''Totally Rad'', known in Japan as , is an

action-adventure game The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...

developed by

Aicom Aicom was a Japanese video game developer, founded in 1988, possibly by a group that left Jaleco . Despite evidence to support this, the Sammy corporate website lists 1990 as the first year and that it was a subsidiary. It was bought by Sammy Ind ...

and published by

Jaleco was a corporate brand name that was used by two previously connected video game developers and publishers based in Japan. The original Jaleco company was founded in 1974 as Japan Leisure Company, founded by Yoshiaki Kanazawa, before being rena ...

for the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

. The game was released in Japan on September 28, 1990, in Europe in 1990 and in North America on March 29, 1991.

Gameplay

* Multiple boss fights ranging in complexity * Special summoning abilities * Side-scrolling platform game

Plot

Jake (John in the Japanese version) is hired as an apprentice magician by Zebediah Pong (simply referred to as Pong in the Japanese version). He is training when some strange people attack and kidnap his girlfriend, Allison (Yuu in the Japanese version). Jake goes on a quest to find out where they came from and why they wanted Allison. Afterwards, Jake discovers Allison's kidnapping was a feint to force Allison's father, a renowned scientist, out of hiding. Jake must not only save Allison's father, but ultimately battle an evil king who plans to lead a subterranean army in a battle against the people of Jake's world. The Japanese and North American versions of the game are mostly the same, except for the characters. In the original 'Magic John', the main characters are two preadolescent, Japanese-style cartoon friends. In 'Totally Rad', they are redesigned into becoming two Californian adolescents who talk in "surfer" lingo from the 1980s.

Manual

The

instruction manual An owner's manual (also called an instruction manual or a user guide) is an instructional book or booklet that is supplied with almost all technologically advanced consumer products such as vehicles, home appliances and computer peripherals. ...

for ''Totally Rad'' is filled with surfer lingo, in addition to comical picture breaks and comments about the author's "babe" and how attractive she looks in the picture he put of her in the instruction manual.

Reception

Mean Machines ''Mean Machines'' was a multi-format video game magazine published between 1990 and 1992 in the United Kingdom. Origins In the late 1980s ''Computer and Video Games'' (''CVG'') was largely covering the outgoing generation of 8-bit computers ...

magazine gave the game a score of 63 out of 100 giving criticism to the lack of challenge in the first few levels, repetitive action, over simplistic gameplay and concluding “A reasonable game which misses out on brilliance due to over-simplification of the gameplay and unoriginal gameplay.”

References

External links

Official website
a

''Totally Rad''
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

The Rad Project
- A comparison of the original Japanese version with the Western revision.
''Totally Rad'' Game Review (With Cut Scenes)
- A complete transcript of the game's cut scenes and storyboard side by side with a game review.
''Totally Rad'' instruction manual
1990 video games Action-adventure games Aicom games Jaleco games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Platform games Science fiction video games Side-scrolling video games Video games developed in Japan Single-player video games