i have it in my "to-do list" so here you go
Choro Q Wonderful is the first Choro Q game made by E-game, the company that would later turn out Choro Q HG2, the CaRPG affectionately loved by American fans as "Road Trip") and Choro Q HG3 (the CarRPG affectionately loved by European fans as "Gadget Racers", not to be confused with the American game "Gadget Racers", which is a localization of Choro Q HG1, a pure arcade racing game produced by Barnhouse, who would later return for Choro Q HG2, the CaRPG affectionately loved by English fans as "Choro Q", confusingly, anyway where was this sentence again
anyway if you, like me, grew up on playing the Blue PS2 Disc release of a copy of Road Trip (PS2) bought from Walmart, your life path will eventually take you through learning the different developers who were handed the Choro Q IP, and which ones (E-game and Barnhouse) turned out the CaRPGs you loved so dearly, and which ones apparently only existed to release Penny Racers for the N64, a game you never realized was related until you were much older
this life path brought me, in grand "I play old video games at home a lot now" fashion, to look into older games in the Choro Q library, and hence, Choro Q Wonderful (the fourth "mainline" Choro Q game for the PS1, though, frustratingly, officially romanized as "Wonderful" despite the Wonder-four potential of ワンダフォー)
Choro Q Wonderful undoubtedly sows the seeds for the distinct Choro Q flavor of CaRPG - a grand world inhabited by cars that don't realize they are cars half the time (shoutouts to the one early-game old man car in Choro Q Works for PS2, a game about saving the world from a demon lord, collecting 8 gym badges, and playing as many job-vehicle-themed minigames as possible, for complaining about his back in a way that doesn't reference any car parts), with a sprawling open world packed full of sidequests, minigames, and collectibles
it's a game that left a strong impression on me last year; time travel plays a key part in it, as you destroy a championship trophy you are meant to return in minute 1 of the game (inducing an anime sweatdrop on your car), with the plot scaling to the point where in order to fix the trophy, you time travel in a bid to win a championship trophy in the past.
aside from simply being a plot point that owns, it's really neat to see the care the game puts into depicting the contrast between full-blown cities in the present and the under-construction towns they were in the past, to say nothing of the sidequests that require you to put a cow farmer's grudge to rest by going to the past and delivering a very important letter (if I recall)
but the biggest moment of them all is when you realize "hey there's a town in the past that doesn't exist in the present, what happens if I time travel back to the present therOh my god I am in abandoned underwater ruins", which hits me right in the low-poly horror
Anyway let's talk about the design of Underground Maze, one of those things that is simultaneously really strange and, when you think about it, really cool!
the Underground Maze is an area you can enter from various points in the world, that effectively substitutes for a fast travel mechanism in Choro Q Wonderful
what makes it distinctive is that
- no matter from where in the world you enter it from, you begin at the same location in the maze
- it's one of those funny everything-looks-alike tunnel mazes where if you go the wrong way you'll just keep driving down a tunnel forever as the mario 64 infinite staircase music begins creeping into your head
the Lost Woods Alike is nothing too strange for an RPG of course, but as an element of an RPG you traverse repeatedly to get between towns quickly, it stands out as a really interesting design choice!
it sticks in your head, a map slowly assembling as a collection of cheat-code-like memorizations, recited in part or in hint by citizens (cars) across the world, and makes you wonder: why did they do it like this? i don't know, but I know it stands out a lot more - and makes you engage with the game a lot more - than a simple quick-jump list
could you figure these out, painstakingly, by yourself, earlier in the game, or use prior knowledge to jump around early? yeah sure! nothing's stopping you from roaming the world of choro q wonderful quite early. have yourself a blast
anyway i'm sure yall have played rpgs with design choices - probably even design choices regarding fast travel - that are equally as fun as these so yeah gimme yours too