PrinceWatercress plays Bravoman - Part 1 of 7

Here's a rather odd game for the TurboGrafx-16 and PC Engine. You have a weird hero with stretch arms, bizarre enemies, a ton of boss fights and a main antagonist with a giant hair-do. Somehow, this game made its way here.

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You're Bravoman, the salaryman turned superhero with powers from the planet Alpha who must save the world from the nefarious Dr. Bomb! 

Stage 1

The Control Pad lets you move around, If you hold Left or Right long enough, Bravoman will start running after about a second. Down lets you crouch as well as look down a bit. Button I lets you jump and Button II lets you attack. Tap Button II to make your extending arms and legs go short distances, and hold Button II down to make your extending arms and legs go longer. Up + II lets you kick upwards.

You can jump pretty high, and this will allow you to jump across the messes of pipes that you'll have to get past every so often. You can also jump onto clouds to see if you can find some power-ups.

As soon as you head right, you'll meet a guy in a cape. He will tell you to smash Dr. Bomb's robot corps before flying off.

Some enemies will be low to the ground, while others can be slightly above you. This is where your crouching attacks and upward kicks will come into play.

The red bar at the bottom is your life, and if that runs out, you'll die and be forced to use a continue. On the lower-right corner is a pair of Japanese symbols, and as you pick up red Japanese symbols dropped by defeated enemies, you will complete the symbols and get a red icon. (The symbols spells "seisei," meaning "correct.") The more you complete the symbols, the more red icons you'll get, and the more red icons you get, the more you'll be benefitted, as you'll soon see.

Stage 2

Every once in a while, a guy with a gold wheel for feet will drop down, and you'll hear a chime indicating that he is coming down. He will usually drop a power-up, such as a rice cake that will give you a little bit of health. Keeping your health high is very important in this game, as the more health you have, the easier it will be to get through the game in case you hit any trouble spots. 

One of the phone booths says "Hello I'm Japanese telephone box." if you punch it. Don't know why.

The sake (ramune?) bottle gives you temporary invincibility. The talisman just gives you bonus points.

The boss here is a totem pole. Duck down and attack the bottom segment, then jump over it when it bounces back and spins towards you. From here, keep attacking while ducked down to destroy the axes and the head of the pole. Attack the last portion and then jump over it when it moves, and you'll be done with the boss.

The guy with the gold wheel for legs will give you food at the end. The more red icons you have, the more rice cakes you'll earn to refill your health with. Again, keeping your health high is essential for playing this game well.