend a few days with.
Hunter: You know, I think that’s it. Granted it was on the Super NES, but the Pocky & Rocky games are very similar to Mystic Formula, only they look, sound and play far better. Plus, the first game was released a year before Mystic Formula. If this was the PC Engine’s answer to those games, Mystic Formula has some very tough competition.
I think Mystic Formula is hurt by the fact that it probably needed an extra button or two. The fact that you must hold onto one button in order to remain shooting in a direction while pressing the other to fire leaves only the select and run buttons remaining, and run is used for bombs!
If Micro Cabin had an extra button or two, maybe the characters could have gained some extra powers that could be used throughout the game like they were in Pocky & Rocky.
Some of the bosses were cool towards the end, but Mystic Formula was just too repetitive and bland throughout most of it.
K.G.: OK, so there are similarities there, but Mystic Formula has four characters that all have different powers, not just two. Mystic Formula also had power-ups that allowed all four characters to get on the screen at once during a two-player game. Besides, I don’t think you could aim in one direction while moving in another.
Face it; there is a lot to like in Mystic Formula.
You talk about the game being bland and repetitive, but the game does have some interesting twists like the speeder bikes at the end of stage two.
The boss fights were pretty intense, especially the ones that took up a huge chunk of the screen!
There’s also a lot of strategy to find here too like R-Type’s charge it or auto-fire it game play, and not to mention a shooter’s use it or lose it bombs.
There’s a lot to like here for the PC Engine.
| Hunter |
K.G. |
by John Norman and K.G. Transcribed and Edited by John Norman.
PS Nation-Ep324-Remember Pure Evil
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