Pistol Daimyo no Bouken

The player must take control of Pistol Daimyo, a small Japanese lord, who has a pistol strapped to his head (and two fans strapped to his feet); he faces to the right side of the screen, and is always moving forward with the backgrounds scrolling to the left, bringing enemies into view, which are very reminiscent of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Similar to Kissy, Takky, and Hommy from Baraduke and Bakutotsu Kijūtei, he will float down to the ground if you stop holding the joystick up while he is in mid-air – and pressing that Firing Button will make his pistol fire a small cannonball. However, holding down the button will charge the pistol (much like Alice’s bubble blower in Märchen Maze, and Apollo’s sword in Phelios), and upon releasing the button the pistol will fire a medium or large cannonball; but even the smallest enemies take multiple hits to kill, so the small cannonballs are of little use. There are also blue (and yellow) vases which can be broken open with a medium or large cannonball, and will leave Hanafuda 花札 (Hanafuda)) cards behind, for Pistol Daimyo to collect – and once he collects three of them, it shall cause a Kusudama くす玉 (Kusu-dama) ball to come down into view from the top of the screen (which can also be broken open with a medium or large cannonball). If he manages to do it before it goes back up off the top of the screen again, it shall leave a suit of wooden (or metal if he is already wearing the wooden one) armour behind; once he has put it on, it shall prevent him from getting killed after a single hit.