"Lupin, I love ya, but you can do better than this"

Ah, Lupin III. One of the most famous of anime characters, having been around in Japan since the 60's and just starting to get some recognition in the United States. A long long time ago there was an arcade game about the world's greatest thief. And boy did it suck.

The idea is to get Lupin to pick up money bags at the top of the screen, and then move them to the bottom of the screen, whereupon they are considered successfully swiped. Of course there's people out to stop him, like a security guard, his dog, and I have to assume Inspector Zenigata. After stealing all the bags, Lupin takes them to his ungrateful girlfriend (presumably the infamous seductress Fujiko Mine) who tells him to go get more then you do it all over again. Just harder and faster this time.

What the heck? That guy in the cape I control ain't any version of Lupin I've ever seen. He looks like somebody who should be fighting the Three Musketeers! I'm sorry, but not a thing about this game says ''Lupin III'' to me. And to put that into perspective, even that gawdawful NES sequel to Castle of Cagliostro did.

The graphics are okay for the time period in which this game was made, although they're still terrible by today's standards. No mistake about that. There isn't even any sound to talk about in this game, so that's the end of that.

It's sort of like Pac-Man except you're stealing treasure from a vault or something rather than dots from a bunch of neon-colored ghosts. Which I guess makes it like Lock 'n Chase. And there's no power pill that lets him turn the tables on his pursuers, so one touch means instant death. Which is pretty weird for the Lupin I know that's handy with a gun and can escape any trap. This must actually be a game about some other thief who goes around in a cape and Darkwing Duck hat pretending to be Lupin.

Lupin's the kind of character that licensed games were meant for, but I guess not back when this game was born. Don't bother looking for this game, it ain't worth it. Get yourself a PS2 and Lupin's game on that platform, or the one on the SNES, or even Cliff Hanger would be a better game for a Lupin fan to play than this. Not the king of thieves, this game.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 03/09/04