Famicom Pooyan FC

Pooyan for Famicom

• Condition:Good. Some marks around the title sticker, minor scratches on back where game was inserted into the console. Front sticker has good color. Back sticker show some stains. Contacts are clean.
• Released by Konami in Japan on September 20, 1985.
• Tested: Works fine.

Expert Review of Konami's Pooyan for Famicom:

When most people think of Konami, the names Contra, Gradius and Castlevania come to mind. What most people don't think of is Pooyan, an arcade game that received a Japan-only Famicom release in 1985. The plot features an ultimate war between pigs and wolves loosely based on the fairy tale "The Three Little Pigs." Your primary purpose, playing as the mother pig, is to defeat the coming onslaught of wolves coming to steal the rest of your baby pigs, or “pooyan.” It’s a simple plot for a simple game.

As the mother pig, you are permanently enclosed in a basket secured only by a rope on the side of a cliff. A pair of pigs at the top allow you to control your ascent and descent. Once the game starts, wolves will float up or down the screen attached to balloons.

Your goal is to pop the balloons to send the wolves plummeting to the ground below. If a wolf manages to touch the ground, he is then free to cause chaos such as attempting to bite your basket or pushing a rock off a cliff to smash you. If enough wolves touch the ground, the game ends. To pop the balloons, your offensive weapon is a bow and arrow set; if the arrows hit the balloon, it pops, but if it hits a wolf if bounces off harmlessly for reasons that are not explained. Though, to be fair, the entire concept of the game has thrown reality out the window to begin with.

Occasionally, a piece of bacon appears that you can use to throw at the wolves. This bacon is extremely heavy and will instantly pop any balloons it comes into contact with. Why a mother pig is throwing the cooked bodies of other pigs at the wolves in defense is something that is better left unasked.

To complete a stage, you must defeat the amount of wolves listed in the top left corner of the screen. In later levels, the amount of wolves you must defeat increase and also feature stronger balloons that do not pop in a single hit, instead requiring additional arrows to drop its dangling wolf.

The controls are simple and are responsive. Pressing Up on the control pad causes you to ascend, down descends and A or B shoots arrows. While Pooyan is easily accessible due to the controls, it does require some skill as you must plan your shoots according to the trajectory of the arrows.

As an arcade game, Pooyan’s main attraction is score-based, and it was designed to be played in short bursts, and the same can be said for the Famicom version. There are some additional bonus rounds to further test your skill, but it is still the same general concept.

The graphics are simple and, while not detailed, do a decent job setting the scene. The music, on the other hand, can be defined as “cutesy” and will quickly grate on your nerves as it is just one constant looping song.

Due to its repetition and somewhat exasperating soundtrack, Pooyan is a game best played in short bursts. After while, you’ll be wishing you could forget the wolves and go have a slice of bacon yourself; just don’t ask where it came from.