I will forever be grateful to Ratalaika Games and Shinyuden for taking the time to unearth these lost treasures from Japanese publisher Masaya. While some titles might not appeal to everyone (Gleylancer is just a step below R-Type), it’s been eye-opening to find and enjoy these titles from yesteryear that never visited my shores, particularly of the Turbografx/PC-Engine era. Cyber Citizen Shockman has been a revelation, as I watched the title go from a goofy Mega Man clone to a seriously bizarre and wonderful sidescroller. Given that you can barely find any information, players might be surprised to find out Shockman is a trilogy, and we can finally complete the saga. Here, at last, is Cyber Citizen Shockman 3: The Princess from Another World.

Shockman 3 doesn’t so much as jump the shark as it grabs the shark and drags it, screaming, aboard a rocket made of duct tape and plot holes to find out everything existed inside a snowglobe. Already a silly enough concept, Tasuke and Kyapiko get elevated to something even more absurd when they attempt to take a day off (after bounding and gagging Doc at home). Instead of relaxing on the beach, they now have to deal with a crash-landing spaceship that contains a princess looking for…energy? Fuel? She wants something and is ready to invade Earth to get it. It’s weird because we start with a cutscene to make us sympathetic to the princess facing some kind of ruin or destruction, but then she comes to Earth to stir the pot. Give us time to process before changing the tone, dammit!

….was my constant refrain while trying to parse the plotline.

Taking cues from Shockman 2, players are now on a linear path as either character, moving forward through multiple stages of enemies, oddball terrain and sudden changes of gameplay. You start with running around, slashing/shooting at enemies, but then suddenly end up in a mech costume, and then you’re doing aerial platforming, and it just keeps moving along at a breakneck pace, pausing only long enough for you to have a boss fight, or at least a pseudo boss fight. There are multiple times where you encounter an enemy that takes multiple hits and has multiple forms (and even different music), but turns out just to be “some baddie.” You’ll know when the boss fight hits due to the amazingly overdone voice work that follows.

Now, I know my previous review was a bit off the rails, but I cannot overstate the step up in quality that we see in Cyber Citizen Shockman 3. For one, everything that can be voiced is voiced now. There is decent animation between events to help give some credence to the storyline, and we can hear everyone chime in with their opinions and attitude. Engaging with the boss fights does trigger massively dramatic anime-level dialogue, and the overall production value is remarkable. It’s not just the fact that the technology evolved, but Masaya took time to get better drawn sprites, enemies and different reactions for damage and such. As a title from 1992, I’m constantly impressed by what was possible when the technology was pushed, and Shockman 3 exemplifies the pinnacle.

Ah yes, that time when Shockman met Big Daddy. Great crossover.

The musical score further underlines the attention to detail that came with this final trilogy installment. Like I mentioned, the addition of different scoring for even the mini bosses showcases a robust soundtrack that was planned from start to finish. Capturing the mood of things like Bubblegum Crisis, there’s this dynamic mix of strictly chippy music blended with some clear porting of actual arrangements to flush out an atmosphere of cyberpunk meets anime adventure. I was shocked by the quality of the music, and I think it goes to show where a lot of the planning (and the budget) went.

The step up in design quality may have come at a price, however. Shockman 3 is, far and away, the shortest of all the titles, clocking in at approximately six chapters, with the final being entirely a boss fight. Moving forward at a standard pace, you can generally get from start to finish in about a half hour, probably less, and the gameplay is the same as Shockman 2. You’ve got your sword, and you can hold down the attack button to fire a projectile, which you won’t use 95% of the time. In fact, most of the levels feel drawn out and repetitive in order to expand the game’s length: many hallways, elevator rides and platform climbs feel like you’re stuck in a loop that ends just as you start to wonder if the game is going to crash.

Seriously, I was dodging and blasting these meteors for what felt like an hour.

Additionally, there are just bizarre choices in gameplay that make me question if something was left on the cutting room floor. The snowman mini bosses, for example, have two different forms and come in three flavors. You deal with them and then nothing is ever talked about again. All other bosses have some kind of cohesion, but the snowmen seem to exist simply because it’s snowy. Or, when you’re outrunning some lava, you get to a certain point, the walls are closing in, and now you suddenly have the ability to do wall jumps. Let’s be clear: you see an alert telling you to wall jump just seconds before you would die, you can do MULTIPLE bounces to survive, and then you never have the opportunity to use this ability ever again. It’s deus ex machina for the damn machina.

Worst of all, the game is a bit glitchy, even when played in a vanilla capacity. Getting hit results in temporarily invincibility, but you can also end up clipping through walls and the floor in the process, especially if you’re in mid jump. The game can auto-compensate and return you to a particular position, but it still throws off the cadence of everything. This invincibility window also can simplify boss fights to static “mash the attack button as fast as possible” moments, removing the difficulty curve (and standing in defiance of the tough fights of Shockman 2). Wildest of all, if you time the run and jump right, you can actually get a couple of hits in on a boss as they’re trying to start a dialogue with you, which feels like a cheap move. Cyber Citizen Chumpman, more like.

Yes, he’s trying to monologue, but I have this sword and he has a face, and the two simply must get together.

But, with all those complaints, I still had so much fun with Cyber Citizen Shockman 3. It’s goofy on purpose while still being serious about gameplay. The henchmen Bach and Chopin are perfectly toned to the absurd storyline. I always enjoyed moments of solid action, like enemies bursting through windows a la Resident Evil or dodging sweeping bullet waves. The cheat modes that Shinyuden baked in let you skip around to perfect your boss fights (or just cheese your way through) and also lets you view the bonus mode, where either hero vocally presents fan letters and artwork sent in over thirty years ago. It’s clear that the fanbase wanted this game, and I’m so glad it exists.

If you must only play one Shockman title, I have to say Shockman 2 is still the pinnacle of the series. But, if you find yourself enjoying the first couple, then absolutely jump into Cyber Citizen Shockman 3. It’s short, it’s sweet, and it’s the perfect end to a trilogy of titles that I fell in love with. I hope there’s a chance we may see a fourth to help revive the series, but, if not, this is the ideal spot to end the adventures; with Tasuke and Kyapiko on the beach, outrunning insane aliens.

Cyber Citizen Shockman 3: The Princess from Another World is available now on Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4/5 and XBox Series One X/S.

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

A copy of Cyber Citizen Shockman 3: The Princess from Another World was provided by the publisher.