This is one of the most expensive, if not the single most expensive, videogame in the vast Super Famicom catalog, and me, being the huge nerd that I am, couldn't resist the urge to play it just out of curiosity.
I just wanted to know what the big deal was, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this was not one of those frequent cases in which a game gets extremely overpriced for reasons that don't involve the game's quality. (Caltron 6-In-1, Trip World, or the golden Nintendo World Championship cartridge come to mind.)
This is an actual competent game—a really good one, in fact.
Right off the bat, I can say that the cutesy graphics are stellar, and the main character is also so full of life and personality; she has tons of animations if you stand still, get close to an edge, you get the idea. Enemies have a cute design too and are packed with their own unique animations; I love when games do that.
Your main weapon is a sword, and something that surprised me is that enemies can fight back and clash with yours. That's really cool! I did not expect that!
Each level is non-linear, in the sense that you are required to do a bit of backtracking in order to get extra lives or find the level's heart (which increases your health bar for the rest of the game); some people call it Metroidvania, but it reminded me more of something you'd see in a Monster World game, like Dragon's Liar or IV. There are some really fun platforming sections too.
You also get a new power-up on each level, and the level design will make you constantly swap between them; they are all very unique and distinct from each other, so there's also some room for experimentation in how you approach certain challenges.
The music was sweet and catchy; it's just SNES music at its best, and I liked it a lot.
My only complaint with this game is, and I know I'm going to sound like a hater, but why did this have to be a Super Famicom-only title, man? The console can barely keep up with it, especially on the last levels, where there are tons of enemies and environmental hazards. There are constant loading screens all throughout the game too; nothing crazy, but sometimes they can take up to 7 seconds, and with rooms being very small most of the time, it really starts to get to you. I'll say you do get used to it, but that shouldn't be an issue on a cartridge game, c'mon now.
Some people would say it's because the game is badly optimized or that the developers themselves added punctual slowdowns for a more dramatic effect in certain scenes; I call it the Super Famicom having an awful processor. Really, a Mega CD, Saturn, PlayStation ( ma-maybe a 3DO port?), or even a PC-Engine CD release would have solved this issue, but oh well, it is what it is.
So TL;DR, I had a lot of fun with this one! I will definitely come back to it in the future.
I just wanted to know what the big deal was, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this was not one of those frequent cases in which a game gets extremely overpriced for reasons that don't involve the game's quality. (Caltron 6-In-1, Trip World, or the golden Nintendo World Championship cartridge come to mind.)
This is an actual competent game—a really good one, in fact.
Right off the bat, I can say that the cutesy graphics are stellar, and the main character is also so full of life and personality; she has tons of animations if you stand still, get close to an edge, you get the idea. Enemies have a cute design too and are packed with their own unique animations; I love when games do that.
Your main weapon is a sword, and something that surprised me is that enemies can fight back and clash with yours. That's really cool! I did not expect that!
Each level is non-linear, in the sense that you are required to do a bit of backtracking in order to get extra lives or find the level's heart (which increases your health bar for the rest of the game); some people call it Metroidvania, but it reminded me more of something you'd see in a Monster World game, like Dragon's Liar or IV. There are some really fun platforming sections too.
You also get a new power-up on each level, and the level design will make you constantly swap between them; they are all very unique and distinct from each other, so there's also some room for experimentation in how you approach certain challenges.
The music was sweet and catchy; it's just SNES music at its best, and I liked it a lot.
My only complaint with this game is, and I know I'm going to sound like a hater, but why did this have to be a Super Famicom-only title, man? The console can barely keep up with it, especially on the last levels, where there are tons of enemies and environmental hazards. There are constant loading screens all throughout the game too; nothing crazy, but sometimes they can take up to 7 seconds, and with rooms being very small most of the time, it really starts to get to you. I'll say you do get used to it, but that shouldn't be an issue on a cartridge game, c'mon now.
Some people would say it's because the game is badly optimized or that the developers themselves added punctual slowdowns for a more dramatic effect in certain scenes; I call it the Super Famicom having an awful processor. Really, a Mega CD, Saturn, PlayStation ( ma-maybe a 3DO port?), or even a PC-Engine CD release would have solved this issue, but oh well, it is what it is.
So TL;DR, I had a lot of fun with this one! I will definitely come back to it in the future.