Last Odyssey - Review - by Billy Pitt

FACT FILE:
Game Name: Last Odyssey Pinball Fantasia
Licensee: Monolith
Year of Production: 1995
Genre: Action
Product Number: UNKNOWN (speculated NGH-072)
Meg Count: UNKNOWN

Warning Sign!

How to play.

FORWARD

On August 21st, 2003 I received a VHS video cassette from Dion Dakis as part of a trade deal we negotiated. The cassette contains about 6 minutes of recorded footage of the Last Odyssey proto. Below are my personal impressions of the game. Soon to follow, I will have the video placed online so that everyone else can see and enjoy it.

The Quest

INTRODUCTION

Introduction, Screen 1

Introduction, Screen 2

The games intro is rather interesting. It begins with some very intense background music which creates an atmosphere of eerieness. The first image to appear is an extreme close-up of an eye. The eye almost seems that of a mythical underwater creature as it is too large and textured to be that of a humans. Some bubbles can also be seen moving upwards beneath the eye whereby giving the impression that the creature is underwater. Soon, the Monolith name & logo appear in the center of the screen. As a sidenote: The only neo-geo games that were released by Monolith were both of the Mahjong genre, Minashanno & Bakatonosama. When the logo fades, a series of somewhat animated images appear that (my interpretation) show a powerfull warrior who is about to begin a dangerous quest.

STARTING OUT

When the game starts, several "how to play" screens are displayed. In general, it is a pinball game so pretty much you control the flippers on screen to move the ball around the playfield. The A & B buttons control the left flipper and the C & D buttons control the right flipper. It also describes the locations and functions of the ramps, bumpers, targets, skill shots, multi-ball features, etc.

GRAPHICS

The graphics are pretty nice. The main game area appears on the left 2/3 portion of the screen. A small area on the right side of the screen is actually kind of an "adventure" area that is somewhat animated to show the player on his journey. The adventurer starts his quest by traveling from the starting point towards the first "checkpoint" or stage in the game. At this point he is stopped and gameplay begins.

Rather then "mindless pinball", the player is actually given a "goal" of what he needs to achieve in each "stage" of play. For example, the first stage is called "Goblin". Basically a large goblin appears in the center of the playfield and must be hit by the ball several times to destroy it. Once destroyed, the player can then move onto the next stage.

As I said, the video is only about 6 minutes long and so it only shows so much. However here are the first three stages:

Stage One: Goblin / Stage Two: Blocked Rock / Stage Three: Cliff Path

Stage 1:

Stage 2:

Stage 3:

Gameplay is not as linear as you may think however, as they actually make things slightly more interesting by tossing in bonus "mini-games" which can appear during any stage of play. Examples shown include a "Grim Reaper" looking ghost, a cyclops, and even a large dragon who all attack you when they appear and have to be destroyed to move on.

SOUNDS

The background music is pretty decent but is not too noticeable. It does not really stand out very much and doesn't break any ground in that department. The sound effects are alright, but again nothing special. However the VOICE is VERY impressive. Voice is used constantly throughout the game describing the on-screen action. The voice sampling used is also high quality and that of a very well spoken American, possibly British voice actor.

GAME DIFFICULTY

The games difficulty is difficult to determine because I can only see and not play, but it did not appear to be too hard. Then again, it is hard to judge any game based on just the first three stages of play. But the game does have a continue feature, which when in MVS mode would be endless whereby making the game quite beatable.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Prototypes are a very controversial topic. Some people argue that unreleased games are "crappy" and failed play tests & quality assurances hence why they were not released. And for the most part, I would tend to agree with that. But I would word it more along the lines of MOST rather then ALL protos are "crap". I sincerely doubt that this game would have been a "blockbuster hit" had it been released. The genre, although completely unique to the neo, is often done on all game systems. And most of the time they see little or no success in the sales department. And in the case of the Neo, being that it is first & foremost an arcade system, releasing a pinball "simulator" to a market that uses REAL pinball machines, could clearly be seen as "assanine"! So in this particular case, I would agree that it makes perfect sense that the game never saw release. I would have to assume that the designers were aiming their sites moreso on the home market front when they designed it.

As of this writing, NGF has no intention of selling, trading, or mass producing this proto. They are very possessive of this and the other protos that they lay claims to having. I have come to the conclusion with virtual 100% certainty that NGF does indeed own at LEAST one proto. (most likely this one) Reason being that they have given pics of an MVS boardset which looks rather unique. As well as because they have provided this video which contains footage of what is clearly a neogeo game.

It is possible however that the video was acquired from another source, and that the mvs "proto" boardset pics that they showed us were from another game. Hence why LOPF cannot be "confirmed" as the proto they have because in this case, the 2 and 2 does not guarantee the exact 4.

Either way, regardless of where the video came from, it is indeed REAL and I have to give credit where credit is due. And fact is, NGF provided me with this video so either they or somebody out there may actually have this game in their collection. Hopefully, someday, the games data will be made available to the public so that everyone can enjoy this unique game.

As a reminder anyone who owns this or any other neogeo proto cartridge, please feel free to contact me, Billy Pitt, at: chadokada@aol.com

I offer large cash rewards and/or trade exchanges for my other proto games.

By - Billy Pitt