On first glance, it is easy to write off El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera as another bit of licensed claptrap. Too often, we see gaudy colors and big-eyed characters and assume that the game is going to be just an excuse to help parents part with the almighty dollar. Deeper beneath the surface, there is actually a lot of neat stuff in El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera that calls back classic side-scrolling arcade titles of yesteryear like the Simpsons four-player cabinet that I pumped about five dollars in quarters into back in the nineties. The allure of this game is that it uses both screens constantly to give additional room for play. Enemies appear from all side, plus they'll sometimes drop down onto your head. In later levels, it becomes necessary to move up and around more frequently and especially when you're seeking refuge against a tough boss. The banter in the game isn't matched with voice-acting, which would have been perfection. Instead we get little caption bubbles and images of each character talking. They all have great expressions and the lines they deliver are usually hilarious. Think the kind of inane madness that Ren & Stimpy were fond of spouting and you're on the right track. The graphics that accompany special attacks are awesome and very easy to trigger.

As the complement to cool graphics, we have some great music. The charged, driving soundtrack is rock with a subtropical tinge. Not really Los Lobos, but along those lines. Words cannot describe how refreshing it is to not hear a stream of techno or synth-chord sequences in a game for kids!! Each stage features different music, adding up to a surprising amount of original material featured during the game. There isn't nearly as much creativity put into the sound effects you'll hear during gameplay, but the occasional snicker will be prompted as you watch El Tigre mow down a crowd of bad guys or destroy some part of the background.

Since El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera revolves in a roundabout way around Mexican wrestling and wanton destruction, it's not surprising that the game emerged as a side-scrolling, 2D fighting experience. There isn't enough variation between levels to make this truly classic, but it fits nicely with other arcade-style games of this type. The execution is strong, the enemies are varied, and El Tigre develops as a character constantly.

The premise of the game is that a plot by an evil power has forced El Tigre to go out looking for parts of a fabulous treasure, the Jeweled Mule of Maya. Hilariously, the enemy is a guitar-playing skeleton called Sartana... If you haven't figured it out yet or aren't a fan of the character, the universe of El Tigre is filtered through Spanish cultural references. The Mexican wrestling icons bump up against occult references, military dictators, and ancient cultural artifacts. It would seem that the rising number of Hispanic television viewers stateside have more than a few licenses that cater to them, but one can't avoid wondering if this stuff is seen as a good joke or just stereotyping. The humorous side of the game is constantly reinforced, and the heroic side of El Tigre is played up as well. An interesting feature of the game is that El Tigre will end up with different moves and even a different outcome in the game depending on how he behaves. Power-ups can be gained by defeating enemies and also by destroying things in the environment. At certain points in the action, El Tigre will be rewarded by his father and grandfather for defeating a boss with special moves. Touch-screen controls are used to initiate the really powerful moves. Special moves can be either "good" or "bad" depending on whether you learned them from your father or grandfather. At first, it was confusing that El Tigre was earning two moves triggered in exactly the same way. The secret to pulling off a good or bad move is tied to how you earn your power-ups. If you control El Tigre in a way that stresses destroying bad guys without destruction of property, you'll always trigger the "good" variation of a special move. You do have to destroy bad guys to progress through the game, but if you also destroy property, you'll start to lean toward the "bad" side. It's a neat idea, but there isn't enough clear distinction between good and bad actions. Many gamers may beat the game and never really understand this aspect of gameplay.

The multiplayer action is fun and brings Manny's sister into the fray. Frida has her own list of moves, but doesn't get to be good or bad. She does get to use her guitar to take out bad-guys, reinforcing the neat musical themes mentioned earlier. At the tail end of El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, Manny faces off against the last boss. Depending on whether he's been naughty or nice (just in time for Feliz Navidad), he will be able to summon - for the first time - his father or grandfather. It's an awesome reward and a nice way to end the game. The game has some good replay value in that you can go through and try to earn different endings or play with a friend as Frida instead of Manny. A few alternate stages or mini-games would have been the icing on the cake, so hopefully the game will find an audience and earn a sequel.

Button-mashing gets a bad name for no particular reason. The possible cause for slander to many button-mashing games is that they just generally suck. El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera clearly does not suck, so the button-mashing action is just part of the fun. It isn't terribly difficult to defeat the many waves of enemies through the first half of the game. Later there appear a few enemies that are much more difficult... annoyingly so. Boss battles also have a fairly high-pitched difficulty, so it would have been nice to see something in between. Special moves are the key to defeating most of the bosses, except for those that won't stand still long enough. The downer on special moves is that they are all super-powerful, but also super-slow. It would have been nice for a combo system that was keyed to the buttons that was easier to pull off and that bridged the moves you trigger on the touch-screen. The so-called combos on the buttons are just pressing the (A) button in sequence. It's an okay arrangement, but watching El Tigre punch two times instead of once just isn't my idea of an exciting combo. Repetition (in combo or not) and timing still prove to be the best medicine for defeating enemies.

One key to making an enjoyable arcade-action-fighting game is just keeping the controls really simple. El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera nails this. Tapping (A) throughout the game provides 90% of the solution for every problem. Walking along kicking butt is Manny's specialty, but he has many aerial moves as well. Jumping brings a few new moves as well as the ability to kick and smash down on enemies from above. Manny doesn't have enough acrobatic moves, but that would bring new controls and keeping it simple is a virtue in this setting. The special moves are controlled easily by tapping the L shoulder-button and then tracing a shape in the bottom touch-screen. It seems like this would disrupt the action, but everything kind of freezes once you tap the shoulder-button so you have the time to trace the shape below. The shapes are nice and simple to keep things manageable.

El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera is a pleasure to play and will appeal to kids regardless of whether they know about the show. Unless the parents have a problem with ridiculously stylized violence against skeletons and Mexican wrestlers, this is a harmless but fun jaunt into the world of El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera. It may not be breaking much ground, but it does a nice job being all it can be. Vaminos! Get to the store and buy this one, pronto!