''Banana Prince'' is a 2D

platform game A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

for the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

(NES). It was released in Japan by

Takara was a Japanese toy company founded in 1955. In March 2006, the company merged with Tomy, Tomy Company, Ltd. to form Tomy, Takara Tomy. The Takara motto was("playing is culture"). The company focused on traditional toys and board games. They cr ...

on December 20, 1991. The German version, released in February 1992, features slightly different graphics and gameshow questions.

Gameplay

As an Island Native, the Banana Prince is on a quest to retrieve the stolen weapons of the island; along the way he'll pick up companions and even appear on a game show, which allows you to warp to another level. Like

Jack and the Beanstalk "Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale with ancient origins. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition :File:Round about our Coal Fire, or, Christmas Entertainments, 4th edn, 1734.pdf, On C ...

, he has with him a bag of seeds that allows him to grow a flower and climb it. There are also hidden platforms, and doors that can only be reached by collecting flower tokens (which allow him to grow a bigger flower).

Development and release

Reception

''Banana Prince'' was met with mixed reception from critics since its release. ''

Aktueller Software Markt ''Aktueller Software Markt'' (literally ''Current Software Market''), commonly known by its acronym, ''ASM'', was a German multi-platform Video game journalism, video game magazine that was published by Tronic-Verlag from 1986 until 1995. It was ...

''s Thomas Morgen commended the plant-growing mechanic and overall playability but felt mixed in regards to the audiovisual presentation, stating that the game was "rather boring". Likewise, ''Mega Fun''s Markus Appel and Sandrie Souleiman felt that the visuals were bearable but praised the music. Both Appel and Souleiman liked the question-based bonus rounds due to their simplicity as well as the story but ultimately remarked that it was an above-average title due to lack of direction. In contrast, ''Video Games'' Stephan Englhart noted that its focus on collecting fruit was fresh and gave positive remarks to the varied character animations, technical presentation, precise controls and graphically varied stages. ''

Total! ''Total!'' was a video game magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future plc. It was published monthly for 58 issues, beginning in December 1991 (cover-dated January 1992), with the last issue bearing the cover-date October 1996. A "1993 ...

''s Thomas Hellwig commented that its gameplay and controls were good but the rest was "rather sloppy" due to the visuals, music and poor text translation. Retrospective reviews for ''Banana Prince'' have been positive. ''Game Freaks 365''s Stan Stepanic compared the game with ''

Kirby's Adventure ''Kirby's Adventure'' is a 1993 action-platform game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It is the second game in the ''Kirby'' series after '' Kirby's Dream Land'' (1992) on the ...

'' due to its styling and storyline. Stepanic gave praise to the graphics due to the lack of flickering and slowdown, sound design, gameplay and creativity but remarked that the German questions could prove challenging for those not versed in the language. ''

Hardcore Gaming 101 ''Hardcore Gaming 101'' is an online video game magazine founded by Kurt Kalata in 2004. Kalata established the site after graduating college, when he noticed the overabundance of game strategy guides, and felt that someone should create more boo ...

''s Kurt Kalata gave the title a positive outlook.

Notes

References

External links

''Banana Prince''
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1991 video games KID games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Platformers Single-player video games Takara video games Video games developed in Japan {{platform-videogame-stub