The Adventures of Captain Comic
System: NES
Release Date: 1989
Developer: Color Dreams
Publisher: Color Dreams
Genre: Action Platformer
Color Dreams shows up again with another unlicensed title, the Adventures of Captain Comic. I always misread it as Cosmic, but that would be incorrect. You’re the last choice of the Elders of Osmic to wrest back three badges of office necessary for the upcoming tri-millenial festivities. You have to defeat the non-stop hostiles of the planet Tambi to collect them all.
Captain Comic can run and jump. After finding a can of Blastola Cola, you can begin to use the blaster. There isn’t an ammo gauge, but instead the power level drains as you shoot too much. Once you slow down on the shooting, the battery will recharge. You’re going to need to be shooting all the time to destroy the constantly spawning enemies. Each stage has four enemies that can be on screen at once. At least two of them fly around the screen, while one or two usually crawl on the ground outside of your shooting range, meaning you better be good at jumping.
If you aren’t very good at avoiding your enemies, you’re in luck. Instead of one hit and you’re dead, you have a shield that depletes as you are struck. There are shield packs laying around the stages, but they are one time uses and they don’t replenish. There is some backtracking, so it’s best not to waste them, rather to wait until you need them.
There are a few Blastola Cola cans on the levels, which increase the number of shots allowed on screen at once. Picking up a Shield of Invulnerability allows you to blast away for a short time and take as many hits as you want. The item you really want, though, is the Corkscrew. It let’s you shoot at ground enemies as well as ones at gun level. This is necessary for the indoor portion, because of all the stupid crawling enemies.
The treasures you’re on the lookout for are a crown, gems, and coins. You’ll run across them as you move through the levels, they aren’t hidden or anything. One neat tool that exists is the wand. Once you get this, you can press the Select Button to warp a small way. It’s necessary to use this to pass through walls to continue on. Once you pick up the last treasure, you get the ending screen and win the game.
Graphics: 2.0
Everything looks pretty decent, I didn’t notice any sprite flickering, and the backgrounds aren’t just solid color.
Sound: 2.5
All the tunes are 8-bit renditions of classical tunes and they all sound decent.
Gameplay: 2.5
The jumping is a bit floaty. Crawling enemies that you can’t kill are annoying.
Difficulty: 2.5
It took me a few false starts to figure out what was going on. The indoor level in the middle with the two different crawling enemies is no fair without the corkscrew upgrade.
Fun Factor: 2.0
I surprisingly enjoyed myself enough while playing that I was surprised it was over.
Overall Grade: 2.3
The Adventures of Captain Comic earns a C+. For an unlicensed game, this one was pretty good. It’s solid enough to at least earn a curiosity play.