Madouou Granzort

UPDATE:

It seems that there is some controversy surrounding this game and whether or not it was in fact a sequel to Keith Courage. We have recently received a Tip from someone by the name of Johnny. EGM calls this game the sequel to Keith Courage in issue 11, yet they address it by a different name all together; The Mountain King, there is yet another to add to the list.

What can be said about Granzort? Well first off, it is known by more names then a game should be known by. Granzort, Grandzort, Grand Zort, King Granzort, and Madouou Granzort are just a few of the names it goes by, and I'm sure there are more. Some say that it was supposed to be a sequel to Keith Courage, which was the pack in game to the Turbo Grafx 16. Nothing has ever been confirmed though. Maybe the multiple names are why this game was never to be heard of again, or maybe it was something else entirely.

When it comes to level design, this thing is all over the board, you start on a nice summer's day, just going around and killing what ever seems to be passing by, including cute robotic killer bunnies. You soon are in the midst of your first boss fight when you happen to drop down a very large hole in the ground. Following the boss fight you will soon take notice of the Star of David, which is commonly known as the symbol of the Jewish faith.

After your first boss battle, you are dropped even further into the bowels of the earth (or where ever you are). The game pretty much streamlines the levels, after the second stage, and a fight with an interesting, yet difficult, boss serpent-thingy you are dropped into what seems like the beating heart of a machine. This time you are introduced to even more unique enemies, which do everything from homing missiles to laser cannons.

Stage three is a vast maze with tons of hidden rocket launchers that pop up out of no where, you must be quick on your feet in order to escape this level without having to restart a million times. Finally after numerous attempts I found the exit and moved on to better and more difficult boss fights. Man, what is it about that Star of David, I guess this is one game with some Jewish representation, don't get a lot of that in video games.

The game gets increasingly harder as you progress, by adding more and more enemies to attack and projectiles to dodge. In general this game pretty much has the same song, or what sounds like the same song, throughout the entire game. Granzort also uses quite an interesting graphics technique, using layers in an effective manor, having a single background which follows the character through mazes and the like.

This game will have you going right to left, left to right, up to down, and even down to up ... it really is all over the board on direction and level design. But some how manages to bring it all into a very nice bundle... wait a minute... is that a... it couldn't be... oh my lord... that IS a swastika!!!