Gloomy

On November 14, 1995, the Tora video game "Gloomy: Land of Happiness" was released. Kevin, who had been living in Tokyo for three years, was eager to buy it.

Being a devoted fan of video games, Kevin was intrigued by the latest Tora release, "Gloomy: Land of Happiness."

Despite having played only a few Tora titles and casually enjoying the Happy series, Kevin's interest was piqued by "Gloomy: Land of Happiness," where the protagonist was actually the antagonist from the Happy series.

The prospect of playing as an antagonist captured the attention of gamers who had read about it in magazines.

"Have you heard about the latest Tora game, Gloomy? You get to play as an antagonist. Pretty interesting, right?"

"Yeah, I played the Happy series, Gloomy was one it's antagonists, and Gloomy being the protagonist this time got me curious. I wonder how the game will turn out..."

"True. Only by playing it ourselves can we really understand how the game is..."

As Kevin browsed video games in the store, he overheard discussions among a group of high school young men.

"I guess I'm not the only one curious," Kevin thought, smiling.

After purchasing the KiShin video game "Metal Gear Solid I," Kevin returned home with a handful of video games.

Upon arriving home, he inserted the CD of Tora's game, "Gloomy: Land of Happiness," into his other console, the TSX Fusion.

Typically, he didn't use the TSX Fusion as much as the KS1, but this time, he intended to play "Gloomy: Land of Happiness" extensively, especially if it lived up to the descriptions in the magazines.

Soon, the TSX Fusion intro featuring Tora and Suzuki began, followed by the introduction to the video game's story.

The story kicked off with the usually joyful Happy consistently defeating Gloomy, who was eventually fully defeated and banished to a distant place, far from the Elemotion people and the Elemotion land (Elemotion being the species of Happy and Gloomy, along with other creatures in the Elemotion lands).

Gloomy, bound by a curse restricting his powers, was cast out by Happy and the other Elemotions, sent through portals to random lands in the Galaxy.

Upon landing in the land of Magic, inhabited by magical beings and humans, Gloomy eventually managed to lift the restriction curse placed upon him after residing there for a considerable period.

From that point onward, Gloomy sought a way to return to the land of Elemotions. Observing the happenings in Elemotion lands through a magic orb, Gloomy discovered that Happy had become the King and established a Land of Happiness.

Feeling quite gloomy upon seeing this, Gloomy's mission became clear – to defeat the bosses of the magic world, level by level, and return to the lands of Elemotions.

After the video game's introduction story, Kevin finally started playing. His in-game character, Gloomy, found itself in the magic world, and Kevin took control to defeat monsters and bosses, each level with its own difficulty, as outlined in the manual.

Controlling Gloomy brought a refreshing feeling, with Gloomy's dialogue consistently negative, in contrast to the positive dialogue of Happy.

"Life is a never-ending storm..." Gloomy's voice, tinged with sadness, echoed.

Kevin couldn't help but chuckle wryly, "Indeed, a true antagonist."

Gloomy's voice sounded again as Kevin guided it through the grassy forests, "I see shadows even in the brightest moments..."

Kevin found Gloomy's quotes rather cool.

As Kevin guided Gloomy, he encountered monsters, directing Gloomy to attack them with his icy skills.

Following that, an enemy boss resembling a wolf, witnessing Gloomy defeat its forces, fled. Kevin maneuvered Gloomy to pursue the mini-boss. Upon catching it, Gloomy faced off against the mini-boss, and after a while, Kevin successfully defeated it, leading to a scene change.

The transition resembled a rough 3D animation, similar to the game's introductory story.

After vanquishing the boss, Gloomy observed the mini-boss begging for its life. Gloomy noticed a glimmer of hope in the mini-monster boss's eyes.

"Hope feels like a distant memory..." Gloomy's cute Japanese voice sounded, its tone tinged with sadness, delivering quotes that were truly depressing.

"Spare me!" pleaded the wolf boss as it kneeled.

But Gloomy responded mindlessly, "Sunsets are just reminders of inevitable darkness..."

"What?" The wolf boss looked at Gloomy with confusion, then noticed the sun setting.

While the wolf boss remained kneeling, rain started to pour, and Gloomy stared at the sky, saying, "Raindrops are echoes of tears we hide within."

Upon hearing this, the wolf boss found Gloomy to be really cool and expressed a desire to become an underling of Gloomy. Gloomy seemed to grasp the wolf boss's willingness, but cared little, and so the wolf boss followed Gloomy without receiving much attention.

"Gloomy... You're truly a broken villain..." Kevin sighed upon hearing Gloomy's dialogues, acknowledging the antagonist's charisma in gaining loyal followers.

Similar to the antagonists in famous KiShin franchises like Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog, Gloomy seemed to be the most serious and darkest. Bowser, the antagonist in Super Mario Bros., had gained popularity for his funny looks and dialogue in the latest Super Mario video games for KS1. Likewise, Dr. Robotnik, the antagonist in Sonic the Hedgehog, despite being a funny character, possessed a charismatic villainy.

In Kevin's view, Gloomy appeared to be more serious and darker than them all. Given that popular KiShin video games were family-friendly, their antagonists were not as deep and serious as Gloomy was portraying.

With that, Kevin continued to play, acknowledging that Tora's video games, in collaboration with Suzuki, had indeed improved significantly, earning the title of a very good video game.

After hours of playing the game, Kevin began to feel a bit bored. While the game's concept was refreshing and the gameplay was satisfactory, he found the levels to be both too easy and dragged out as he continued playing.

Despite investing three hours, he had yet to return to the Elemotion Lands. Feeling the need for a break from the game, Kevin switched the TSX Fusion console to the KS1 to try out the latest KiShin video game, titled "Metal Gear Solid I."