The Neo Geo Pocket Color version of the 1981 Neo Geo game Crush Roller is similar to Pac-Man but with a little extra.
Gameplay/Control The simple game mechanic of Crush Roller is to cover the road in paint while avoiding the monsters after you. It’s more or less like Pac-Man reversed. On the road is a paint roller that will shoot you quickly as you paint and will also squish the monster(s) that may be in your path, which is the only way to defeat them even though they re-spawn anyway. As you roll, other little creatures will be let loose that you need to capture. Capturing these creatures will unlock a card in your collection from the main menu (25 total). Sometimes other creatures will be let loose that you'll need to stop because they'll leave their footprints in the paint. Once you paint an entire map, you can move on.
There are two other modes of play as well. The first is a simple vs. mode where you can link two NGPCs together and paint two maps at the same time. Any monsters that get crushed along the way will be sent to your opponent’s side. The final mode is Trial where you can see how fast you can complete a map on any of the maps you've beaten in single player.
You control your paint brush with the analog stick but its very difficult to sometimes make corners, often resulting in you getting caught. Developer ADK realized the problem and included a directional ring with each game. The ring is placed down and around the analog stick turning the stick into a four way D-Pad. This makes the game much easier from a control standpoint and it also works great with Pac-Man.
Graphics/Sound The graphics are nice on the NGPC and even better than the original Neo Geo game. The maps are bright and colorful but each monster is only one color. The sound is ok, the theme can get repetitious.
Replay Value The single player game will keep you entertained and the vs. mode is fun. However the only real reason to come back to the single player game is to catch and unlock the character cards which serve as no real purpose other than to just get them
Overall this game is fun even if it's somewhat of a Pac-Man rip off.
