Clockwork Aquario Review

Clockwork Aquario started its life back in 1992 being the last arcade game put out by Westone — the developers for Wonder Boy and Monster World — for the Sega System 18. Due to the increase in popularity of fighting and 3D games, along with a poor response from testers back in 1993, Clockwork was tossed to the side and cancelled. After this, Westone focused only on creating games for consoles, leaving arcade games behind. In 2017, Strictly Limited Games acquired the license for this title from Sega and, working along with original staff members from Westone and ININ Games, set out to restore the original game. Clockwork Aquario has actually set a world record for having the longest development period for a game, 28 years and 81 days, from when it was first announced to when the game was finally released, stealing the record from Duke Nukem Forever.

Clockwork Aquario has a story that most gamers would be familiar with, an evil doctor has plans to take over the world; however there’s an interesting twist in this story, Dr. Hangyo is half-fish. The only people that can save this world are our three heroes, Huck Londo, with his bright, green hair, and steampunk style; Elle Moon, the magical girl, with bright pink hair; and Gush, the massive robot that loves to punch his enemies. At the beginning of the game you can choose any of these characters that you want, and when you lose three lives (a continue), you can change characters or keep the same. Play resumes from where you died so you don't have to start over. Your character can get hit two times before losing a life. Huck and Elle’s clothes will be ripped once they get hit one time, but poor Gush loses his head when he gets hit!

There are three different difficulties you can choose from when you start the game; Easy mode gives you nine lives (three lives and three continues), Normal gives six lives, and Hard mode gives only three lives. I decided to forgo the training the game provides that has you playing through the first two levels, and instead I decided to just start playing on Easy Mode, I figured this would be super easy.

Boy, was I ever wrong…

There are no save points here so this is exactly how an arcade game should be, hungry to eat all of your quarters! There are a plethora of colourful enemies coming at you in these watery levels. Some poor timing and bad techniques ate through my stash of lives incredibly fast. I never had an arcade where I lived growing up, so I totally underestimated how challenging they can be, even if they look colourful and cutesy! Clockwork Aquario is a super colourful and vibrant run-and-jump 2D platforming game that feels the way you expect an arcade game to feel. The action is reminiscent of games like Super Mario Brothers that have your primary method of attack is jumping on your enemy's head. Once you jump on them once, the enemy is stunned, so you can easily dispatch them by jumping again, using a melee attack like slapping them, or picking the enemy up and throwing them at another one or wall, all methods are effective. If you don’t want to play alone, there is the option to play two-player co-op where the second player can jump in at any time they want. You won’t have to restart your game going to the main menu, you can just keep playing.

Each enemy you defeat is worth points, if you can jump on multiple enemies in a row without touching the ground, you will get a combo worth a lot more. When you reach a score of 50,000 you will earn another life. Additionally if you collect 10 of the coloured gems that enemies drop, your “ONE UP” meter in the top left will fill giving you another life. It is incredibly helpful to collect as many points and jewels as possible to earn these one-ups. With a screen full of baddies it doesn’t take long to deplete your inventory of lives! Some foes will drop red potions to replenish your health, if you're already at max health you can throw the potion bottle at an enemy instead. If you are lucky you will find the golden star item that lets you shoot star projectiles at all of your enemies for a few seconds.

There are five different levels that make up the main game. If you can get through all five and finish it you will unlock other modes like Arcade Mode, and the Bonus Stage Mini-Game that only appears when you are playing co-op mode between Stages 3 and 4. Clockwork Aquario has a high-score chart so you can keep track of all the points you get and brag to your family and friends, or it can be a good reminder of how much you sucked in your earlier rounds. I find having a scoring system like this a good motivation to keep trying to get that elusive score.

Clockwork Aquario is a fun game that is super fun to play on your own or with a second player co-op. There’s something about bouncing on brightly coloured balloons or enemies that just makes you want to smile. With a huge selection of aquatic baddies and huge bosses at the end of each stage, Clockwork Aquario will definitely keep you entertained, with challenging levels and foes. I personally loved throwing enemies into each other, it allows you to do some massive damage when timed right. If you grew up playing arcade games, you will feel right at home with this title. I know if I was playing this in an actual arcade, I would go through so many quarters!