After a big resurgence in the ‘90s, the arcade industry was in sharp decline in the early ‘00s with new games slowing to a trickle, largely due to the home console market catching up in terms of power. Games of this period would often launch alongside a console version, so it’s a bit rare that a game of that era would still be in need of porting, but here we have Spica Adventure.

Spica Adventure started as a cellphone game in Japan in 2003, but was, for some reason, remade in 2005 for arcade, also only in Japan. The two versions are almost entirely different outside of appearance, and I believe that the cellphone version was ported by G-Mode in Japan. But now, as part of the Parasol Superstars, ININ has brought the arcade version to consoles. It’s worth the port, if nothing else. 

EVERYONE’S PROBLEM NOW

I absolutely love the intro of Spica Adventures, Nico, the heroine of the game, is flying through space on a rocket when a stray leaflet sticks to her face and causes her to crash-land on a planet. She finds a robot there, handing out flyers, such as the one that brought her down. She decides to take out her wrath not only on the robot who unintentionally wronged her, but every robot in the solar system.

So, despite Nico being clad, head-to-toe, in pink, she’s emotionlessly committing robo-genocide. I mean, Duke Nukem got pretty kill-y after his ride was shot up, so she’s not alone in her transport-vengeance, but Mr. Nukem was well armed. Nico just has an umbrella, and is somehow far more deadly with it.

Spica Adventures is an incredibly Taito game. It’s mechanic-centric, much like Bubble Bobble, The Fairyland Story, or, especially, Liquid Kids. Here, the central mechanic is Nico’s parasol, which ININ has related to Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III, Spica’s partner in the Parasol Superstars compilation. Frankly, the link is tenuous, as Nico has her own way of making the classic accessory into a lethal weapon compared to Bub and Bob. A much more violent way.

LETHAL ACCESSORY

Nico can not only whack robots with her parasol, she can also shoot it like a rocket, hold it like a shield to deflect stars, stick it into walls and ceilings to use it as a catapult, pogo bounce on enemies, and ride in it like a boat. That’s on top of the standard parachute action that every umbrella-equipped protagonist needs. It’s a lot, which is probably why the original arcade version has a tutorial broken up between the first few levels.

The interesting thing about ININ’s port of Spica Adventure is that I hate the optional modernized controls, which bind certain actions to their own dedicated buttons, whereas the original was a two-button game, and that just feels right. Again, optional.

Also, it’s weird that the UI will say things like “press any button to continue,” but it only accepts “start” and “A” as an input. For that matter, “A” is the only accepted button in a lot of places, such as entering your name for high scores, even if you have attack bound to another button. Like, say, if you’re using an arcade stick. Just bothers me.

FILL YOUR POCKETS

While the central goal of the game is to get Nico from one side of the level to the other, each stage is littered with collectibles. On top of that, stepping on any empty floor tile will produce a flower. There’s a running countdown at the top of the screen letting you know how much of everything is left.

The collect-a-thon aspect is largely optional. You can ignore everything and go straight for the exit. There are no extra lives for passing certain score milestones, nor does Nico become more powerful when you collect enough of something. There are no secret endings to be gained from being fastidious. The only thing that you do really gain is more time on your clock for each category of collectible you clear. However, it’s not difficult to reach the end of the level using the initial clock, so gaining more time just enables you to gather more collectibles.

It is fun though, and if you ignore collectibles, Spica Adventure is kind of thin. The levels are very basic, created out of blocks, mostly. Bosses range from standard patten-based affairs to shockingly easy encounters. It’s pretty easy to get through the whole thing in a handful of credits if you’re just aiming for the exit.

On the other hand, there are multiple routes through the game. It looks like they were aiming in an OutRun or Darius sort of direction but wound up with only three routes. It feels somewhat anemic, overall.

CHARMED

I nearly forgot to mention that if your timer runs out, Spica Adventure sics an unstoppable enemy on you, a la Baron von Blubba from Bubble Bobble. However, in Spica, it’s this giant, evil-looking death robot. It’s still toy-like in appearance, but somehow it communicates unimaginable malice. It’s such a surprising touch.

I warmed up a bit to Spica Adventure when I focused on completing it without using a credit. While the early levels are extremely straightforward, later ones are a little more interesting to rush through. Even still, I can’t help but get the feeling that it doesn’t quite reach its potential. Its boss battles demonstrate this enough, as some of them don’t require much thought.

Still, I’m happy to see a game like this get re-released. And there’s a lot to like, whether it’s just the sugar-charged sci-fi aesthetic, its cute thirst for destruction, or the way it caters to completionists and speedrunners both. It’s charming, no doubt. And it will definitely appeal to anyone who really loves that specific Taito flavour of arcade platformers. But for me, I don’t see it slotting into my regular arcade game rotation.

6/10

This review was conducted using a digital, pre-release Switch version of the game. It was provided by the publisher’s PR.