Chew Man Fu Review (TurboGrafx-16)

This is no doubt a game that not many will be familiar with. I think an award should go for best named game 'Chew Man Fu'. The Japanese release was called 'Be Ball' so for once the western name is much more fun!

Basically this is a puzzle game where you have to push large coloured balls around the screen; the goal being to move them over a corresponding square of the same colour. When all the balls are on the right squares you progress to the next stage after a old man jibbers some random nonsense at you!

There is a time limit to add to the pressure and you'll have to move various obstacles that you will find in your way. A nice touch is you can also pull the balls as well as push. So you can retreat around a corner and still keep your ball ready to launch against a baddie if needed to take them out. The graphics and big, bright and colourful and the gameplay is smooth and quite presents quite a challenge as you progress. When you clear some of the later stages you can get a real sense of accomplishment!

There is a 2 player mode, 'kick ball' mode and a editor to let you create your own puzzles. There aren't so many of this sort of puzzle game made these days but at the time these games were a dime a dozen. That being said this is one of the better examples of the top-down puzzler genre. If you like puzzlers or crazy Japanese games this game was made for you!