In the voluntary and gainful way, I mean: by playing a Treasure game. No dwindling number of gamers have elected the mental and carpal pounding that accompanies every Treasure release. Their feats of sprite-hemorraging, always comfortably leading the field like it weren’t no thing, have kept players’ synaptic activity off the charts since 1993. I’m sure medical science is just a hair’s breadth from discovering a neuronal imprint in the shape of the Treasure Cube amongst the oldest devotees.

The commonality amongst all Treasure games is that they do the same things over and over, but better each time. After all these years, that still sets them a universe apart from normal. Most recently, with Bangai-O Spirits, the bar might just have been irretrievably raised in Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence. Consider 167 stages of kaleidoscopic mayhem with a tiny-giant robot at the centre of it all. A little bit Metal Warriors on SNES, a little horizontal space shooter, and–because Treasure works in everything Treasure wants–even a little sports game, Bangai-O Spirits equals a lot of crazy. For the sake of your own sanity–or at its expense, for attaining amaze-your-friends-and-impress-yourself gaming ability–don’t pass up Bangai-O.

Posted on August 19th, 2008 by katie