Monkey Magic!

Reviewing the Famicom Disk Saiyuki games got us thinking about the spirit of Monkey: irrepressible and full of high jinx. This spirit comes across well in the games which graced the PC Engine and Famicom. And no finer tribute (or more accessible to Western gamers) comes in the compact form of Cloud Master (or Gokuraku Chuka Taisen.) Being based on the wondrous Monkey series from NHK and being a fine shooter in it's own right raises Cloud Master to Mount Fuji like heights in the Genki office. Buddhist related hi-jinx with our beloved, cotton wool cloud riding monkey god.
So good in fact the spirit was bottled and rekindled for the Nintendo Wii with side scrolling shooting update of the8Bit Chinese classic that'll bring a smile to retro heads and fans of the mischievous monkey yet stands tall as a spiffing example of the shooting genre. Four play modes with gorgeous backdrops of traditional Chinese settings including the Great Wall that look like they have been taken straight from a wall scroll. But thankfully the games distinct humour remains firmly intact as bazooka wielding angry pigs fire at your cloud as bowls of noodles whiz by and jade turtles plod obliviously along - meaning we can forgive renaming Goku the Monkey. Subtitled Michael and Mei Meis Adventure.
Monkey, Pigsy, Tripitaka, Sandy, the horse who was a Dragon, the naughty gambling oni who never made it to UK TV Screens: we salute you!