PlayStation Basement #28 - Irritating Stick

This review was originally published on the Console Purist Facebook group on March 9th, 2019. It has been edited slightly for formatting.

Happy Saturday, and welcome to PlayStation Basement! Every Saturday I am here reviewing an odd or obscure game for the original PlayStation. My reviews are intended to de-emphasize the standard point system you see in a lot of video game reviews, so I use a nine-point scale where 9-7 is Good, 6-4 is Neutral, and 3-1 is Bad. The emphasis is on the word used, not so much the number.

This Saturday, I’m reviewing a video game based on a game show. Both video game and game show are based on moving a rod through an electrified maze. Obviously, you don’t want to touch the sides, and I am sure many other obstacles will arise. Sounds kind of annoying or irritating, huh? Well, this is Irritating Stick.

I first encountered Irritating Stick on a PlayStation Underground Jampack in the imports section. The game had not yet been released in North America, and I assume that the creators of that quarterly demo disc were not sure if the game would see a North American release. Considering that it came from the Japan-only game show of Ucchan Nanchan no Honō no Challenger: Kore ga Dekitara 100 Man En (Ucchan Nanchan's Challengers of Fire: 1,000,000 Yen If You Can Do This!!) and had such simple mechanics, I would not have expected such either. Despite the challenges of localizing such weirdness, Jaleco brought Irritating Stick to North America at the end of January 1999, nearly a year after its original release in Japan on March 19^th, 1998. The game was developed, and originally published, by Saurus who seem to have otherwise worked with SNK on the NEO GEO platform.

The cover art to Irritating Stick shows a big, electrical explosion from a sword held by a gloved hand. The graphics are simple polygons with wild, bright colors. The text is written in huge, gold letters. Perhaps this is a prediction of current street styles and vaporwave. The Japanese art shows some odd figures surrounded by darkness with the game’s title below. Both are wacky in their own way, but I prefer the bright North American colors.

In-game, Irritating Stick is not a graphical powerhouse. There’s basically a white circle navigating through a white maze. Various 3D elements appear, larger set piece obstacles such as Mr. Robot, but the core visuals are the maze, a colorful background showing some lights, and the white circle. The larger pieces stand out when they do appear, and sometimes the game uses some twisting camera angles that really make the player think to navigate. You can also press a button to look at the maze in a 3D side-view, which looks a bit like the cover art. Overall, the visuals are straightforward, simple, and they work well enough.

Irritating Stick has tons of zaps, clanks, and pops. The announcer is cheery in a somewhat ironic way that makes him both benefactor and antagonist. Musically, Irritating Stick goes for energetic disco and hip hop in addition to various fanfares and dread organs for the reveal of difficult challenges. It’s all very silly, and it works with what is happening here.

As mentioned, Irritating Stick is a game about navigating a maze. Other than the 3D and the speed and variety of all that is happening, it’s almost like an Atari 2600 game. Other than increasing and decreasing the rod’s speed, viewing the course at an angle in 3D, and learning the ins and outs of each new trick and trap, Irritating Stick is just what it appears to be at first glance. The various modes include the TV mode (for three courses from the show), the arcade mode (for four different courses), a course builder mode (for creating your own levels), a versus mode, and the AI mode (which generates random courses of 99 levels based on the player’s skill shown in the last few attempts in every mode). The courses do not start particularly easy and only get harder and harder. Irritating Stick rewards practice and patience. It has those core levels for the standard player and the edit and AI modes for more devoted challengers. It’s always fun to try to beat your last best time too.

Through all of the electrifying victories and shocking defeats, I really like Irritating Stick. It’s certainly not a game for everyone. The game lacks a story, powerful graphics, orchestral music, or complex gameplay, but sometimes none of that is necessary. What seems to be somewhat shallow does reward those who put in the time.

Irritating Stick receives a Good (9).

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