Gekisha Boy [Model IC04007]

激写ボーイ © 1992 Irem Corp.
(Gekisha Boy)

Gekisha Boy (aka Photograph Boy, or Gekibo for short) is a rather unique action game, which stars a young student named David Goldman who recently enrolled at the prestigious Los Angeles photography school. David has always been a photographer at heart and he knows it would be his career path - but as he begins his course of study, fate has a different plan for him and both his parents abruptly die in a dreadful plane accident... Devastated, he decides to give up his studies, but the school's dean offers him a surprising deal - if he succeeds in passing a special photography test, then he will graduate! In this unusual action game, the player takes control of David and helps him in his quest to become a professional photographer. However, more than guiding him, the player also controls the lens of his camera on the screen. And in Gekisha Boy, this cross-hair reticle is at the core of the gameplay. The aspiring photographer has a limited amount of rolls of film (which double as his health), and he must capture the most bizarre and unusual pictures in order to increase his score and eventually complete each level (the goal of each stage is to fulfil a given point quota). Each area features all kind of extraordinary and wacky events that can appear and disappear in the blink of an eye - from flying saucers, aliens to other strange occurrences such as the Terminator, Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson, King Kong or the modified DeLorean from Back to the Future! Some events automatically happen whereas others need to be triggered by the player (such as shooting at closed windows). When captured on film, these events also release all kind of special items for the player to collect, such as extra film or upgrades that can increase the reticle's speed and size on screen. Additionally, the game puts a large series of hazards in David's path, such as bouncing balls, skateboards or falling flower pots. Although he can simply avoid them, they also don't resist the blinding flash of his camera. Gekisha Boy consists of eight levels (called 'takes') and is single player only.