17. Harmful Park (Sky Think Systems, Playstation (PS3), 1998)

Harmful Park is a horizontally scrolling shooter and the final game from Sky Think Systems, whose only other output was 2 puzzle games also on the Playstation.

I knew I wanted to try Harmful Park ever since I saw its cover art, I mean, how could you not?

I've played a few of the classic "Cute 'em ups" before, Parodius was basically just Gradius, which has always been too punishing for my tastes. I like Twinbee, though I don't really love it, though Harmful Park stands far above any of these other titles I've played, even Fantasy Zone. Story-wise, you are a couple of anime girls trying to rescue a theme park that's been taken over by a mad scientist. Mechanically it is pretty simple, you can pick up orbs to increase your shot power, and you can cycle through one of 4 weapons, including a hand that throws pies (that explode on contact) or homing jelly beans. There are also the more standard laser and regular shot choices, but at least the laser comes out of an ice cream cone.

It reminds me of PuLiRuLa in that it goes for heaps of originality over super interesting gameplay, but it has a solid enough core that it's a great ride just to see what they're going to throw at you next. I did play the game on easy, which mostly made the bosses trivial. But there's so much charm and humor packed into the levels, it didn't really matter, and I was able to enjoy playing through the game at a fairly leisurely pace.

Just a few things that happened that I loved:

- During the horror themed world, you interrupt a wedding being presided over by a large purple ghost.
- A boss takes place at a drive in movie theater, but the movie playing in the background looks realistic while the game is completely anime.
- Once defeated, an enemy ship (shaped like a dog) breaks into 2 pieces and 2 enemies can be seen reaching and calling out to each other from each piece as it falls.

5/5, this is basically what I want every time I try a "weird" Japanese game.