Overview
Aoi Blink (Blue Blink) is an action platformer developed by Westone and published by Hudson for the PC-Engine on April 27, 1990. The game is based-off an anime series of the same name which was the last television show developed by Osamu Tezuka, who died during the show's production. The anime is officially streaming, in its entirety, on Viki and Anime Sols with English subtitles.
Unfortunately Hudson's Blue Blink game was never officially published in English but a translation patch was released by Gaijin Productions & Zatos Hacks in 2001.
Gameplay
The protagonist, Kaeru (or Kakeru), travels across each world with a randomized pair of companions taken from the anime: Satch and Nitch, two rogues in striped suits; Tanba, the bus driver; and Princess Kirara, a spoiled royal who insists on following the party. Most of the levels have alternate exits, similar to Super Mario World, and the player has to search around for a special key in each world to unlock the final level, fight the world's boss and move onto the next world.
Kaeru can use throwing stars to defeat his enemies, and each time he attacks his two companions also fire throwing stars. If the companions are standing in different places, the player receives more of a spread for their projectiles. If the player falls down a bottomless pit, they will be rescued by their blue pony friend Blink. Blink can only save the group in this manner a finite number of times, however. Blink is also involved with the boss fights: Kaeru mounts Blink and uses his powers to defeat each of these enormous foes.
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