Game Center CX Arino’s Challenge 2: The First Three Games

Xseed said a disappointing comment about the chances of seeing the sequel to Retro Game Challenge overseas. A real bummer because Game Center CX: Arino’s Challenge 2’s faux retro games are better designed and more relevant parodies for North America.

I started Game Center CX: Arino’s Challenge 2 which, like the first game, has a kid version of you sitting in Arino’s living room playing “Game Computer” titles and completing Game Master Arino’s challenges. The first game kid Arino brings home is Wiz-Man.

Wiz-Man is like Pac-Man meets Ikaruga. You control Wiz-man, a ghost that runs through a maze and collects crystals. Grab all of the crystals and you clear the level. The twist is you need to pick up a rod, either a red one or a blue one, which lets you grab same color gems. If you run over blue gems while holding a red rod nothing happens. Holding a rod also allows Wiz-man to cast magic — fire if he has a red rod, ice if he has a blue one. Ice magic can only hurt red enemies. If you see a blue flame walking around you need a red rod and fire magic to defeat it.

Challenge # 1 – Power up Wiz-Man. Multiple rods of the same color make Wiz-Man run faster and allow him to cast more spells. For instance, two red rods let Wiz-Man cast fire twice. Grab two same color rods and you win.

Challenge #2 – Eat eight flashing crystals. When you grab a rod a large crystal flashes. Start by grabbing it. Then follow the dots to the next flashing crystal. This teaches players the method maximizing their score by eating crystals on a specific path.

Challenge #3 – Beat floor 4.

Challenge #4 – Grab ten treasure stones. Think of these like the cherries in Pac-Man. They briefly appear in the middle of the screen after you eat 50 micro crystals.

After beating the Wiz-Man challenges I took a break from the story and left Arino’s house. Now you can visit the store where Arino purchases Game Computer software and play remixes of games from Retro Game Challenge. The only game I earned at this point was Cosmic Gate Masa-X Version. Later on I got Robot Ninja Haggleman Koume Version, which is Haggleman with a female character.

Invincible Fist Kung Fu was the next game on Game Master Arnio’s list. The graphical style is like the NES game Kung Fu, but this game has modern elements like rhythm timing and… bears! You also kick ninjas that throw USA shaped shuriken colored like the American Flag.

Challenge #1 – Knock an enemy back. There are two ways to combo attacks. You can punch/kick right away or wait a second and press a button for a powerful hit that sends an enemy flying.

Challenge #2 – Beat the boxer mid boss in stage 1.

Challenge #3 – Obtain the Invincible Fist power. You can use the knockback strike to throw an enemy into another enemy. If you kill an enemy like this they release an energy orb. Collect four of these to unlock the invincible fist power.

Challenge #4 – Beat the boss in stage 2. To do this you also have to beat the mini-boss of stage two, a warrior with a fire-breathing dragon helmet.

Demon Returns is the third game Arino buys and it’s sure to put a smile on everyone’s face. The game is a parody of Super Mario Brothers with elements from Adventure Island. You play a small demon that grows big by collecting a moon coin. There isn’t a time limit, but you need to keep eating floating apples otherwise the demon runs out of fuel.

The levels in Demon Returns are obviously inspired by Super Mario Brothers. An invisible extra life in the first stage is in a similar position to the 1up mushroom in World 1-1. Both games also have an underground stage for World 1-2.

Challenge #1 – Ride an enemy. When Demon slashes at an enemy it flips upside down. You can jump on it and ride it sort of like how Master Higgins rides a skateboard. Demon moves much faster while surfing on a Takoppi and can double jump by hopping off an enemy. In later levels you have to use the double jump move to leap over large gaps and reach high platforms.

Challenge #2 – Get the spinning tornado move. Collecting two moon coins turns the Demon green and gives him a tornado tossing move. I’m sure you know what inspired this.

Challenge #3 – Collect 100 souls. Souls are the equivalent of coins in Super Mario Brothers. These float on the screen when you beat enemies and hit some jars that release them.

Challenge #4 – Clear Stage 1-4. After leaping over spinning electric sticks Demon reaches a boss. Since your foe isn’t standing on a bridge over a pit of lava you have to fight it head on. The boss throws his head which morphs into an enemy. Hit the thrown enemy with your claws, ride it, and crash into the boss to damage it.

At the end of the Stage 1-4  a message appears. It reads, “But this castle is Hades Prince’s castle. Go for Queen’s Castle! Let’s go to the next stage!!” Unfortunately, the next “stage” is a text heavy adventure game, which will give players who don’t understand Japanese a headache. See, the adventure game road block is one of the reasons why we need Xseed to localize Game Center CX Arino’s Challenge 2 in English. Be sure to support Retro Game Challenge.