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[Played via the very recent NES port which can be found for sale on itch.io]
I'm going to be honest, I usually frown upon homebrews. Once the novelty of playing a new game on an old console wears off, I've always felt like I was left with a half baked product. At least, that's been my experience with the homebrew scene so far.
This, however, was rock solid. Sam's Journey is a bit Yoshi's Island (due to the collect-a-thon element), a bit Donkey Kong Country and a bit Super Mario Bros. 3. You have the large, sprawling levels that europlatformers were typically known for (thankfully not as confusing as something from the original Turrican) and a good number of suits to mess around with. Sam will find himself turning into a pirate, a wall jumping ninja, a vampire that can turn into a bat and even an Elvis knock off that can twirl around in the air.
Knights of Bytes certainly didn't skimp out on the presentation for their first project, either. This game looks just as good as an actual late release NES game, although it does get a little too busy visually. There were definitely times I struggled to distinguish the foreground from the background, but it was never game breaking. Also, the music is absolutely fantastic. It goes way harder than it needed to for a game about a kid getting yoinked into a magic warphole in his closet.
Give this one a go if you don't mind the fact that it's not on the traditional storefronts. I really hope this will come to Steam as well as Switch- it would definitely have an audience on the latter!
I'm going to be honest, I usually frown upon homebrews. Once the novelty of playing a new game on an old console wears off, I've always felt like I was left with a half baked product. At least, that's been my experience with the homebrew scene so far.
This, however, was rock solid. Sam's Journey is a bit Yoshi's Island (due to the collect-a-thon element), a bit Donkey Kong Country and a bit Super Mario Bros. 3. You have the large, sprawling levels that europlatformers were typically known for (thankfully not as confusing as something from the original Turrican) and a good number of suits to mess around with. Sam will find himself turning into a pirate, a wall jumping ninja, a vampire that can turn into a bat and even an Elvis knock off that can twirl around in the air.
Knights of Bytes certainly didn't skimp out on the presentation for their first project, either. This game looks just as good as an actual late release NES game, although it does get a little too busy visually. There were definitely times I struggled to distinguish the foreground from the background, but it was never game breaking. Also, the music is absolutely fantastic. It goes way harder than it needed to for a game about a kid getting yoinked into a magic warphole in his closet.
Give this one a go if you don't mind the fact that it's not on the traditional storefronts. I really hope this will come to Steam as well as Switch- it would definitely have an audience on the latter!