Thursday, September 20, 2012

VGR Tempo Jr.


You know what time it is...
Yo homey!~
Tempo, check it out you know
He makes it funky, and he's good to go.
He's a sweet thang, catch the groove
New York, L.A., and San Francisco!~
Tempo's in the house tonight!!


VGR: Tempo Jr.
From SIMS Co/Red Company/Sega
Played on Game Gear
Also available on /

Type Sidescrolling platformer
Year 1995

Remember Tempo
Well the little attempt of a mascot for the 32X wasn't just the star of a one hit wonder, but he was actually able to jump-cross amongst Sega systems enough time to leave a little, yet forgotten mark in the history of Sega.
Co-developed by Sims, the Sega team that worked on several handheld titles such as Tails Skypatrol, and Red from the original game - behind the awesome PC Genjin series.
Tempo Jr. doesn't feature a younger version/kid of Tempo but it actually simply is an half-port/half-sequel to the original Tempo. Once more you're back in this crazy hi-tech musical world as Tempo, the grasshopper.

You know he's gonna move your mind~

This time the "musical show played in front of a live audience" is a bit downplayed compared to the main Tempo game.

Tempo still has to go through various musical stages - 5 worlds starting in 32X Tempo's city, an hi-tech city, a jungle, a snow-y place, etc.
The goal is to find the Exit.
For an 8-bit game, it looks quite impressive.
There's 2 stages each world. They're a bit larger and more opened up than what you expect for the genre. And in order to win a stage you also need to reach a key first, most of the times well hidden near the end. But there will be some backtracking sometimes whenever you'll miss it by the end and will have to go back explore some more around.

Katy's sadly absent - Tempo's girlfriend - she doesn't join you as CPU-2nd player (understandable). But she does still appear to dance along at the end of the levels.
There's several bosses along the way, some returning ones such as the Bee Band trio or the Ant-Clown. They are usually the weakest and easiest boss fights. Like down-watered version of what they once were on the 32X.
The new bosses are huge ant-controlled creatures/robots, such as a frog, a snowman,.. They offer a bit more challenge.
In the end Tempo will have to face one more time each of the bosses in order to go against the Lord Beetle.

The grove it outta sight (the groove is outta sight)~

The gameplay stayed mostly similar through the 32X-Game Gear change of scenery.
Tempo plays like your usual sidescroller mascot.
He can jump. He still shoots notes that stun the enemies. Tempo will kick the foes automatically then, or just attack close to them to do so.
Tempo can use his wings to either move faster (run) or to fly down slowing to the ground, which will come in handy more than once.
Tempo also has a new roll attack (think Sonic's Spin Dash). Very useful against bosses.

Your health is represented by musical notes the enemies drop behind. There's also some discs you can find around to boost you (and other special surprise items!) .

The game is a bit less musical-oriented. So no more dancing around in little stages.
The whole musical aspect is a bit more static, obviously for a Game Gear game.

Tempo Junior's a very funny humorous game, they sure had fun making this game, and it shows.
There's a lot of gorgeous looking amazing animations for an 8-bit title. It looks clean, crisp and lively. Just try to stand next to a corner!

Funky as they wanna be!!~

There's also a couple of mini-games in-between levels.
You can play them with "coins" if you have accumulated enough of those.
These mini-games serve to win some more score/additional lives.
There's a very boring and repetitive "Simon Sez". Which is basically just playing some notes from memory. And very slowly. I just lose on purpose to escape from this one. It's super easy but it can go on for so long...
There's also a slightly funnier QTE "Test of Strength".

The game looks  years away from many of his contemporary titles.
It just looks that well animated and colorful.

The gameplay is kinda classic though.


Overall, a very fun looking game!
With some quite impressive visuals, great detailed animations/sprites. Almost - dare I say - like an 8-bit Rayman.

The game was actually part of the Sega Club lineup.
It was a line for the Megadrive, Mega CD and Game Gear aimed at a younger audience. All these titles usually were pretty easy and very short.

That's the game main's problem, it was entertaining, but very easy. This 2nd entry in the 3 games-Tempo series is very fun though.


Despite never being released outside of the Game Gear, some fans converted the title to the Master System.. 

I'd say Give It A Look if you're Game Gear owner/fan. And if you prefer to play on a big screen, look for Master System fanmade ports. Don't miss this one out!

Even though it doesn't take much time to go through it. 

I give it:
 2 / 3 Bruces!

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