Get a front-row seat for this delightful oddity
Something pretty special has hit Hamster’s seam-busting Arcade Archives series. Headed straight out of ’80s Namco and right into your hearts, it’s the unique and quirky Wonder Momo, now available to download on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
Released to arcades in 1987, before later being ported to the PC Engine, Wonder Momo is an exceptionally simplistic horizontal brawler with a cute and fun setup: The entire game is a high school stage play being put on by a student named Momoko, herself a superfan of manga heroes and tokusatsu television. Momoko has thus scripted her own superhero-themed stage play, casting herself as a cool, alien-mashing defender. As such, players will engage in simple Kung-Fu Master-esque action, as Momoko battles her way through each act of her vanity project. Wicked!
You can check out Momoko’s play for yourself, in this video from Media Pool.
In addition to her intergalactic attackers, a bizarre mechanic sees a pervy audience member constantly trying to take upskirt shots of our hero as she performs, putting her in a daze should he catch a photo of Momo’s momo. Thus, the player needs to not only fend off the attacking aliens but also attempt to defend our hero’s modesty. Someone in the audience should straight kick the shit out of that dude.
Sadly, Wonder Momo would not receive her planned 1993 arcade sequel, and our budding thespian seemed consigned to the forgotten file. Amazingly, however, the brand was dusted off in the 2010s, with Momoko receiving her own webcomic, anime miniseries, and mobile game. The plot follows Momoko on her quest for stardom, ultimately receiving actual superheroic powers. There is something incredibly sweet about this forgotten protagonist, decades down the line, legitimately achieving her dream of becoming a manga/anime superhero.
Kudos to you, Wonder Momo. Kudos.
You can check out Momoko’s stage show for yourself, in this video from Media Pool.
