Photos - Future Boy Conan (PC Engine CD-ROM)

Here are some cool screenshots from the little-known Future Boy Conan video game.  It appeared in Japan on the PC Engine CD-ROM, which was known in the West as the Turbografx-16 and TurboDuo.

I still find it a bit strange that Hayao Miyazaki's 1978 television series remains unknown to so many anime fans.  In many ways, you could say this is the definitive Miyazaki, the perfect bridge between his earlier, swashbuckling adventures like Animal Treasure Island and Lupin III, and the later Studio Ghibli era.  Fortunately, fansubs are easily available for those willing to look (cough, Download These Fansubs, cough), so every visitor to this website should have Conan in their collection.

As for the game, it's pretty bland.  Nothing much to write home about, and you're not missing much.  It's a standard side-scrolling platformer which is just like about a dozen other sidescrollers on the PC Engine/Turbo.  You play through all the scenes of the television show, and fans will easily spot the locations, so that's nice.  I suppose there's a Youtube video or two floating around somewhere, in case you were curious to see Conan in action.

And, no, Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli were not involved in any with the production of the Future Boy Conan videogame.  This PCE title was designed by Telenet, which was one of the more prolific software studios during the 16-bit era.  They created such classics as the Valis series and Gaiares on the Sega Genesis.  Sunsoft has recently acquired their entire library, so there is hope that some games will soon appear on Nintendo's Virtual Console.  I wouldn't hold out much hope for Conan, though.  Victor Ireland may be a fan of the cultish and obscure, but this game might be a bit too obscure even for him.