Front cover of North American TurboGrafx-16 version. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Shifty Look is Namco’s attempt to revitalize their old video games through the use of webcomics. I kind of like Katamari, the webcomic version of Katamari Damancy, and Rapid Thunder, the “sequel” to Rolling Thunder. My two favorites, however, are Wonder Momo (a game never ported to the US) and Bravoman. Of these four, I have only played Rolling Thunder. The big break-out of Shifty Look is Bravoman, a comedic take on the game and character, poking fun at game tropes while breaking the fourth wall with a jackhammer.
Seeing potential gold in this comic, produced by Matt Moylan (of Udon Studios) and Dax Gordine (although as of this writing they’re doing a side story drawn by Ashley Davis) Namco and Shifty Look’s producers decided that the possibility existed for an animated webseries. When I saw some early sketches, I thought it was another joke, like the “action figures” bits. But here is a trailer for the thing and it isn’t April 1st yet, so maybe they actually are.
That was Rob Paulsen as Bravoman and his “mentor”, Alpha Man, with other voices teased in the teaser. It was an adaptation of the first few strips, so they may be more adaptations or new stories. It’s not really clear just from a teaser. You can follow the upcoming series and more stuff at Shifty Look’s YouTube page.
(And if someone knows how I can play the game, let me know.)
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