Hardcore Transformers fans will know that us lot here in the west missed out on a couple of NES / Famicom games based on the much-loved licence.

The Transformers: Mystery of Convoy is one such game, and was, in truth, a slightly cynical cash-in that tried to bridge the gap between the events of two TV seasons - as the Transformers movie that fulfilled this role in the west was not shown in Japan for quite some time.

The game follows Ultra Magnus as he attempts to find the killer of Autobot leader Optimus Prime, and has gone down in Transformers history as being completely apocryphal to the canon of the series.

It's also known for being difficult. Really really really difficult.

So legendarily difficult, in fact, that the people at DLE have decided to create a mobile game based on The Transformers: Mystery of Convoy, to take advantage of the fact that everybody seems to love Crushingly hard games of skill on mobile right now.

Q Transformers: Mystery of the Returned Convoy is that game, and it's out right now in Japan as a free download.

The game is an auto-runner where you can either jump to avoid obstacles, or transform between two modes. In robot mode you shoot bullets at oncoming enemies, but if you transform into Choro Q mode then you can pass through narrow objects.

Q Transformers: Mystery of the Returned Convoy also features floating Decepticon symbols as bosses, unlockable characters, and leaderboard support. The game description claims that if you can survive for 20 seconds, that you're doing well.

There's no word yet on whether the game will come to other territories, but that's not necessarily a problem if you know how to make a Japanese iTunes account.

[App Store link]
[Google Play link]

Much obliged, 4Gamer.net