Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first hour is driven by novelty. UltraBox 5-gō keeps putting a different genre in front of you, and the fun comes from testing each one long enough to see whether it has more to offer than its premise. Cusuto is the closest thing to an anchor: a basic Japanese-style adventure that continues Royce E. Grant’s story and asks you to work through its sci-fi scenario involving a mysterious alien crystal.

Dasaiyas is the most immediately game-like change of pace. You fly on a board through horizontally scrolling, Asian-looking city stages, firing a standard weapon and rationing a limited bomb supply before confronting fish-like spaceship bosses. It is a straightforward shooter setup, but that simplicity helps after the choice-heavy games surrounding it. You know what to do, and the boss at the end of a stage gives each run a welcome destination.

The hurdle game is much thinner. Its runner moves automatically, leaving you to jump hurdles and use directions to alter speed; balloons can make a stage longer or shorter by adding or removing hurdles. There is a little tension in managing that, but the event is built around brief timing rather than depth, and its undressing reward makes clear that it is aiming for cheeky adult novelty first. The dating game works similarly as a choice exercise: select the right responses to raise the love level of one of three women you meet on a beach. It is easy to understand, though success depends more on picking favored answers than on discovering much strategy.

Tororo gives the compilation another branch of interactive fiction, following someone trying to become an anime artist. Early choices, such as attending school or going directly to a company boss, alter where the story goes. The two digital comics are even lighter, changing with occasional input rather than demanding sustained problem-solving. The PC Engine database and fan-art section round out the package as browsing material, which reinforces the sense that you are exploring a disc magazine rather than clearing a conventional campaign.

Graphics

The disc jumps between several distinct looks: digitized photos of actresses in the dating game, retro sci-fi adventure imagery in Cusuto, and the scrolling urban backdrops of Dasaiyas. The shooter’s board-riding character and fish-like bosses give it the clearest arcade-style imagery, while the dating game’s photographed women make it feel conspicuously different from the illustrated and comic-based material.

The art section and digital comics add more drawings to browse, including fan art and an angel-like character in heavenly surroundings. It is a visually varied compilation, although that variety also makes it feel like several unrelated projects sharing one disc.

Story

Cusuto carries the strongest story hook because it is a conclusion rather than a fresh fragment. Royce E. Grant and his friends encounter an alien crystal, giving the adventure a proper sci-fi mystery to chase. If you have followed the earlier UltraBox material, that continuation is likely the main reason to prioritize this volume.

Tororo has a smaller but more personal premise: its protagonist wants to become an anime artist, and your decisions shape the route toward that goal. Choosing between school and a direct approach to a company boss is the kind of fork that makes it worth replaying if you enjoy seeing how a modest branching story bends around your choices.

The other pieces are more like scenarios than fully developed narratives. The beach dating game is about raising affection, the hurdle event is a risqué sports diversion, and the comics offer small interactive premises about heavenly life and buying and playing video games. That makes UltraBox 5-gō feel pleasantly eclectic, but it also means emotional investment resets every time you switch modes.

Overall Experience

UltraBox 5-gō is fascinating precisely because it refuses to behave like a polished single-genre release. One minute you are following a sci-fi adventure, the next you are playing a shooter, steering an aspiring artist through decisions, or poking at an interactive comic. That restless sequencing can be a delight when you are in the mood to sample, not commit.

The trade-off is that several segments are slight. The dating and hurdle games offer quick novelty, but they are unlikely to hold you for long on their own. Dasaiyas and the branching adventures have more staying power because they give you either a clear action loop or reasons to revisit choices. Go in expecting a collection of curios rather than six equally deep games, and the disc is easier to enjoy on its own terms.

For a gamer with affection for PC Engine CD oddities, UltraBox 5-gō is worth a look as an unusually broad snapshot of adventure games, arcade action, digitized-photo dating material, comics, and database extras sharing the same space. Anyone who needs a consistent tone or a single rewarding core game should probably pass. Its payoff is in the strange mix—and in Cusuto’s concluding chapter—not in the quality of every individual diversion.

Retro Replay Score

6.2/10