The next game in this Zelda marathon, A Link to the Past, is a breath of fresh air. While I didn't particularly like Zelda 1, and I definitely didn't like Zelda II, this game was different. This was one of the first Zelda games I played I believe, yet this was only my 2nd time fully beating it. I had seen plenty of randomizers before, but I haven't fully beaten this game in like 10 years. As I stated, this game was a breath of fresh air because, as opposed to the first two games, A Link to the Past is really great.

This game ditches the side-scrolling platformer adventure RPG Zelda II went for and is more in line with how Zelda 1 does things. It's top down again, there are no more RPG mechanics like Zelda II and the game isn't absolutely brutal like Zelda II. In fact, it's easier than the first game, tho I still died weirdly often funnily enough. Anyways this is all for the better as the direction Zelda II was going in, just did not do it for me at all.

The story this time around, and it focuses more on its story than the first two games, actually takes place before Zelda I and II. Before the events of the game happen, Ganondorf manages to open the gateway to the Sacred Realm where the Triforce is hidden away and he obtains the Triforce for himself. Knowing he was evil and this would lead to catastrophe, the king of Hyrule ordered seven sages to seal the gateway up along with Ganondorf inside. A long battle ensues but, in the end, the gateway was sealed. Many years later, horrible events start occurring and so the king of Hyrule believes it to be related to the sages seal. Finding out it was not that, he puts out a reward for anyone that can help him with these troubles. A wizard named Agahnim comes alone, seemingly fixing these troubles with his magic. He becomes close to the king and all is well for a while. However shortly after, people start to suspect something is wrong with Agahnim. He starts abusing his power. He eventually casts spells on all the soldiers to turn them evil, and kidnaps maidens that were descended from the sages, using their powers to try to open the seal himself. The game then officially starts, with Link having to save Zelda from the dungeon of Hyrule castle. Once Link saves her, she and him meet up with the priest of a nearby sanctuary and he tells you some of the details I just told you. It's now Link's job to get 3 pendants to obtain the Master Sword, eventually having to rescue the maidens (and Zelda she gets kidnapped too) from each of the dungeons that reside in the Dark World and in the end defeating Ganon. That was a lot but yeah this game is more story-focused than the other two and I like that. The story isn't mind-blowing, and I think Ocarina of Time honestly did the story way better since it's pretty similar to this game's but it's still a solid first attempt at this type of Zelda story.

Actually, getting into the gameplay tho, it's basically Zelda 1 but more polished. It's more linear than that game and holds your hand more but is also more engaging. You actually have a map for the overworld and there are always markers showing you where you need to go next. Some might see this as maybe too hand-holdy, but compared to Zelda 1's cryptic and more directionless nature, I'll take this any day over that. Another thing this game does better with its overworld is the secrets. Gone is every secret being a completely random bush to burn or wall to blow up. If there are bombable walls, they have a crack in them to indicate they can be blown up. Outside of that, the secrets are way more different. Sometimes you'll have to fall in a hole or well to end up in a cave and to get rupees or pieces of heart. (That's another change too, pieces of heart are now a thing, and you have to get 4 to make a full heart container). Sometimes you have to use the dark and light world to your advantage and switch between both to get secrets. Sometimes there are little minigames you can play to get items like pieces of heart. The secrets and ways you get items in the overworld are just so much more interesting here compared to the randomness in Zelda 1. There's a reason future Zelda's stuck with this format.

Dungeons this time around are more fleshed out and are more puzzle-like. Instead of having to push a block, find keys and maybe bomb some walls, A Link to the Past introduces many new concepts in its dungeons. One dungeon you're going in and out constantly through entrances in the overworld. Another is full of ice and thus the palace has ice physics. Another involves you having to use an item to create a platform on some tracks, letting you ride them to your destination. These never feel too gimmicky either and always come naturally. The dungeons are great in this game, far better than Zelda 1 and 2's, but I can't say I absolutely love them. Some are better than others (Skull Woods gave me big issues for some reason) and I generally prefer 3D Zelda dungeons more just because they usually have much more distinct aesthetic to them compared to these. Still tho, these dungeons are very enjoyable..especially the endgame ones. Tho Ganon's tower is brutal I gotta say lol.

The items you get from the dungeons, and I guess outside of them too, are pretty solid tho some are situational. The hookshot became very iconic from this game onwards and is used a lot in the 2nd half of the game. The bow and arrow, while not used a ton in this game, is fun and also became iconic. The hammer has its uses throughout the game but is pretty situational. The medallions damage enemies, tho I never really used them for that purpose much, and otherwise are only required very rarely. This game introduced bottles which are a nice addition as you can store faries in them to revive Link. This game does have several kind of forgettable items and also situational ones you won't use outside of battle or even often at all, but it also introduces some series staples as well, so I'd say it was a good selection of items overall.

The bosses at the end of dungeons are generally really good. They're all distinct visually, and some are even iconic enough to appear in future Zelda titles. Arrghus for example, basically reappears in Majora's Mask under the name Wart. Moldorm appears as a boss in Link's Awakening and A Link Between Worlds. The bosses are generally good, tho sometimes they can be a bit annoying. Mothula for example is incredibly hard without magic and the fire rod. Even with that, it's still difficult because of all the spike blocks in its room. Trinexx you basically NEED to have magic, the fire and ice rod, to even attack it or else you're shit out of luck. The game tells you a couple times throughout the game, when you'll basically need a green potion for a dungeon. They aren't kidding either. Cuz, I had a red or green potion almost every time before I started a dungeon. Luckily rupees are incredibly easy to get in this game, maybe the easiest game to rack up rupees, and a shop that sells green and red potions has a warp next to it which is handy (oh yeah, I forgot to mention you can warp with the ocarina once you get the song to summon the bird which is extremely helpful to warp throughout the Light World). Either way, besides some frustrating ones, the bosses are overall a big improvement from the first two games.

I mentioned the Dark World before and yeah, that's this games big thing. A ways into the game, you obtain the mirror. When you're in the Dark World, Link will turn into a bunny. When he uses the mirror tho, he can go back to the light world and leaves a little warp on the floor that he can use to go back to the Dark World. There are also several warps naturally strewn across the world that Link can use to warp to the Dark World if need be. Anyways, the reason Link is a bunny in the Dark World is because anything that's there morphs into a monster or an animal or whatever. Link cannot attack as a Bunny, but as soon as he first goes go to the Dark World, the dungeon that appears not even a minute after that happens holds the Moon Pearl. This let's Link go to the Dark World without turning into a bunny. Personally, since there's almost nothing in between you first going to the Dark World and getting the Moon Pearl, I would've liked if you got the moon pearl a bit later since it kind of felt pointless that you turn into a bunny only to not have to worry about that pretty much ever soon after. That's a minor nitpick tho, just something I thought about with this replay. Anyways, the whole Light World Dark World gimmick is very well done here, and it leads to some really cool secrets throughout the game.

The OST is great this time around. Zelda 1 already had a very solid soundtrack, and not only does this game have a new an improved version of the overworld theme, it also has some awesome new tracks along with some that become series staples. Zelda's theme makes its first appearance here and its a fantastic version of the song. Both the Dark World theme and the Dark World dungeon theme are also fantastic and fit the darker atmosphere the Dark World provides. This is even the first appearance of the Kakariko Village theme and as someone that played OOT before this game, I always thought that was very fascinating lol. Anyways this game's ost is iconic for a reason and has some of the best songs in the series.

While I did list a couple minor issues I had with this game, this truly is a massive step-up from the prior games. There's a big reason this is a classic and is still played today (whether it's the vanilla version or with randomizers). Now I do prefer Ocarina of Time personally, tho I guess I won't truly know until I replay that next, but if I'll give anything to this game over Ocarina, it's the fact the pacing is way faster and its a lot easier to just dive in and replay. That and visually it does look a lot cleaner. Anyways, I was going to play the CDI games, but I realized the hassle to get an emulator working for them wouldn't have been worth it for how supposedly bad they are. So, Link's Awakening DX is next in this marathon, look forward to that review coming soon!!

You all remember Sideshow Bob? Y’know, that guy that tried to frame Krusty for murder, but then was exposed by Bart, getting him arrested, and from then on out, he has sworn to kill Bart by any means necessary if it’s the last thing he does? Well, if you don’t know him, then allow me to introduce myself, because I am now Backloggd’s Sideshow Bob, since I wanna FUCKING KILL BART! But hey, you know what, that’s some pretty negative thinking right there, so you know what, let me put my murderous tendencies aside for a second. What we need here is to cover a Simpsons game that DOESN’T star Bart whatsoever to calm me down. Bart can be in it, of course, but as long as we don’t play as him in any way, then we should be fine, and I think I have found a couple of games that fulfill that role. So, let’s go ahead and check out this first title, which is exhaustingly known as The Simpsons: Itchy & Scratchy in Miniature Golf Madness.

For those that somehow don’t know, Itchy & Scratchy are cartoon characters in the Simpsons world who are pretty much just extremely violent and gory versions of Tom and Jerry, and somehow, they managed to get their own set of video games right alongside Bart. I mean, hey, why not, right? They were probably one of the most popular aspects of the show, especially with kids, so why not slap their face on a few games as well, just to keep milking that dead-ass cow on the ground over there. So, their first video game outing is a golfing game on the Game Boy, which is definitely a great sign, and after playing it, I can actually say that…… it’s actually ok? In fact, dare I say, the game might actually be GOOD! Holy shit, this only happens once in a million years, us getting a good Simpsons game like this!.......... ok, that may be stretching it a little bit, but still, for what we got here, it manages to be pretty competent enough, and it doesn’t make me wanna throw my Game Boy at a wall, so that is great news!

The story is…… well, there is no story actually, as the game is pretty much just one long, Itchy & Scratchy cartoon about golf, which is all the plot that I need to go off of, cause I am a fan of violence, and if there is one thing these guys do right, it’s VIOLENCE. The graphics are Game Boy graphics, but the sprites for the characters and environments look decent enough, except for some of the weird animations, such as Scratchy’s terrifying victory animation (skip to 3:40), the music is par for the course for a Simpsons game (Wow, that was such a good joke), where they just play one track for pretty much the entire game, and while the track is a good one, I just wanna hear some different songs every once in a while, and the gameplay/control is… somewhat decent, with it managing to mix together these genres rather well, and it isn’t infuriating to the point of me wanting to scream, so this is an improvement here.

The game is a 2D platfomer/golf game, where you take control of Scratchy, go through a set of 9 different holes, each with their own generic theme to make them stand out from one another, putt your ball all the way to the end of each obstacle course while making sure not to putt too many times so that you can get a good score, defeat the many Itchys that will come for you using either your trusty golf club or whatever other weapons you can find, and have a brief sense of terror flash through you, as Bart appears in the title card for each hole, but nowhere else in the game, which makes you breathe a sigh of relief. It is a bit of a weird combination of genres to be sure, especially for around this time, but they actually manage to blend together well, and it makes the gameplay actually somewhat enjoyable, even if it can get pretty repetitive and annoying in plenty of instances.

Since this is primarily a golf game, your one main concern should be getting your ball all the way to the finishing hole, and the game doesn’t make this easy for you, but at the same time, it doesn’t feel impossible either. Each level has plenty of different hazards and layouts that you have to work around with your sick golfing skills, and while some of these can be pretty annoying to work around, especially given where your ball is placed, but for the most part, it is pretty manageable and fun to work out these different putts and make it all the way to the end. What doesn’t help this out though is the Itchys, because HOLY FUCK, these guys are everywhere, and they are RELENTLESS. It only takes one hit to kill you, so whenever these guys see you, they automatically make a mad dash towards you, and you have to be quick on the draw to either dodge or fight back, otherwise you are down one life. What doesn’t help either is that, in plenty of instances, you are given very little chance to fight back before it is too late, which becomes extremely annoying, especially in the later stages. Thankfully, when you die, you respawn back where you died, so it only really becomes a burden whenever you get a game over.

But really, at the end of the day, there isn’t much more to the game than what I have told and shown you. You just golf around for 9 holes, and then you are done, which I would complain about, but in this case, it is definitely for the best. A lot of these old Simpsons games suffer from having too much variety in their gameplay, whether by having a bunch of poorly designed segments put together that you can barely get through, or by having minigame collections that aren’t really all that good in the slightest. Thankfully though, most of this game has consistent design, giving you a gradual sense of difficulty for each stage, and obstacles that don’t feel like they were made to hit you no matter what (aside from the Itchys, they can burn in Hell).

There are definitely some annoying courses here or there, especially the underwater level that can send you quite a ways back if you don’t know what you are doing, but then again, that is par for the course in a golf game, so I can’t really be too mad at it, and instead, just blame my natural disdain towards golf. Also, you gotta respect how they managed to keep the violence present in this game, with some of it being pretty graphic for this kind of game. I get it, it’s based on The Simpsons, so it is allowed to be violent, but considering that this was marketed towards kids, I thought they would’ve taken out the violence entirely, but thankfully, I was wrong about that. So now we can all happily chop and massacre all the mice we want, and nobody can tell us otherwise!

Overall, despite how annoying the Itchys can be, this was actually a surprising golf game, all things considered, and it is definitely one of the best Simpsons games of this era, with some decent courses to take on, some nice weapons to mess around with, and keeping the overall zanyness and insanity of Itchy & Scratchy alive and well through its simplistic means. I would actually recommend this to those who are fans of golf games, as well as those who don’t mind some jank here and there, because despite how I think the game is merely just ok, it definitely is much better then you would think it is, and it would definitely be fun to mess around with for 10 minutes or so. Now, with all of that out of the way, this right here, ladies and germs, is definitive PROOF that Bart is the sole problem with these Simpsons games! For every game that he has been the star in, they have turned out garbage, but whenever they take him out of the starring role and replace him with someone else, it turns out to be somewhat decent! So now, for every single other Simpsons game we ever have, we just need to get rid of Bart entirely. It will get 10s across the board every time, I promise you.

Game #608

Faster, more stylish, and with a few cooler bosses, Desperate Struggle is a great follow up that gets tangled up in a lot of loose narrative moves that will likely remove some investment from players coming from the first game. That isn't to say it's bad by any means, but if NMH1 is a celebrated b-movie, Desperate Struggle is its junk food straight to DVD follow up. It's beloved and for great reason, but is definitely focused on being a fun game first and having a strong direction second. Excited to see how this entry shapes Travis Strikes Back and NMHIII as I get around to them.

From an outsider’s perspective, X-Men: Children of the Atom could’ve just been another generic X-Men game in a sea of them that were coming out around the early to mid 90s, but thanks to the fact that it was developed by Capcom, it turned out to be a very fun and really well made fighter that both fighting game fanatics and X-Men fans in general would be able to play and adore for many years. That in itself was pretty good, but little did most people know back then that this little game, being as good as it was, would ignite some sort of spark, ensuring that, from this point on, Marvel and Capcom would have a very steady partnership over the years, making some truly fantastic games together that would go onto be beloved by many ever since they were released. This potential could be seen within Children of the Atom already, but this spark wasn’t truly going to shine until the release of the next Marvel arcade fighter, Marvel Super Heroes.

Much like with Children of the Atom, I hadn’t really known much about this game before giving it a shot for myself, but nonetheless, I was still really excited to try this one out, seeing as Capcom was still behind it, and given how great the previous Marvel fighting game from them was, I knew I was gonna be in for a treat. Not to mention, unlike that last game, this one actually had some Marvel characters I actually gave a damn about, like Spider-Man and Iron Man, so that had me sold immediately. So, I tried it out for myself and, to my surprise, it was even better than I anticipated, because this game fucking rocks in every sense of the word, providing the fast, flashy, and energetic combat I was hoping, along with the love and care a game like this would need to truly stand amongst all the others.

The story is pretty simple for a Marvel game, where a bunch of Marvel heroes and villains start battling out to try to claim the Infinity Stones, but little do they know, Thanos is also working towards getting these colorful gems for himself, all in an effort to try to take over the universe, so naturally, it is up to the heroes and villains of the Marvel universe to stop Thanos from fulfilling his goal, which is a pretty simple premise, but one that is made all the more enjoyable through the absolute insanity that goes on within the game itself. The graphics are GORGEOUS, having wonderfully made and beautifully animated sprites for every single character that you play as and fight against, with plenty of sweet locations, visual effects, and cutscenes to add to that level of quality, with it all looking fantastic even to this day, the music is pretty great as well, being just as catchy, snappy, and energetic as you would hope for, which are wonderfully complimented by the sound effects, which are just crisp and crunchy enough to be incredible to listen to, and the gameplay/control is, for the most part, what you have come to expect from your typical fighting game, but the dial was clearly turned up to 100 when making this game, making it even more fast-paced, satisfying, and fun as ever.

The game is your typical one-on-one fighting game, where you take control of one of 13 different Marvel heroes and villains, unlockable or otherwise, take on plenty of opponents in many different locations across the Marvel universe that vary quite drastically from each other in one way or another, throw out many different punches, kicks, grabs, combos, and special moves against your opponents at just the right time to get their health bar all the way down to nothing, jump, block, and dodge whenever absolutely necessary to ensure that you sustain minimal damage in the fight to reign supreme, and reign supreme as you bask in the knowledge of being the ultimate Marvel Super Hero or Super Villain amongst all the others, while enjoying an ending suitable for you depending on what character you choose. Everything you would expect to see in a fighting game is here, with that extra Marvel spice dumped all over it to give it its own identity, while also given the proper punch in the gut to be as fast, fun, and action-packed as possible, making for, without a doubt, the best Marvel game that I have played and reviewed on this website so far.

Anyone who loves these characters and fighting games to some capacity, or even those that aren’t too big on either, could easily jump into this game, as right from the get-go, once you first start your first match, the game gives you plenty to work with with each respective character that you can play as, giving a fairly easy match that can actually trip you up when you aren’t careful, followed by plenty of other matches that do increase in difficulty gradually, but not to the point where it feels impossible by the end. Well… except for Thanos, he can be a bitch and a half to fight, but then again, most fighting game final bosses are. Not only that, but you also get all of the tools you would want to see from one of these games, including combos, grabs, special moves, and super moves, but amongst all of that, there is one new element that makes this game stand out from all the rest: the Infinity Stones.

Throughout the game, you will gain access to these, and when you input the proper command, you can use these to your advantage, giving you a temporary boost in battle that will assist you in some way, to make fighting against your opponents much easier then before. Not only that, but in terms of what the Infinity Stones can do, there is quite a lot here, from making you faster, giving you more health, increasing your defense, and of course, making you more all-powerful to annihilate your opponent into submission. In addition, with each character, you can also get different kinds of effects from the Infinity Stones depending on who you play as, which not only makes it so that you want to experiment with everyone, seeing what all of these different stones can do for you, but it also adds an entirely new layer of strategy and planning to battles, making you think of when you should use it, when your opponent will use it, and most importantly, making sure that they don’t get their hands on the stones as well. The only real downside to these is that you can’t really swap between them in a match, and you have to use the first one that it selects for you, but that is only a minor inconvenience with the amount you can do with these things.

With all that out of the way though, if you were expecting this game to innovate on the genre in any way, shape, or form, then that is definitely not what you are going to get here. It is pretty simple in terms of what you do, for you have an arcade mode where you go up against all of your opponents in a randomly-generated sequence, and you have the VS mode for when you feel like beating the shit out of your friends… y’know, the typical stuff you would see here. That in itself could be seen as a turn-off for those that are getting sick of the typical arcade fighter formula, but for those who are big Marvel fans, as well as those who love these kind of fighters, they probably won’t care one way or another, as the game manages to be fun and energetic enough to where I really didn’t care about that sort of thing at the end of the day, and I was just having a grand ol’ time.

Overall, despite a minor lack of change in terms of content, this is definitely the best Marvel fighting game that I have played so far, having the exact look, feel, and energy that a comic-based fighter like this should have, the extremely fast and fun gameplay that I can’t get enough of with these type of games, and just enough changes to the typical fighter formula that makes it that much more fun to mess around and experiment with. I would absolutely recommend it, not just for fans of Marvel and fighting games, but for anyone in general, because while it isn’t gonna blow you away in terms of what it can do for fighting games, it will leave enough of an impression to where you will have a great time with it, because I certainly did, and I personally can’t wait to play the next one of these in the future. And oh boy, they are certainly gonna go above and beyond with the next one, let me tell you……. not only is it gonna be that much more fun and exciting….. but it’s also gonna remove most of the Marvel characters from this game!................ what, isn’t that what you wanted?

Game #607

A long time ago, I decided to take a ride on the wild side by checking out the very first title in the Fantasy Zone series, and I still cannot believe how much fun I ended up having with that game at the end of the day, because it is genuinely a wonderful time. Sure, the last stage may have been a pain in my own fantasy zone, but most of the game was very unique for a shmup at the time, both in terms of presentation and gameplay, and it managed to keep things entertaining and engaging with its simple, yet fun combat, the rewards you can get from both killing enemies and the shops you come across, and some pretty fun boss fights that do keep you on your toes at all times. However, because I don’t like having fun, I hadn’t played any other game in the series after that experience I had with the first title, but now, THAT’S FINALLY GONNA CHANGE! Because today, ladies and gentlemen, I actually took the time to sit down and play the second game in this series, Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa.

So, admittedly, the reason why I didn’t play this game soon after I did the first one was because I thought I would encounter my worst fears when it comes to playing the sequel to any shmup I have played so far, and that is that it would change up nothing, and be boring as a result. I REALLY didn’t want to feel that way about Fantasy Zone, as I did end up really loving my time with the first game, so it put me off on the sequel for quite a while. However, I figured it was about time to finally bite the bullet, so I played through the second game, and…….. yeah, no, this shit STILL fucking rocks, dude. It is just as good as the original Fantasy Zone, if not BETTER in some aspects, and while I can’t say it doesn’t need any improvements, it was great to finally check out this game and have a blast with it as a result.

The story is very basic for this kind of sequel, where it has been 10 years since the events of Fantasy Zone, and Opa-Opa is still recovering from having to face his father at the end of the last game, when suddenly, he hears that the new Nenon Forces are invading the Fantasy Zone and spreading chaos wherever they please, so it is up to Opa-Opa to set out once again to take them all down, which is, once again, a fairly simple set-up for a sequel, but the way that it is presented with this adorable little ship does make it a lot more appealing, especially with another element to it I will get into later. The graphics are… pretty much unchanged from the first game, which does kind of suck, but it still looks pretty good regardless, full of plenty of pretty colors everywhere and great enemy and boss designs, the music is pretty good, mostly consisting of plenty of bright, fun, and bouncy tunes, but some of them can be menacing when they need to be, and they were all very pleasant to listen to, and the gameplay/control is pretty much the exact same from last time as well, which I would complain about, but that would make me a certified Fantasy Zone Hater, and I don’t wanna be anything close to that.

The game is a horizontal shooter, where you take control of Opa-Opa once again, go through a set of 8 different zones, each one being just as colorful, vibrant, and dangerous as the last, shoot down any of the adorable creatures coming your way while you make sure to destroy the main bases so that you can proceed forward, gather plenty of money so that when a shop appears, you can go in and purchase either temporary or permanent upgrades for yourself like upgraded shots, more powerful bombs, and boosts in speed, and take on plenty of whacky bosses that will not only still challenge you in plenty of ways, but will also differentiate from each other in terms of what they do and how you have to go about defeating them, implementing another layer of complexity to these fights….. even if they aren’t complex at all. You all have seen this from Fantasy Zone 1 to some extent, which could make this feel like a pretty pointless sequel, but I am way too busy having fun to care about that sort of thing, as the gameplay is still just as addicting and satisfying as ever before.

It truly does feel wonderful to just get into the groove of a game like this, y’know? You have a simple objective, you know exactly how to go about it, and your main concern is getting as powerful as you can, so you spend as much time getting all the money as you do taking out all of the foes, getting all of the best gear, and then going out to clear through the game like a CHAMP! It’s the best kind of way to approach any game like this, and I was having a great time through the whole thing. Not only that, but there are some new elements to this game to make it stand out from the original, and by that, I mean only one new element is here: the warps. Whenever you defeat certain bases, they will uncover warp gates that you can go into, which take you into a different version of the stage that is slightly altered by appearance and the enemies that you will fight in there. This does… pretty much nothing to change the main gameplay around, but depending on what zone you clear these stages in, it does determine what ending you get at the end of the game, which does make for some good replayability for those that wanna see everything that this game has to offer, even if I’m not so key on going for it myself.

However, despite how much fun I was having with this Fantasy Zone revisit, I can’t say that that will be the case with everyone, because this is, in many ways, just Fantasy Zone 1 again. Yeah, it’s got new bosses, some slightly interesting and new gimmicks, and multiple endings, but aside from that, it is your same ol’ Fantasy Zone affair, meaning that if you didn’t like what you got in the first game, you aren’t gonna like this one either. Also, whaddya know, the Boss Rush Last Stage makes a return in this game too, so that really throws a damper on my fantasy zone, but y’know what, I actually… didn’t mind it all that much this time? Maybe it was because I was more skilled at the game and killing the bosses more quickly, but that doesn’t make it any less of an annoying boss rush, especially with some of the new bosses added in having some pretty dirty tactics to take you out……. fucking spiders, man…

Overall, despite a lack of change and that final boss rush still being a blight on this series, Fantasy Zone II still manages to be just as fun and enjoyable as the original Fantasy Zone in just about every way, having a simple, yet VERY effective set of gameplay that was able to hook me in immediately, plenty of powerups to get and try out, and many challenges ahead that make you feel like a true champ for overcoming them. I would definitely recommend it for those who loved the first game, or for those who want a new shmup to play, because while I can’t say it is for everyone, it definitely feels like it stands on its own in the best way possible, which definitely warrants a quick look-at at the very least, I feel. Hell, I just hope that I feel the same way about every other game in this series moving forward, but, knowing me and my high standards, I assume this won’t last all too long………………. or maybe it’ll become my new favorite thing of all time, I dunno, we’ll see.

Game #606

Zelda II was one of several mainline Zelda games I had yet to play at this point. I didn't know why I skipped trying this one out when I went and beat Zelda 1 in 2020. Maybe it was because it's such a departure from every other game, or the fact I heard it wasn't good. Either way, this marathon gave me a good excuse to finally play this one. Sadly, what I've heard people say about this game is true. I unfortunately found this game to be straight up bad overall.

The story this time around revolves around the Triforce of Courage. The last game only had the Triforce of Wisdom and Power, but this game reveals there's a third. Basically, the King of Hyrule hid it far away so no evil can ever get it. The prince, aka Zelda's brother, wants it for himself. He gets the help of a wizard to have Zelda tell him where it is, since only she knows, by using a truth spell on her. When that doesn't work, the wizard puts Zelda to sleep, and so Link must get the Triforce of Courage and wake Zelda up from the sleep spell. He must do this by going to each of the six main palaces and placing a crystal there, so it opens up the Great palace, which houses the Triforce. Pretty effective plot tbh, it's weird that Zelda has a brother because he never gets mentioned in any other game (at least to my knowledge) but it's interesting.

The first thing you'll notice when actually starting the game, is the change in gameplay. This is no longer a top-down action adventure but is a side-scroller. This is unlike every other mainline Zelda ever and it really does feel off from the rest of the games. Along with it being a side-scroller now, there are also some light RPG mechanics too. There is exp in this game that you get by killing enemies (or collecting exp bags) and you can level up when you get the required amount. You either upgrade your health, magic or your attack power and the game always has a set path with whatever one you get on level up. With the magic, you can get spells throughout the game, and they can be quite useful. The life spell, for instance, is the best spell in the game since it's just a straight up heal. Same with the shield spell, since both make you survive longer. Believe me tho, you're gonna need them! Anyways, the exp system was actually one of the few things I can praise about this game. I thought it was pretty satisfying leveling up every time and it at least makes this game stand out from other Zelda games (if the side-scrolling nature didn't do that already).

The overworld in this game is more like an older RPG than how Zelda 1's was. Instead of having to bomb random locations to find secrets, this game has you progressing the world by using the items you get from palaces. Towns have NPC's that will let you in their house to get a spell in exchange for an item you find. Overworld encounters are now represented by little enemy sprites, that appear once you take a certain number of steps, and they put you into a battle scenario. They can be EXTREMELY obnoxious with how frequently they appear and with how hard it is to dodge them. If you stay on the roads that appear in game, the encounters won't appear but if you take one step off of the road (or just aren't on the roads at all which happens a lot) they will so the roads only help a tiny bit I think. All of this just makes this feel less like a Zelda game and more like an older adventure/RPG. I like the leveling up, but all of this is a downgrade from Zelda 1's formula, even if I wasn't in love with how that game did things.

The start of the game up until Death Mountain, was honestly not bad and was a solid time. Once you get to death mountain tho, this game shows its true colors. This game is incredibly difficult and incredibly bullshit a lot of the time. I know this is an NES game, so this is kinda expected, but Zelda 1 was not like this. Zelda 1 could be hard (mostly in the endgame) but it never felt like NES hard, hard for the sake of it basically. This game definitely does tho and it's worse for it. Death Mountain and the last area and palace were the absolute worst parts of the game. Both were just full of obnoxious BS and I just don't find that very fun. The rest of the game is like that too but to a lesser extent. I had to save state pretty much all the time from Death Mountain until the end, and I don't feel bad about it. It also doesn't help that when you die, there are also lives in this game because you NEED those for a side-scroller I guess, you go back to where Zelda's sleeping (aka the beginning of the game). You can unlock items that make this way better than it sounds, but if you die before you get the hammer and unlock the first shortcut, you must do all of death mountain over again. Without save states, this is very easy to have to do since this game is so brutal. If this game wasn't so hard and bullshit, this wouldn't be too bad because the general gameplay is solid. Link feels good to control and the moves he gets are cool. But due to the NES difficulty, those good elements don't mean much.

Going into the palaces, they're hit or miss. A couple of them I didn't find too bad and actually somewhat enjoyed, while the others were just hell. Palaces are a lot longer in this game and have barely any puzzles. Zelda 1's dungeons weren't super puzzle heavy, but they were more than just find key..unlock door and progress. This game focuses more on the combat than the puzzles and its worse for it since most of the enemies are just frustrating. The bosses aren't anything special, they're either piss easy or super obnoxious like Thunderbird. I always heard Dark Link (or Link's Shadow I guess) was absolutely brutal if you didn't do the duck and swipe method. I just killed him super easily by doing the jump attack method I do on other enemies. Didn't even need to use the shield spell, he was one of the easier bosses in the game lol. Idk if I just got lucky, or I'm just that good but I thought it'd be interesting to mention.

The OST is definitely not as good as the first game's. The palace theme is great and iconic due to it appearing in Smash Bros but that's about it. Every other song was okay at best to me. Nothing, not even the palace theme comes close to being iconic as the overworld theme in the first game.

All in all, while some of the mechanics like leveling up and Link's new swordplay are interesting, it doesn't change the fact this game is just a brutal, bullshit mess of a game. I said it before and I'll say it again, it's hard for the sake of it and just don't like games that do that. It also doesn't help that no other mainline Zelda game that I've played is like this lol. There are some Zelda elements here and there, but this really doesn't feel like a Zelda game to me. I'm glad I finally played this and got it off my bucket list, but I certainly will never be playing this again.

At this point, we have talked plenty about the Sega Genesis and its lineup of titles from the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we have even talked a brief bit about several Sega CD titles and how good they can be when the proper time and care is put into them……… which rarely happened, but you get the idea. So, I think it is about time that we briefly, and I mean briefly, go into the last ditch effort that Sega had in order to keep the Genesis alive throughout the mid-90s, the Sega 32X. Much like the Sega CD, this was an add-on for the Sega Genesis that was meant to be a placeholder for Sega fans before the Sega Saturn came out, allowing them to play 32-bit games straight from their Sega Genesis. However, as you would expect, this didn’t really work out well at all, as not only were there only 40 games made for this system, which is practically nothing compared to almost every other video game system out there, but the games that were released onto the thing really weren’t all that special, with a good handful of them even requiring you to need both the 32X AND the Sega CD in order to play it with! But hey, at least some noteworthy games came out for it, so we may as well go ahead and cover what is definitely the most noteworthy game out of those 40 to choose from, Knuckles’ Chaotix.

Much like with Tails’ Skypatrol, this is the first and only time that Knuckles managed to get a starring role in his own game, with most people probably not even knowing about this thing existing, considering that it is one of the only Sonic games from this era to never be ported onto anything else or included on any sort of collection pack. It is a shame too, especially considering how many other garbage Sonic games have managed to get the port treatment, and back when I first discovered that this was a thing, I was curious myself as to how it turned out. The fact that it was a game starring Knuckles was enough to convince me to give it a shot, but I at least hoped it was on the same level of quality as something like Sonic CD, where I would say it is the only reason you would wanna get a Sega 32X. So, I loaded up a totally-legal emulator to play the game on, and I can certainly say that it is, indeed, a video game. It does what it does well enough, and I’m sure that big Sonic fans would have a good enough time with this, but it definitely has plenty of big issues holding it back, making for what I would consider to be a “whatever” game and nothing more then that.

The story is typical for that of any Sonic game, where on a mysterious island, the evil Dr. Robotnik and his loyal servant Metal Sonic set out to find all of the mythical Chaos Rings in order to take over the world, but when Knuckles hears about this happening, he just can’t have that shit, so he assembles the Chaotix, consisting of him, Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, Charmy the Bee, and Mighty the Armadillo, to head on out to this mysterious island themselves and stop Robotnik from doing the evil things he usually does. It’s a Sonic game, so you know exactly what you are going to get from a story like this, but it is cool seeing the introduction of the Chaotix, who would go onto being recurring characters throughout the rest of the series………. well, except for Mighty, who is probably dead in a ditch somewhere.

The graphics are great, looking about as vibrant and colorful as any other Sonic game that was released around that time, even more so given what the system is running on, and they even show off some of them fancy-schmancy graphics they have their with sprites changing sizes and all that, so that’s pretty cool, the music is solid enough, having plenty of energetic and wonderful tunes to listen to while you try to blaze around at the speed of sound, although it isn’t gonna come close to the quality of some tracks from other Sonic games despite its quality, and the gameplay/control is, for the most part, typical of what you would see in a Sonic game, with there definitely being the foundation for yet another great entry in this series in here somewhere, but……….. hoo boy.......

The game is a 2D platformer, where you take control of two of any of the characters I just previously mentioned a couple of paragraphs ago, including some other joke characters that Sega included in there just to fuck with you, go through a set of six different zones in whatever order the game decides you will go through them in, defeat plenty of enemies as you fly and bounce through all over the place with your Chaotix powers, gather plenty of different powerups to assist you along the way in some of the most ridiculous ways that you could possibly imagine, locate all six of the Chaos Rings so that you can get the good ending of the game so that you don’t feel like a pathetic piece of shit, and take on plenty of bosses that can range from either being generally easy to being just as unmanageable as the game itself is most of the time. What we got here is mostly your typical Sonic adventure, except with plenty of wrenches thrown into the mix to change things up, and while some of these wrenches manage to turn those bolts enough to where it makes the game a little more fun, those other wrenches are turning some other bolts that I would much rather not be there at all.

To get the good stuff out of the way first, the amount of original stuff this game has in it compared to plenty of the other games in the series is quite impressive, from the amount of characters you can play as to the powerups that you can get, each one being somewhat different then what you have ever seen before, and it is pretty fun messing around with all of these different things to see what does what and what works best for the adventure ahead. It’s especially sweet whenever you find those characters and powerups that work just wonderfully for you, such as the case with Charmy the Bee, who is RIDICULOUS in this game, being able to fly around all over the place and pretty much snap the entire game in half. Kinda renders the entire main gimmick of the game mute at the end of the day, but…… sigh, we will get to that in just a second.

What I also liked about this game was the bonus and special stages that you could find in the game. Much like Sonic 3 & Knuckles, you can find plenty of big rings hidden throughout the stages, and these will take you to a bonus game where you are falling down a giant corridor, hitting all of these different blocks with goodies in them before you exit the stage. It is a pretty simple concept, not having as much interactability as the bonus stages from Sonic 3 & Knuckles, but it is simple and manageable enough to where I am still able to enjoy it all the same, and get plenty of helpful goodies along the way. But of course, we can’t forget about the main Special Stages, which you get to by getting 50 rings and jumping into the giant rings at the end of the stages, and these stages are pretty much 3D versions of the Special Stages from Sonic Tw- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO................................ ok, to be fair, they aren’t as bad as the ones in Sonic 2, with these ones being a lot more open, manageable, and instead of needing to get a bunch of rings, you instead just have to collect a few of the blue spheres again. This can be a bit frustrating at times, especially when it comes to some of the later special stages, but they didn’t manage to give me as much shit as those other stages, so I will gladly take these any day of the week over those.

But anyways, now that we all that out of the way, we may as well get to the stuff that I DON’T like in this game, and they are some pretty big parts of it to, so let’s start off with the main gimmick of the game: the Bound Rings. Throughout the entire game, you will be permanently stapled to another person, who you can swap out with someone else at these stations you find in the stages, but no matter who you play with, you are stuck with them through these rings. With these rings, you are meant to propel yourself forward and backwards with your partner, using your momentum to get you around to specific areas and to get through the stages, with you also being able to perform specific actions at certain parts where one of you will be temporarily stuck in place, while your partner will be spinning around trying to help you proceed forward. This, if you ask me, is what ultimately kills this entire game for me.

I don’t hate this idea on paper, as I feel if properly managed, this could make for a very interesting mechanic that could be very fun to fuck around with. However, when it comes to this game, it does NOT work at all in your favor in the slightest. It feels so fucking awkward to do anything in this set up, as you will either be completely halted trying to get yourself moving again, which is definitely what you should not be at all in a SONIC game, or you will be yanked around all over the place, flying around at the speed of sound, not being able to control yourself, and just begging for the end of the stage to be around the corner so that you can just get a move on. Sure, it isn’t as bad as how I am describing it in parts, but trust me, when you actually try this game out for yourself, you can feel how broken this shit is, and not in a good way, making it way more frustrating to play as a result, and can be the one thing that will decide whether or not you will enjoy this game.

What also doesn’t help this out at all are the levels themselves, as they are also pretty poor as well. Most of these levels are built in the way that you would typically expect for a Sonic level to be built like, which would usually be a good thing in most cases, but this isn’t a normal Sonic game, and as such, it suffers as a result. You will have to fight with the level design in many instances while also fighting with the Bound Rings, which can make it so that some of the levels feel like mazes, not sure of where you need to go in order to be done with this shit quicker. It just goes to prove even more that a gimmick like this simply does not work for a Sonic game, as it expects you to go about this in a way that you would usually do so in your average game in this series, minus a few sections here and there, and it just makes things all the more difficult as a result. Thankfully, there are some levels that don’t suffer from this too much, but a good amount of them do, and it can make for a very unsatisfying journey as a result of this.

Overall, despite some pretty great visuals, music, characters to mess around with, and special/bonus stages to try out, I just simply wasn’t able to get too into Knuckles’ Chaotix as a whole, with the Boun Rings making doing anything in this game much more stressful and annoying then it needs to be, making for what I can only say is an ok game at the end of the day, and nothing more. I would recommend this game for those who are huge Sonic fans, as well as those who don’t mind dealing with gimmicks like this in one of these games, because while I certainly wasn’t able to enjoy it that much, you could probably get more out of it then I could. Or maybe not, but hey, you won’t really know for yourself unless you try it out. But hey, if I will give the game any sort of credit whatsoever, I will say that it was at least one of the most memorable games from the entire 32X library. I mean hell, what other games do they have on here, anyway? Some Spider-Man game, a random shmup, an FPS or two here or there, and of course, how can we forget everyone’s favorite game of all time!…………. Slam City with Scottie Pippen.

Game #605

(Part 6 of the Half Century Challenge, created by C_F. You can find their sixth review here)

For seemingly as long as video games have ever been made, there have always been arguments that have come up time and time again about violence in video games and how much of it is acceptable, or even how it could influence the player partaking in said violence in games. Many arguments have been made for and against many different forms of violence in video games, which have often led to plenty of controversies over the years, with some people even arguing that the violence one can find in video games can directly influence violent actions that a person can commit in real life. This argument, to me, is complete fucking bullshit, and there is nothing you can do or show to me that will make me change my mind, but these arguments have always fascinated me, specifically with how much violence in video games people consider to be acceptable throughout the many stages of video games, from nowadays even all the way back to the mid-70s. This can even be seen when it comes to today’s lesson in video game history told to you by some fucko who doesn’t know anything, Destruction Derby.

So, before we continue onwards, I should probably inform you all of something…… you all have been duped. For you see, this is NOT a review of Destruction Derby from 1975, but instead, it is a review of the 1976 cult title Death Race, which is actually a modified version of Destruction Derby, so I think it would still count for this review. The only reason that I am resorting to this title specifically is because finding these very old games to download and play on the internet is REALLY hard, especially when it comes to stuff from this far back, and even then, I ended up having to play a fan-made remake of the game instead of the actual thing, with the fan-made remake not changing too much of it to where I was still pretty much getting the same experience out of it. Kinda complicated I know, but that’s just how things work around here now.

For those who don’t know, Destruction Derby/Death Race was one of the first instances of a video game that received major controversy, to the point where it was even pulled from being distributed by its developer, and that in itself has always drawn me to it. When you look at both of the games side-by-side, neither of them look like anything that could possibly garner any sort of negative attention whatsoever, being some of the most simple looking and playing games out there, not even coming CLOSE to the level of blood, guts and gore that you can find in an average game nowadays. But hey, it was enough to where I decided to try it out for myself, and I did end up having fun with it, while it also sent me down this rabbit hole of the aspect of controversial video games.

The game is very simple: you are a simple white speck that is meant to be a car, placed in a black, empty void, boxed in by a bunch of white barriers around you. In said box, there are speck-cars that are driving around aimlessly, hoping they can go back home to see their speck-car families and kids again, while also trying to crush into you for the sake of taking out their anger. You then take your car and drive it straight into the other car to ram them and take them out, which is complimented by a loud crash sound to signify what you have just done, and to make you crave for more destruction, running down as many cars as you can before the time runs out. For the time it came out, it is a simple, yet fun enough concept that you could definitely get a lot out of if you were to find it at an arcade, and a buddy could even join in with you for some wonderful, car crashing action, and the sounds are also simple, yet effective enough to get you immersed in all the carnage that you will be causing along the way.

Death Race, in comparison, is almost the exact same game as this, but with a few changes. Rather then focusing on you crashing into as many cars as you can to rack up the points, you are instead tasked to run down plenty of “gremlins”, who each turn into little cross grave-stones when they died, accompanied by a shrill scream for whenever you do hit them. It doesn’t really change up the game at all, just giving you different things to run into and different sounds to hear, which could be good or bad depending upon who you ask, but for me, it is just whatever. However, these simple changes made to the game was enough to land it into the serious trouble that it ended up in, and when you think about it from the perspective of someone living in 1976…… it kinda makes sense.

I mean, think about it, where is the only place that you would see or hear any kinds of high levels of violence, death, and destruction in media at the time? It would be the movies, and possibly TV, but definitely movies, where everything else outside of that has remained relatively safe for most audiences. However, then this new game comes out, you run over this guy, and wha….. what was that? Was that someone… screaming?! Holy shit, that person is fucking dead! Like, actually dead! They had life and everything, and we just took it straight from them! It’s more simple for us to accept in movies and TV shows, because we are merely just watching people doing the things they do in there, but WE are the ones that are performing the actions here, and WE are the ones who just killed those poor, defenseless gremlins…….. what kind of monsters have we become?! But wait, hang on…… that can’t be all that managed to cause the controversy, right? I mean, yeah, it was somewhat unnatural for video games to have audio like this at the time, but look at it! It’s so primitive and basic, and there isn’t even any blood! How could it be removed from arcades for being violent without any of the gooey bits?! Well, I myself can’t say for sure what the logic behind this decision was, but if I may, I have a theory as to what could’ve been the mindset behind this decision.

See, video games, at this point in time, were essentially the electronic equivalent of a small, cute baby. You love to see them grow up, become more developed, learn new things, and expand their horizons, and we, as the consumer, are kind of like their parents, watching them grow into the bright, upstanding citizens that we hope they will become one day. However, as parents, you also don’t want to see them be exposed to all the true terrors of the world, because if they are, it could warp their minds, change their personalities, possibly fucking them up for life, and people in the 70s just didn’t want that to happen to their small, electronic children. This single controversy was merely a fraction of the process that video games have gone through in getting exposed to said terrors of the world. And now, here we are: this child has gone from an innocent baby to a fully grown, old and cynical person, having gone through many different stages of violence, sex, drugs, and other fucked up things that people back in the day couldn’t even begin to FATHOM happening to this medium. It just goes to show what age can really do to anything, not just what it can do to people, but also to pieces of media: as they get more exposed and shared around the world, people will take many liberties with them, morphing them into something that we potentially don’t want, until we eventually learn to accept them as they are, understanding they are now the norm, and we grow to love them as a result……………….. I know, that was a very weird and confusing analogy, but it makes sense when ya think about it, alright?

Overall, for the time both of these games came out, Destruction Derby and Death Race were fun and interesting titles that would have definitely made for fun afternoons with friends back then if you were lucky enough to come across these games at any given point. Not only that, but it was also very interesting for me to go back and look on these simple controversies that would never have even been considered really that bad nowadays, thinking about how video games have evolved from this simple point in time, and how we now look back on shit like this and laugh at how ridiculous it was. But anyways, I guess I need to end this off with some kind of joke like I always do, don’t I? Uh………… you may be able to Death Race, but you can’t Race Death, cause in the end, he will always catch up to you? I dunno, unfollow me and hit the dislike button whenever it gets added to this website never.

Game #604

I know I'm still in the middle of another marathon (Kirby) but I've decided to also go through every Zelda game I own and can emulate because I've been in a big Zelda mood lately. Not only that, some other Backloggd members have also decided to join this marathon as well. Namely QuentTheSlayer, Ptcremisi,Steinco,Phantasm and a couple others. The four I mentioned plan on playing pretty much every game like I am, while the others plan on picking and choosing games they want to play. Either way, be sure to check out their accounts because they plan on putting out reviews for all the games too!

Anyways, The Legend of Zelda. I first played this game years ago on my brother's 3DS XL. He randomly bought this off the eShop and when he wasn't using his 3DS, I decided to actually try the first Zelda game out. I don't think I got far, and I didn't love it but it was neat finally trying this game out. Fast forward to 2020, I was trying to beat some games I started but never finished. Since I still had NSO, and I knew this game was on it, I decided to finally beat it once and for all. I did, and yeah I didn't like it all too much. I think I had to use save states, and definitely had to use a guide for most of it and that hampered my experience a lot. Coming back to it today tho, I say I still don't really like it all too much but it has its merits.

I guess I'll first go into the story of this game. Most future Zelda games also go by this same story structure as well, so get used to what I'm about to say. You play as Link, a young boy from the kingdom of Hyrule. You must rescue the princess of Hyrule, Zelda, from the big bad of this series, Ganon. You must collect the pieces of Triforce, which are used to stop Ganon, and they are split into 8 shards and are all found at the end of dungeons. The three pieces are the Triforce of Courage, Wisdom and Power. The specific pieces don't really come into play until later games, because that's if. That's the entire story of the first Zelda game. It's incredibly simple but it works, and these story details are the backbone of the entire Zelda series.

When you first start the actual game, the first thing you see on the first screen you're on, is an empty cave. You meet an old man, and he utters the now famous dialogue "It's dangerous to go alone, take this!". He hands you a sword and with that, you're free to explore the world of Hyrule. Exploring Hyrule can be pretty fun and frustrating on your first playthrough. On one hand, you'll be exploring everywhere trying to find each dungeon and trying to find any secrets you can. That can be very fun for people that just love to explore with almost zero direction, this is a game from 1986 so the best direction you'd get back then were vague hints or using an issue of Nintendo Power for help. This is 2024 tho, and you've been able to just look up a guide online for a while now, so that's what most players will do. And honestly, that's what I did and it's the best way to get through the overworld portions at least. See, this game's overworld relies on you finding random secrets you would only find by randomly guessing their locations or by using a guide. This game loves random bombable walls or random bushes you can burn, and while this only affects actually dungeons near the end, this is used for required items and also several rupee locations (that you WILL need) and so I think this is an unfun part of the overworld. If there was any indication the walls or bushes had secrets, it would be fine, but there isn't unless you find some very vague dialogue in game. That, plus just bombing a wall or burning a bush isn't really puzzle-like, which I would prefer in my Zelda overworlds. This is something future Zelda games improved on, but here, you might as well just use a guide to get most of the overworld stuff done first and then move onto the dungeons (that's what I did). I can see why some other people might find it more fun to constantly replay this game and actually memorize all the secrets, however I just don't think that's good game design and so I decided to do the whole overworld with a guide.

The dungeons themselves, while not great, are definitely the best part of this game. They are way less cryptic than the overworld, and thus are more fun. They can get pretty brutal near the end of the game, and also more confusing (they start to rely on bombable walls too) so I had to use a guide for the last couple as well. But in general, despite the simplicity, the dungeons are pretty fun. The bosses at the end of each dungeon are pretty easy but with this type of game, I'm fine with that since the bulk of the game is exploration. Something I didn't like, and I'm mentioning it here because it happens mostly in dungeons, is the fact you start with 3 health when you die. No matter how many heart containers you have, you'll always just start the game with 3 health and it's my biggest issue in the game because it's tedious having to get more health to have a fighting chance (since it's so easy to get hit in this game). Luckily, there are a couple fairy fountains that restore your health fully throughout the world, and there are caves that give you potions (believe me you will need these) so they make that whole health system a bit more tolerable. Going back to "since it's so easy to get hit in this game" whenever you get hid, there enemy pushes you back a bunch and because the invincibility frames are relatively short, it's not hard to get comboed by enemies and die. Now this didn't happen too much in my playthrough, but it can still be annoying. Outside of getting hit tho, Link plays well otherwise.

Inside the dungeons, and also outside in caves, you can collect different items that aid you in your adventure. You have some iconic items like the boomerang, bombs, a bow and arrows and ofc the iconic Rupees. You also have heart containers in this game, that you will want to find in all the caves and after each dungeon boss. There aren't heart pieces in this game, only containers, so each of them is super valuable. I won't get into all the main dungeon items, just know they're all pretty solid, but I will get into the clock. Sometimes when you kill an enemy, it drops a clock. When you pick up the clock, it stops every enemy in place if they're on the same screen you collected it on. This can be SO helpful in later encounters if you somehow are able to get one, it's very random tho so you better hope you get lucky. I also will say, one time during my playthrough, I killed three of these boomerang enemies and got three fairies at once from them. Idk how lucky that is but it seemed pretty insane.

The music in this game is simply iconic. The Title Theme(yes I shared the Famicom version, it's the best version) is probably my favorite song in the game and is the main theme of the entire franchise which makes sense since it's amazing. The overworld also uses a version of these theme and it's also very good. Picking up items and finding secrets also play jingles and they've been in pretty much every Zelda game since this one as well. If this game does anything super well, it's the sound design. There's a reason so much of it was reused for future titles lol.

While I don't care for the first Legend of Zelda all too much, due to the exploration secrets not being great and the 3 heart after death thing, I can't deny it's an iconic game and was very important in the grand scheme of things for the Zelda series. I don't love playing it, but I can certainly appreciate it for what it is.

Now that Zelda 1 is done, Zelda 2 is next. I actually have never played that one, and I haven't heard great things, so I'm worried I won't like it much but I guess we'll see. Look forward to that next.

Also, when I get to the 3D Zelda titles, I'll try to sprinkle in some smaller games in between but more importantly, I'll try to mix some Kirby games in between. Basically, I'll be doing a mix of Kirby and Zelda eventually. Just letting you know now since you'll eventually notice, I'm sure.

It's crazy to remember how many James Bond games used to release just about every year and to notice how far the industry has come since that time.

From Russia With Love possesses strong mechanical polish, with a simple auto-lock and a unique aiming system that allows the player to shoot grenades on enemy belts, or cut rapel wires to make enemies fall. The driving feels good. The set pieces have a lot of thrill and the amount of detail in the likenesses of the actors featured is actively insane considering what time it released.

But everything here has been improved in modern titles to such a degree that the game has become a time capsule for better and for worse. No game will remind you faster why players used to buy these tie-in titles, AND why it failed to remain a sustainable practice. Combine that bitter nostalgia with Bond's out-dated misogyny and narrative details clearly altered due to license issues and you get a fascinating stew that's worth experiencing but not inherently because of any fun to be had.

You know, I gotta say, I am a BIG fan of cheese. Not just the food itself, but also whenever something is intentionally or unintentionally so cheesy and stupid, that you can’t help but just laugh and have a great time with it, and the original Lethal Enforcers isn’t just cheesy, my friends, it is the entire goddamn factory! It was a very simple light-gun game, where you just point at plenty of bad guy PNGs, fire endless bullets into them, get some powerups here or there, and fight some over-the-top bosses, which is pretty typical when it comes to any light-gun game, but what made it so enjoyable for me was how cheap it looked by today’s standards, with every single environment, enemy, and boss being of real people and buildings, with these real people also having plenty of goofy-ass animations and voice clips to go right alongside them. It also probably made it much more enjoyable for plenty of others as well, as the game was pretty successful for the time it came out, which eventually led to the creation of a prequel known as Lethal Enforcers II: Gun Fighters.

I wasn’t really in much of a rush to get to this next game in this series, because based on what the original game gave me, and based on what it looked like from the poster, I didn’t think I would get much out of it. Light-gun games already have a bit of a hard time updating themselves in-between installments as is, as I have seen from several different light-gun franchises over time, so I figured, given what game we are talking about here, I wasn’t gonna get much out of it that I hadn’t already gotten before. But you know what, that’s some pretty negative thinking there, and I didn’t wanna go in completely negative, so I decided to give the game a shot while keeping an open mind, and…. it pretty much turned out exactly like I thought it was going to. It was a good game, one that offers enough for big fans of the original, especially in the cheese department, but not much else for those who really couldn’t get into that kind of light-gun game.

The story is… also practically non-existent, with the only real info you are given is that you are a sheriff, and your objective is to eliminate all of the crime and scummy criminals in the American West of 1873, which is perfectly fine by me, because I wasn’t about to take any other kind of story seriously in a game that looks like this. Speaking of, the graphics are still pretty crusty, with everything once again consisting of real buildings and gifs of people, which looks incredibly bad and silly by today’s standards, but back in the day….. I dunno, it may have provided a few laughs, the music is pretty good, with all of the tracks being naturally themed around the wild west, which does make for some good tunes to listen to, even if there is no variety to be found here, and the gameplay/control is exactly the same as it was in the original game, making it just as easy to approach and play as ever, which is probably the best route it could’ve taken considering what we got here.

The game is a light-gun shooter, where you take control of either Unnamed Player Deputy or Unnamed Partner Deputy, go through a set of five stages, each containing a separate crime or set of bad guys that you have to stop, watch carefully and react quickly so that you can shoot down any bad thug in sight, but don’t shoot any of the innocent civilians or fellow cowboys that will get in the way (because they have a death wish, naturally), gather plenty of different guns to increase your firepower and to help you take down whatever threats that will be coming your way, and take on several over-the-top and ridiculous bosses, who will test you in how fast you can react to oncoming danger, and how strong your will as, as you constantly put more quarters into the machine to keep on going when you die, because this is also one of those games. All of the core essentials of what makes a Lethal Enforcers game are here and accounted for, providing those who were big fans of the first game with everything they could ever want, with a bit of a change of scenery to keep the game, and the action within it, fresh for said fans.

If you couldn’t tell already just from the poster, the main change between this game and the last one is that, rather then taking place in the modern day, with you being a cop that shoots down all the bank-robbing bad guys, this time the game takes place in the old wild west, with you still being a sheriff that takes down all of the bank-robbing bad guys, but of course, it is all western themed, and I mean that to the FULLEST extent. You will be having plenty of bar fights, shooting down cow-boys, native americans, and fair maidens with a license to kill, you’ll partake in battles while riding on horseback, shooting down people in carriages, shooting away barrels and TNT as it flies towards your face, and there are even bonus stages that involve you shooting a bunch of beer bottles before the time runs out. Hell, there are even moments in the game where you will enter a quick-draw against several enemies, and you have to eliminate all of them before they end up shooting you in order to proceed forward, which can be a bit tricky, but it is really satisfying to pull off. All in all, the game takes full advantage of its Western setting and runs with it, throwing every single cliche and element you would expect from it at you with the kitchen sink, and it does give it a lot more personality as a result, which I really did like at the end of the day.

As for the gameplay itself though, not too much has changed from what you are used to in the first game. You go around, shoot a bunch of dudes, you get points, you smack yourself in the face whenever you accidentally shoot the ol’, grumpy coal miner, it is all pretty much what you would expect. You can still acquire plenty of weapons to use in order to take down some of the enemies much quicker than before, and there are even additional guns that you can get here as well, such as dual pistols and even a fucking gatling gun! These weapons can be pretty fun to use, although, just like with the first game, most of the enemies here go down with just one shot, making them feel kinda pointless a lot of the time, where the only times where you would need to rely on them would be for the bosses, and even then, you probably won’t even be able to hold onto these weapons given how fast you gotta be in order to take these enemies out……… or maybe I’m just slow. Yeah, probably that.

But as a whole, there really isn’t much to Lethal Enforcers II that you haven’t already seen before. It is pretty much the exact same game, except now there is a new setting and theme, and there are some new weapons here or there, which would be pretty good for those of you who are big into Westerns, especially the more cheesy kinds, but for others, it might not be able to do enough to hold their attention. That may be somewhat harsh criticism for a game like this, especially for the time it came out, but at the same time, there have been other light-gun games like Virtua Cop that have been able to take the genre and do more with it, specifically in the graphics department, and what Lethal Enforcers is doing here just can’t compete with what was coming out. Also, like I mentioned before, you do fight some native americans in the game, with the last boss being one as well, and…………. yeah, that could’ve aged a whole lot better.

Overall, despite a major lack of innovation and being outdated even by the time it was released, Lethal Enforcers II was still a decent enough light-gun game, one that managed to keep the same level of gameplay up from the original, and honing in on that cheesiness, to the point where it is fun enough to run through for the short time it lasts, even if it doesn’t really warrant any other kind of replays unless you have a buddy to tag along with you. I would recommend it for those who loved the original game, as well as those who are big light-gun fanatics in general, because while this game isn’t gonna make you rethink about everything that this genre has ever given you, it should still provide a decent amount of fun that anybody could get behind. And hey, since we are apparently now doing themes with this series, that just makes me think what the next game in the series could look like………. fuck it, have the next game take place in the future. Let me be a future cop, going around shooting disgusting aliens and parasites, and make it just as dumb and stupid as the other games, please. I know the next game doesn’t release until 2004, but I don’t think it’s too much to ask.

Game #602