Games of the Abstract: Gals Panic 3 (1995)

 

Developer: Kaneko Co., Ltd.

Publisher: Kaneko Co., Ltd.

One to Two Players

Arcade

 

Gals Panic, the first 1990 game, is questionable softcore, an erotic take on Qix (1981), where uncovering pictures will reward players very tame digitized images of models, but Kaneko’s first game this franchise of theirs, with the passage of time and its sense of humour, has far more charm to the material than actual sleaze. It was a very silly game, to which as well now, I can reflect that any concerns of sleaze over quality can be felt with Gals Panic 3, which made that game look like a fun saucy jaunt. Unfortunately the sequels changed tact, as Gals Panic 2 (1993) switched to real images of models, inevitable considering that even with the first game, rotoscoped drawings of real female models were being used. We come to number three here, and somehow what we got here feels instead like a bootleg version of this franchise, despite the fact it is an official entry. It feels both like an acid trip and also however a stomach turner to play. The gameplay is still there, solid for the franchise, but how it goes with its own quirks was frankly nightmarish.

The premise is the same as before if modified – select a model, with three levels per each to go through, with key differences here that you select through them per completing a level, able to go with whatever choice midway through completing others. There is also two choices which are not models, but for Japanese erotic art, which makes this far more explicit in their content and able to get away with more than would actually be allowed before, least for the European ROM. This game, right from the bat, looks garish. The games does, as mention, feel like a bootleg from hell, a strange game in look that, when I get to the bonus mini games, feels like a cheap and perverted version of Bishi Bashi, referencing a surreal franchise from Konami of mini game collections that, released in Europe for the Playstation 1 as a collection, I learnt of through Bishi Bashi Special (1998), the one we got here for the console which played to a low budget style in a way that was tonally appropriate and cool.

The basics of Gals Panic is still here, a pain as much as one with a challenge I find compelling as I realize Qix as a game now interests me in all forms. This is both a legitimate joy, with the challenge of Qix, and a fascination for ephemeral genres of video games, those that can easily be churned out and are dismissed over each console generation. You have to stray out the safe lines into space to draw barriers and claim more space, avoiding enemies and hazards which can not only take a life if they have direct contact, but also if they touch the line behind you drawing the barrier. In this case, an Egyptian pharaoh who can drop two halves of a spiked sarcophagus like a boss move, but also a notable shift from the cute critters from the first game to character where the tone for the game is all over the place. One, a strange flower monstrosity who has eyeball drones on nerve ends and screams, feels likes the developers wanted to kill titillation by making this a horror game. The game feels sleazy, weird in a grim and off-putting way, which says a lot as someone who, even if I can find virtues here, usually likes his weird games even when it is unintentional. To unlock some nude images you have to button bash, to open doors or de-blur images, which feels more sordid and spiteful. Any sense of eroticism is not there as the models, in the nude photos, are still quaint, and the Japanese erotic prints are re-appropriated in a way which undercuts their transgressive, artistically crafted eroticism. The solace is the mini-games, digitized photos used for a bizarre trio of games: a hand you control to catch women, avoiding men or sea creatures that can hurt your hand; whack-a-mole with Chinese dragons popping out the holes to smack before they disappear; and breaking the ice, literally, to free a female model before the timer runs out.

It is a playable game, as Kaneko still make this a solid Qix, but it has a mood which is hostile, and it says so much that Gals Panic 4 (1996) was the one where Kaneko first use animated and hand drawn “anime” female characters, eventually even removing the nudity. Even in terms of the gameplay, Gals Panic 3 contrasts its eroticism, trying to be trying to be more pornographic despite being mostly cheesecake topless images, whilst yet having enemies which are more relentless than before. There is a cool touch, to this one's credit, that you need to cover over thirty percent of the screen before you are allowed to scroll over the full image, but this becomes less a game for eroticism but survival whose aesthetic is tonally out of place, with the main enemy per level can teleport if you want off, hunting you down, and one even sends electric bullets which can destroy you on the safe space if you are on the same line with them. This style was wisely jettisoned onwards as, whilst full motion video and proper images would be a choice for these types of game to go, it does feel like with a Gal Panic SS, a Sega Saturn follow on where I first came to this series, there was a clearly a huge creative choice made. Someone clearly consider a move to a more “cuter” and playful tone even if with some questionable aspects, even ditching overt eroticism entirely.

And it is worth baring in mind too, there were erotic games for the Saturn, which allowed some in a form in its Japanese only titles due to looser restrictions, but it is telling Gals Panic went with not only a wiser choice of aesthetic but forgoed this initial concept for the series. Whilst I found Gals Panic 3 a fun weird game at times, it did become a rare case of one whose weirdness however for the most part was actually off-putting for me, not as an erotic game, but as a game to play as a challenge only to get stained in scuzz.