Gloo’s Cluus
Retro video game publisher Hamster continue to roll out some of the most obscure titles in their Arcade Archives range. This week sees Nintendo’s own 1984 NES release Clu Clu Land (which was an “arcade classic” in the sense that it was a Vs. title.)
In Clu Clu Land, players control a bubblefish named Bubbles (nice work, guys) although she is known as “Gloopy” in her native Japan. After all of the treasure is stolen from the undersea kingdom of Clu Clu Land, it is up to Bubbles to recover all of the ingots by negotiating a series of mazes. Clu Clu Land’s main gimmick is its turning mechanism, which allows Bubbles to change direction be hooking onto nearby posts, like when you used to swing around a street light as a kid.
As Bubbles attempts to uncover all of the stolen ingots, she will heave to fend off the vengeful sea urchin, Unira, who she can turn away with a blast of her “sound wave” attack. Once all of the ingots have been uncovered (usually forming some sort of cute pattern) Bubbles can move on to the next stage. Although relatively obscure, Bubbles/Gloopy has gone on to make cameo appearances in the Super Smash Bros. series. Zelda fans may also notice that the ingots in this game are also the original design for Hyrule’s rupees.
Clu Clu Land is available to download now on Nintendo Switch, priced around $8