These later NES games are where it's at. I love the dark, action-packed cyberpunk style of this game, which was already enrapturing and cool before I learned the Japanese version was based on a pre-existing TV show. I also love how there are multiple combinations of powerups you can put together for different assistance drones. The graphics and sound are also among the best on the system. The game can be a bit overly difficult with some truly durable bosses, but that's the nature of the NES. No passwords, but it's relatively short and has infinite continues.
guy who looks like a cyborg version of adam yauch (RIP) from the beastie boys wearing some bitchin sunglasses >>>>>>>>>>> that lame power rangers shit on the japanese cover art
Pouco conhecido, eu mesmo conheci em 2023, mas é um jogo sensacional. Trilha sonora incrível, gráficos muito bons e uma escala de dificuldade que só os jogos antigos conseguem proporcionar.
An NES classic that's aged incredibly, arguably better than some 16-bit games. Definitely pick this up if you're looking for a fun action platformer.
Once again continuing my journey through obscure NES games that most people haven’t heard of, we have Shatterhand, a game with one of the worst covers that I have seen for an NES game in a while. Seriously, just take a moment to look at this fucking DORK over on the left there. I know they had to change it from the original cover, which was based on the series Super Rescue Solbrain, which never aired in the west, but they couldn’t have made the guy on the cover look just a little more masculine? But anyways, I am getting off-topic here, primarily because Shatterhand is another NES game that doesn’t look too inviting on the surface. It just seems like every other generic platformer from the system that was out at the time, but I had heard plenty of good things about the game, so I still decided to give it a shot. After one failed playthrough where I rage quit, I came back to it, and I ended up having a pretty good time with it. It is a pretty solid platformer for the NES, and while it does have its fair share of elements that hold it back, it is one of the better obscure gems for the system, even if it doesn’t reach the heights of others like Power Blade or Metal Storm for me.
The story is fairly generic, where an evil group known as Metal Command attempts to take over the world in the year 2030 (glad to know we will have to deal with this in 7 years), so it is up to Steve Hermann, codenamed Shatterhand, to take them down, which is fine enough for an NES plot, even if it is never told to the player in the game itself. The graphics are pretty good, having plenty of detailed sprites, animations, and environments for the system, even if it looks like every other game on the system at the same time, the music is decent enough, having plenty of up-beat tunes that will accompany you as you punch through plenty of enemies, but nothing that stuck out too much, the control is standard for an NES platformer, and you can get used to it pretty quickly, so nothing more to note there, and the game is also somewhat standard for the time, but there are some unique approaches to familiar concepts that can be seen here, which is admirable.
The game is a 2D action platformer, where you take control of Agent Shatterhand, take on a set of seven stages that you can take on in any order you want (for the most part), punch the hell out of every single enemy that you see on screen with your cybernetic arms, gather plenty of money to spend at stations to gain health, attack upgrades, and extra lives to help you out along the way, and take on plenty of tough, yet manageable bosses that will test your jumping, dodging, and attacking skills. Most of it is what you have seen before plenty of times from other NES games, but there are some elements that do make it more interesting compared to other titles, other than the approach to getting health or attack upgrades.
Throughout the game, you can punch open these boxes to get either money or these letter blocks that you can grab, and whenever you gather three of these letters, you will then gain access to a robotic satellite that will follow you around from then on out. That in itself doesn’t sound like much, but you do get the option to pick either A or B letters up, and you can pick them up to make different combinations, which determine which kind of robotic satellite will accompany you, which is pretty cool. It does allow for plenty of experimentation to see what kind of robotic companion you will get, and as for the robotic companions themselves, they are pretty helpful. Each one of them has their own unique weapon they can use, such as balls of energy, a flamethrower, and a laser sword, which can be incredibly helpful, especially against bosses.
Not only that, but if you also get two of the same combination of letters at once, you can then upgrade yourself to get a power suit, which does MASSIVE damage against enemies. The only downside to this is that the suit itself is only available to use for a limited time, and the robotic companions can get damaged enough to where they will then leave, which does kinda suck, but I guess it does keep you from being too overpowered the entire time. Nevertheless, whenever you do have these helpers, they do help out quite a lot, and they do make the game that much more fun to blast through.
Aside from that though, there isn’t too much else going for this game compared to others. It is an extremely generic old-school platformer, having generic stages, generic music, a generic protagonist, a generic story, generic EVERYTHING. That’s not to say that any of that drags the game down, but if you are looking for something more unique from this system, then you will not get that from this game. As for actual problems with the game, aside from being pretty difficult at times, the final stage in the game can suck a load of dick. Not only do you have to refight several bosses throughout the stage, which is about as fun as it sounds, but I swear, there are sections of the stage where it feels like it is impossible to get through them without taking damage. Maybe I just suck, but I tried getting through these sections plenty of times, and I swear, there is no way to do so without taking a hit. So, yeah, fuck that noise.
Overall, despite the final stage being a load of ass, and the package as a whole isn’t very unique for the time, Shatterhand is still a pretty fun game, and one of the better platformers that you could find on the NES. It has the presentation, gameplay, and style that elevate it to being one of the best obscure games that you could find for the system, and I am glad that I finally checked it out after knowing about it for a long time. I would definitely recommend it for those who are fans of old-school 8-bit platformers, because this one will definitely be one you will be glad you checked out, even if it may not be as good as others. Just, you know, ignore the try-hard on the cover of the game. Seriously, the game is much better in comparison to the box-art.
Game #454
The story is fairly generic, where an evil group known as Metal Command attempts to take over the world in the year 2030 (glad to know we will have to deal with this in 7 years), so it is up to Steve Hermann, codenamed Shatterhand, to take them down, which is fine enough for an NES plot, even if it is never told to the player in the game itself. The graphics are pretty good, having plenty of detailed sprites, animations, and environments for the system, even if it looks like every other game on the system at the same time, the music is decent enough, having plenty of up-beat tunes that will accompany you as you punch through plenty of enemies, but nothing that stuck out too much, the control is standard for an NES platformer, and you can get used to it pretty quickly, so nothing more to note there, and the game is also somewhat standard for the time, but there are some unique approaches to familiar concepts that can be seen here, which is admirable.
The game is a 2D action platformer, where you take control of Agent Shatterhand, take on a set of seven stages that you can take on in any order you want (for the most part), punch the hell out of every single enemy that you see on screen with your cybernetic arms, gather plenty of money to spend at stations to gain health, attack upgrades, and extra lives to help you out along the way, and take on plenty of tough, yet manageable bosses that will test your jumping, dodging, and attacking skills. Most of it is what you have seen before plenty of times from other NES games, but there are some elements that do make it more interesting compared to other titles, other than the approach to getting health or attack upgrades.
Throughout the game, you can punch open these boxes to get either money or these letter blocks that you can grab, and whenever you gather three of these letters, you will then gain access to a robotic satellite that will follow you around from then on out. That in itself doesn’t sound like much, but you do get the option to pick either A or B letters up, and you can pick them up to make different combinations, which determine which kind of robotic satellite will accompany you, which is pretty cool. It does allow for plenty of experimentation to see what kind of robotic companion you will get, and as for the robotic companions themselves, they are pretty helpful. Each one of them has their own unique weapon they can use, such as balls of energy, a flamethrower, and a laser sword, which can be incredibly helpful, especially against bosses.
Not only that, but if you also get two of the same combination of letters at once, you can then upgrade yourself to get a power suit, which does MASSIVE damage against enemies. The only downside to this is that the suit itself is only available to use for a limited time, and the robotic companions can get damaged enough to where they will then leave, which does kinda suck, but I guess it does keep you from being too overpowered the entire time. Nevertheless, whenever you do have these helpers, they do help out quite a lot, and they do make the game that much more fun to blast through.
Aside from that though, there isn’t too much else going for this game compared to others. It is an extremely generic old-school platformer, having generic stages, generic music, a generic protagonist, a generic story, generic EVERYTHING. That’s not to say that any of that drags the game down, but if you are looking for something more unique from this system, then you will not get that from this game. As for actual problems with the game, aside from being pretty difficult at times, the final stage in the game can suck a load of dick. Not only do you have to refight several bosses throughout the stage, which is about as fun as it sounds, but I swear, there are sections of the stage where it feels like it is impossible to get through them without taking damage. Maybe I just suck, but I tried getting through these sections plenty of times, and I swear, there is no way to do so without taking a hit. So, yeah, fuck that noise.
Overall, despite the final stage being a load of ass, and the package as a whole isn’t very unique for the time, Shatterhand is still a pretty fun game, and one of the better platformers that you could find on the NES. It has the presentation, gameplay, and style that elevate it to being one of the best obscure games that you could find for the system, and I am glad that I finally checked it out after knowing about it for a long time. I would definitely recommend it for those who are fans of old-school 8-bit platformers, because this one will definitely be one you will be glad you checked out, even if it may not be as good as others. Just, you know, ignore the try-hard on the cover of the game. Seriously, the game is much better in comparison to the box-art.
Game #454
if i made NES action kino and my cover artist drew a white guy in a t-shirt and jeans for the box i would jump off a bridge
some of that shit was a little bull
the best NES action game
Since time immemorial, people have fisted for good and for evil. But in 1991, Natsume changed fisting FOREVER...
so damn COOL. gonna buy some sun glasses just like his.
A good little action-platformer that was possibly overshadowed by the shiny, new Super Nintendo and the lack of attention for NES games that brought with it.
One of my favorite NES titles. Challenging but surprisingly modern in design, with infinite continues, finely tuned difficulty and no death pits. Great music.
Shatterhand in real life:
Spaghetti.
Spaghetti.
This is what an NES side-scroller should be. It's difficult, but it avoids a lot of the annoying difficulty tropes of similar NES games like cheap deaths and regenerating bad guys. There's loads of cool power-ups too.
Good platformer with engaging boss fights and an intriguing gravity stage that felt unusual at the time! Overall, it's a fun brawler! Unquestionably one of the better Nes games I've played lately
Game was recommended to play on stream. At first glance it looks and feels like may platformers, but there is a level that takes it up a notch when you can mix and match your powerups to create a new robot to help assist you in different ways. Controls are tight which are a huge plus. Music is great too. The difficulty spikes with later bosses and it does get frustrating, but it's like finishing a puzzle and you have to put the pieces together. Recommend for those looking for a challenge.
haha scott pilgrim reference but also WHAT THE FUCK THIS IS AWESOME
Criminally underrated and overlooked platform beat-em-up. Sharing a lot of similarities with SunSoft's Batman and even cribbing a few ideas from the Mega Man series. At first glance it's easy to dismiss. The Box art and screen shots don't do it enough justice, needless to say the levels make the most of every bit of the hardware, only falling short when there's too many enemies on screen and it suffers the inevitable slowdown. Well worth a playthrough.
If you want your double-expresso shot of 90's action media culture stirred into an NES action-platformer, you can't go wrong with this one. It oozes attitude and has a kick-ass OST, just be aware there's still the classic cons of the era in this bad boy (aka cheap shit).
Amazing hidden gem from the NES era. Great OST, nice 8-bit graphics and solid gameplay with a fair difficulty (except for the water boss).
Totally worth it.
Totally worth it.
I was going to write a review about how cool it is that decades later this game has gotten an appropriate amount of love and respect for how great it is, but opening this profile has been the first time I've seen this boxart and just holy shit man what a perfect video game
Really solid NES game with a great OST
Don't let the guy on the cover who looks like he's dating your mom even though he's not your real dad fool you, this is game is fun and cool and good. A game where you punch someone so hard they fly several yards away from you and explode on impact with a wall has no choice but to be fun and cool and good.
Cool game. The platforming is smooth and unfrustrating, and the punchin' stuff is real fun. Sometimes it can feel finnicky, but what NES game (excluding Mario) doesn't?
FeelsGoodMan
Solid action-platformer about a guy that does nothing but punch and sometimes gets robot assistance. Controls well, plays well, levels are mostly great, and bosses are mostly solid (if a bit too much waiting to get a hit in).
Enjoyed my time, and honestly on the easier side of games like this, which I sorta prefer.
Solid action-platformer about a guy that does nothing but punch and sometimes gets robot assistance. Controls well, plays well, levels are mostly great, and bosses are mostly solid (if a bit too much waiting to get a hit in).
Enjoyed my time, and honestly on the easier side of games like this, which I sorta prefer.
Played Solbrain actually, but they're basically the same game. Awesome gameplay.