Teddy Boy Blues

Here on woodgrain gaming, I do not only cover games by obscure companies nobody has ever heard of, I also cover obscure games from well-known companies. Now, Sega is still a household name, despite the sad failure of the Dreamcast and also the failure to make a playable sonic game in recent years. During the 80's, though, while they did produce some incredibly popular and revolutionary games, such as Outrun and Space Harrier, they also made a few projects that have mostly been forgotten today, having only received watered-down Master System ports, or Genesis ports nobody played. One of these such games is 1986's Teddy Boy Blues, based on a popular japanese song by Yohko Ishino. After a quirky but well-animated intro screen, you, as a small beret-wearing boy, must shoot his way through increasingly difficult sidescrolling stages full of odd japanese enemies such as blue ninjas, evil dolls, and dragons.



The stages are fairly small, and loop on themselves, only changing when you manage to kill all the enemies onscreen before running out of time, which happens gradually as a scary black furry blob looking something like a langolier eats up your time bar. There don't seem to really be any weapon upgrades, and overall the game is simple but gets more and more challenging as you get overwhelmed with enemies, which you have to collect once you stun them in order to prevent them from eating up your time. There are also two different bonus levels; a shooting gallery and an overhead stage starring Yohko Ishino herself. Overall, Teddy Boy Blues is a visually and aurally pleasing Sega arcade title, with their 80s pastel aesthetics, also seen in Fantasy Zone. Teddy Boy Blues is a simple and charming title, but lacks anything to make it truly stand out. It was ported to the Master System, but without the pop song connection, and with somewhat downgraded graphics, and also a little-seen Megadrive/Genesis port, both of which have vanished into the mists of time.