Blue's Journey

Blue's Journey (also known as Raguy) is a side scrolling platformer game originally released in 1991 by ADK for the Neo Geo and later ported to the Neo Geo CD in 1994.

Story
Raguy was a beautiful planet full of nature inhabited by insect humans (Insectorians). However, a few years ago, after the Daruma clan arrived from another planet, Raguy became more and more polluted. Meanwhile, Blue, a boy who uses a martial art called Leaf Art, heads to battle with the Daruma clan to save his unrequited love, Fa, the second princess of the Raguy royal family.

Gameplay
In Blue's Journey players control Blue (the second player controls a mirror image of Blue referred as Shadow Blue), with the game playing like a typical side-scrolling platformer. His main form of attack is to drop a large leaf which can either stun or be picked up and thrown at enemies. Aside from attacking and jumping, Blue can also shrink in order to cross small gaps in the scenery.

The game is four stages long, though the player can choose which stage to visit after beating a boss, adding to the game's replay ability. Strewn along the levels are various shops where the player can buy power ups, as well as houses inhabited by NPC characters which can give the player hints or ask for specific items. The game has multiple endings, which are decided depending on the player's actions during the game.

Reception
RePlay reported Blue's Journey to be the sixth most-popular arcade game at the time. The game received generally positive reception from critics since its release in arcades and other platforms, most of which unanimously praised the colorful graphics. Both the Neo Geo and Nintendo Switch versions hold a 48.75% and 50% respectively on the review aggregator GameRankings. AllGame 's Kyle Knight praised the "cutesy" and colorful graphics when compared to other systems released at the time such as the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis, as well as the multiple pathways but ultimately regarded its gameplay as average, noting that it lacked difficulty. Consoles Plus ' Pingos and Badin highly commended the presentation for being varied, simple controls and multiple paths but noted that the music was repetitive. GameFan and GamePro gave high remarks the colorful visuals, music, characters, gameplay and controls but Andrew Cockburn of the former publication noted its short length.

Hobby Consolas ' Marcos García highly praised the technical presentation, colorful graphics, samba-style soundtrack, numerous secrets, bosses, gameplay and two-player co-op feature. Joypad 's Alain Huyghues-Lacour and Seb, as well as Joystick Jean-Marc Demoly, noted its low difficulty level but commended the animated graphics, controls and audio. Player One 's Cyril Drevet gave positive remarks to the colorful graphics, sprite animations, sound, difficulty and longevity. Tilt 's Laurent Defrance and Jean-Michel Maman regarded it as a cross between Marvel Land and Sonic the Hedgehog, while Génération 4 's Frank Ladoire also drew comparison with Super Mario Bros.. Both publications praised the colorful graphics, fluid animations, responsive controls and soundtrack, with both Defrance and Maman stating that Blue's Journey was an original and varied adventure-platform game. Consolemania 's Marco Auletta criticized the graphics and sound for being simplistic and bland respectively, as well as its gameplay for being frustrating.

In recent years, Blue's Journey has been met with a more mixed reception from critics. Eurogamer 's Dan Whitehead criticized the visuals for being "crude and blotchy", recommending Super Mario Bros. 3 on the Wii's Virtual Console instead. GameSpot 's Frank Provo praised the sound design and sountrack but criticized the graphics and gameplay. IGN 's Lucas M. Thomas regarded the title as a passable platform game.