Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden (0)

Overview

Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden (also known as Tales of Game's Presents Chef Boyardee's Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, Chapter 1 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa,) is a fan-made parody sequel to the and game . Whereas the first game was a sports game, the sequel takes a very different turn and goes the JRPG route, setting the game in a post-cyberpocalypse with as the main character. The game is best known for its absurd humor, entertaining battle system, and the fact it was independently developed and subsequently released for free.

Story Summary

The Great B-Ball Purge of 2041, a day so painful to some that it is referred to only as the "B-Ballnacht". Thousands upon thousands of the world's greatest ballers were massacred in a swath of violence and sports bigotry as the game was outlawed worldwide. The reason: the Chaos Dunk, a jam so powerful its mere existence threatens the balance of chaos and order. Among the few ballers and fans that survived the basketball genocide was Charles Barkley, the man capable of performing the "Verboten Jam"...

Flash forward 12 years to the post-cyberpocalyptic ruins of Neo , 2053. A Chaos Dunk rocks the island of , killing 15 million. When the finger is put on the aging Charles Barkley, he must evade the capture of the B-Ball Removal Department, led by former friend and traitorous baller , and disappear into the dangerous underground of the post-cyberpocalypse to clear his name and find out the mysterious truth behind the Chaos Dunk. Joined by allies along the way, including his idiotically-named son Hoopz, Barkley must face the dangers of a life he thought he gave up a long time ago and discover the secrets behind the terrorist organization B.L.O.O.D.M.O.S.E.S.

Game Mechanics

Basic Gameplay

Shut Up and Jam Gaiden is based on the JRPG format in that the player controls a party that travels around a world from a top down view while battling enemies within a separate battle screen. However it seems that this gameplay format was chosen as it offered an opportunity to lampoon the genre of JRPGS. Many elements of the game parody typical JRPG archetypes; for instance, the game's saving system "Otaku Game Pumps" present the player with various embarrassing diatribes from supposedly genuine forum posts before the player can save.

Though seen as a humorous game, many elements you'll find in Shut Up and Jam Gaiden are surprisingly serious and well refined. The general flow of the game follows that of a typical JRPG you might find on the SNES, though the humor, dialogue, and certain parts of combat are most certainly influenced by typical modern day games. One example of current day influence includes the addition of , which occur sporadically throughout cut scenes.

Combat

Perhaps most surprising of all is its full featured and unique turn-based combat system. It contains several novel features including several moves and spells that are dependent on , concepts which are similar in style and execution to games like . Each character has an entirely unique set of moves which often come with their own unique mini game; one character you find has a combo based combat system, while Barkley requires you to time various basketball jumps and moves to deal damage.

In addition to normal attacks each character has specials skill they may use similar to magic in other games. These skills help define various classes for each character, as one party member has heal/buff spells, while another has magic-like status effects and elemental attacks.

Town and dialogue interaction

There is an extensive amount of dialogue written and interactions that are available to the player, and whenever the player is not in combat or exploring dungeons they can expect to be talking to various party members and NPCs to advance the story. The story and setting of the game are both taken very seriously, even when the topic is clearly a joke, and conversations and story exposition can actually take up a good amount of play time.

Players can also visit various shops and vending machines to replenish items. There are also inns which you can stay at to replenish health and energy. Each town also consists of several optional side quests, many of which allow you to complete them in a variety of ways.

Development/Technical Details

The game was developed by the Tales of Games Studio, a group of people from an amateur game forum. It was originally designed in but was eventually ported to and finished in the 6.1 engine. Many of the games enemy sprites are taken from platformer .