Neutopia II

Neutopia II shares many similarities in visuals and gameplay with the early Legend of Zelda titles. The player takes control of a young boy who freely roams through a sizable 2D environment. The player may progress through accepted tasks in any order at certain points of the game, at other times it is more linear in progression and story.

Neutopia II was created by a mostly different team at Hudson Soft who did not work on the first Neutopia, with Shigeki Fujiwara leading its development as director and also acting as game designer. Two members of the original Neutopia staff, Kōji Kaneta and Masato Tobisawa, returned to serve as co-programmers. The characters were designed by Fumie Takaoka, while Yutaka Satō and Yoshikazu Yasuhiko were responsible for designing background graphics and sprites respectively. The soundtrack was composed by Keita Hoshi, who would later work on Soldier Blade and Super Bomberman 3. Hoshi also created the game's sound effects.

Neutopia II was first published in Japan by Hudson Soft on September 27, 1991 for the PC Engine. Prior to launch, it was demonstrated at the 1991 Tokyo Toy Show during summer. The game was first slated for a July 1992 release date in North America, but was published by Turbo Technologies in August 1992 for the TurboGrafx-16. The game was one of many launch titles under the Turbo Technologies Inc relaunch for the TurboGrafx-16, the other games including Air Zonk, Jackie Chan's Action Kung-Fu, and Dungeons and Dragons: Order of the Griffon.

Neutopia II received mostly positive reception from critics since its release on the TurboGrafx-16, most of which reviewed it as an import title. 24 out of 30 score, ranking at the number 150 spot in a poll, indicating a popular following. Video Games' Martin Gaksch commended its visuals for the varied monster designs, new gameplay additions and stylish music. Famitsu's four reviewers commended the plot for being straightforward and easy to understand, as well as the Zelda-style gameplay but criticized its lack of originality.

Consoles Plus' Kaneda Kun and Matt gave positive remarks to the presentation, graphics, character animations, pleasant music and playability but criticized its simplistic puzzles. Likewise, Génération 4's Philippe Querleux gave positive commentary in regards to the audiovisual presentation and gameplay. Similarly, Joypad's Alain Huyghues-Lacour praised its graphics, sprite animations, controls and sound. Joystick's Jean-François Morisse concurred with Lacour on most points but gave the title a low rating.