Liquid Kids (c) 1990 Taito.

A incredibly cute and colourful single player platform game from the
same stable that brought the classic "Bubble Bobble", "New Zealand
Story" and "Rainbow Islands" to the gaming world. Liquid Kids features
'Hipopo the Hippo', a Hippopotamus who must fight his way through a
large number of enemy-packed levels in search of his missing girlfriend

- rescuing other hippo-like creatures along the way. Hipopo is armed
with magical water globes which can be thrown at enemies to freeze and
damage them. Once frozen, the enemies can then be kicked and destroyed
completely. The water attack works in a very similar fashion to the
water attack bubbles of another Taito classic, 1986's "Bubble Bobble".

The level design is superb and makes full use of the game's water theme;
with moving platforms, collapsible floors, boats and water-wheels all
making an appearance. Small plants also appear on certain levels which
can be 'watered', causing them to grow and creating new platforms.


- TECHNICAL -
Taito F2 System hardware
Game ID : F2-System No. 07
Board Number : K1100593A
Prom Stickers : C49
Main CPU : 68000 (@ 12 Mhz)
Sound CPU : Z80 (@ 4 Mhz)
Sound Chips : YM2610 (@ 8 Mhz)
Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 320 x 224 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz
Palette colors : 4096
Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 2

- TRIVIA -
Released in August 1990.

This game is known in Japan as "Mizubaku Daibouken".

Hipopo, the main character, appears in "Bubble Symphony" as a special
character and in "Bubble Memories" as a giant bonus item. One of the
secret rooms is built in the image of Tiki, the kiwi bird from "The New
Zealand Story".

A port of Liquid Kids was planned for release on the Commodore Amiga by
Manchester's 'Ocean Software', but despite the game being completed, the
publishers decided that Liquid Kids would fail at retail and its release
was cancelled. The Amiga version's lead programmer finally released the
code to the Amiga community in 2003, allowing gamers to enjoy what was a
very accomplished conversion for the first time.

As with many Taito games, Liquid Kids forbids the initials 'SEX' being
entered on the high score table. If you try, it gets changed to 'H'.

Zuntata Records released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this
game (Zuntata History L'ab-normal 1st - ZTTL-0038) on 01/04/1999.


- UPDATES -
The US version is slightly different, it has the "Winners Don't Use
Drugs" screen.


- TIPS AND TRICKS -
* Teddy Bear Cheat : in the demo mode during the attract mode, press 20
times the bubble button and a cute picture of a bear will appear in the
right bottom of the screen.


- STAFF -
The "Mizubaku" Project staff
Team Leader : Kazutomo Ishida
Planner : Nobuhiro Hiramatsu
Director : Nobuhiro Hiramatsu, T. MATSUMOTO
Programmers : Kazutomo Ishida, K. NAGAHARA, K. TSUNEKIYO, TABBY.K
Characters : Nobuhiro Hiramatsu, H. KUJIRAI, Y. IWATA, P-COCK, V.A.P.,
TRIFLESER, T. MATSUMOTO
Sound : KARU, OGR
Hardware : S.W.S.

Design : K. NAKAGAWA, SANTACLAUS
Special Thanks : Kumagaya Labo

- PORTS -
* Consoles :
NEC PC-Engine (1992)
Sega Saturn (1998)
Microsoft XBOX (2006, "Taito Legends 2")
Sony PlayStation 2 (2006, "Taito Legends 2")
* Computers :
PC [CD-ROM] (2006, "Taito Legends 2")
