Son Son (Japan) - MAME machine

Arcade Video game published 40 years ago:

Son Son © 1984 Capcom Company, Limited.

The game is a 2-D sidescrolling platformer. The screen scrolls automatically, only stopping to fight major enemies. The screen features six continuous platforms that occasionally feature small gaps. Sonson and Tonton walk automatically across these platforms. Pressing up or down will cause them to jump up or down to the next platform. Pressing left causes them to move more slowly than the screen scrolls, essentially continuing to move forward but at a reduced pace. Pressing right does the opposite - SonSon and TonTon will move across the platforms faster than the screen scrolls. The duo have only one attack - the ability to fire energy blasts from their staves. Touching an enemy or an unfriendly projectile causes the player to lose a life. If a player has any additional lives, they will return to the screen riding on a cloud that will give them temporary invincibility. If the player presses the control stick in any direction, the cloud will disappear and the character will resume its usual walking mode. The cloud will eventually disappear on its own if the control stick is not used.

Power-ups come in the form of various fruits which produce points (with enough points giving the player an extra life). Gathering certain fruit will cause all enemies currently on a screen to turn into point-bearing fruits. Walking across certain platforms will randomly cause a bamboo shoot to sprout, yielding many extra points. Keep in mind that it is possible to play the game co-operatively with partner who plays as TonTon.

TECHNICAL
Main CPU: Motorola M6809 (@ 2 Mhz)
Sound CPU: Motorola M6809 (@ 2 Mhz)
Sound Chips: (2x) General Instrument AY8910 (@ 1.5 Mhz)

Players: 2
Control: 8-way joystick
Buttons: 1

TRIVIA
Son Son was released in July 1984. This was Capcom's second game and their first released in the United States.

Son Son is Capcom's tribute to a Chinese legend called 'Xiyou Ji', meaning 'Journey to the West', considered to be one of the four classic pieces of Chinese literature (and a fairly good read). The main character in Xiyou Ji is Sun Wukong, or, when you pronounce the words as if they were Japanese kanji, Son Gokuu (hence the name Son Son).

This game features one of the first game soundtracks composed by Tamayo Kawamoto, who made also other Capcom 80's BGM. She now works at Taito: she's a member of Zuntata, the popular (well, in Japan) Taito band where she plays keyboards.

SERIES

• Son Son (1984, Arcade)
• Son Son II [Model H54G1003] (1989, PC-Engine)

STAFF
Designed by: Yoshiki Okamoto
Music by: Tamayo Kawamoto, Ayako Mori

PORTS

• CONSOLES:

[JP] Nintendo Famicom (feb.08, 1986) "Son Son [Model CAP-SS]"
[JP] Sega Saturn (oct.15, 1998) "Capcom Generation Dai 3 Shou Koko ni Rekkishi Hajimaru [Model T-1234G]"
[JP] Sony PlayStation (oct.15, 1998) "Capcom Generation Dai 3 Shou Koko ni Rekkishi Hajimaru [Model SLPS-01649]"
[EU] Sony PlayStation (sept.3, 1999) "Capcom Generations 3 - The First Generation [Capcom Generations Disc 3] [Model SLES-21881]"
[JP] Sony PlayStation (may.25, 2005) "Capcom Retro Game Collection Vol.3 [Model SLPM-87362]"
[US] Microsoft XBOX (sept.27, 2005) "Capcom Classics Collection"
[US] Sony PS2 (sept.27, 2005) "Capcom Classics Collection [Model SLUS-21316]"
[EU] Microsoft XBOX (nov.18, 2005) "Capcom Classics Collection"
[EU] Sony PS2 (nov.18, 2005) "Capcom Classics Collection [Model SLES-53661]"
[JP] Sony PS2 (mar.2, 2006) "Capcom Classics Collection [Model SLPM-66317]"
Nintendo Wii [Virtual Console Arcade] [JP] (sept.7, 2010)
Nintendo Wii [Virtual Console Arcade] [US] (dec.6, 2010)
Nintendo Wii [Virtual Console Arcade] [EU] [AU] (dec.17, 2010)
Sony PlayStation 3 [PSN] [JP] (feb.19, 2013) "Capcom Arcade Cabinet [Model NPJB-00210]"
Sony PlayStation 3 [PSN] [EU] (feb.20, 2013) "Capcom Arcade Cabinet"
Microsoft XBOX 360 [XBLA] [JP] (feb.20, 2013) "Capcom Arcade Cabinet"
Microsoft XBOX 360 [XBLA] [EU] (feb.20, 2013) "Capcom Arcade Cabinet"
Microsoft XBOX 360 [XBLA] [AU] (feb.21, 2013) "Capcom Arcade Cabinet"
Sony PlayStation 3 [PSN] [US] (apr.16, 2013) "Capcom Arcade Cabinet: Game Pack 5 [DLC]"
Microsoft XBOX 360 [XBLA] [US] (apr.17, 2013) "Capcom Arcade Cabinet: Game Pack 5 [DLC]"
Sony PlayStation 3 [PSN] [US] (may.21, 2013) "Capcom Arcade Cabinet: All-In-One Pack [DLC]"
Microsoft XBOX 360 [XBLA] [US] (may.22, 2013) "Capcom Arcade Cabinet: All-In-One Pack [DLC]"

• HANDHELDS:

[JP] Sony PSP (sept.7, 2006) "Capcom Classics Collection [Model ULJM-05104]"
[US] Sony PSP (oct.24, 2006) "Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded [Model ULUS-10134]"
[EU] Sony PSP (nov.10, 2006) "Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded [Model ULES-00377]"
[AU] Sony PSP (nov.16, 2006) "Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded"

CONTRIBUTE
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