It's new to me: Chew Man Fu

Sometimes, all you have to go off of is a name and some box art. Sure, you could look up more details or even watch some gameplay clips, but my tendency to go in relatively uninformed sometimes leaves me in a state of “what even is this?” Such is the case of Chew Man Fu.Arriving on the Turbografx-16 in 1990, Chew Man Fu — sometimes stylized as Chew-Man-Fu — was Now Production's first release on NEC and Hudson's console. And unlike many of Now Production's works from the era, which were in existing franchises — Adventure Island II and III, Splatterhouse 2 and 3, etc. — this one was fully original. It was known as Be Ball in Japan on the PC Engine, but that told you only slightly more about what was going on in there than “Chew Man Fu” managed. Subscribe to Retro XP Balls were involved somehow — the PC Engine box featured the protagonists, the word “Ball,” and imagery of balls being pushed around by young women, while the Turbografx art included a wizard-looking dude who had clearly…