| Trip World | |
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European box art of Trip World |
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| Developer(s) | Sunsoft |
| Publisher(s) | Sunsoft |
| Designer(s) | Yuichi Ueda (chief director, chief programmer)[1] Toshihiko Narita (chief designer)[1] |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy, Virtual Console |
| Release date(s) | GB 3DS Virtual Console |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Media/distribution | Cartridge |
Trip World (トリップワールド) is a 1992 platform video game developed and published by Sunsoft for the Game Boy. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1992, and in Europe in 1993. The game's plot centers around the bunny-like being Yacopu (ヤコプ) and his quest to retrieve the flower of peace so that peace will return to Yacopu's disarranged world. The protagonist's trademark ability is to shapeshift into different forms.
A port for the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console was created and released in Japan on November 30, 2011.[4]
Contents |
At first glance, Trip World is like a scaled-down, miniature version of Gimmick!, another one of Sunsoft's games. In Trip World, the player controls Yacopu through five relatively large and slightly linear stages to explore and complete. They include areas such as a mountain, a jungle, the ocean and a castle.[5] The stages also feature some secret passages and divergent paths. The objective is to find the stolen flower of peace, since the inhabitants of Trip World turned mad because of its absence, acting as the enemies in the game.[6] At the end of each world, Yacopu faces a boss, in the fifth and last world the player has to defeat multiple bosses in a row in order to complete the game. There are also a few mini-bosses in certain parts of the stages.
Yacopu is able to shapeshift between three different primary forms at any time, these forms are manually activated by the player when desired.[7] In his normal form, he is able to walk and to jump and can attack enemies by kicking them. When Yacopu's ears transform into wings, he is able to fly in a limited way. This form doesn't allow to fly completely freely through a stage due to gravity, and since the player isn't able to change direction during flight, and Yacopu always falls down when he touches a wall. In the third form, Yacopu resembles a fish. While he can't move on the ground, the fish-like Yacopu is able to swim well and attack enemies with foam in water. Beneath these three forms, Yacopu also occasionally shapeshifts into other special forms which can't be manually activated or deactivated by the player. By picking up special power-ups, Yacopu turns into forms such as Flower Yacopu (stunning enemies with seeds) or Tail Yacopu (tail attack with long range) for a limited time.[8]
The player's character has four health points and loses them by touching spikes or when being hit by enemy attacks. Other than in many other platform games, most of the enemies in Trip World don't hurt the player's character on touch. Many benign enemies will become violent if attacked by Yacopu however. Most of them just push Yacopu around when not angered, while other enemies are able to attack in certain manners and do so freely. All bosses are able to hurt Yacopu. The player loses a life when all health points are gone.
The game is set in Trip World, a peaceful world where Yacopu lives. Yacopu's name is romanized "Yakopoo" in European instruction manuals. He is a young member of the Shabubu race[9] of bunny-like beings. Yacopu lives with his grandfather, an old Shabubu, on the holy mountain known as Mount Dubious, where the Maita Flower is found. The named flower is the flower of peace and is deemed to have supernatural powers. Because of this, it is usually protected by Yacopu's grandpa, so that it won't fall in the wrong hands. However, one day mysterious shadowy creatures appear, attack Yacopu's grandfather and steal the flower of peace.
Since the Maita Flower has been removed from its place, the peace is gone and the inhabitants of Trip World get mad and don't stop quarreling with each other. In order to save his world, Yacopu sets out to find the thieves and to return the Maita Flower.[5][6][10] In the game's last stage, Mirror Land, it turns out that the King of Mirror Land, a Shabubu himself, and his minions stole the flower. After Yacopu defeats the King's minions and the King who fights Yacopu in a robot, the Queen appears who hid with the Maita Flower during the fight. The King was actually possessed by a flower of unknown origin on his head which now disappears after his defeat. The King turns good again, Yacopu's grandfather returns the flower to the holy mountain and the peace is back in Trip World.
The German magazine ASM rated the game an overall score of 9 out of 12. The reviewer stated that Trip World is "in any case a treat for action fans".[11] Video Games, another German magazine, rated the game a score of 68%. The magazine referred to Trip World as a "better" platform game and lauded its graphics and music. The review's author commented that Trip World is "ideally suited" for inexperienced players due to its low level of difficulty. Video Games also praised the "clear game structure", but criticised the "missing lasting appeal" for experienced players.[12]
Yacopu later appeared in Sunsoft's fighting game, Galaxy Fight: Universal Warriors as a mini-boss and with a more detailed look.[13] According to game's plot, he is the pet of Galaxy Fight's final boss, Rouwe. Similar to some other transforming characters from other one-on-one fighting games like Geegus from World Heroes and Shang Tsung from the Mortal Kombat series for example, Yacopu has the ability to shapeshift himself into whoever he fights against, providing a mirror match. While in his regular form, he can only be hit by crouching attacks while on the ground. Also, he does his signature kicks he used in Trip World. The background music played in his stage is an arranged version of the background music heard during the second to last boss fight in Trip World.