User:Namcokid47/Bravoman

Chō Zetsurin Jin: Bravoman (超絶倫人ベラボーマン), commonly referred to as simply Bravoman, is a beat-em-up arcade game developed and released by Namco in 1988 exclusively in Japan. The player controls the titular character of Bravoman, a superhero with telescopic limbs, as he must fight his way through Japan to stop the villainous Dr. Bomb from taking over the world with his robotic minions. Bravoman can stretch his arms, legs and head at enemies to defeat them, and can also crouch and jump over them. Certain enemies will drop small "Fuku" items, which will award Bravoman a power-up item if enough are collected.

The game is described by Namco as a "comical action game", with characters and elements made to poke fun at the Japanese tokusatsu genre and kaiju films. It would receive a polarizing reception from critics, with many complaining of the game's control scheme and difficulty. A spin-off title was released in 1990, Pistol Daimyo no Boken, starring one of the game's bosses. A webcomic adaptation was released in 2012 through Bandai Namco's ShiftyLook subsidiary company, which would also spawn a mobile game, Bravoman: Binja Bash!. Ports of the game for the PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16, Japanese mobile phones and the Wii Virtual Console would also be produced.

Gameplay
Bravoman is a beat-em-up video game. The player controls the titular character of Bravoman, a superhero possessing telescopic limbs, as he must make his way through Japan to defeat the antagonist Dr. Bomb from taking over the world. Bravoman can stretch his arms, legs and head to punch, kick and headbutt enemies respectively - the strength of these attacks are determined by how hard the player pushes the pressure-sensitive buttons, Namco's only arcade title to do so. Bravoman has a health meter that will deplete when he takes damage.

Destroying certain types of enemies will leave behind small red items known as "Fuku". Collecting ten of these will cause Bravoman's sort-of partner "Lottery Man" to appear and award him with a random power-up item - these include onigiri and ramen that will restore a fraction of Bravoman's health bar, a cola that will make him temporally invincible, and a Japanese bullet-train that will automatically transport him to the end of the stage. Lottery Man will also appear at the end of each stage to award Bravoman onigiri, depending on how much Fuku has been collected in the stage.

The game is divided into thirty-two stages. Certain stages will take place in the ocean, with Bravoman transforming into a submarine-like form. These stages play more like a horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-up game, with Bravoman now having the ability to shoot projectiles and missiles towards enemies. Each stage will also end with a boss fight, mainly against a doppelganger of Bravoman named "Black Bravo". Certain areas of the game will act as bonus stages, allowing Bravoman to collect several different health items to restore his health meter, if needed.

Reception
Nintendo Life was critical of the Wii Virtual Console release of the TurboGrafx-16 port, complaining of the game's poor controls and difficulty, concluding the review with "It has some great moments, problem is, there are just not nearly enough of them."

Legacy
Shortly after the release of the original, a sequel was reported to be in development, known as Kaettekita Bravoman (帰ってきたベラボーマン). This game would have had Bravoman homeless and divorced to his wife, now having to fight crime in his attempts to get back together with his wife. The project never made it past the planning stage.

A spin-off arcade game was released in 1990, Pistol Daimyo no Boken. The game starred Pistol Daimyo, a Federal lord with a pistol strapped to his head, who was originally a boss in the original game.