Syobon action
Encyclopedia
Syobon action しょぼんのアクション (also known as Cat Mario, dongs.exe, and Neko Mario) is a 2D Japan
ese freeware video game notoriously known on the Internet for its extremely difficult levels. When Playthisthing.com reviewed the game, it had stated, "Syobon Action hates you. You’ll find this out the hard way: every jump, platform, mushroom, pipe... even the cloud in the background is out there to kill you. In time, you will hate Syobon Action." The game is cited in most reviews to be a gaming parody of the Nintendo
classic game Super Mario Bros.
.
The game's reason of excessive difficulty is that, unlike Super Mario Bros., it contains concealed traps (such as spikes, "falling stars" and mushrooms). They are found commonly on platforms, clouds, pipes and even in the sky, and are activated (and therefore visible) only when the player is about to hit them. The game's obstacles are so tricky that it makes the game extremely difficult to complete.
Syobon Action was ported to SDL and is available on Windows, AmigaOS
4.1 and Linux under the name of Open Syobon Action and can be found on its SourceForge
page, here. These ports fix some of the glitches that the original game had on non-Japanese systems.
The music that plays throughout the on-surface levels is taken from the Action 52
game, Cheetahmen, while the music underground level and in the cave death trap in the 3rd level is a midi version of the level music from Spelunker
. And finally the castle level uses a midi version of the music from the 1st level of Ghosts 'n Goblins
. End credits uses a midi version of the music from the Puyo Puyo
game.
The second level is based on World 1-2 in Super Mario Bros., but as soon as the player drops in, they will land on a falling block, and if they try to jump when they are on it, there is an invisible block over it. Also, if the player tries to break the roof like in Super Mario Bros., they will be stopped by a wall and fall, only to be killed by an invisible cloud. In addition, if the player accesses the Warp Zone behind the exit (titled as "Owata Zone" in this game) the 3 warp pipes will kill the player despite indicating that each of them would take the player back to the first level.
The second outside level will start similar to the first level. The player needs to exit the starting pipe quickly to avoid a cat character that looks similar to Pedobear. The visible exit pole is a trap (the one with the blue top), the player must bounce on top of it to reach the real exit pole.
The third level is similar to the first level. A bonus room filled with coins hidden in a pit will drop the player onto a cloud that will result in that player's character being killed, and a special switch hidden in an item block turns all blocks to coins, dropping the player into the infinite abyss below.
The fourth is based on World 1-4 in Super Mario Bros.. Near the end of the level, a cat (replacing Bowser from Super Mario Bros.) will make the floor fall down. Also if the player keeps going, the ceiling will fall down. If the player manages to get past that, they will walk into a chicken, which is impossible to avoid. If they manage to get past the floor, and try to jump over the cat, it will never die, forcing the player to commit suicide. The player must get to the ceiling by jumping on top of a robot enemy that throws items. This leads to a fifth level.
There is also a bonus challenge for player that if the player presses the 0 key then enter they will be taken to a randomized version of level 1, with the traps and important items remaining. If the player manages to beat this level they will go on to a randomized level 2 and so on. Apparently, this is unintentional.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese freeware video game notoriously known on the Internet for its extremely difficult levels. When Playthisthing.com reviewed the game, it had stated, "Syobon Action hates you. You’ll find this out the hard way: every jump, platform, mushroom, pipe... even the cloud in the background is out there to kill you. In time, you will hate Syobon Action." The game is cited in most reviews to be a gaming parody of the Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
classic game Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros.
is a 1985 platform video game developed by Nintendo, published for the Nintendo Entertainment System as a sequel to the 1983 game Mario Bros. In Super Mario Bros., the player controls Mario as he travels through the Mushroom Kingdom in order to rescue Princess Toadstool from the antagonist...
.
The game's reason of excessive difficulty is that, unlike Super Mario Bros., it contains concealed traps (such as spikes, "falling stars" and mushrooms). They are found commonly on platforms, clouds, pipes and even in the sky, and are activated (and therefore visible) only when the player is about to hit them. The game's obstacles are so tricky that it makes the game extremely difficult to complete.
Syobon Action was ported to SDL and is available on Windows, AmigaOS
AmigaOS
AmigaOS is the default native operating system of the Amiga personal computer. It was developed first by Commodore International, and initially introduced in 1985 with the Amiga 1000...
4.1 and Linux under the name of Open Syobon Action and can be found on its SourceForge
SourceForge
SourceForge Enterprise Edition is a collaborative revision control and software development management system. It provides a front-end to a range of software development lifecycle services and integrates with a number of free software / open source software applications .While originally itself...
page, here. These ports fix some of the glitches that the original game had on non-Japanese systems.
The music that plays throughout the on-surface levels is taken from the Action 52
Action 52
Action 52 is an unlicensed multicart consisting of 52 individual and original video games, released in September 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System and in May 1993 for the Sega Genesis consoles by Active Enterprises...
game, Cheetahmen, while the music underground level and in the cave death trap in the 3rd level is a midi version of the level music from Spelunker
Spelunker
Spelunker has several meanings.* In Caving, "spelunker" is sometimes a term for a person who explores caves.* Spelunker , a 1983 video game for various systems, including Atari and Nintendo....
. And finally the castle level uses a midi version of the music from the 1st level of Ghosts 'n Goblins
Ghosts 'n Goblins
is a 1985 platform game developed by Capcom for video arcades and has since been released on several other platforms. It is the first game in the Ghosts'n Goblins franchise.-Gameplay:...
. End credits uses a midi version of the music from the Puyo Puyo
Puyo Puyo
is the inaugural game in the Puyo Puyo series originally released in 1991 by Compile for the MSX2. Since its creation, it uses characters from . It was created by Masamitsu "Moo" Niitani, the founder of Compile, who was inspired by certain elements from the Tetris and Dr...
game.
Gameplay and solutions
The first level is based on World 1-1 in Super Mario Bros.. However, the mushroom block has an invisible coin block under it, unlike Super Mario Bros.. The hidden 1-up block above the hill instead will provide an infinite amount of poison mushrooms. Invisible coin blocks are scattered mostly in inconvenient places, often to lead the player to death. Lastly, simply hitting the goal post will cause your character to be killed by a ghost. The solution is to jump over the flagpole, activate the ghost, and then go back to the goal.The second level is based on World 1-2 in Super Mario Bros., but as soon as the player drops in, they will land on a falling block, and if they try to jump when they are on it, there is an invisible block over it. Also, if the player tries to break the roof like in Super Mario Bros., they will be stopped by a wall and fall, only to be killed by an invisible cloud. In addition, if the player accesses the Warp Zone behind the exit (titled as "Owata Zone" in this game) the 3 warp pipes will kill the player despite indicating that each of them would take the player back to the first level.
The second outside level will start similar to the first level. The player needs to exit the starting pipe quickly to avoid a cat character that looks similar to Pedobear. The visible exit pole is a trap (the one with the blue top), the player must bounce on top of it to reach the real exit pole.
The third level is similar to the first level. A bonus room filled with coins hidden in a pit will drop the player onto a cloud that will result in that player's character being killed, and a special switch hidden in an item block turns all blocks to coins, dropping the player into the infinite abyss below.
The fourth is based on World 1-4 in Super Mario Bros.. Near the end of the level, a cat (replacing Bowser from Super Mario Bros.) will make the floor fall down. Also if the player keeps going, the ceiling will fall down. If the player manages to get past that, they will walk into a chicken, which is impossible to avoid. If they manage to get past the floor, and try to jump over the cat, it will never die, forcing the player to commit suicide. The player must get to the ceiling by jumping on top of a robot enemy that throws items. This leads to a fifth level.
There is also a bonus challenge for player that if the player presses the 0 key then enter they will be taken to a randomized version of level 1, with the traps and important items remaining. If the player manages to beat this level they will go on to a randomized level 2 and so on. Apparently, this is unintentional.
Trick objects
The game has many hidden dangers or objects that act differently than they do in most video games. Many harmless looking objects such as clouds will kill the player, mushrooms will make the player grow and fall through the floor, and springs will launch the player right out of the level.External links
- Open Syobon Action
- Official website
- A Java version created by the original game's author
- Syobon Action port Wii console by Scognito
- Syobon Action Playstation 3 port
- Syobon Action Windows port
- Syobon Action Mac OS X port
- Syobon Action AmigaOS 4.1 port
- Comedic playthrough of the game with commentary NSFW language
- Let's Play of Syobon Action (called Dongs.exe)
- Let's play by Cauchemar
- a non official page where a translated version can be found