Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa
A baby with a magical rattle saves his kingdom.
Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa is a Konami video game first released in 1988 for the Family Computer Disk System exclusively in Japan. It later received a cartridge release for the Family Computer in 1993. The game's only official release outside Japan came via the Wii Virtual Console in 2008.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Konami
- Genre
- Platformer
- Modes
- Single-player
- Platforms
- Family Computer Disk System
- Family Computer
- Mobile Phones (i-mode)
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
The player controls Upa, a baby who uses a rattle to attack enemies. When struck, enemies inflate and float away; they can then serve as temporary floating platforms or be pushed as weapons. If Upa stays on an inflated enemy too long, it explodes. As a weapon, Upa can pounce or use his rattle to send the enemy careening, ricocheting off objects and potentially harming both Upa and other foes. A health meter tracks remaining life, replenished by collecting milk bottles scattered through levels. Hearts increase maximum health by one unit for the current world. Items such as apples, hourglasses, bells, and scorpion blocks are obtained by striking special blocks marked with Upa's face. Apples raise the score; hourglasses freeze enemies; bells grant temporary invincibility and speed; scorpion blocks kill all on-screen enemies when pushed off a platform.
Release history
The 1993 Family Computer cartridge version is nearly identical to the Disk System original but has several differences. Because the Disk System had an extra audio channel not available on the Family Computer, the cartridge version's music was remixed. The cartridge also offers an Easy mode with reduced enemy damage and more starting lives, alongside a Normal mode matching the original difficulty. The title screen no longer displays a large image of Upa. An unlicensed Chinese Famicom version replaced the protagonist with Shinnosuke Nohara from Crayon Shin-chan, titled Crayon Xiao xin. A mobile phone version was released in 2006. The Disk System version came to the Wii Virtual Console in 2008, marking the only official release outside Japan. It later appeared on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in Japan in February 2014 and on the Wii U Virtual Console in July 2015.
Other appearances
Upa appears as a transformation of the robot Rickle in Wai Wai World 2: SOS!! Parsley Jō for the Famicom. In the Parodius series, a flying Upa and his sister Rupa appear as spaceships with milk bottle missiles in Fantastic Parodius for the Super Famicom; one level features a candy-filled cake similar to that in Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa. Upa and Rupa also appear as playable ships in Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius. In the pop'n music series, Upa appears as a character for the song Bokutte Upa? starting with pop'n music 9; Rupa appears as a palette swap and previously represented the song TwinBee ~Generation X~ until pop'n music 17 THE MOVIE. In the 2006 mobile version of Konami Wai Wai World, Upa appears with the cake-conscious stage due to copyright issues. The main theme is included in the creation mode of the Baseball Spirits Series Pro Series Powerful Pro Baseball. Upa, along with Kappa, Crab, and Crow, appears as nonogram puzzles in Pixel Puzzle Collection. In Picross S: Konami Antiques Edition, Upa and Azarashin appear as puzzles. In episode #44 of GameCenter CX, host Shinya Arino played and cleared the Famicom Disk System version.
More in Konami Games of the 1980s
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced