In absolute awe of the nearly raw, undercooked nature of this game. It's weird, it's ambitious, it fails on multiple fronts. It's an RPG Maker game before RPG Maker existed, a borderline avant-garde experiment from a time when you had to call a factory and physically manufacture cartridges to get a game on the shelf.

More than anything: the combat. It's different, that's for sure. It's easy to see what they were going for, the positioning, unit facing, action delays. And… most of it doesn't matter? Combat is trivial until the final chapter, moderately challenging at best from then on. Status effects are plentiful but largely irrelevant, action timing is so very odd. Sometimes opening a menu allows another character to go, sometimes a unit will take 7 active turns to unleash an underwhelming move. Opponents need to spend time to reorient, but you do not, despite the numerous enemy moves that change your facing. You have a plethora of abilities on each character, most of them meaningless. The non-linear nature means everything before the finale is the exact same difficulty. Everything is just… there. A pile of ideas.

So it's a good thing the rest works. Yasunori Mitsuda's Yoko Shimomura's boss theme rips right out of the speakers, gets you hyped every time even though you know you're in virtually no danger. Every character has their own musical identity, each era is sonically unique. The themes slowly reveal themselves, the plot hook setting in as the chapters move on. The different genres have different mechanics, the dialogue has different fonts. Different artists for every scenario, different takes on the same message, an ending that pulls it all together. You see the credits no less than nine separate times, and they never let you skip them, treating each as a proper endroll.

It's uneven, a mess, and a reminder that Squaresoft's RPGs were almost always full of the same odd choices and missteps. More so here, but it's easy to point out in almost every title of theirs from the era. They took risks and then polished the results, the flaws harder to see in the resultant sheen.

They did it. They made it. Poyo Poyo. A bastard child, much like its brethren Doctor Robotik Lean Bean Machean, yes my dyslexic ass is smashing records tonight. But... That's it, it is Poyo Poyo and there is nothing more to its meat. I tought the Kirby series was allergic to low quality products, yet here we are. That's the part where Kirby smoked that hooka indubitably cuz you seein how much lip he's givin them?? That is not the poyo I raised. He's callin them cunts and everythin 😭 we finally got the American Kirby from all those US box arts. May God bless us all he is yappin kinda E for everyone.

So, pretty much everything I say about Super Puyo Puyo would apply to this (as of yet, have not said anything about Super Puyo Puyo). They're scared half to death of giving us cutesy stuff so they'd rather reskin it for overseas audience with Kirby... I'm probably not the only one having trouble with the logic. Putting so much ressources into a lost cause when the solution is RIGHT THERE. I do admit the... forest background... is better than some minerals? Hank would kill me for this. This cabrón called an avalanche on all of them or what, that sounds like an hardcore term for such a calming experience OH MY GOLLY I'M BEING BURIED ALIVE IN SLIME

The gang is all here. I don't always recognize their names through the Super Nintendo Entertainment System sound chip, and for us zoomers this is gonna sound a whole lot like the Wii Remote yapping in Smash Bros. Brawl. They should have replaced the colors while they were at it, where's the pink slime? Despite all its faults, this game still remains a cult abomination, a stain in Kirby's rapper career. What says a lot about me is that, much like not knowing I could crouch in RE4 to avoid attacks, I did not know I could see the next bundle of slime to fall. Rest in power brain 👑👑👊 wowie, I wish an actually unique Kirby game with Tetris-like elements happens to fall on my laps soon. Kid named Star Stacker:

Just like Dreamland 2, the first time I fully beat this game was in 2022, directly after Dreamland 2 actually. I first played this years ago when I got an SNES classic, and thought it was cool. But I'll come out and say it, I never really digged the whole multiple bite-sized campaigns in one shtick. I had a greater appreciation for this game, when I played it in 2022, due to some of the series staples it added. But even then, it wasn't one of my favorite Kirby games. How do I feel about the game now though? Basically, the same tbh. Though, when compared to every Kirby game that released prior to this, I'd say it's the clear best.

The biggest improvement, and this would be a Kirby staple once Return to Dreamland released, is the expanded move set. No longer do you only have a single move per copy ability. Now, depending on your directional inputs on the d-pad, you can use several different moves per copy ability. This is a fantastic addition, and probably my favorite aspect about this game, as it makes beating each level more fun. Both of the fire abilities that were in Adventure, are now in one and the one that would turn you into a fireball is your dash attack. Spark, which was a staple in Adventure and Dreamland 2, isn't even in this game and was basically replaced by Plasma (which is all around better because of the electric shield you can get). The copy abilities in general, are really good in this game. You have your series staples like sword, hammer and all that. But then you have new ones like Bomb, Mirror and Yo-Yo which are all really awesome. Compared to prior games, the amount of copy abilities in this game is massive and I think it even rivals some of the modern games. You can also, at anytime, turn whatever copy ability you have into a little NPC helper. This was a fun addition and let's you play the game with two players? I actually never tried it out myself, but I assume you can do that and not have the multiplier be regulated to the minigames.

I am a Dreamland 3 fan, and while I prefer how that game looks visually, Superstar still looks really good for an SNES game. The game is full of that Kirby personality, whether it's with Kirby himself or the enemies he faces. The animations on some of the enemies in this game are just really expressive, and that includes the bosses as well. They're all very charming, especially the computer virus boss, that one is very witty. Some bosses are better than others (I really hate fatty whale) but most of them are pretty fun..especially with the expanded move set.

Now for the meat and potatoes of this game, the game modes. This is the part of the game I'm not much of a fan of. The game consists of 9 modes in all. 4 of them are normal Kirby campaigns, 3 of them are short minigames, 1 is a weird campaign that is more akin to a Metroid game and the last is a boss rush basically. They're all mostly fun in their own right, I just much prefer a more focused, full sized campaign since even with the longer modes here, they just don't stick in my mind as much. I'll delve into each mode though and explain my feelings on every one of them.

Megaton Punch is a short, button timing mini-game where you must see who creates the biggest crack on Popstar. It's very short and humorous to watch, but there's not much to it. Samurai Kirby is basically a remake of the one western minigame from Kirby's Adventure, and it's even more simple to play. You just press the A button faster than your opponent but I swear I just can't do it, even on the easiest difficulty. I always lose to Meta-Knight at the end. It's alright but I prefer Megaton Punch. The last mini-game is Gourmet Race. I won't get into the staple song just yet, but know it's my favorite of the three minigames because of its music and because its fun to race Dedede (and to see his reactions to you winning).

As for the normal campaigns, the first one is Spring Breeze. Not much to say here, it's the shortest of the four and is basically just a remake of Dreamland 1. It's actually even shorter than that game since it lacks the reused portions of levels before Dedede. Dedede is also super easy in this version compared to Dreamland 1. Dynablade is a little longer than Spring Breeze, but not by much. Also don't really have much to say here either, it's a pretty uneventful set of Kirby levels. Revenge of the Meta Knight is a lot longer than the previous two campaigns, or at least it felt like it was. It has Kirby trying to stop Meta Knight and his crew. The level takes place, mostly, in his ship as you destroy it. It also has the most dialogue in the game, because of his crew members, and it's very charming because of them. This felt like the most unique of the normal campaigns and it was definitely my favorite next to the final one. The final one, Milky Way Wishes, has Kirby trying to stop the sun and moon from fighting, which Kirby must make a wish using Nova (this cat face clock thing) because this fella Marx told him to. In the end of the adventure though, Marx dupes you and takes the wish for himself and you have to fight him. This one probably has the most stakes out of any campaign and Marx has a really cool design. I also really liked the space theme and I really really liked the copy ability mechanic. Basically, you can only get copy abilities from these pedestals hidden throughout the world, but once you do you keep the ability forever and can freely switch between any you've gathered at anytime. Thinking about it then, this is probably my favorite mode in the game..it would've been really cool to see this one fleshed out even more though since it still isn't very long.

As for the other two modes, The Great Cave Offensive is different from the other modes. It acts as sort of a metroidvania, where the goal is to explore each section of the game for treasure. You can backtrack freely which is unusual for a Kirby game and is why this one feels different from the other 4 campaigns. It's fun but getting every treasure can be a pain, and pretty much all of the bosses (which you would first see here) get reused in the later campaigns. The last mode, which you unlock from beating every other one, is the arena. This is the boss rush I mentioned earlier, and it's a staple in like all of the modern Kirby mainline games. I actually didn't beat it this time, I gave it like 10 go's, but I did beat it back in 2022. The copy ability you want to use is definitely hammer as it does the most damage. The arena is usually the hardest part of the modern Kirby games and that's no different here, as you have to defeat every boss in the game with only 5 Maxim tomatoes for all of them. It's not totally my thing but it's a decent inclusion nonetheless.

The OST is good, as most Kirby games are, and the standout of course is Gourmet Race. It's one of the most well known Kirby songs for a reason (besides becoming big because of Smash) and yeah it's pretty awesome. The rest of the OST is good too, but this was my favorite new song, as this game continues the trend of remixing a lot of older Kirby songs.

I'm not crazy about this game like some other Kirby fans are, due to the multiple campaigns, but I can't deny it added some great series staples like the expanded move sets and the arena. While not in my personal top 5, at this point in the series this is definitely the best Kirby game thus far. Fun time overall!

going into this game it definitely felt like a game for car people and racing game fans, neither of which im really much of. i've never really touched the major racers like need for speed or burnout or whatever just because they kinda missed me. this game might be the game that converts me though, this shit is awesome. i remember seeing this game a couple years ago and following the page on twitter for it because it looked so cool but it left my mind for a very long time until i heard someone mention it and i realized there was a whole demo out on steam.

jumping into this game and seeing how stylistic it was in its loading screens and ui was something that jumped out at me and stuck with me for the entire game. the game taking place in 90s japan with all the aesthetics of the technology of the time already gives it a really good vibe that pulled me in. then, that first moment after you buy your car and take it for a spin on the way to tatsumi PA and the music fades in as you instinctively floor it, going fast as fuck on a nighttime highway honestly feeling a little terrified by how fast you're going but also in a trance is such a magical moment that immediately sold me on this game. this game just captures such a good vibe that i haven't felt since playing bomb rush cyberfunk last year. also i just need to mention this game's ost goes crazy and really helps elevate things in the vibes department, i cannot get emotion engine by dazegxd out of my head ever since hearing it for the first time in this game.

as far as the gameplay goes, as i mentioned before the feeling of driving fast as fuck in this game is equally a liberating but also very scary feeling and i love it. even when im not in a race and just speeding to whatever destination you feel a real rush weaving through cars and tractor trailers. speaking of races, thats the main thing you're here for in this game. you're placing wagers on races to eventually pay off a few million yen in debt that's tossed on you at the start of the game, meanwhile making a name for yourself in the local racing scene going up against people of increasing rep in the community. the races themselves are a lot of fun and offer some variety, but the ai is either very good or slow as hell and i haven't really found much of an in between in this game. later on it will come down to whether or not you have upgraded your car accordingly in order to match the speed of the better racers in this game, and trying to upgrade your car can sometimes be an uphill battle when you have debt payments to make and not much pocket money to work with which can suck. also, one complaint i've seen others talk about that i agree with is trying to maneuver your way around this map. with time you will get used to traveling to some areas and understand your way around, but for the most part you will have to rely on a gps system that is a little annoying to use at times because of how easy it is to miss a turn and how little guidance the game gives you except a very thin blue line that's supposed to be guiding you to your destination and can be really difficult to read.

i think what's here in this demo is really promising. while it can feel a bit same-y at times and maybe even a little bare bones in its racing gameplay and world, doing the same races, only having one area available to travel around that becomes familiar pretty quickly, not many goals to work towards, and npc dialogue that's pretty limited and has lines that get repeated frequently, i think there's a lot of potential to make a full map and game here that will feel super variable and keep you coming back. there are plenty of areas you can't travel to yet that the game tells you are under construction which is already really promising in itself because of how much potential there is for this game to be pretty expansive, and there are also parts of your car that can't be upgraded yet in this demo meaning they really have plans to go all out in customization, even though they honestly already have gone all out with it in this demo alone to a point that felt a little intimidating to someone who knows nothing about cars except how to drive them.

i'm gonna shut up now i talked way too in depth about a demo for a game. i just haven't been able to get this game out of my head ever since i started playing it a couple days ago and even though i paid off my in game debt i wanna keep playing it and deck out my car and beat the game's "rep boss." this game fucks hard go play it it's a free demo that you can probably squeeze hours and hours out of

Before last year when I played through Konami's Contra collection release I had barely played the series. For the most part they aren't games I'd play again (except for the amazing Contra: Hard Corps.) but they are fun well made titles that do hold up well. Having gone through the collection however I found out that for some reason it was missing the third NES game in the series Contra Force. Having now played it I understand why though, I suspect Konami themselves hope people forget it.

It was originally developed as a totally different game called Arc Hound with no ties to Contra but was cancelled in Japan and never released. I was going to say that I don't know the reason for the cancellation but based on how bad the game is I imagine it's self evident but considering what existing content of the game was rebranded as a Contra title and released in the US anyway? who knows the truth of the matter behind it. By the time it actually came out was after Contra III on the SNES which only really helps to emphasize the low quality here as everything about this is worse than the original Contra released 4 years prior.

Firstly the games performance is awful. The game has constant slowdown even when there isn't much going on. I have played more intensive NES games so know the hardware is more capable than this but even without the slow down the actual game just feels slow and cumbersome moving and firing around, it's like playing in slow motion through treacle. The technical limitations don't stop there though with constant sprite flickering and even the auto scrolling at times just doesn't work leaving your playable character stuck on the very front of the screen. This is just an ugly title to play and feels unfinished which considering the information on it's development history I have managed to find? That may well have been the case.

The issues don't stop there though with Arc Hound's original set up meaning this isn't actually a contra so the enemies and especially the bosses you fight are just so...bland. The first boss for example is just a slightly larger commando that jumps and fires a couple of bullets. There are no aliens, large machinery or anything interesting at any point to engage with. The closest thing is a jet plane but even that somehow when you fight it is somehow kind of boring with no interesting bullet patterns or abilities.

You can choose between four characters to play as with slightly different load outs because the only, and I mean only, interesting thing this game does is to implement another Konami property's weapon upgrade system from Gradius. Instead of new weapons dropped from enemies or locations there are generic suitcases that act as power ups. Each one you collect pushes along a bar of choices that you can then manually select. The issue is most of the weapons are crap, slow demolition, grenades with no range, guns that feel the same and missing classic contra weapons to boot. You can change characters by pressing the start button to go to the menu. From the menu you can even select another character to do an AI attack for you on screen which was kind of neat though I initially thought it would be a permanent companion as going into the laggy menu is also a chore to no ones surprise. Speaking of which to continue feeling like this is an incomplete prototype when going into the menu from a jump and coming back out your character jumps again in mid air meaning in some levels you can by pass huge sections by jumping almost infinitely. It's just broken.

And there you have it, Contra Force. Worth playing for an hour or so only if you are interested in it's historical placement as the odd game in the series Konami doesn't want to acknowledge by repurposing an (I assume) incomplete cancelled project with the Contra branding. It runs terribly, has pretty mediocre bosses and gameplay over it's 5 stage run time and generally isn't a fun title. The Contra Collection I played was missing a lot of titles on it but honestly? this one I understand why at least.

Pints for being possibly the worst game I've played but with the coolest cover art though.

+ Gradius Power up system is an interesting implementation....

- .....though I don't think it really fits the game.
- Technical issues everywhere, slowdown, sprite flickers and broken auto scrolling.
- Levels, bosses and weapons are just unfun.
- It's bad.