Underworld Trip

Underworld Trip

Browser - Screenshot - Title.

Developer Nekogames Publisher Nekogames Published 2009-05-17 Platforms Browser Genres Platformer Themes Mythology, Horror Distribution Freeware

Underworld Trip is a platformer developed and published by Nekogames as a free browser game on 2009-05-17. The game was programmed in Flash.

The game is based on the Chinese mythology surrounding the afterlife. You play as a man running through dangerous realms and, at the end of each, you beg the lord of that realm to spare you, but he only condemns you to another deadly realm. When you reach the end of the eighth realm, you must choose a temple to enter and you are taken to the afterlife that bests suits you based on how well you performed.

Personal

Own?	No. This game was never sold.
Won?	Yes. All endings.
Finished	2023-11-15.

With Flashpoint at my disposal, I was able to try a variety of other titles by Nekogames. This one had an interesting screenshot, so I played it. I finished it many times eventually getting all of the endings.

Review

4	4	3	4	5

Best Version: Browser

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The atmospheric music and sound effects are quite fitting.
• I like seeing imagery from a culture I'm unfamiliar with. I just with it were a bit more accessible with an English translation.

Bad

• The jump controls feel a little off and take some getting used to.
• While I generally don't mind pixelated graphics, these are barely discernible. A slightly higher resolution would have been nice.
• When you lose control of your character at the end of level 5, it's likely that you'll get hit by an unavoidable meteor. If you time it just right, you can guarantee it will miss, but waiting there to get the timing right is very dangerous. This was the bottleneck level for me.
• Although I generally like games which feature multiple endings, this one is a bit lazy and obtuse. The way it works is, if you die more than five times, the shrines will send you to a specific after life, far left: jigoku-dou / naraka-gati / realm of torment, top-left: gaki-dou / preta-gati / realm of extreme hunger, bottom-left: chikushou-dou / tiryagyoni-gati / realm of beasts, top-right: shura-dou / asura-gati / realm of titans, the bottom-right and far-right are random. If you die between one and four times, all shrines send you to jin-dou / manusya-gati / the human realm). If you reach the end without dying, all shrines send you to ten-dou / deva-gati / realm of the gods. The game doesn't make it clear how the alternate endings work, a player just has to play a whole lot and pay close attention to what happens each time.

Ugly

• The game is far too short. A single run through, even with lots of dying will take fewer than ten minutes. However, getting the good ending is an adequate challenge.
• Getting the good ending requires you to beat the entire game without dying, a pretty tall order considering the sketchy controls. I probably played it a couple dozen times to get it. Although this was common game design in early platformers, by 2009, it wasn't really accessible anymore. I would have much preferred a longer, but easier, game.
• Sometimes the player's left or right movement stops processing and your character will just freeze up on the screen. This usually fixes itself with the next keystroke, but, not always.

Media

Screenshots

• 

  Title screen.

• 

  Daggers are flying at you!

• 

  Begging for your life at the feet of a lord.

• 

  After you swim the river of snakes, your clothes are stolen.

• 

  Deadly spikes.

• 

  Desolate ruins.

Videos

Longplay - Good ending.

Longplay - One of the bad endings.

Play Online

Browser

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	One of the NPCs might be a woman, but they're not strong.
Bechdel test?	Fail	Nobody in the game speaks.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	Although all the characters are Chinese, none are strong.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Credits

Role	Staff
Producer	Nekogames
Game Design	Yossa
Program, Graphics	Yoshio Ishii (as Y.Ishii)
Sound	Yominokuni Records, Otojinen

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
English	Underworld Trip
Japanese	冥途の旅	Meido no Tabi	Journey to Hell

Links

 

• jayisgames.com/review/underworld-trip.php - Review - Jay Is Games.