Original Release: Gaelco, 1992, Arcade
Spain’s official take on the Qix peepshow formula (aka Painted Lady)
Splash! (Arcade, Gaelco, 1992)
Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: Arcade Emulation Guide
Review by: Master-B
Spanish developer Gaelco eventually made a name for themselves, at least in Europe, with a sustained string of somewhat decent all-ages arcade titles that was eventually parlayed into console development. In their early days they weren’t afraid to dabble in the nudies, however, as Splash! demonstrates.
It takes obvious inspiration from the Gals Panic-esque porny Qix titles running wild throughout Asia in the late 80s and early 90s, but Gaelco puts their own spin on the formula. Instead of playing by Qix rules, you can roam freely across the board claiming territory as you go, and even roam back over painted areas with no penalty. There are no safe havens anymore, but your “enemies” are just bubbles that bounce around in fairly predictable trajectories. You even get armed to the teeth with a gun and bombs!
Must be easy, right? Well, it ends up being almost on par with the Qix-style games in terms of challenge. The lack of any safe place to hide combined with the sheer amount of bubbles to deal with in some levels is a handful, and while you can shoot them they usually come back pretty quickly. They also don’t ricochet 100% at predictable angles, sometimes pulling a fast one on you or just barely clipping an obstacle it looked like they would clear.
And while you can pump in a quarter to continue at any time, you don’t keep your ammo stock between credits. The only way to replenish it is to pick up a very occasional drop from defeated bubbles. I found it was best to just fire away whenever convenient, however, you get enough drops to keep your ammo above zero.
Not sure how many levels there are, at least 25 though. It gets old pretty fast, but I guess it’s competent as these things go.
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