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Prop Cycle

Developer / Publisher: Namco
September 1996
Prop Cycle - cover art
Glitchwave rating
3.96 / 5.0
0.5
5.0
 
 
10 Ratings / 1 Reviews
#142 for 1996
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Releases 1
Filter by: All 1 Arcade 1
1996 Namco  
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A hidden gem that I randomly stumbled upon while watching INP recordings on YouTube on the channel ReplayBurners. I got interested immediately and began playing and had a great time, eventually 1ccing.

You pilot a winged bicycle. The physics make it somewhat difficult to control. On an arcade cabinet, I believe you would also have to pedal the thing. On Mame, you can just set your controls properly, and the game plays just fine using your preferred method for controls. The game just oozes 90s soul. It looks and sounds amazing and really has some of the most carefree feel ever. It would be an excellent childhood nostalgia game. Apparently the game was inspired by Kiki's Delivery Service.

The gameplay is simple. You're given a choice of 3 worlds, and you need to navigate them while touching balloons to earn points to complete the stage. Each stage has a quota you must reach to beat the stage and make progress. If you fail, the quota will go down, so that credit feeders can complete the game. If you succeed, you can still improve your performance by popping all balloons in less time, to earn more score. The levels have different balloon placements depending on the order you decide to play them in. The more you delay picking a specific stage, the harder it will be. So finding a stage order that works for you is a good idea. There is also some RNG with where balloons show up. This is especially true for stage 4, which is always going to be the final stage, and has a limited number of fixed balloon spawns. Unfortunately, some of these are faster than others. The worlds are intricate. They're full of detail. So on your first few times playing, it could be fun to pretend that the game is about exploring, rather than a skillful time attack game. Once you've had your fun exploring, you should try to play it competently. This of course means collecting the balloons as fast as you can. The physics are difficult, so this is quite a task.

There is a reason I'm not rating it higher though, and it's that I don't think it's that great for too long. Even for an arcade game there isn't that much content with only 4 courses. That's fine, since the game plays well, but I also don't think the time attack is the best exactly, and for now I'm not interested in trying for optimized times. Part of the reason is the RNG which will surely become a nuisance in the long run. Great game though, I give it a warm recommendation.

Update: I have changed my mind on the time attack. It is a very enjoyable and interesting game to time attack. However, the RNG is actually even more severe than I thought. It's because I enjoy the game so much that I decided to make strategies for many different RNG.
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Catalog

Giann96 Prop Cycle 2024-02-22T23:51:52Z
Arcade
2024-02-22T23:51:52Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
hevykofe Prop Cycle 2024-01-14T06:44:53Z
Arcade
2024-01-14T06:44:53Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
slothrop77 Prop Cycle 2023-06-15T05:58:52Z
2023-06-15T05:58:52Z
5.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
watercolour Prop Cycle 2022-10-15T05:06:20Z
2022-10-15T05:06:20Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
telemagenta Prop Cycle 2022-09-16T14:52:31Z
2022-09-16T14:52:31Z
3.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
vrsk Prop Cycle 2022-05-17T16:41:05Z
Arcade
2022-05-17T16:41:05Z
3.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
nyanpasu Prop Cycle 2022-04-08T20:44:49Z
Arcade
2022-04-08T20:44:49Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
im_singing Prop Cycle 2022-04-06T20:13:28Z
2022-04-06T20:13:28Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Meriscan Prop Cycle 2021-10-28T20:13:17Z
Arcade
2021-10-28T20:13:17Z
3.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Azel Prop Cycle 2021-10-23T22:51:08Z
Arcade
2021-10-23T22:51:08Z
4.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
chumlum Prop Cycle 2021-08-07T00:23:58Z
Arcade
2021-08-07T00:23:58Z
4.0+
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
unremarkable Prop Cycle 2021-07-06T04:10:41Z
Arcade
2021-07-06T04:10:41Z
4.0
1
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Player modes
Single-player
Also known as
  • プロップサイクル
  • Prop Cycle
  • View all [2] Hide

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Contributors to this page: TheFetishMachine dukkha hevykofe
Examples
1980s-1996
23 mar 2015
8 apr - 12 may 2015
1998-05
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