Chakan: The Forever Man (Genesis) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
Вставка
- Опубліковано 24 жов 2019
- A playthrough of Sega's 1992 license-based action-platformer for the Sega Genesis, Chakan: The Forever Man.
Played through on the hard difficulty setting with the best ending. Following that, I show the bad ending, seen if you die during the final boss fight, at 1:36:18.
Chakan: The Forever Man is one of those games that people tend to immediately dismiss because of its reputation for being insanely difficult. Until awhile ago, I was one of those people. I'm not usually deterred by the promise of a challenge, but the few times I ever bothered to try to play Chakan, I was thoroughly put off by the graphics and the strange potion-mixing system, and in finding it so unappealing to begin with, I saw no reason to even try to play what is known as one of the hardest games on the Genesis.
But I know how to admit when I'm wrong, and this is one of those times. After giving it a proper chance, I can now see why this game has a cult following of sorts. Chakan: The Forever Man is awesome.
(Is Chakan an alias for Chaka Khan? Hmm...)
Has anyone ever read the comic it's based on? I never knew there was a comic before doing a bit of research on the game, but I have to say that I'm curious if it's as badass as it seems like it would be.
Chakan's story is a wonderfully twisted take on the "pride before the fall" trope. He's a warrior that, having bested every opponent he's ever faced off against, grows cocky as he searches for an opponent that can truly test him.
And who better to challenge but Death himself?
Chakan agrees to Death's terms: if Chakan wins, he will be granted immortality. If he loses, he's going to be Death's slave forever. After a long battle, Chakan is ultimately the one that comes out on top. Death, however, has one last trick up his sleeve: while does give Chakan eternal life, Chakan is also now cursed to wander alone forever unless he can purge all evil from the world. Then, and only then, will he be granted the peace of death that he comes to long for.
What an amazing dark setup for a 16-bit game from 1992! It really lends the game a refreshingly adult tone.
Chakan allows you to decide the order in which you tackle each of its elemental-themed worlds, and the stages hold both potions and weapons that have to be collected to progress. Somewhat like a Mega Man title, some stages that have obstacles that can only be surmounted by using a specific tool, so while it's not totally linear, it's not quite as freeform as it first appears. You also gain access to spells that provide a wide range of effects - some give you improved jumping abilities, while others can protect or heal - but these all require specific combinations of different color potions to activate, and as you might imagine, the better spells require the harder-to-find potions. I didn't find much need for them for most of the game, but they certainly help scaffold the challenge a bit if you find yourself struggling.
The gameplay itself is fairly unique. Chakan has a double jump, he can attack in all eight directions, and if you hold down the attack button, he can hold his weapons in place - very useful when fending off flying/charging enemies and in striking sweet poses. The huge levels can become a bit labyrinthine as you get further into the game, but they never get so complicated that maps become necessary. A lot of patience is, however.
Chakan has the teeth to back up its reputation as a very hard game. Enemies like to swoop at you when you least expect it, and many times you'll find a stage prematurely ended because you ever so slightly miscalculated a jump. It's not impossible by any measure, and the game gives you unlimited lives, but it will take quite awhile before you finally see your way through to the end.
I was a but disappointed by the presentation, though. The cutscenes and the character designs look great, but much like Sega's Batman Returns, Chakan: The Forever Man's graphics suffers badly from the Genesis's limited color palette. The machine does bright, cartoony colors well, but the selection of available hues is lacking at darker end of the spectrum. As a result, everything that should be "dark" ends up a dithered mess of green and purple. Yuck. The music, on the other hand, is pretty damned good, especially given that its using the Gems driver. I have to say though, I still find myself laughing when I hear Dhalsim's elephant entourage trumpeting at the Sega splash screen.
Overall, if you aren't afraid of a challenge, I can't recommend Chakan highly enough. It has its flaws, sure, but it's more than unique enough to warrant an investment of your time. It might have taken me a long time to warm up to it, but once I did, I had an absolute blast with it.
Happy October! :D
_
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games! - Ігри
Chakan the Forever Man was one of the first independent comic book characters to get a video game.
Wow didint know that
Props for that info
i realize I am kinda randomly asking but does anyone know of a good place to watch newly released tv shows online ?
…Ninja Turtles
@@braylenabraham921 I like how you’re a spambot but somehow the spambot that’s supposed to reply to you never showed up lol
O my God I remember that game as a kid. My friend back then rented it and would not, I repeat would not come out his house. He played that game literally like it was forever (no pun intended).
This game needs a remaster for sure. This game made my life as a kid
This is a definition of a love/hate type of game. It is truly both, I like the difficulty, not the choppiness at times. It's too bad the Dreamcast version got scrapped, it looked incredible.
I was thinking the same thing coming into this. I have a weird love/hate thing with this game: I love the entire concept of a cursed undying alchemist, the oddball fighting mechanics, and the dark setting and creatures, but after beating it one time as a kid (a lot of time spent being frustrated and then digging out strategy guides/tip books for every edge I could get), I can't bring myself to ever play it again. But I always find myself drawn to it when it's mentioned or played by others...
Chakan: The Forever Man is rightly regarded as a difficult game, but if you give it a chance, you might just discover one helluva dark, supremely entertaining action game.
The music can sometimes be grating (the GEMS soundfont was horrible), but it is indeed dark as hell. My friend owned this game, these days I do, neither of us ever beat it.
@@Bloodreign1 Tons and tons of great Genesis soundtracks use Gems. Especially later in the Genesis life cycle when Western developers were coming into their own.
Oh, I gave it all the chances when I was a kid.
Funny, I see now how close I was.
@@Bloodreign1 Horrible no, atrocious! However custom japanese sound fonts were great, specially the ones from technosoft.
I was sent to the principals office in elementary school for the "disturbing" fanfics i wrote about this game. The school councilor read my rendition of that first battle with Death and she freaking loved it. She wanted more.
Mrs. Miller, I'm a writer because of you.
I watched my mom play this video game when I was little. Another one of my favorite childhood memories is sitting on the bedroom floor next to my mom and watching her play video games on our tv.🙂 Good times.🙂
Did the same with my dad!
@The_Forever_Man Thank you. She is cool.🙂
This was one of my favorite Genesis games. Brutally difficult yet very engaging gameplay, good musical compositions with somewhat grating instruments, and awesome designs with a rather sickly and diseased-looking color palette... "grating" and "sickly and diseased" usually aren't what one would call good elements, but I see it fit to think they work in Chakan's favor here.
Everything comes together to give a sense that the arcane evils you're fighting are significantly more messed up than just being "dark" - the worlds you're traversing to challenge those evils aren't necessarily your average hellscapes either. Nothing in the world of Chakan feels even remotely normal, but... well, define "normal," because I'm pretty sure such a concept doesn't even come close to existing as far as this game is concerned. When the Grim Reaper himself is the most normal thing you've got, and even HE doesn't stay that way at the end of it all... well, it's something unsettling that'll definitely keep quite a few people from sleeping comfortably a night.
The best part. Chakan isn’t fighting to save the world, or himself, he just wants to die and be done with his life.
Always thought this game was heavily influenced by Rastan, even its Music. Haven’t thought about this for a long time.. thanks for the play through!
Ahh, of course you beat this game. I was just looking at a list of hardest games to beat on Genesis and this was one of them. I remember this game from my childhood and remember how brutal it was. I wonder how many more of those on that list you've beaten. You can be sure I'll comment on it when I do find that you have, in fact, beat them. Always a pleasure to watch your playthroughs, my friend. You're a legend.
some much though was put into this game, from the attacks. the back story, the music, the levels themselves and even the enemies ... finally watching someone beat this demonic beast of a game is dream come true
Chakan reminds me of a supernatural Solomon Kane. I remember this game all too well. Hard as hell, but equally fun to play. Just never got tired of it...
;-)
"Should you choose to challenge Death to a game of cards for your life, there is one thing you must never do."
"And what is that?"
"Win."
Is that a quote from something?? That's sinister as f*ck! And good advice👌But I always find out the hard way lol
@@rexschneider2171 Yes I borrowed it from a story called "SCP-1440"
I rented this game in like 1992. It was so bizarre but once you get the hang of it its an impressive game.
Finally, someone who knows how to play Chakan 🤘
The ending music is absolutely amazing. The game is hard as hell for some rather wrong reasons but, basically x-men 2 used sort of the same engine and cleaned up the faults and it was an amazing game, however it didnt have such a kick ass character and awesomely dark and original story. Its a shame Chakan never blew up. Awesome story, great graphics other worldly soundtrack and one hell of a challenge. Cool game
Probably would have if it weren't made so brokenly. Some games have cheap gimmicks, some games have cheap enemies. Chakan has both. Looks great, sounds great, but playing it? Supremely poor execution.
Oh jeeze, this is the same as the X-Men 2 engine? No wonder it's giving me flashbacks, despite never having played Chakan >shudder
Not as original as you might think, chakan is heavily inspired by soloman kane. Pilgim esque dude who kills death and fights monsters. Although i think soloman kane killed the devil im not sure. There is a pretty good movie if you want to watch it if you dig the vibes
the similarites between this , xmen and xmen 2 caused me to suspect they shared technology and team members
this is one of those games I would never play, but thanks to you now I won't ever have to!!
😂😂😂
Why?
It's fucking gold. Play it and suffer as Chakan does.
Chakan need it’s own Netflix/Hulu animated series.
That would be absolute garbage!
And a good game!
Sega had the best hardcore games out here ... and this is one of them
You confuse "hardcore" with frustratingly bad
@@kaihedgie1747 i meant bloody and gory ... since nintendo games where nerfed to extremes ...
@@hfric You've never owned an SNES, have you? Because that's also the console that had Weaponlord, an extremely gory fighter that gave you free reign on how to overkill someone. Also, only the first Mortal Kombat was censored. Everything else was left untouched
If you play both system's library, you'll find both of them have their share of hardcore games. Japanese SNES aka SFC games tended to not be censored, thought MK 2 had grey screen for fatalities over there, and Samurai Shodown, known as Samurai Spirits in Japan, was also oddly censored.
Actraiser 2
The game that even grows hair on a woman's chest, one of the hardest games ever made. Lab rats exposed to Chakan immediately morph into a cross between Stallone and Schwarzenegger, when done in lab tests.
Sadly the games ending leaves a lot to be desired, Chakan will never know happiness, nor will he ever know rest. Maybe not get in a duel with Death, and beat him, because that cost Chakan for eternity.
@@Bloodreign1 Yeah, never get into a contest with death, if you do, the worst thing you could ever do is WIN.
Also of note, the team behind the Genesis X-Men games did this game, listen to the sound effects real closely, and you will hear some from the first X-Men game.
Ajaj siii
Really I always thought so cuz I had both and they seemed so similar. The music and the walking animation.
Both hard as balls
That's why it sounds familiar? Yep definitely makes your ears bleed all the same.
Their sound driver for both games was horrid; grating instrumentation and SFX. As was the poor frame-rate.
I remember this on Sega years ago childhood memories he looked like vampire Hunter d.
Gave me same vibes for some reason.
@@ericcartman7420 For me he gave me Solomon Kane vibes.
This game is a masterpiece, i never could beat it as a little man without using that cheat code for infinite potions, but i swear its such a fun game its like playing mega man you need all the weapons and alot of trial+error
Ah, this was an odd gem from my youth! I loved (love) the music and atmosphere. However, I think I might have been a little too young to appreciate this game's finer details.
That said, It's still remembered as a bitch of a game to complete!
I didn't know this franchise, but it was super weird learning Blood Omen 2 started as a Chakan game apparently.
No one but my brothers know what I'm talking about when I bring up this game!!!! Miss it a lot.
i just had to ask my brother haha old school classic 1990s bb
In my youth the art style of this game caught my attention, and I purchased it for the game gear. Unfortunately my youthful patience (lack thereof) didn't give it much of a chance much like your previous experience with the title. I may have to give it another shot.
Thanks for uploading!
I remember playing this game when I was 5 back in 96! It was my favorite childhood game
I had this game growing up as a kid. I don't remember much of it besides it's relentless difficulty. Nice to finally see what lies beyond the first couple stages. Thanks man!
I think everyone did. I think it came with the console.
Love how how all the youngsters think from soft games are difficult. This game is way harder, it tormented me and took a month to beat
Somehow, this feels like one of those games that deserves a comeback, Ed Annunziata should really take such into consideration and if done just right, it will please a number of people for sure.
Omg memories..I use to have this eternal champions and sonic 2
It's unfortunate that this game has such incredible atmosphere but lacks that extra layer of polish (mostly in the gameplay and balance) that could have made it not just a small cult classic but a true classic. But who knows, if they're making a new Streets of Rage after 25 years maybe one day it's going to be Chakan's turn...
How dope would it be if they came out with a version of this for some of the modern systems?! Imagine playing through this in an open world style atmosphere like Super Mario or Zelda! 🤩
@@thomasmettham855 Yuck open world. They should just do it Dark Souls / Metroid style like Blasphemous.
@@BoozeAholic I personally think it would be awesome. Great opportunity to showcase some good dark/horror animators. I mean, it was awesome as it was. Don't get me wrong. I just think, with all the new rendering software out now and all the new artists making kick ass games, open world style would be the tits.
@@BoozeAholicI'd settle for a purely Souls-Like experience myself. I think that kind of gameplay loop fits Chakan to a T.
Cool thing to note with Elkenrod is if you take the time to go around and "free" all of the prisoners in her level, she'll only end up taking like 3-4 hits to beat ( versus idk 16 or something ). There are some bosses that seem like you're intended to fight fairly ( Ice Beast and the giant bug ) and others where you're almost required to use the right weapon.
My buddy turned me onto this just a week ago, I sent him a song and he said for whatever reason it reminded him of this game...which he tried to describe, which was pretty much every sword side scroller from 88-93. Said, "You can jump and then down thrust with your sword" again typical game mechanic. I was like, 'Rastan', no then I told him how my little brother used to endlessly play 'Rastan' at the local arcade and the subject got derailed. So the other day he sends me a text...'Oooohooho I remember it now it's Chakan" ok I'll dust off my genesis (fusion 364) and check it out.
This game makes me rage like when I was 13 and playing the first couple of mega mans. As an adult I have not felt the controller breaking fury this game allows me. This game is top notch. Right up there with the original 'Ninja Gaiden' (NES) or Metroid...climbing way up and then falling all the way back down. That shit is therapy.
thanks for the walkthrough, I was stuck on the 2nd phase of the spider lair, those wall spider farts are too much. Gonna finish the rest on my own and bookmark the resource.
Absolutely love this game. One of the best of that generation, for sure!
If this was on the snes it would have one of the most unique and amazing soundtracks on the system and the cartridge would be worth 300 dollars.
The soundtrack is already sick af
This game me and my brother were so confused to as what we were even supposed to do
this is so metal!
Man, I couldn't beat any stage I tried as a kid. The fact that this can be beaten in an hour and a half kills me. Nice work!
I could never figure out how to play this years ago, when I rented it, it came with no manual (no shocker) and it was years before internet was available, and no one i knew had any like game mags to help out. I think after 3 full days playing it and getting absolutely nowhere, I gave up. But man talk about the memories of the music
I have such a love/hate relationship with this game. I LOVE the graphics, sound, gameplay, but boy do I HATE that crazy difficulty. There comes a point where difficulty just straight up makes a game no fun to play and you just put it away and never touch it again. Unfortunately, this was one of those. I did try it again a few years ago, but with my aging reflexes even slower now then they were then, it just kicked my ass. Hard.
That Is the same thing that happened to me with Dynamite Headdy. Everything is amazing until you get tired and frustrated for the insane and unnecesary difficulty level.
And then, as a human being, you don't have another option than to hate a game you should love, beyond all the awesome stuff the game offers.
I feel the same regarding Earthbound Zero, and Earthbound for the SNES is my favorite game of all time.
I'm a BIG proponent of being able to select your own difficulty. It's why I refuse to play super difficult games anymore. I've always felt that everybody should be able to enjoy games, not just the hardcore or uber gamers. Sure, I've beaten my fair share of the super hard games (both Hotline Miami games, Ghosts 'N Goblins, etc.), but I simply don't have the time to invest in constant practice anymore, not to mention serious carpal tunnel issues that prevent me from enjoying a lot of games anymore. So, gimme a choice instead of forcing it on me.
@thatonedrewguy Oh yeah. I even tried the easier 25th Anniversary edition, but I still gave up about halfway through because I just wasn't having fun.
I always love me a game that evokes a gothic feeling. Chakan nailed it so well. Even though I could never complete the whole thing, it still always drew me to itself. I think the only other game to have ever given me the same gothic feeling was Soul Reaver. Different platforms and totally different animals, yeah. But I think they actually did a tremendously good job in the same sense.
Actually, Legacy of Kain, the precursor to Soul Reaver, was intended to be a Chakan sequel.
@@Bloodreign1 Holy moly. I had no idea. Just did some quick googling after seeing your comment. And wow, it's true. It seems there was at least a consideration of linking the two games somehow, though it never happened. How nice would that be to have?
8:05 "You know, what we REALLY need to do here is slow the gameplay down" - Game Devs
This is one of those games that I've owned for 20+ years and have spent maybe 5 minutes playing. I'd like to give it a second try, but now that I'm old I just don't have the time to devote to learning the mechanics of a difficult game. If I were 8 years old again, with no cares in the world apart from which games I wanted to rent that weekend at Blockbuster, sure, but now there is just no time. And when there IS time...like now, on a lazy Sunday afternoon, my old lazy bastard ass would just rather watch a video of someone else play it while I relax and lament how quickly the minutes are flying by. The grave seems so close now...
Just challenge Death...the grave will do its best to escape you
Well done man, this game used to wreck me on hard mode when I tried it a few years ago. My biggest issue with the game I would say is that the hitboxes are incredibly bad. Especially some of the boss ones. Sometimes you can infinite stun lock them, sometimes you need the worlds most specific pixel to hit them.
As someone whose favourite genre on the Megadrive is Playformer/Action Platformer, this really is THE underrated gem.
27:22 Love that beat that dude is dancing too.
That intro really stuck with me as a kid.
22:10 Lotta big enemies that you just cheese by having them walk into your sword. There's a bit of "Shadow of the Beast" where it's visually and thematically very impressive but the gameplay could use some work.
24:00 Ah here's your area boss. Just swing your axe and hope for the best. Also - cool artwork! Shame she's the same damn color as the background so none of this stuff stands out
I love this game a lot but it is easy to see why people hate it so much
Edit: The avgn needs to review this
Everything you said in your description was spot on apart from the colour palette.
The game is mute on purpose to match the tone of the game . Genesis can have more vibrant colours due to its parallax.
See alien soldier , contra hard corps ,or thunderforce
So this game really had a fake out ending? That's clever, cruel, and awesome
I've been trying to remember what the name of this game was for years. I finally found it today. I loved this growing up even though it was sooo hard. I would love to play now.
The signature annunziata dark atmospheric style on genesis, this and x men clone wars, I love it.
This game reminds me of that old X-Men game that came out on saga in the 90's.
Same people behind both games.
And batman returns
Probably one of the least known sega games in my opinion pretty underrated
Literally every sound is a blast through every nightmare you ever had oh yeah I'm jammin
So many memories beating this... Why didn't you use more potions throughout the game though? The visuals would have been great to see.
The waterfall effect at 50 minute mustve looked pretty with tearing on a CRT
Loved this game. The storyline had me hooked.
Ah... Yes... The original Dark Souls
I got this game on a whim last year. Always seen adds for it in EGM and what not. Little did I know how hard it was. Great game.
Great game, I've never had finished it in my youth! I'll collect some hints from this video, thanks
i expect that this game will display sword-dancing in action
what i got was a lone swordsman pointing his sword to every direction in order to kill the enemy
This was the first Mega Drive game I ever played, going from Mario Bros, Duck Tales, and Mega Man etc on NES to this felt like I was watching an R rated horror movie. Pity back then I could barely pass any of the levels but I'll always remember how cool this game felt the first time
Love that final boss...very Geiger-esque.
I remember breaking three controllers while playing this game lol
The new Puss in Boots movie reminded me of this game. Puss in Boots did what Chakan couldn’t and had the humility to embrace his mortality. A bullet nicely dodged, cat.
Hardest and longest Sega game. I could never get past the first few levels. This was a game that would take u weeks to beat
14:52 - I’m calling the cops, especially because I had the volume all the way up.
But props to you regardless...I remember both first seeing this on the Sega Channel years ago and having it be a straight up pain in the ass.
One of my fav games yes it was hard and I never did could finish it as a kid but still I did love playing Chakan Man 👍
I’ve been looking for this game since I was like 7 I used to play it on our sega and couldn’t for the life of me remember the name of it but only remember images from my memory of it holy shit
Last week I did a streaming on Facebook finishing it on Hard mode too. It is a game that need more respect. Sure is not perfect but is a good game, hard but not impossible. Also I like the visual style, I'm not against purple and green :P
Could never beat the first phases of the terrestrial planes, but I freaking loved this game. It also lead me to the comics by RAK.
It took me over a year to beat this one, I remember each level had challenges my young mind had to think in order to overcome. Watching this playthrough, I realize that I could have cheesed some of these boss battles. Still getting to the end to get a blank screen was aggravating. Still I think with some TLC this game could be brought into the modern ear, lord knows it needs it.
"I am Chakan, the greatest warrior ever. My skill with a blade was so great, I felled even Death himself. None could match my divine talent!"
- Defeats 90 percent of the enemies in the game via the amazing move of "Stick your sword out and let the enemy run into it and die/until they die -
"Fortunately for me, I live in a realm where everyone except me is a complete moron."
Yeah. Man I still tried so hard at these 2 games. I loved them even though they were flawed.
I have been searching for so long. I loved this game as a kid. So glad I finally found it😁
This is worth playing just for the soundtrack alone. But seriously, a quite unique game with challenging gameplay.
This was a game I rented once way back in the day. It was definitely a little weird. If I remember correctly, the manual was little to no help with gameplay too. I definitely didn't understand how to play it. So, one rental was enough for me.
Only ever beat this game with unlimited potions: you get them while playing on easy/practise mode. Normally you wouldnt be able to play the last 12 levels in this mode but you can warp there by using the gate potion on a certain platform in the corridor/level select room.
Oh damn, now I realize that this game was made by the same guy that made Ecco the Dolphin. The bad endings and good endings served as inspiration I guess 😅Too bad this game had the sequel rewritten for Blood Omen 2 but now I understand why the similarities in theme and the many "insectoid enemies" that became the Hylden lol
Neither man nor beast could best me in ...
Mortal Kombat.
Chakan confirmed for MK11
Mekida if only
Brain Lips how I miss you. I played this game SO much and never finished. Looks like I was fairly close though. This game is amazing!
Este juego de niño lo jugaba a veces en la compu de mi tío solo apenas pude terminar un nivel
Chakan so good..Too bad it didn't have a sequel
There's definitely shared DNA here with the X-men games, which I loved, yet I never played this, mostly because it was just a listing in the FunCoLand flyer with no other context.
Very exciting 🎮, and gameplay my friend 😀 👍🏽.
Awesome 🖤😎 not every man can say he fought death... 🤟🖤
Would love to see a remake of this
The Music to this sounds like the kind you hear on Seinfeld.
Brave man. Congrats on clocking it.
Thanks! I took a lot of beatings getting there, I'll tell ya
Seriously... without giving too much away, the final boss was just being the ultimate troll!!!
1:21:17 Don't skip this cutscene, it's a blink and you'll miss it sort of thing but it's worth it
Okay.
Clearly I have missed out never having played the Genesis.
I'm glad I grabbed a few titles, but I have more to look into now, or on the Game Gear or Master System. It's a rotten shame they've never brought back the Sega CD on any remake combo consoles.
You can say all you want about recent titles, but you can never really touch the music and atmosphere of Genesis games.
I remember renting this and how hard it was.
Abrasive and strange but I expect nothing less from the creator of ecco the dolphin.
I kind of wish he would get the chance to work on 1 last game. Just to see what else he's learned since videogames have become so psychology based in their design.
This was the dark s@#% we loved back in tha day. Never beat it but man did I try while I had it rented for a day or two.
Hardcore game ever
I didn't dismiss this game because it was regarded as hard. I've never even heard of it. The gameplay looks kind of sleep-inducing. I think Alien Soldier stands as the hardest game on the Genesis.
Chakan: "Touché, monsieur demon."
Neither man nor beast could best me in Mortal Kombat.