Kero Kero Keroppi no Daibouken (or as I prefer to call it, Keroppi's PuzzleFest) features Keroppi, the androgynous frog Sanrio character, and two of his friends–a snail and what I believe to be a piece of toilet paper. You have the option of one player or two player, but since all I do is sit at home and play Super Famicom, I don't have any friends, and therefore was ruled to play one player. From what I can gather, you play Red Keroppi, and you have to save Purple Keroppi from this castle. To get to the castle, you must go through seven different worlds, each filled with an increasing number of maze-like puzzles.
When you enter a world, there is a path with fruit at different points. Each piece of fruit represents a different type of puzzle, and there are five types of puzzles. For example, in one type of puzzle, a path appears that leads Keroppi from start to finish. It blinks while you study it, but when you actually step onto the path, it disappears, and you have to use rocks and treats that you pick up as landmarks. In another type of puzzle, there are green and orange dots that change colour when stepped on, and you can only move to dots that are the same colour as the one you are currently on. In this puzzle, and a few others, you can use A to jump over spaces and dots. Of course, if you get stuck, you just press B, and a hot air balloon will come pick you up and take you back to the menu. At this point you have a choice to either continue or quit, so there's no loss. At the end of every puzzle, you can hear a crowd "roaring" and "whistling", one of my favourite parts of the game.
The aforementioned "treats" that Keroppi picks up are ice cream cones, clouds, candy, and hearts. The number of ice cream cones you have determine how much time you have to complete your path. When they start to deplete, the music gets faster, signaling you to move your little frog legs faster. The clouds come in very handy in the more difficult levels, because you can use them if you get yourself in a pickle. When you hop to a lilly pad or dot and find that you have no place to go, you can use your cloud by pressing B, and the cloud will change your surroundings to give you an option or two of where you can go next, instead of having the hot air balloon pick you up and making you start from the beginning of the maze. The candy usually just increases your pointage, but sometimes it will throw you to another part of the path. This is usually a good thing. The heart will give you a bonus mini-game. After you collect the heart and complete the puzzle, a heart will appear at the end of the path on the menu. If you choose to play the bonus game, you'll find yourself at the top of the screen with four slots to choose to sit in with slides leading down, but only one of the slots has a slide that leads to your goal. Be quick, though, because you only have a couple seconds. If you choose correctly, it will take you to the next level in the mini-game. As the levels increase, you have less time to choose, and the slides become more convoluted.
When you finish a world, a festive little screen comes up with Keroppi and his snail and toilet paper friend, and the letters of "Congratulations" fall down, and you all dance. It's a nice little celebration party. Have fun. You earned it. Good for you. Once you've partied heartily, you'll receive a password that goes something like "Red Keroppi, Snail, Purple Keroppi, Snail, Toilet Paper, and you go on to the next world.
Aside from not quite being able to tell exactly what the toilet paper friend is, the graphics are done very well, and even if you didn't know that Keroppi was a friend of Hello Kitty's, one can still tell that it was made by the Sanrio company by the style of the graphics. It's also very obvious where you can and cannot walk in the puzzle. While you're in the maze, the music playing is just enough to keep you focused– it doesn't distract you from your goal, a common problem I find in other puzzle games. As I mentioned earlier, the best part of the game is the music and sound at the completion of each puzzle– the fanfare and crowd cheering. It reminds me of a boxing game, except with cuter characters and less violence.
Like most of Sanrio's projects, Kero Kero Keroppi no Daibouken was made with children and pre-teens in mind, but is equally, if not more so, enjoyed by adults. The first levels are easy enough for small children, while the later levels are difficult enough that only hardcore puzzle gamers can get through them on the first few tries. Keroppi, like Badtz-Maru, is a Sanrio character geared toward both girls and boys, so this game is fairly gender neutral for young children. Older boys may not like playing with the pink backgrounds and flowers and whatnot. This would also be good for anyone who likes Frogger, Hello Kitty, or games on the backs of cereal boxes.
Unknown
T. Ueno
F. Omorita
(C) APE 1991
APE CO., LTD. 03-5485-2553
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Kero Kero Keroppi no Dai Bouken
Kero Kero Keroppi no Dai Bouken