Steamgear Mash Attack!

Released in late September 1995, Steamgear Mash took the gaming world by storm. Shooting straight up the Japanese gaming charts, the game sold quicker than any other 32-bit title had, up to that point. Western publishers were clamoring for the privilege of localizing this breakthrough title for English-speaking audiences. SEGA themselves were deep in negotiations with the game’s developer Tamsoft well into 1996. The American arm of the gaming giant saw Steamgear Mash as the turnkey title to give the western Saturn a much-needed shot in the arm; its golden ticket to the front of the 32-bit console wars.

Of course, none of this is true. Western audiences’ tastes for what a next-generation game should be were far narrower than their Japanese counterparts. An isometric, cartoonish romp through colorful worlds was about as welcome on a new and expensive 32-bit system as… a 2D Sonic game*. A shame, really – it’s this sort of attitude that played a part in so many Saturn gems not making their way over to Western audiences. It would be many years before some of the more obscure Japanese titles would begin to be appreciated by folks across the big pond.

Steamgear Mash is one of the very first titles from Tamsoft Corporation, a Japanese videogame company still active today and currently developing for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5. In the 32-bit era, Steamgear Mash was the company’s only Saturn effort before Tamsoft made a far bigger splash by developing the Toshinden series for PlayStation. Most of Tamsoft’s early titles were published by Takara, including Steamgear Mash.

The game revolves around young Mina, whose brilliant father created her a robotic playmate named Mash. Mash and Mina got along swimmingly… but a third character, Gash, watched their friendship from his space station and grew jealous. He asserted that the best way to win Mina over and get some of her affection was – obviously – to kidnap her. Naturally, Mash set out on a quest to rescue his beloved Mina. This innocent storyline is told through an obligatory 1990s quality opening FMV sequence. Worth watching once, it can be quickly bypassed by pressing Start on subsequent gaming sessions.

The game plays from a fixed, ¾ isometric viewpoint, a la Spot Goes to Hollywood or Sonic 3D Blast. As he travels, Mash encounters all manner of enemies that must be dispatched with his firing arm (A button). A single press unleashes a few quick shots in rapid succession whilst holding A down charges up a more powerful blast. Enemies usually patrol a predetermined area, with some going after Mash once he draws close enough to disturb them. By default, Mash’s direction of movement and firing are the same. Holding down the L shoulder button activates different walk/fire configurations in real-time, with the R shoulder cycling through available options. As it happens, Mash’s upper body can swivel independent of his legs, so that he can lock-in a firing direction independent of his movements. He can also lock-in to fire behind him at all times, or even to continually rotate and fire whilst running about. This is as clever a solution to the missing second joystick as can be had, and actually works fairly well. As the player adventures on, they will typically favor one or two of these configurations exclusively.

Mash is also able to jump (B button), and the game features a fair bit of raised platforms which he must ascend in order to proceed. Levels are structured as 2D planes in a 3D cube-shaped space, so it is possible for Mash to fall off a path and land on a plane below, which typically results in backtracking. Similarly, there are also gaps that require precise jumps to successfully negotiate. Mash can change directions mid-jump, and the game presents several corners where he must leap from the end of one platform, around a corner, and onto a second platform. Although this sounds hard, it really isn’t too difficult.

Mash’s life bar is a quarter-circle steam power indicator that depletes as damage is taken. Perhaps in an effort to encourage players to watch their health, an annoying beep will sound continuously when health gets too low. The upper right corner indicates the special weapon presently selected. Assigned to the C button, Mash initially begins with a wide dispersal shuriken shot and a short-range bomb as his specials. Using specials depletes the adjacent power meter, preventing players from using more powerful shots with reckless abandon.

The earliest enemies take a few shots to dispatch, whereas later meanies can take quite a pummeling before exploding in a technicolor puff of smoke. Sometimes, they leave behind hearts to refill Mash’s life, or blue bullets to raise his specials power meter. The challenge ramps up quite quickly in this title, as very soon most enemies can take quite a few hits before exploding, and this makes the game more difficult… until the player realizes that virtually none of the enemies move or shoot diagonally!! Changing tactics to first positioning Mash diagonally from enemies results in a far easier game, as for the most part, they cannot fire back diagonally. It isn’t certain whether Mash’s ability to move diagonally was added late in the development cycle and the same simply wasn’t programmed in for the enemies, but it does tip the balance of gameplay squarely in the player’s favor.

Mash can also find the occasional item box in the various levels and shooting it will typically yield a Large Heart or Bullet. More rarely, these will yield new Specials, some of which are necessary to advance further in the adventure.
The game is lightly sprinkled with Metroidvania sensibilities: Steamgear Mash features colored boxes that block entrances to certain areas of the game. These boxes can only be destroyed once the appropriate Special Move is collected – for example, a red block can only be destroyed by a fire punch. Further, there are Warp Rooms in most levels. Warp Rooms house different colored transport pads for Mash to jump on, warping him to previous levels. It is entirely possible to find the Warp Room in the last level, jump back to the first level, heal up, and warp back to the last level. Handy, yet reasonably skilled players will not find too great a need to use the Warp Rooms.

Next to most Warp Rooms are Save Rooms, containing a pedestal for Mash to jump onto and save his game. One Steamgear Mash save file consumes 71 blocks of memory but can hold up to four separate saves. If using a Memory Cartridge, each time the game is started, the player must choose whether to use On-Board or Cartridge memory and is stuck using their selection during their session – the game does not allow access to both save areas simultaneously. Odd, yet the 4 save slots are more than sufficient to save progress in this relatively short game.

Each level ends with a boss encounter which, like most game bosses, requires that a pattern is discovered and exploited before they are overcome. Defeated bosses typically leave behind a Special Move for Mash to integrate into his repertoire, which in turn allows access to new areas and locations. This mechanic works to advance the game, and whilst Mash can use his new special moves at will, there isn’t really any compelling reason to do so as the standard shot and initial specials are more than sufficient to finish the game.

The playfields look quasi-3D owing to the isometry but are essentially 2D backgrounds. Mash, as well as all the enemies and bosses, are entirely 2D sprites. They animate decently and the game’s refresh rate is quite good. The game features seven levels in total, with two, very surprisingly, being shmup levels! Also adopting an isometric viewpoint, these two auto-scrolling levels play like Zaxxon – the first seeing Mash transform into a submarine for an underwater affair and the second, becoming a shuttle for a space adventure en-route to Gash’s space station. Here, gameplay is somewhat simpler as movement is far more restricted with Mash only able to face forwards, moving against a steadily scrolling background. Switching from mech-style scroller to shmup is initially a little bit jarring but both modes play well, and this juxtaposition of gameplay styles ultimately helps break down the monotony of the game and compliments the title’s child-like themes. In terms of visuals and even sounds, the game is quite reminiscent of the Dreamcast’s Pen Pen TriIcelon – cartoony, full of vibrant colors that truly pop, accompanied by boisterous music and sharp sound effects. The game certainly looks and sounds as if made to appeal to a younger audience.

There are also cats to discover during the course of the game. Once found, the tiny felines will follow Mash, although their purpose is unknown. In my playthough, I managed to find two cats… are there more? What is their purpose? Are they Mina’s cats? Can anything special be done with them? This is all unknown at this time.

Ultimately, the game is a mildly fun, appropriately short romp. It took me around two hours to go from start to finish, and now being used to the game, it could be done quite a bit quicker. Aside from superficial improvements in color palette and sound fidelity owing to the power of the Saturn, there isn’t much here that we haven’t seen from the Genesis / MegaDrive. Each level is multilayered and viewed from an isometric perspective which is almost enough to convince the player it’s 3D… but ultimately, isn’t. The two shmup levels do a good job of breaking up the sameness of the mech levels. The final boss isn’t overly difficult to dispatch, even in his second, faster form. The ending is predictable and cheesy… although, it truly feels like that is the point of Steamgear Mash. Never taking itself too seriously, the game’s simple yet colorful graphics, cheery music, and child-like story must have been a brief breath of fresh air at a time when developers and players alike were keenly looking to push the boundaries of 32-bit gaming. Contemporary reviews, most of them Japanese, ranged from fair to above average. A few American publications reviewed the import as well, with respected mag Next Generation awarding the game two stars out of five, and GameFan magazine tripping out and awarding the game a score in the 90%s, which is certainly far too high. There isn’t a great deal to bring a player back once they have completed the game, but the couple of hours spent on the title is certainly not time wasted.

SHIRO! Challenge:

• This game is extremely basic, so there really isn’t scope for a list of special challenges… except perhaps to unravel the mystery of the cats. Find more cats! Is there more than two?? What are their names, and what do they do? Do they add power, could it be true? What is their purpose? I haven’t a clue!

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*The Genesis / MegaDrive Sonic games were looked upon unfavorably for a time during the 32-bit era, being called old and passé. Such was the Western mindset at the time.