Elemental Gimmick Gear: Wayback Wednesday Vol. 32, Part 2

Elemental Gimmick Gear, EGG for short, is an Action-RPG released in the early days of the Dreamcast, developed by Birthday and Hudson, and published by Hudson. While EGG has a lot of good things going for it, some flaws prevent the game from being a higher-tier classic.

Once the opening cutscene is finished, gamers likely notice the gorgeous hand-drawn animation immediately. EGG has a unique style that sets it apart from many other RPGs of its time. It is easy to see that a lot of time went into creating every square inch of the world and dungeons, and if based on the 2D graphics alone, this would be an instant classic.

However, for some inexplicable reason, the game switches to 3D for boss battles. Originally, EGG was supposed to be released for the Sega Saturn, and the 3D boss battles were an attempt to update and modernize the game for the new Dreamcast.

The music is also exceptional and creates the needed drama during the more intense scenes, adds to the sorrow during the sad scenes, and, in the overworld, the mystery and wonderment of an unexplored, though small, world. When you visit the bar for the first time early in the game, the music matches the smoky, down-on-your-luck dive bar-like atmosphere. The music is truly excellent and very well done.

The story is where the game starts to fall flat. It is confusing, not helped by its poor translation and many errors. Characters are introduced abruptly, up until the end, and some leave almost as quickly as they arrive. The gist is that some ruins were discovered deep in the dense jungles. A futuristic EGG-shaped robot is discovered with a man asleep inside. After further analysis, it’s discovered that the robot is over 5000 years old. 100 years later, these ruins come alive, activated by a group of rebel robot pirates, activating Psycho Mother, who wreaks havoc on the world. This is called “The Breeding”. This causes nasty tentacles to spread across the land, destroying everything in their path. Around this time, the sleeping man finally awakens to discover the truth of his origin, he will decide the fate of the current world.

There are no traditional RPG levels in EGG, instead, your robots grow via power-ups that are purchased and found around the world. You can find attack, defense, mind, and HP capsules in shops, the overworld, and various dungeons. This is annoying because there is no way to grind for extra strength if you are struggling at certain points in the game. You are limited to what you can currently find, and what you can currently find is limited to the tools you currently have. As the game progresses, you have access to a “wire arm” that acts like the hook shot from Zelda: A Link to the Past, a water suit that allows you to walk in water, a magic attack that allows you to punch holes in weak parts of a floor, and much more. But generally speaking, even if 1000 people were to play this game and compare stats at different junctures in the game, there would not be many variations in stats, that’s how linear progression is.

There are several puzzles in the game, and solving them is more dependent on quick, precise movements rather than on using your brain. Some of the puzzles in the last two dungeons are downright nasty and require exact movements around winding paths with many HP-depleting obstacles in the way that slow movement. One minor misstep will lead to failure, even if you are slowed down just a little. It is frustrating to think you have finally done a puzzle perfectly, only for a door to slam in your face. The game developers couldn’t have added an extra 1/4th of a second to complete the puzzle? Plus, it would have been nice to add a countdown timer to at least give gamers an idea of where they stand in progressing towards beating the puzzle.

This leads to the next major issue. Controls feel slippery. The EGG seems to glide, as if on ice, across all terrains. While in the spin dash, the problematic controls are amplified. It’s very hard to control the EGG in spin mode, and movements are erratic, almost acting on its own at times or shooting off in all sorts of odd angles when trying to change direction, usually off a cliff. Above is one of the most annoying puzzles in the game.

Bosses are difficult, and one of my major gripes is that it is sometimes hard to tell how close you are to winning. Enemies don’t have HP meters, and bosses don’t either. This is a huge issue when fighting one of the bosses in the middle of the game, who teleports and splits into two. Am I damaging him? Who knows! I can’t tell if I am hitting the real one or the fake one, and no meter exists to let me know. Luckily, some bosses, but not all, change appearance, giving at least a subtle idea of progress towards victory.

The other issue is the EGG’s attack. Remember Lagoon for the SNES? His robot punch is similar, with poor range. This becomes a big issue because most enemies have a longer range and faster attacks, and will get in a combo before you can even close in for one hit. There is an extension punch that takes time to charge and can hit these enemies from afar, but it is much weaker. Plus, enemies can often get in a hit while you are charging, canceling out your charged attack, making it all the more useless, except when you need to latch on to a hook to pass over a gap. Magic is useful, but enemies can release a flurry of hits to interrupt any magic casting and cancel any charge.

There are mini-games, but they are difficult and make even the hardest portions of the main game seem like a cakewalk. I tried and failed to come close to winning anything of any significance. The spin dash is too frustrating to control for anything other than when necessary.

Overall, EGG shows it has the potential to be a gem, with a stunning soundtrack and fantastic hand-drawn, quirky graphics, but it falls short as far as story, and the controls aren’t precise enough to navigate the frustrating timed puzzles. This is still recommended for any fan of RPGs (especially as one of the few Dreamcast RPGs), as well as keeping in mind that a lot of patience is needed.

Wayback Wednesday Volume 1: Final Fantasy 7 and Chrono Trigger.

Wayback Wednesday Volume 2: Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

Wayback Wednesday Volume 3: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

Wayback Wednesday Volume 4: Secret of Mana and Wild Arms

Wayback Wednesday Volume 5: Illusion of Gaia and Grandia

Wayback Wednesday Volume 6: Breath of Fire 3 and X-Men Legends

Wayback Wednesday Volume 7: Star Ocean: The Second Story and Super Mario RPG

Wayback Wednesday Volume 8: Demon's Crest and Dragon Quest VI

Wayback Wednesday Volume 9: Suikoden I and Jeanne d'Arc

Wayback Wednesday Volume 10: Ranking the first 6 Final Fantasy games

Wayback Wednesday Volume 11: Earthbound and Valkyrie Profile

Wayback Wednesday Volume 12: Legend of Legaia and Secret of Evermore