Keith Courage in Alpha Zones
System: TurboGrafx-16
Release Date: August 29, 1989
Developer: Advance Communication Company
Publisher: NEC
Genre: Action
Keith Courage in Alpha Zones was the pack in title with the TurboGrafx-16, so we’ll play it first. Here we have an action platformer, which I expect to play a lot of on the system. You are Keith Courage. When you were a youngster, a giant meteor crashed into Earth stuffed full with the Nation of B.A.D. (Beastly Alien Dudes). They burrow their way into the planet in an attempt to take over the world. Over time, Keith’s father created an ultimate weapon, the Nova Suit. While testing it by attacking the baddies, Keith’s father is hit and crawls back to the surface, leaving the armor and the responsibility to you.
The game takes place over seven zones, each split into an overworld and an underworld portion. In the overworld, Keith traverses towns and their surrounding areas, killing enemies and collecting gold. Along the way, there are houses that you can enter. In them are one of four people. Nancy, the Nurse can be paid to heal you back to full health. The Wise Wizard who sells bolt bombs, which can be used in the underworld levels. The Weapons Master has a weapon upgrade that is used by Keith in Nova Suit form. The Prophet gives Keith advice on what to do next.
Keith jumps with Button I and swings his sword with Button II. In this way, the controls are backward. We all know you should attack with the tip of your thumb and jump with the pad. Advance Communication Company apparently never received that memo. Keith can also duck by holding down and use the bolt bombs by pressing up and Button II at the same time. Keith moves at a snails pace in the overworld, which can make a couple spike pit jumps tricky. Keep an eye open for cat enemies. Certain clusters will spawn a golden cat every 16 or so, which will give you a special red coin worth 200.
At the end of the overworld levels are rainbow transports that send you into the underworld. You enter the Nova Suit and gain power and speed. Enemies must be fought, but they won’t drop money. Instead you may find heart upgrades or different bolt bomb attacks. Jumping is a little finicky, and will lead to your instant death if you fall into spikes. In fact, you’ll be making many blind jumps, hoping there aren’t spikes underneath you when you land. If you do die, you start at the beginning of the stage you were on with half the amount of gold and bolt bombs in your inventory.
At the end of each underworld level is a boss. Most of these bosses are very easy if you’ve paid to upgrade your sword. You just give them a bunch of good whacks, and they’ll explode in no time. Many of them return as normal enemies in the later levels. The only boss that ended up giving me trouble was the boss of the Toxic Zone. That guy was strong and took a lot of hits to defeat. The final boss literally didn’t move at all as I swung away with the expensive Alpha Sword. The game finishes with a crawl about your victory and to look out for further Keith Courage adventures. And they never saw Keith Courage again!
Graphics: 3.0
Graphics are clear, concise, and colorful.
Sound: 2.5
Music is fast paced when you want it to be, and also interesting. Sound effects aren’t super annoying, so that’s nice.
Gameplay: 2.5
Outside of the suit, Keith is slow and money drops infrequently in the overworld. There is a lot of cheap spike placement in the underworld, which you’ll either blindly jump into or get knocked into by an enemy.
Difficulty: 3.0
If you’re patient, you can get through without much problem. Lives are infinite and you can grind for any money you lose.
Fun Factor: 2.0
I had a good enough time. It didn’t overstay its welcome. I did resort to rewinding deaths I didn’t feel like I deserved so I wouldn’t have to repeat some sections over and over again, so I’ll dock score there.
Overall Grade: 2.6
Keith Courage in Alpha Zones earns a B-. It’s a good start to the TG-16 library. There’s nothing great nor terrible on display here, give it a shot.