Trio the Punch - Never Forget Me Longplay (Arcade) [QHD]

Game Info
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Developer: Data East
Publisher: Data East
Year of Release: 1990

Game Review & Impressions
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With a title that hardly rolls off the tongue, Trio the Punch - Never Forget Me is nothing if not true to its namesake. There are many things you can say about this total oddity of an arcade game, but you're unlikely to forget it any time soon.

Players must choose from one of three characters before the game commences, each possessing individual strengths, weaknesses, attack moves and special equipment. There are opportunities to swap characters later on, and since the entire game is as far from a typical beat 'em up as you can expect, it really doesn't matter which one you choose.

Once selected, you're dropped into the game proper. Each stage involves defeating a bunch of smaller enemies which appear, collecting the hearts they drop, then defeating the stage boss -- or bosses -- when they appear. The core game loop is really a succession of these small vignettes, with different platform layouts and varying combinations of enemies.

Between each level, players participate in a roulette-style minigame. Prizes include restoring health, upgrading primary or secondary attacks, or the opportunity to change their character entirely. I guess this was added to keep cycling various variables to spice up the gameplay and keep things fresh.

If you've watched more than 5 minutes of this and decided the game is somewhat insane, you'd be right. It made absolutely no sense to me, I wondered whether it faired any better in its native territory, but it appears to have been something of a dud in Japan as well; Game Machine listed Trio the Punch as being the 24th most successful tabletop arcade machine in the May 1990 edition of the magazine, which isn't saying much. Karnov and Chelnov -- heroes from other Data East coin-ops -- make guest appearances in various guises, but it's innate wackiness is just too over the top, and it's not particularly entertaining as an actual video game.

Chapters
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TBC