As the name suggests, Jaki Crush is the third mainline entry in the "Crush Pinball" series, following Alien Crush (TG-16) and Devil's Crush (TG-16; "Dragon's Fury" on the Sega Genesis). Apparently a "Jaki" is a sort of Japanese folklore demon, so a more generalized title for the game would be something along the lines of "Demon Crush."
To my knowledge, this game never saw a release outside of Japan. Despite that, it's not nightmarishly expensive to import a copy. Thankfully.
Anyway, it plays a lot like the other two Crush games, where you start off on a main pinball table and branch off into boss fights and bonus stages, racking up huge points along the way. I like that you can manually turn off the scoreboard (it's off by default) so that you have an uninterrupted view of the pinball table. I don't find the artwork or general theme of the table to be as exciting as Devil's Crush, but the game plays well, and scrolls smoothly between the different areas of the table.
The top of the table is sometimes covered in a mysterious fog effect. There's some nice fire effects in some of the bonus stages, too. It definitely seemed like the developers were experimenting more with special effects than in the previous games.
The music is unreal - in keeping with the Crush series tradition! I will always love the main table theme from Devil's Crush above all else, but Jaki's theme gives it a run for its money. It doesn't quite shred as hard, but it's well-composed, and gets in your head, all the same. Coming out of the SNES sound board, it gives off a bit of a Capcom vibe, and wouldn't sound out-of-place in Street Fighter II or UN Squadron.
The boss fights and bonus areas are a little tame compared to the previous games. The background images seem to lean more towards a pre-rendered style that was popular at the time, but I don't think they're as detailed or well-animated as their predecessors.
As an added bonus, this is one of the few games that my cat enjoys just as much as I do! He hopped up in my lap once I settled down to play, and his eyes were glued to the screen, ears perked up, following the ball as it bounced around the playfield. When I lost my first ball, the game let out an evil, demonic giggle, and my cat turned to me, eyes wide, and stared at me for a moment, petrified.
Yes, this game legitimately creeped my cat out. So it's got that going for it!
(Come to think of it, he also really enjoys Killer 7. The Heaven Smile enemies let out a similar giggle as they stagger around the stages, waiting for you to come closer. Hm...)
So, yes, happy cat, happy me. Jaki Crush comes highly recommended as fun for the whole family
