Popeye: Rush for Spinach Longplay (Game Boy Advance) [4K]

Developed by Magic Pockets and published by Namco in 2005
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Released in 2005, Popeye: Race for Spinach is a curious little title for the GBA, starring everyone's favourite green-stuff chomping sailor-man.

The first thing to strike you will be, most likely, the graphics. The animation and sprite-work really captures the essence of the Fleischer Studios cartoons, which is no mean feat when you consider the miniscule resolution of the GBA screen, so hats of Magic Pockets in this regard; it's really quite impressive.

As for the game, it's really just a chase-based racer, where up to 4 players compete to see who can be the first to navigate courses full of hazards, platforms and obstacles. Various power-ups can be collected to give yourself an advantage (i.e. shield, or cans of spinach), or sabotage your opponents. Laying landmines in strategic places, or zapping an approaching adversary can keep them off your heels for a bit longer, allowing you to extend your lead.

Obviously, the game is at its best when playing with friends, but for solo players, there's an adventure mode, which replaces human players with CPU-controlled opponents. The various levels are strung together a with a lose narrative to give some semblance of a storyline, although it really doesn't matter much.

Video Notes
I played through the adventure mode, then unlocked the bonus levels with a password in order to be able to show them here. I didn't bother with the challenge or time rush modes because the levels really don't change, and the game is best played against a full set of CPU opponents anyway.

Chapters
00:00 Adventure mode
28:32 Bonus levels

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#gameboyadvance
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