Circus Caper (USA) ROM

Circus Caper is a unique action game following a young boy trying to save his sister from the evil Ringmaster.

Controls are sluggish and attacks hardly line up right from the PC but the NPCs can hammer you by standing inside you as you struggle to break. Minigame controls are tighter. There's a wide range of weapons/items which are fun to use, but limited.

Sound is pretty circus~y, side-show carnival sounding, lots of bleeps and bloops...but overall a nice soundscape.

Graphics are cute and there are so many nice looking, detailed parts in the game. Like the bricks during the minigame and the clown face background as well as the entire intro. It feels like graphics go down a few notches as you progress deeper into the game, though...

Gameplay enjoyment and flow was hampered by irritants. The controls and mechanics of the enemies, as they reappear endlessly after being destroyed, make this a real chore to play and it takes away massively from a unique game. It seems to promote rushing every level. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not, like a reward for dealing with the headache levels, but bosses are super cheesable and easy to beat. I wish there were more minigames because those were pretty fun. Terayaki battle ftw.

Overall, I really enjoyed this game and would recommend.