Cowboy Bebop it is one of the best anime ever made. Halfway between the western, science fiction and film noir, but always with the unmistakable author’s touch of Shinichiro Watanabe.An exquisite story in which there is always room for reflective pauses, humor, action and melancholy. Elements that, aligned, earned it the status of classic –almost– instant. And, of course, its setting and characters were and still are too good not to make the leap to video games.
Bandai Namco has a dedicated radar to discover and intercept any anime license with the potential to entertain beyond its original medium. In fact, it already had it before the merger of the Japanese titans took place: dozens of cult anime such as Dragon Ball, Oliver and Benji, The Knights of the Zodiac or Sailor Moon were licensed under the Bandai label. And, of course, he wasn’t going to let the Bebop crew get away from him.
That said, the only two games based on the adventures of Spike, Faye and Jet came at two key moments for the video game industry and stakeholders: Cowboy Bebop, the first title, came to the original PlayStation in a spectacular 1998 for fans of video games; while the much more interesting Cowboy Bebop: Tsuioku no Yakyoku, already on PS2, will be released in 2005 more or less coinciding with the union between Bandai and Namco.
To be fair, current technology and systems allow us to better address the theme, tone, aesthetics and even the essence of the Sunrise anime. But it must also be recognized that Bandai did not just squeeze the license from Cowboy Bebop. What’s more, the PS2 game can almost be considered an additional episode for which even Yoko Kanno herself composed new songs.
On iGamesNews we have a perfect plan for fans of Cowboy Bebop: a small review focused on the two official Bandai video games. An extension of the anime dedicated to those who enjoyed it in its day and those who have been wanting to continue the stories of the Bebop bounty hunters after watching the new Netflix series. Of course, before taking off, a warning: both video games are children of their time.
Cowboy Bebop, Bandai’s StarFox for the first PlayStation
It must be recognized that Bandai knew how to measure the times very well for the premiere of the first video game of Cowboy Bebop: its Japanese release, in May 1998, practically coincided with the final bars of the anime. And that, no matter how you look at it, it was an additional claim. Another thing, of course, is that in terms of content it focused only on a very specific aspect of the series: space combat.
Cowboy Bebop, the 1998 video game, with some impudence, follows the trail of the SNES Star Fox to offer the fan the classic formula of the Martian killers brought to three-dimensional environments. In it we control la Swordfish II, Spike Spiegel’s fighter, flying over the surface of different planets, urban environments and even going into space.
The game mechanics, on the other hand, are very close to those of the Nintendo game, so we must avoid projectiles while distributing ammunition left and right, having access to our main cannon as a final resource against waves of enemies and final bosses.
At the gameplay level, it is a title with a pronounced arcade tone with a progressive level of difficulty that, without being totally intuitive, will not leave casual players who put a minimum of effort helpless: we can improve the characteristics of the Swordfish II and, once we settle into the target-based control system, the rest is to dodge and shoot.
It sounds very simple, but it turns out to be entertaining, and part of that comes from Faye, Jet, Ed and even Ein participating in the adventure.
The rest of the Bebop crew is also present and they will spin the history of the game through boxes – with digitized dialogues – in the same way that Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare or Slippy Toad do with Fox McCloud. Mind you, the overall tone of the game is more in tune with the Sunrise series, and Sony’s 32-bit 3D technology plays very much in favor of Bandai’s game. Which does not prevent current eyes from producing the inevitable effect of backbreak.
As a detail, all the original voice cast appeared in the game and Yoko Kanno herself, the acclaimed composer of the series, participated in the composition of the Original Soundtrack of the game. Of course, at no time do you lose the perspective that it’s a side story, and the constant winks to Star Fox Conveniently distributed reveal the nature of the project.
Cowboy Bebop Perhaps it did not stand out as a video game in 1998, which was a full stop for the industry, but at least it managed to extend the license beyond the television series, focusing on one of its most celebrated aspects. Seen in perspective, it can be described as a game made for fans of the Bebop crew eager for a new original adventure. Although, of course, the true takeoff of the saga on consoles it will arrive seven years later.
Cowboy Bebop: Tsuioku no Serenade, the lost and custom-designed chapter of PS2
Although, the first video game of Cowboy Bebop It could be understood as an extension of what was seen in the series, taking everything to a very specific game experience, the truth is that Cowboy Bebop: Tsuioku no Serenade He wanted to measure himself from PS2 -and in a frontal way- with the quality and ambition of the 26 chapters of Sunrise’s production. And, as in the previous game, both the voice cast and Yoko Kanno herself signed up for the initiative.
Released Summer 2005, the story of Tsuioku no Serenade
How I play, Cowboy Bebop: Tsuioku no Serenade is a total bet on action with generous doses of Beat’em Up. We will have to clean with punches, kicks, bullets and a system of combos based on the concept of heat and cold. Of course, the scheme of the scenarios and the progression of the game, removing the occasional puzzle, cannot be lost: we witness a very successful cinematic for the time and we chain battles and situations until the next point in the story.
In addition to a story that will delight fans of the series, positioning itself on its own merits as a lost chapter, the game rounds off its proposal with all kinds of extras, including a multimedia gallery, an outstanding music archive (Yoko Kanno composed three songs for this project that he would later publish in an album) a casino mode and even a missions mode with which to fight directly and without prior context.
Of course, on an artistic level, Cowboy Bebop: Tsuioku no Serenade he constantly seeks to measure himself against anime. And the truth is that the effort put in is worthy of special mention: just look at the opening scene of the anime and the video game (with their respective models) face to face to applaud the mime put into the project.
Maybe, Cowboy Bebop: Tsuioku no Serenade not the best story of Spike and his troupe, but it is an exquisite reunion both with the characters of a cult series and with those spectacular PS2 action games that wanted to blur the barrier between anime and video games. That they refused to be a simple by-product of a successful work. And despite its weaknesses, the work and the effort put into living up to the original work makes us forgive him everything.
The latest video game from the Bebop crew? Well, every now and then Bandai Namco takes back some of their key licenses. And the premiere of the Netflix series is too good an opportunity for fans of these three bounty hunters to not be a little more optimistic than yesterday.
