Bomber Man is a game that doesn’t really have much to explain. You play as the Runner from Lode Runner in a robot body as you dispatch bombs to destroy enemies and walls. Grab powerups and make it to the goal through 50 levels. As you all know, this game would be a good success for Hudson Soft and while it wouldn’t be till the PC Engine where he would shine more, Bomber Man is a good game despite the simplicity.

You have to remember that by this point, we were still in the Famicom era of games being somewhat simple and more arcadey. While not every Hudson Soft game was like this, there were some examples like Nuts & Milk and Binary Land which happened to release the same day as Bomber Man. I think if you look at it from that POV, it’s easy to understand what makes the game shine. There’s something about the simplicity of it all to the basic but charming sprites, the catchy minimalistic music that adds more to the melody if you grab the powerup of the stage, and who could forget that amazing bomb explosion sound.

That’s not to say Bomber Man is perfect because it can feel repetitive and once you get fully powered up and find the ability to be resistant to flames, you basically erase any challenge. The game lets you become powerful but can hurt all of your precious dreams if you make one mistake, you better be careful regardless. There’s also just a lot of depth like learning all of the enemies movement, being careful not to blow up the powerup or doors which respawns enemies, and some super obscure point items that you’ll probably never find without a guide though two of them did spawn for me which confused me. Another small issue I have regarding the enemies is that I wish the block placement didn’t lead their pathing to glitch out and basically be easy to defeat, making the game seem a little sloppy at times.

That isn’t even all I have to say but you probably all know but I wanted to write the review to let people know that despite some imperfections, Bomber Man is one of the better Famicom games of 1985. For a game that was (allegedly) made in about 3 days, it’s impressive it never really feels dull in my eyes. It would get a cheap rerelease on the Disk System in 1990 and it would also show up on the GBA twice, first in 2004 on it’s own and then in 2005 along with Bomberman II for their Hudson Best Collection series. It would also get a US release but sadly it came out in 1989 which feels a little too late for a game like it and oddly it uses art from the MSX version of Bomber King. While there will be later games that will obviously improve the experience, sometimes it doesn’t hurt to go back to a classic.

I gotta say, I don't really give Sunsoft the highest praise and I kind of feel bad. Outside of Rough World and Waku Waku 7, all their other games to me are like a 7/10 or lower. I don't hate them or anything but I guess maybe I'm strict on scores sometimes? I'm not sure. I finally got a pack of translations and Hebereke was one of them, I've always wanted to try it so I gave it a go and I'm gonna say it early, this is my favorite Sunsoft game.

This is an early take on a game style like Metroid where you recruit new characters and get items and upgrades to go through each part of the world. It's pretty fun though it can get a little tiring if you go the wrong way, I got lost at one point like an idiot. While Hebereke isn't perfect, what makes me love it is just how much fun and relaxing it can be. It helps it's one of their easier games they've made.

I really love the presentation, this was when Sunsoft was really at their A game with the hardware though it does come at a cost of the framerate being a little poor at times. All the characters are just really fun to look at, especially Hebe. Which they sadly replaced in the PAL released with a way less cute design. Same with O-Chan who went from a human in a cat onesie to a lizard. The music is also phenomenal, some of the best on the Famicom.

I could go on but I probably shouldn't drag out the review, give it a chance if you're curious, it's sadly expensive to get a Famicom copy of this nowadays so you might need to emulate it. Though this game is apparently getting ported to Switch and PS4 so maybe wait and see if the emulation on those are good. (update, it's coming out next week. Kind of crazy just how long they took compared to when the review came out when it was on a different page).

Captain Toad Treasure Tracker is a game that surprises me. It took a gameplay segment from 3D World that I wasn't a big fan of and made them good. Now I wouldn't say they were awful in 3D World but there weren't many and they were very basic and easy. It kind of felt like they did it intentionally since you couldn't do them in co-op (On Wii U) so they probably just made them easy so the other 3 didn't get bored of you just being there for a bit.

For the actual game this page is for like I said it takes what it had and made it rather interesting. I like how a lot of it uses elements from 3D World's normal Mario levels and makes it it's own level. Stuff like having a level with the double cherry or having those beat blocks in a level. The game even added this new powerup that is basically a pickaxe version of the hammer from Donkey Kong. I also like the new gameplay of picking up stuff ala Super Mario USA.

Toadette was also added for this adventure though she plays the exact same but it's nice to see her. I also got to compliment the game for even adding new gameplay ideas like trying to make a runaway from this new dragon like enemy or riding a minecart and shoot turnips at enemies or obstacles. There's a lot here to excite a player. There's also not many levels that are too annoying though there's not really any level that will make you think too hard which could also be a good thing but it's up to you.

If there is one big complaint I have with the game, it's got to be this thing where you go up to this wheel and spin with the right stick to move a thing in the environment. I guess should say I think this is a Switch exclusive problem but I'm not positive about that but when you step on these the game puts this image of the wheel that covers most of the screen and it's really annoying. I think they did this if you were playing in handheld mode and could spin with the touch screen but it's still awful to look at. I'm also not a big fan of using gyro for stuff like those touch blocks, at least in 3D World's Switch port I didn't have to use it much but it wasn't the case here.

Also what's the point of lives here? Personally if I was making this game I would just remove them and have the challenge be if you die you lose the gems you collected on that run. 3D World's Switch port also did this but I hate how if you die you just keep the collectibles even if you reset the level manually it lets you keep them. I just feel like it's really not satisfying to get a collectible and then die and have no consequences outside of just spending about 20-60 seconds getting back to where I was.

There's more I could talk about here but I don't wanna drag this review out. As a game I played for free (Thanks to the Online Game Trials thing) it was a good time. There's a lot to like about it even if it's not the most enjoyable thing in the world. Not sure if it's worth $40 but it's a charming game and has a lot of good going for it. Also the Odyssey connection they do in the end was dumb, you don't even play these kind of levels in Odyssey. They like missed the whole point for why it was connected to 3D World in continuity. Oh well I'm not really that mad about it. Also the music is really good I can't believe this is really how the review is ending this is awkward now.

I remember playing this like last year and never talking about it. Sadly I couldn't really give an interesting POV as it's a Japanese point and click based off an Anime I don't think is easily available here. It seems to have a lot of paths you can choose but reading the GameFAQs makes the game be beatable in what felt like 20 minutes. It also had a couple of minigames from what I remember but they were nothing special.

It's not really fair to shout out my opinion on this considering the limitations of me playing it have. It can at least make for an interesting look at. While it's far from Sting's most interesting game, it still might be worth a look if it is to ever receive a fan translation.

(Used Andy Bogard for my Playthrough)

This is a pretty impressive port of the Neo Geo fighting game from 1996. Done by developer Gaibrain who had ported Garou Densetsu games in the past, did a very good job here. I have never played the original but this was pretty fun with some fast paced gameplay with a dash and backdash mechanic along with that lane changing. There’s a little bit of slowdown but the game feels good to play which feels rare for the system. This game out in one of the last notable years for the handheld and it shows. I was surprised how easy it was to get input moves down and had no struggle doing them. The only real issue I had was I’m not sure how to do grabs and could only do them a few times. The music is also pretty good of what I’m assuming are conversions of songs from the original game.

The AI is also pretty easy though should be noted I played on the Normal difficulty. Even till the very end I probably only lost like one or two rounds. I also felt the timer was too strict at the default so I moved it to infinite time to not get cheap time over victories. If you’re playing on the SGB, you get some cool colors, a wonderful border with Terry and Mai on it, and even 2 player support without a link cable. You can also fight two secret characters being Geese and Iori. Iori is actually unique to this version and apparently this is the only Garou Densetsu game he is in, not even in the original Neo Geo version. I do wonder how Geese is alive though, I thought he died?

This was a joy to play and really just shows how far the GB has gone when even a fighting game can be fun by 1998. Some may say this port is irrelevant nowadays to play but if you’re looking for good GB games, this isn’t a bad one. In some ways it reminds me of what SNK would later do on their NGPC for fighting games. It’s weird to think this is one of the higher rated games on the system for me but sometimes I love surprises.

This port is solid. It surprised me it was any good considering they zoomed the screen in. Outside of some kind of unfair projectiles off screen with wizards two or three times, the game is fairly designed though this might be a turn off for veterans of the original.

I don't know if I've just gotten better at this game but I enjoyed the game more than I did the last two times I played the Arcade version. It also felt a lot easier this time so maybe I've gotten better. I still wish the game wasn't so long though, I think 30 stages would have been enough.

The music being really nice is also another reason to give this port a try. While it's not perfect, Gain Ground fans should try this port out if you haven't. Still not sure why it has SX in the title though.

This game is a top down run n gun game that surprisingly disappointed me with how mediocre it feels to play. There’s nothing here that makes it a bad game but the boring stage design combined with times of nothingness happening makes the game feel dull. Despite the one hit deaths, the game doesn’t feel that hard but be warned you have limited continues. There are four characters to choose from and while they don’t play too differently, I’d advise experimenting anyway to see who you prefer. The game has a system similar to the Mana series where you can charge a weapon by not using it and the more it’s charged, the more powerful it is. One neat thing is you can strafe in this game making some moments not too bad and you can even get some upgrades like faster speed or more power. There’s even vehicles to ride at times.

It has stuff that can make a good game but once I got through this one. I felt so uninterested. A really mediocre experience. If you can, try to bring a friend with you for 2 player gameplay. The game does have cutscenes but not only do they oddly cut music whenever it fades to black to switch scenes, not even every voiced cutscene is animated. Some just use the actual in game graphics with almost 0 animation as voices are played out. The music also isn’t too interesting sadly. The game feeling so mediocre is just odd considering Micro Cabin had made the Xak spinoff game, Fray. That was also a top down run n gun like game though that reminded me more of Kiki Kaikai or Twinkle Tale. Be cautious when playing Mystic Formula as even though the cover is nice, you might possibly be a bit underwhelmed with the adventure.

A fun homebrew title that is pretty short. Some of the character design isn't too lovely imo but the gameplay is fun but underbaked. I wish the mechanics could flesh out more and I don't know if it was just me but the melee weapon felt overpowered. Make sure you get all the gold coins if you want the good ending otherwise the game anticlimactically ends. The game is available to download on their itch.io page. Also I'm pretty sure the game's title is actually Dottie Flowers so try to search that. (edit: thanks to whoever fixed that) If you have 30-60 minutes to spare, give it a try.

I watched Terminator 2 tonight and enjoyed it even more than the first one and because I hate myself, I thought I’d give the Japanese releases of Terminator 2 a look. It’s one of two games that LJN published to get a Famicom version, though they’re not credited in this version. There’s also a Game Gear version I’ll be looking at too so hope you enjoy both.

Famicom version

You go through five stages as the T-800 that are for the most part based on important parts of the movie. It skims through a lot of it but it makes sense to do so especially for the short length. The story also follows the movie pretty well which is nice though the way it portrays the story could be better. My only gripe with it is it doesn’t start with the T-800 naked, like what the heck devs? You can’t just say clothes obtained when he is clearly already wearing the ones he stole from in the movie!

The game starts out as a rather poor beat em up with only two attacks. A punch and if you can jump on enemies if you do it off a platform. You’ll want to do the jump if there is more than one enemy ready to beat you up and do punches when it’s just one enemy. It’s simple and easy and it should be easy to do a no damage run of it. You’ll eventually go inside to fight more enemies and then a boss. The boss is annoying because you want to hit and run away each time but sometimes he immediately attacks and I can’t really predict it well and you don’t wanna hit him as he’s attacking. You’ll know you’re doing damage if you see him flinch far back. Hit him enough and the stage is over.

The second stage is a bike driving level where you must avoid walls and the vehicle the T-1000 is trying to kill you with. This level seems rather notorious for the instant deaths but I personally found the level easy once I realized how to get through the doors and shoot the vehicle behind me. I think being in the middle helps a lot? I can’t really say. Though with how easy it is to die and only having four lives and no continues is rather mean.

Sarah Connor has to be saved in stage 3 and you’ll be going through rooms trying to find a card for the elevator and it’s pretty simple enough. The next level is similar as you’ll be going through multiple floors trying to find explosions to put into a dispenser at the top floor and then placing them all on the top floor once you find all 10. It can be a bit tedious but you shouldn’t have too many struggles. Though I don’t get why there’s even a limit to the amount you can hold. The time limit for setting the explosives is also really tight so don’t be slow! A tip I can give is that running from the enemies is easier than always engaging, especially with the T-1000. This is due to only being able to shoot them in the knees (due to a plot point of John Connor saying to not kill humans) and also just having ammo you may wanna conserve. I didn’t even mention how there’s this rating system that seems to give you better guns the better your rating is.

We’re finally here at the factory level and it’s rough. There’s so many things that can hurt you, tough platforming, and so much instant death. It’s not too long of a level but you better hope you had a few lives going into this. Have I mentioned yet you don’t get health back for beating a level? It’s also a pain in the ass to tell what’s foreground and background in this level. You’ll face the T-1000 a few times and at the very end you’ll have to constantly jump on him to push him off the platform and he’s done for. Just get to the end to talk to the Connors and the game is over and you get to see the ending!

Now despite everything the game might have going against it, it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever played? I found the game more mediocre than anything. I can tell the team did try to make it a good experience, sure I don’t know their skills and talent but I like to think with more time and money, they could’ve ironed out some issues. I also didn’t really understand some of the criticism like “maze-like level design.” Come on guys, it wasn’t that miserable. I don’t even think the game is good, far from it. It’s just surprising Japanese players think this is like bottom 20 material. I’d easily take this over something like a Micronics game.

The presentation is nothing special but I do appreciate it, sometimes trying to feel more like the movie, like with the red vision of the T-800 with text displayed on the screen. The game’s cutscenes don’t really look all that good, especially John Connor seriously where is half his face? I’m also disappointed the game doesn’t end with the T-800 giving the thumbs up! Where is it?! How do you fumble the bag so bad on that one? The music by Geoff Follin is kind of bland. I don’t feel any positivity about this OST. I swear a lot of it just sounds like noise or just sounds like most Euro composed NES music. I’m not sure if it’s a hot take but was not feeling it at all.

This was a surprise feeling to have. I feel like I should be more negative but guess not. It’s close to being a bad game but ehh I just think it’s mediocre. I don’t think anyone should really play Terminator 2 for the Famicom but it’s not something like Outlanders bad. The game is a little pricey nowadays so good luck trying to get a copy if you want a full collection. At least watching the movie was fun but damnit this movie deserved better.

Game Gear version

This game is just a port of the NES/Famicom version. It was developed by Arc Developments and there’s not much to say besides good god there’s some issues. First off right off the bat, no stage 2. It’s just gone in this version and I assume it’s due to the screen size would probably make it impossible to see stuff coming. Now it’s just a four stage romp which feels lazy. Sadly it gets worse when you get to stage 3 and 4. (3 and 4 as in the ones from the console game)

The enemies can just shoot at you from so far away and it’s so unfair especially in stage four when countless shooters are in rooms. You can’t even shoot back at them unless they’re close to you which is just unfair! It’s no wonder the game has a lot of 1-ups in stage 3 because they probably knew you would suffer. At least you don’t take much damage but expect to take a couple of deaths. They also got rid of any of the parts where the red vision thing displays text to tell you the mission. I’m not even sure if the rating or non lethal shots are even in this port but I still tried to only shoot at the knees. There’s not even any Japanese in the JP version, it’s that lazy!

Another big issue was the bomb placing, the arrow is just bugged and sometimes tells you to place bombs in a place you already set one. The timer is already tight, why have a programming error like this?? The crane hooks in the final stage are also now just generic platforms for zero reason. At least the final boss is easier as you just shoot him a bunch and he falls off the platform, makes me wonder if that was also an option in the console version if I had kept my ammo. You don’t even get to see the ending animated before and still no thumbs up and then the game just goes back to the Sega splash screen.

Not even the presentation can save it as the in-game graphics are about the same and some of the story graphics are the same though for some reason Schwarzenegger looks way worse here then he did on the console version. The music is actually even worse here as while I thought it was bland on the console, it’s repetitive and feels like nothing on the Game Gear, what were they even thinking with this?

This port is just a mess, it’s still somewhat playable but wow is it really not worth playing. Avoid this one like you already have. I can’t believe Acclaim just let Japan have this version and thought that was okay to do. They should be ashamed of themselves. While it’s not the worst Game Gear game I’ve ever played, I can’t imagine this having any fans ever. At least it’s not the 16 bit version but in the end, I just want my 30 minutes back.

Well this was a nice surprise. After watching the movie for the first time, I was expecting another bad game like with that Predator game. I honestly only played it cause I heard good things but I thought maybe it was an overreaction, no it’s actually just a good game.

This is a good run n gun type of game with good graphics and a really good OST. Most of the OST was seemingly done by Joey Kuras but there’s others credited like Brad Ira Fiedel, Bijan Shaheer, and Teknoman of Teknologic. Seriously the OST is 100% worth listening to if you haven’t yet omg it’s so amazing! I was surprised how enjoyable the game is even if the enemy design and level design can get a bit repetitive. I also feel the controls could also be better but the game is generous enough (on Normal difficulty) to not annoy me. It’s a decently long game for the genre being about an hour long.

Now honestly I don’t know if watching the movie for this was really worth doing. I was a little confused why a lot of levels took place in 2029 but then you go back in time and it’s like ahh here it is. There’s FMVs but good god the quality of these movie clips are so terrible and aren’t even voiced, I don’t know if it was worth the effort. I was also very confused why Kyle Reese lived at the end of this game like the devs couldn’t have forgotten considering it has the ending cutscene so like, what the heck? While some of it makes me remember moments from the movie, you don’t really need to watch the source to enjoy this game fully. Though damnit developers, you couldn’t have put the sex scene in the game? Where else am I going to see low quality nudity?!

Overall, it’s a fun one. It could be better but for an American developed console game for the time, I’m impressed. If anyone is wondering, no I will not play the other Terminator games on stuff like NES, sorry. Give this game a try if you haven’t yet or at least listen to that OST. I’m probably gonna watch the sequel tomorrow so maybe I’ll review the Famicom version of that game’s adaptation to consoles? Ehhh, I’ll think about it.

I was hoping for a fun little game for the PC Engine but god this was such a disappointment. I feel like lately I’ve been playing or been wanting to play games from the company Masaya. This was another one of those though I wasn’t aware their name was on this. I was a little wary considering the reviews on this one and sadly, I can’t defend this one.

You play as a girl named Eran as you take the last Dragon egg left in the world as you’re off to defeat the bad guy. There are six stages and there’s a boss in each. The concept of Dragon Egg! is a neat one. You start with just Eran but you can get these orbs to hatch the egg and to eventually let it be fully grown. Sadly it’s very simplistic and doesn’t even allow for other orbs or anything to spice up the gameplay. The platforming and stuff is pretty basic too. There’s a shop to buy items or upgrades for your dragon. It all seems to be going fine until you reach stage 3.

The third stage is a maze stage and I kind of groaned at the thought of it but it surprisingly felt fast to get through and I was already at the boss. Was kind of shocked but maybe I just got lucky. I then got on this raft stage, saw the end of the waterfall and it went to a boss. I was like “Huh? Was that a secret?” I rewinded out of curiosity if I found a secret boss but no that’s really the end! It’s such a short level. It feels like less than a minute. Then the next level is also short with barely any level design and I start to realize because of all the easy upgrades to buy, bosses are a joke too. Even the last level isn’t all that interesting and the final boss is easy too. I was in disbelief that was really the whole game and had a big frown on my face.

I can’t even compliment the presentation much. It looks okay but nothing outstanding. The only notable parts are basically what the previous review said which were the intro and shop. They both look pretty nice. Not even the music saves this one as it is rubbish and none of it stuck in my head. Though oddly some of it reminded me of Shockman 2.

Man I’m sad it ended up being this way for this game. Just wanted to play a cool little platformer but the game just feels so unfinished by the 2nd half. Like I said, it has good ideas and even those controls are good but the game just needed more work. I don’t know if this was due to Tenky seemingly only working on strategy or text adventure type games around the time but something must have happened for the game to end up like this. It didn’t even come out around the holiday season. The more saddening thing is just the fact the PC Engine was almost 4 years old. It could do better than this but it just didn’t and we’ll never know why. I would just skip this one unless you’re curious.

Honestly I really had no intention of doing a review because it's Zelda II. Even when originally wanting to play the FDS version. This wouldn't change my mind but I do wanna say that despite all the struggles the past decade never beating this game. I finally did it and I ended up playing the whole thing on the NES. Why? Well, honestly it's because I played a hack of the game that let's you play as Marisa from Touhou and for some reason that was enough for me.

This game still has flaws but it's fun and I'm glad I finally beat it. It's a shame the concept of a Zelda RPG has never happened. I'm on the boat of this is the only entry in the series that's actually an RPG but I'm sure that'll annoy some people, sorry. I hope one day the game gets a remake seeing as I've seen multiple people wanting to do so, I'd give it a try if they did.

I am oddly very slow at playing these games. I’ve only ever beaten the GG and MD versions of Madou I. I did try to play this one over a year ago but got frustrated and quit. I wanted to give it another try so I did and I finally beat it. Sadly this is still my least favorite of the ones I played.

Sure, Madou II has a lot going for it. It has a really nice plot, funny writing and comedic moments, really good graphics, and even pretty good music for the Game Gear. I think it starts off really promising and I was expecting greatness here especially since this was the number 1 rated game on the system at the time. A lot of what makes the series good is here so what is the problem?

Well the difficulty is what hurts this one badly. Madou I was a very easy game on the GG. I’d actually argue it’s a good beginner RPG especially with the fun writing. It was more the tower’s design and room gimmicks that made up the challenge. Madou II also can have its own challenges but what Madou II wants you to focus on is the battles. The game now makes you grind for a majority of the adventure which is just so weird to me considering Madou I only made you do this like two or three times.

The challenge also just doesn’t work imo. Arle is always by herself and you’re kind of limited in what you can do and you’ll never know when to blow your items on an enemy or boss. Speaking of bosses, I hope you like fighting Schezo, you fight him like 5 times. I hate some of his earlier fights because it just feels like RNG if you win. I even try putting on items, using a lot of Diacute and it still feels like luck if you succeed or waste a bunch of items. What’s weird is he gets easier after the 4th rematch which makes the difficulty feel really inconsistent. The late game is also just brutal and they don’t even have the decency to bring in new enemies. It’s just stronger variants of Banshee Trio, Medusa, and Draco. I do think part of it could be just my skill but this game really does frustrate me at times.

It’s all just a shame because I find the game to be good but only barely. I hate even rating it this way. I remember before I ever touched this game, I was expecting greatness but instead I got a game feeding me mixed emotions. It just needs difficulty balances and it could’ve been something really good but as it stands, Madou II is a game I feel on and off about. It has good moments and good qualities but I’m hoping Madou III will fix some of these issues. I’m just kind of sad I’m not here telling you that it’s really good…

Oh before I go. I wanna point out if you play this game and use the map guide on GameFAQs, late in the game you’ll find this pig npc. He will make an item for you if you give him 10,000 gold and he’ll go on to make it. Though it almost looks like it can be a scam. The guide tells you it actually is which is incorrect, he helps you during the final boss if you pay him so don’t listen to the guide. Give him the gold.