GumpyFunction
I have played TMNT3: Radical Rescue for a number of hours (but still haven't beaten it 🥵).
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue is an early Gated Exploration game developed by Konami and released in 1993. Michelangelo returns to the Sewers after getting some pizza for the gang, only to find that Shredder has kidnapped the other Turtles, April O’Neil, and Splinter. It’s up to Michelangelo to save everyone!
The player is tasked with exploring a labyrinth filled with enemies, obstacles, and bosses as they try to locate Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello, who are all locked in cells dotted around the map. The game play loop is as follows:
1. Use new ability to explore expanded environment
2. Locate boss
3. Defeat boss to acquire a key
4. Locate locked cell and use the key to
5. Save the next Turtle
6. Repeat
Each Turtle you save will allow the player to switch to them, and thereby use a new ability unique to each of the reptilian pizza lovers. Michelangelo can hover using his nun-chucks, Leonardo can drill down certain blocks using his katanas, Raphael can slip inside his shell to shimmy through small holes in the walls (morph ball cough) and Donatello can cling to and climb walls.
Radical Rescue was the first ever gated exploration game to feature a modern map system. By modern I mean, you can press START, switch to a view of the all the rooms in the game and see where you are and where each room is in relation to the next. You can also see points of interest on the map (denoted by black dots in the US and EUR version) to help you figure out where to go next.
Now, here is the thing, in the JP version, those dots are swapped out for a boss marker, a key card marker (they open smaller locked doors across the map) and the cell doors with the other turtles locked behind them. This makes the Japanese version soooo much less frustrating to play and the clear choice if you want to give the game a shot yourself. Having the map show how each room is connected to each other by way of door or ladder (like in Super Metroid) would have been a welcome addition but Radical Rescue is a very early gated exploration game, so I won't hold that against it. The decision to make exploration so much harder in the western version is completely baffling. I would have given this game 3 to 3.5 stars if the Western map system was the only one available - it's that frustrating! You can find my own article breaking down the differences in the Western and Japanese version's of Radical Rescue if you are interested. The article can be found via the articles section of my website (link in profile).
As far as the graphics are concerned, this features some of the best artwork in the licensed catalogue. The backgrounds are beautifully detailed, the animations are rich with personality and the cutscenes are absolutely fantastic. The music and SFX are top notch too.
The difficulty is going to be an issue for some people (myself included). The moment to moment combat is really fun with each Turtle offering a new fighting style but the enemy design can get frustrating in the cramped corridors at times. The Boss fights are equally fun and inventive with excellently crafted fights but yes, they too are extremely challenging. As I said at the beginning of the review, I still haven't beaten this one but it's engaging and well designed enough enough to ensure I will be returning to give it another go.
Sometimes I think handheld games are criminally overlooked when it comes to recognizing their contribution to innovation in game design and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue would be one of the prime examples in my opinion. After all, this particular game’s map system marked a considerable step forward in the genre and, more importantly, the game itself acts as a precursor to Konami’s own Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, literally the defining title in the Metroidvania genre.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue is an early Gated Exploration game developed by Konami and released in 1993. Michelangelo returns to the Sewers after getting some pizza for the gang, only to find that Shredder has kidnapped the other Turtles, April O’Neil, and Splinter. It’s up to Michelangelo to save everyone!
The player is tasked with exploring a labyrinth filled with enemies, obstacles, and bosses as they try to locate Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello, who are all locked in cells dotted around the map. The game play loop is as follows:
1. Use new ability to explore expanded environment
2. Locate boss
3. Defeat boss to acquire a key
4. Locate locked cell and use the key to
5. Save the next Turtle
6. Repeat
Each Turtle you save will allow the player to switch to them, and thereby use a new ability unique to each of the reptilian pizza lovers. Michelangelo can hover using his nun-chucks, Leonardo can drill down certain blocks using his katanas, Raphael can slip inside his shell to shimmy through small holes in the walls (morph ball cough) and Donatello can cling to and climb walls.
Radical Rescue was the first ever gated exploration game to feature a modern map system. By modern I mean, you can press START, switch to a view of the all the rooms in the game and see where you are and where each room is in relation to the next. You can also see points of interest on the map (denoted by black dots in the US and EUR version) to help you figure out where to go next.
Now, here is the thing, in the JP version, those dots are swapped out for a boss marker, a key card marker (they open smaller locked doors across the map) and the cell doors with the other turtles locked behind them. This makes the Japanese version soooo much less frustrating to play and the clear choice if you want to give the game a shot yourself. Having the map show how each room is connected to each other by way of door or ladder (like in Super Metroid) would have been a welcome addition but Radical Rescue is a very early gated exploration game, so I won't hold that against it. The decision to make exploration so much harder in the western version is completely baffling. I would have given this game 3 to 3.5 stars if the Western map system was the only one available - it's that frustrating! You can find my own article breaking down the differences in the Western and Japanese version's of Radical Rescue if you are interested. The article can be found via the articles section of my website (link in profile).
As far as the graphics are concerned, this features some of the best artwork in the licensed catalogue. The backgrounds are beautifully detailed, the animations are rich with personality and the cutscenes are absolutely fantastic. The music and SFX are top notch too.
The difficulty is going to be an issue for some people (myself included). The moment to moment combat is really fun with each Turtle offering a new fighting style but the enemy design can get frustrating in the cramped corridors at times. The Boss fights are equally fun and inventive with excellently crafted fights but yes, they too are extremely challenging. As I said at the beginning of the review, I still haven't beaten this one but it's engaging and well designed enough enough to ensure I will be returning to give it another go.
Sometimes I think handheld games are criminally overlooked when it comes to recognizing their contribution to innovation in game design and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue would be one of the prime examples in my opinion. After all, this particular game’s map system marked a considerable step forward in the genre and, more importantly, the game itself acts as a precursor to Konami’s own Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, literally the defining title in the Metroidvania genre.
1990
Known as Pitman in Japan, Catrap is a puzzle platform game first released on the Sharp MZ-700 computer in 1985 and later developed for the Nintendo Game Boy by Asmik in 1990.
I have played Catrap for many hours having first stumbled upon it as a child.
The following sample is taken from the Design Analysis Spotlight article I did on Catrap for GBSC. You can read the full article via my website (link in Profile):
~~~
Have you ever found yourself jumping into a brand new game, only to find that the tutorials within are so lengthy and word heavy that all the wind has been taken out of your sails before you had a chance to really dive in?
Conveying the ‘how to play’ information for any game can easily become bogged down in long winded text boxes and time consuming step by step, hand holding exercises. It’s a common problem in game design, and a difficult one to solve. And while some genres will always lend themselves to relatively more complex control schemes and game mechanics than others, when it comes to the humble tutorial, there are some things to keep in mind to ensure your game doesn’t weigh itself down so much that it ends up sinking.
Back when games came packaged in cardboard boxes, complete with detailed instruction manuals, game designers didn’t necessarily need to worry about in-game tutorials. Players were expected to do a little light reading before they switched on the game, pressed start and were sent on their merry way. With the rise of digital downloads (and I like to think a little consideration for environmental conservation), the industry shifted away from the paper instruction manual and has been solving the problem of in-game tutorials ever since. In this respect, there is one game that was well ahead of the curve. Catrap not only doesn’t require you to sit down and read through a manual before playing, its in-game tutorials elegantly teach you the rules of play without a single word!
End of article Sample.
~~~
Because of its elegant tutorial design and excellent puzzle design in general, Catrap is one of the best puzzlers you will find in the licensed DMG Game Boy library.
There are 100 puzzles in total, the first 99 of which you can access from the outset, with the option to complete them in any order. The 100th puzzle is unlocked when you complete the previous 99 (don't worry, there is a password system to keep track of your progress). I will say I still haven't completed all 100 puzzles. I find some of the latter puzzles to be overly convoluted and "too big for their own good".
There is a fully realized, highly polished puzzle creating tool built in to the game, a feature I personally feel is well ahead of its time. It's a great time challenging your friends to a puzzle of your own creation.
Catrap is a fantastic retro puzzle game and one that is particularly near and dear to my heart despite the sometimes frustrating late game puzzle design. It even has a move undo function that remembers your last 100 moves or something crazy like that. Quite a nice feature for a puzzle game made in 1990 for the GB. It's well worth checking out.
If you find yourself wanting more Catrap puzzle action, Matt Hughson created a kind of spiritual successor Catrap Clone if you will in "Witch n' Wiz" for the NES in 2022. Complete with all new mechanics built off the excellent foundation that is Catraps central 2D sukoban-esque push mechanic, you are sure to find something special there, too.
I have played Catrap for many hours having first stumbled upon it as a child.
The following sample is taken from the Design Analysis Spotlight article I did on Catrap for GBSC. You can read the full article via my website (link in Profile):
~~~
Have you ever found yourself jumping into a brand new game, only to find that the tutorials within are so lengthy and word heavy that all the wind has been taken out of your sails before you had a chance to really dive in?
Conveying the ‘how to play’ information for any game can easily become bogged down in long winded text boxes and time consuming step by step, hand holding exercises. It’s a common problem in game design, and a difficult one to solve. And while some genres will always lend themselves to relatively more complex control schemes and game mechanics than others, when it comes to the humble tutorial, there are some things to keep in mind to ensure your game doesn’t weigh itself down so much that it ends up sinking.
Back when games came packaged in cardboard boxes, complete with detailed instruction manuals, game designers didn’t necessarily need to worry about in-game tutorials. Players were expected to do a little light reading before they switched on the game, pressed start and were sent on their merry way. With the rise of digital downloads (and I like to think a little consideration for environmental conservation), the industry shifted away from the paper instruction manual and has been solving the problem of in-game tutorials ever since. In this respect, there is one game that was well ahead of the curve. Catrap not only doesn’t require you to sit down and read through a manual before playing, its in-game tutorials elegantly teach you the rules of play without a single word!
End of article Sample.
~~~
Because of its elegant tutorial design and excellent puzzle design in general, Catrap is one of the best puzzlers you will find in the licensed DMG Game Boy library.
There are 100 puzzles in total, the first 99 of which you can access from the outset, with the option to complete them in any order. The 100th puzzle is unlocked when you complete the previous 99 (don't worry, there is a password system to keep track of your progress). I will say I still haven't completed all 100 puzzles. I find some of the latter puzzles to be overly convoluted and "too big for their own good".
There is a fully realized, highly polished puzzle creating tool built in to the game, a feature I personally feel is well ahead of its time. It's a great time challenging your friends to a puzzle of your own creation.
Catrap is a fantastic retro puzzle game and one that is particularly near and dear to my heart despite the sometimes frustrating late game puzzle design. It even has a move undo function that remembers your last 100 moves or something crazy like that. Quite a nice feature for a puzzle game made in 1990 for the GB. It's well worth checking out.
If you find yourself wanting more Catrap puzzle action, Matt Hughson created a kind of spiritual successor Catrap Clone if you will in "Witch n' Wiz" for the NES in 2022. Complete with all new mechanics built off the excellent foundation that is Catraps central 2D sukoban-esque push mechanic, you are sure to find something special there, too.
2021
I have played Fix My Heart for 30 minutes. I purchased the Digital Edition from Incube8's website.
Synopsis from Incube8's website:
~~~
Fix My Heart is a precision platformer with minimalistic graphics and a strong emphasis on speedrunning, ranked 16th out of 134 entries in the Game Boy Competition 2021.
Run through a perilous cave as you try to fix your mechanical heart. The game offers challenging levels that will push your platforming abilities to the limit, leaving no room for errors. Are you up for the challenge?
With seven unique endings to unlock, you must decide your fate and confront the cave's deadly obstacles. For those seeking an even harder experience, the Remix mode introduces five new gameplay mechanics that will put your skills to the test.
~~~
I was interested in the full release of this game as I not only love platformers, I love speedrunning platformers that focus on precision movement. I was looking forward to a modernized platforming challenge for the Game Boy Color from developer Filipe Bianchin having played and enjoyed his GBCompo21 jam version of the same name.
There are two modes to choose from: a "Story Mode", where you sprint through a cave racing against time, seeking out several unique endings. And the additional "Remix Mode" that separates the full release from the jam version. The Remix mode challenges the player to complete a series of rooms, each with its own unique gimmick including a Mario Odyssey style throw your hat and use it as a trampoline or a flappy bird jet pack section, for example.
This is the first release from developer Filipe Bianchin and it shows considerable promise for future releases. He has a strong handle on game juice and making sure the Player Character feels responsive. The minimalist pixel art is very nice and effective as a stylistic choice and the game play itself is simple but effective. However, as this is a commercial release that I spent money on, there are some issues I think are important to raise.
STORY MODE
----------------------
I completed the Story Mode in 3 minutes. There is some replay value here as there are multiple endings. This is a similar experience to the jam version as there are multiple endings to find in that, too. But I found a bunch of them very quickly. Most of them completed within 15 minutes of game play. There are no enemies in this game, just you and precision jumping which I found to be pretty easy. So the game play is fun, but it is simplistic for a story mode that last 3 minutes and doesn't encourage replay over all. It's simply not complex enough.
The one ending I wanted to experience most of all is the deathless run as that is the most challenging of the runs and I felt the game could provide some challenge through reaching this goal. I spent 10 minutes attempting a deathless run of the Story Mode but retired for one big reason...There is no quick run reset. So if I died at any time during a deathless attempt, I couldn't pause the game and select a run reset option. I had to reset the actual Game Boy and sit there waiting through Logo screens, menues and a short version of the intro cutscene. In the end, I was watching logos and cutscenes for a longer period of time than attempting runs. It was enough for me to just stop trying. I do hope this feature is added into at least the digital edition of the game to help speedrunners looking to complete the deathless run in future. This is a platformer that strongly stresses speed running at the core of its design, after all.
~~~
REVIEW EDIT:
After releasing this review, the developer contacted me and mentioned you can restart to the Title Screen during a run by pressing START and SELECT at the same time. In the manual, under the controls section, it does say "RESTART" and points to the SELECT and START button.
So there is a quick game restart, at least.
I read the manual but missed this detail, unfortunately. This does raise an interesting point, though. Do modern players skim through a manual or not read it at all? Should developers insert important information into the game to ensure the player has an optimally designed experience? Or does the Developer leave it to chance, hoping that players will read through the manual? From my own feedback, I tend to think players won't read the instructions on itch or a manual, and just dive in like you would a modern game, expecting all the tutorials to be baked in to the game design. In this case, I think putting in a pause menu with the option to quick restart the run you are attempting from the "RUN" screen would be the best solution. Play testing is the key to solving this on a case by case basis, in any case.
So, yes, you can actually quick restart to title screen in Fix My Heart. It doesn't reset the run as quickly as I would like as you will need to re-select game modes in the menu and sit through a section of the intro sequence each time, but skipping the logo screens is enough to make me want to go back and attempt that deathless run again.
END OF REVIEW EDIT
~~~
There is also no DMG lockout screen and if you use a DMG and select one of the two pixel art modes, you end up with a white screen during game play. Playing on DMG also experiences severe slow down, making the game practically unplayable. If its a GBC exclusive game, then DMG lockout screens are there to prevent a player from playing the game in an unintended way. This is also an easy fix for a future update.
REMIX MODE
----------------------
There are some very neat ideas in Remix Mode when it comes to the gimmicks in each room. And they are executed well in a coding and game feel sense. I completed this mode in 5 minutes though, and once you complete it, there isn't much reason to go back and do it again. I felt like this mode was more of a tech demo of varying mechanics rather than a fleshed out experience that could be called a stand alone mode in a commercial game. Following through with these ideas and introducing enemies or obstacles beyond the platforms and spikes that seek to counter each new gimmick in an interesting way would have been fantastic to see.
The player is tasked with simply reaching the end of this mode, not under a time constraint. Some of the sections (especially the very last section) inflate the difficulty to near frame perfect precision by asking the player to become a machine. Each room acts as a checkpoint thankfully, which is needed because I feel most players will find this mode to be very frustrating for its frame perfect difficulty built into the design of the level layouts. Frame perfect execution is a slippery slope of a difficulty curve and can cause player drop off when not handle well.
CONCLUSION
----------------------
Reading this critique, you may think I would call Fix My Heart a "bad" game.
Not at all!
Platformers are an extremely challenging genre when it comes to design and Fix My Heart is an excellent first release from a young developer. In fact, I think its comparable or even better than my own first release 'In The Dark', which I would award 2.5 stars if I had to attempt to objectively critique my own game, for similar reasons - code is great, but the mechanics aren't deep enough and it lacks enough content for a commercial release. (In fact, Filipe's first release is even more impressive in that platformers are significantly harder to make well compared to puzzle games, in my view, at least. So it's doubly impressive to see such an excellent first attempt.) I was disappointed with the amount of content in this game given its a commercial release and it says there will be "a lot of new content (new game modes)" on the jam versions itch page. While on the simple side, the moment to moment game play is enjoyable and aspects such as game feel, SFX, player animations and movement are greatly improved over the jam version.
Filipe, you should be proud of this achievement, no doubt. But Fix My Heart could have used a lot more play testing before its release. Don't be discouraged Filipe, you are a fantastic developer and starting out on a successful game dev journey. Remember: Game Dev is not about making the best game ever, its about making a better game than your last one.
Here are some Pros and Cons that will help you improve your next platformer. Good luck!
PROS
---------
- Excellent understanding of game juice. Nice animations, SFX and great Player Character physics.
- GFX are stylish and provide excellent readability while twitch platforming.
- Some great player mechanic gimmick ideas that feel very fun to play with in the Remix Mode.
CONS
---------
- Not speedrunner friendly.
- Lacks a pause game feature.
- Lacks a DMG lock out screen for what is a GBC exclusive.
- Level Design difficulty artificially peaks using sometimes cheap and frustrating frame perfect level layouts.
- Obstacle mechanic design is simplistic, only offering platforms and spikes.
- Remix Mode could have been expanded on with enemies that counter each of the new movesets given to the Player Character to provide a richer and more varied platforming experience.
- Not much additional content over the free jam version.
Synopsis from Incube8's website:
~~~
Fix My Heart is a precision platformer with minimalistic graphics and a strong emphasis on speedrunning, ranked 16th out of 134 entries in the Game Boy Competition 2021.
Run through a perilous cave as you try to fix your mechanical heart. The game offers challenging levels that will push your platforming abilities to the limit, leaving no room for errors. Are you up for the challenge?
With seven unique endings to unlock, you must decide your fate and confront the cave's deadly obstacles. For those seeking an even harder experience, the Remix mode introduces five new gameplay mechanics that will put your skills to the test.
~~~
I was interested in the full release of this game as I not only love platformers, I love speedrunning platformers that focus on precision movement. I was looking forward to a modernized platforming challenge for the Game Boy Color from developer Filipe Bianchin having played and enjoyed his GBCompo21 jam version of the same name.
There are two modes to choose from: a "Story Mode", where you sprint through a cave racing against time, seeking out several unique endings. And the additional "Remix Mode" that separates the full release from the jam version. The Remix mode challenges the player to complete a series of rooms, each with its own unique gimmick including a Mario Odyssey style throw your hat and use it as a trampoline or a flappy bird jet pack section, for example.
This is the first release from developer Filipe Bianchin and it shows considerable promise for future releases. He has a strong handle on game juice and making sure the Player Character feels responsive. The minimalist pixel art is very nice and effective as a stylistic choice and the game play itself is simple but effective. However, as this is a commercial release that I spent money on, there are some issues I think are important to raise.
STORY MODE
----------------------
I completed the Story Mode in 3 minutes. There is some replay value here as there are multiple endings. This is a similar experience to the jam version as there are multiple endings to find in that, too. But I found a bunch of them very quickly. Most of them completed within 15 minutes of game play. There are no enemies in this game, just you and precision jumping which I found to be pretty easy. So the game play is fun, but it is simplistic for a story mode that last 3 minutes and doesn't encourage replay over all. It's simply not complex enough.
The one ending I wanted to experience most of all is the deathless run as that is the most challenging of the runs and I felt the game could provide some challenge through reaching this goal. I spent 10 minutes attempting a deathless run of the Story Mode but retired for one big reason...There is no quick run reset. So if I died at any time during a deathless attempt, I couldn't pause the game and select a run reset option. I had to reset the actual Game Boy and sit there waiting through Logo screens, menues and a short version of the intro cutscene. In the end, I was watching logos and cutscenes for a longer period of time than attempting runs. It was enough for me to just stop trying. I do hope this feature is added into at least the digital edition of the game to help speedrunners looking to complete the deathless run in future. This is a platformer that strongly stresses speed running at the core of its design, after all.
~~~
REVIEW EDIT:
After releasing this review, the developer contacted me and mentioned you can restart to the Title Screen during a run by pressing START and SELECT at the same time. In the manual, under the controls section, it does say "RESTART" and points to the SELECT and START button.
So there is a quick game restart, at least.
I read the manual but missed this detail, unfortunately. This does raise an interesting point, though. Do modern players skim through a manual or not read it at all? Should developers insert important information into the game to ensure the player has an optimally designed experience? Or does the Developer leave it to chance, hoping that players will read through the manual? From my own feedback, I tend to think players won't read the instructions on itch or a manual, and just dive in like you would a modern game, expecting all the tutorials to be baked in to the game design. In this case, I think putting in a pause menu with the option to quick restart the run you are attempting from the "RUN" screen would be the best solution. Play testing is the key to solving this on a case by case basis, in any case.
So, yes, you can actually quick restart to title screen in Fix My Heart. It doesn't reset the run as quickly as I would like as you will need to re-select game modes in the menu and sit through a section of the intro sequence each time, but skipping the logo screens is enough to make me want to go back and attempt that deathless run again.
END OF REVIEW EDIT
~~~
There is also no DMG lockout screen and if you use a DMG and select one of the two pixel art modes, you end up with a white screen during game play. Playing on DMG also experiences severe slow down, making the game practically unplayable. If its a GBC exclusive game, then DMG lockout screens are there to prevent a player from playing the game in an unintended way. This is also an easy fix for a future update.
REMIX MODE
----------------------
There are some very neat ideas in Remix Mode when it comes to the gimmicks in each room. And they are executed well in a coding and game feel sense. I completed this mode in 5 minutes though, and once you complete it, there isn't much reason to go back and do it again. I felt like this mode was more of a tech demo of varying mechanics rather than a fleshed out experience that could be called a stand alone mode in a commercial game. Following through with these ideas and introducing enemies or obstacles beyond the platforms and spikes that seek to counter each new gimmick in an interesting way would have been fantastic to see.
The player is tasked with simply reaching the end of this mode, not under a time constraint. Some of the sections (especially the very last section) inflate the difficulty to near frame perfect precision by asking the player to become a machine. Each room acts as a checkpoint thankfully, which is needed because I feel most players will find this mode to be very frustrating for its frame perfect difficulty built into the design of the level layouts. Frame perfect execution is a slippery slope of a difficulty curve and can cause player drop off when not handle well.
CONCLUSION
----------------------
Reading this critique, you may think I would call Fix My Heart a "bad" game.
Not at all!
Platformers are an extremely challenging genre when it comes to design and Fix My Heart is an excellent first release from a young developer. In fact, I think its comparable or even better than my own first release 'In The Dark', which I would award 2.5 stars if I had to attempt to objectively critique my own game, for similar reasons - code is great, but the mechanics aren't deep enough and it lacks enough content for a commercial release. (In fact, Filipe's first release is even more impressive in that platformers are significantly harder to make well compared to puzzle games, in my view, at least. So it's doubly impressive to see such an excellent first attempt.) I was disappointed with the amount of content in this game given its a commercial release and it says there will be "a lot of new content (new game modes)" on the jam versions itch page. While on the simple side, the moment to moment game play is enjoyable and aspects such as game feel, SFX, player animations and movement are greatly improved over the jam version.
Filipe, you should be proud of this achievement, no doubt. But Fix My Heart could have used a lot more play testing before its release. Don't be discouraged Filipe, you are a fantastic developer and starting out on a successful game dev journey. Remember: Game Dev is not about making the best game ever, its about making a better game than your last one.
Here are some Pros and Cons that will help you improve your next platformer. Good luck!
PROS
---------
- Excellent understanding of game juice. Nice animations, SFX and great Player Character physics.
- GFX are stylish and provide excellent readability while twitch platforming.
- Some great player mechanic gimmick ideas that feel very fun to play with in the Remix Mode.
CONS
---------
- Not speedrunner friendly.
- Lacks a pause game feature.
- Lacks a DMG lock out screen for what is a GBC exclusive.
- Level Design difficulty artificially peaks using sometimes cheap and frustrating frame perfect level layouts.
- Obstacle mechanic design is simplistic, only offering platforms and spikes.
- Remix Mode could have been expanded on with enemies that counter each of the new movesets given to the Player Character to provide a richer and more varied platforming experience.
- Not much additional content over the free jam version.
1992
I played The Addams Family for 30 minutes.
My reason for playing this was to write an article for GBSC on how to increase game feel/juice by improving Player Character Animation State Designs. The full article can we read via my website (see PROFILE).
The Addams Family was developed and published for the Game Boy in 1992 by Ocean Software. Gomez Addams must navigate his way through the Addams Mansion and surrounding property in order to locate and save his family members from Abigail Craven, the Judge, and the family attorney Tully Alford, all of whom are after the famous Addams fortune.
Acting as a tie-in to the 1991 film, the original concept was that of a puzzle game, however the production took a sharp turn in an attempt to capitalize on the platformer boom of the early 90s when Ocean Software was asked to adapt the film for the SNES in addition to the NES and Game Boy.
As with many tie-ins, time is of the essence if profits are to be maximized, and games that are supposed to go along with a film’s release tend not to be delayed. Even after a monumental shift in production such as changing the very genre of the game mid-development, The Addams Family for both the Game Boy and the NES were not exceptions in this case. It should therefore come as no surprise that this title sports some considerable design issues due to a rushed development timeline.
My reason for playing this was to write an article for GBSC on how to increase game feel/juice by improving Player Character Animation State Designs. The full article can we read via my website (see PROFILE).
The Addams Family was developed and published for the Game Boy in 1992 by Ocean Software. Gomez Addams must navigate his way through the Addams Mansion and surrounding property in order to locate and save his family members from Abigail Craven, the Judge, and the family attorney Tully Alford, all of whom are after the famous Addams fortune.
Acting as a tie-in to the 1991 film, the original concept was that of a puzzle game, however the production took a sharp turn in an attempt to capitalize on the platformer boom of the early 90s when Ocean Software was asked to adapt the film for the SNES in addition to the NES and Game Boy.
As with many tie-ins, time is of the essence if profits are to be maximized, and games that are supposed to go along with a film’s release tend not to be delayed. Even after a monumental shift in production such as changing the very genre of the game mid-development, The Addams Family for both the Game Boy and the NES were not exceptions in this case. It should therefore come as no surprise that this title sports some considerable design issues due to a rushed development timeline.
I played this for 15 minutes and beat it on normal mode.
Shrek: Fairy Tale Freakdown is an attempt at a fighting game for the GBC. You can select a character from a roster of the more notable characters in the first film. There are three modes of difficulty: easy, medium and hard.
Unfortunately, Shrek: Fairy Tale Freakdown fails in every aspect of its design. I am going to chalk this up to a similar issue with IP licensed titles and assume the dev team had to rush this one out asap to coincide with the release window of one of the film's.
At the outset, the game asks you to select your preferred language and there is both "English" and "American" amongst other languages. So we are off to an interesting start.
The readability of the artwork is a complete disaster. A Lot of the time, it's difficult to understand what is and isn't a platform, where a platform ends and a death pit starts. Furthermore, what is in the background or foreground blends together because the artist(s) weren't able to define the art elements related to each design element and separate them out. This lack of readability results in infuriating falls into death pits while fighting, for example. Black outlines are your friend when designing pixel art elements in games. As is the use of dropping the saturation of colors to make the background recede, separating it from mid and foreground elements. Both of these additions would have made my experience at least a little more tolerable.
The characters are slow and lumbering to control if you want to move them around without jumping. The AI is baffling. At one point I was fighting Shrek and he just decided to jump right into a death pit after farting on me, killing himself instantly.
Some of the fighting moves are interesting enough, as I said Shrek can fart on his opponents, for example. But there really isn't any strategy to found here. The best course of action is spamming a simple punch or kick attack until you win. That's how I beat the game actually. I managed to pin Lord Farquad (the final Boss) into a corner by stun-locking him with repeated kicks.
There are some characters you can unlock by beating them in tournament mode. The Ginger Bread Man runs around on candy cane sticks and his head-butt animation is great in a good-bad way.
I actually kind of love the title screen because it's a crusty looking Shrek about to thunderclap some guys head to smithereens. And the Champion Plaque is absolute gold if you manage to make it to the single player modes end screen as the titular Shrek. So that's legit worth 10 mins of your time.
Trying to make a good fighting game on the Game Boy or Game Boy Color is no easy task. I think it's best left to the consoles where you can hold a controller rather than the handheld itself. I would love to be proven wrong...
Shrek: Fairy Tale Freakdown is an attempt at a fighting game for the GBC. You can select a character from a roster of the more notable characters in the first film. There are three modes of difficulty: easy, medium and hard.
Unfortunately, Shrek: Fairy Tale Freakdown fails in every aspect of its design. I am going to chalk this up to a similar issue with IP licensed titles and assume the dev team had to rush this one out asap to coincide with the release window of one of the film's.
At the outset, the game asks you to select your preferred language and there is both "English" and "American" amongst other languages. So we are off to an interesting start.
The readability of the artwork is a complete disaster. A Lot of the time, it's difficult to understand what is and isn't a platform, where a platform ends and a death pit starts. Furthermore, what is in the background or foreground blends together because the artist(s) weren't able to define the art elements related to each design element and separate them out. This lack of readability results in infuriating falls into death pits while fighting, for example. Black outlines are your friend when designing pixel art elements in games. As is the use of dropping the saturation of colors to make the background recede, separating it from mid and foreground elements. Both of these additions would have made my experience at least a little more tolerable.
The characters are slow and lumbering to control if you want to move them around without jumping. The AI is baffling. At one point I was fighting Shrek and he just decided to jump right into a death pit after farting on me, killing himself instantly.
Some of the fighting moves are interesting enough, as I said Shrek can fart on his opponents, for example. But there really isn't any strategy to found here. The best course of action is spamming a simple punch or kick attack until you win. That's how I beat the game actually. I managed to pin Lord Farquad (the final Boss) into a corner by stun-locking him with repeated kicks.
There are some characters you can unlock by beating them in tournament mode. The Ginger Bread Man runs around on candy cane sticks and his head-butt animation is great in a good-bad way.
I actually kind of love the title screen because it's a crusty looking Shrek about to thunderclap some guys head to smithereens. And the Champion Plaque is absolute gold if you manage to make it to the single player modes end screen as the titular Shrek. So that's legit worth 10 mins of your time.
Trying to make a good fighting game on the Game Boy or Game Boy Color is no easy task. I think it's best left to the consoles where you can hold a controller rather than the handheld itself. I would love to be proven wrong...
2023
I have played From Below Pocket for many hours at this point. I bought the digital edition through Matt's website.
A port of Matt Hughsons 'From Below' on the NES, 'From Below Pocket' is a Tetris clone for the GB and GBC. It comes with 2 player support as well as SGB enhanced features.
It has the standard retro Tetris of course (and I'll get to that in a moment) but its the kraken mechanic gimmick that adds an optional wrinkle into the mix and delivers a fresh take on an all time classic. The kraken will mischievously push columns of bricks upwards, causing the matrix to spike and upset your carefully planned stack as you play. There are two kraken modes to choose from. One that sets the kraken to interfere after every block lands, or every 10 seconds. It's a neat gimmick and good for a change of pace. It's especially exhilerating when you smack the krakens tentacle away when dropping a tetrimino and he gets all pissy. Serves him right though!
The graphics are excellent and the SFX and music are particularly top notch! Just all around a good dopamine hit for the senses.
As for the classic mode, that of the traditional Tetris game play every one is familiar with. Well, we have good things to say about this version. For starters there is a fast drop feature built in, which also has customizable input mapping. If you have read my review on the original Tetris for the Game Boy, you will know I docked it half a star because the well was only 18 bricks tall instead of 20 (as in its NES cousin, a perfect retro Tetris experience. Thats unfortunatly a big problem for higher levels at such quick speeds as those two extra rows mean the difference between getting a long piece down the side at a critical moment or not. I have found this to be my main source of frustration with GB Tetris compared to the NES version. This can't be helped because the 8x8 pixel tile grid used to display the graphics on the Game Boy dictate that the maximum height of the well be 18 tiles... or does it?
Yes, that's right. Matt pulled a fast one here and skipped the rendering of every 8th pixel. Now we have 20 tiles (each 8x7 pixels in dimension) packed into the same small resolution of the GB screen!
Yep, the son a gun did it! We have the equivalent of NES Tetris on the Game Boy, a perfect retro Tetris experience (in my humble opinion) after 34 years since the release of Tetris (1989)! Some genuinely incredible innovation in Game Boy game dev!
Matt has also released his own post-release hack that adds a Ghost Piece display so you can see where the Tetrimino lands before you commit to the hard drop. I prefer playing using this hack as it's a welcome modern Tetris feature.
So, if I gave Tetris for the GB 4.5 stars, then it follows I just have to give 'From Below Pocket' a perfect 5 stars. This is easily the best version of Tetris you will find on the handheld and one of the best retro Tetris experiences out there. A must have homebrew title for puzzle fans.
Congratulations to Matt and the dev team!
A port of Matt Hughsons 'From Below' on the NES, 'From Below Pocket' is a Tetris clone for the GB and GBC. It comes with 2 player support as well as SGB enhanced features.
It has the standard retro Tetris of course (and I'll get to that in a moment) but its the kraken mechanic gimmick that adds an optional wrinkle into the mix and delivers a fresh take on an all time classic. The kraken will mischievously push columns of bricks upwards, causing the matrix to spike and upset your carefully planned stack as you play. There are two kraken modes to choose from. One that sets the kraken to interfere after every block lands, or every 10 seconds. It's a neat gimmick and good for a change of pace. It's especially exhilerating when you smack the krakens tentacle away when dropping a tetrimino and he gets all pissy. Serves him right though!
The graphics are excellent and the SFX and music are particularly top notch! Just all around a good dopamine hit for the senses.
As for the classic mode, that of the traditional Tetris game play every one is familiar with. Well, we have good things to say about this version. For starters there is a fast drop feature built in, which also has customizable input mapping. If you have read my review on the original Tetris for the Game Boy, you will know I docked it half a star because the well was only 18 bricks tall instead of 20 (as in its NES cousin, a perfect retro Tetris experience. Thats unfortunatly a big problem for higher levels at such quick speeds as those two extra rows mean the difference between getting a long piece down the side at a critical moment or not. I have found this to be my main source of frustration with GB Tetris compared to the NES version. This can't be helped because the 8x8 pixel tile grid used to display the graphics on the Game Boy dictate that the maximum height of the well be 18 tiles... or does it?
Yes, that's right. Matt pulled a fast one here and skipped the rendering of every 8th pixel. Now we have 20 tiles (each 8x7 pixels in dimension) packed into the same small resolution of the GB screen!
Yep, the son a gun did it! We have the equivalent of NES Tetris on the Game Boy, a perfect retro Tetris experience (in my humble opinion) after 34 years since the release of Tetris (1989)! Some genuinely incredible innovation in Game Boy game dev!
Matt has also released his own post-release hack that adds a Ghost Piece display so you can see where the Tetrimino lands before you commit to the hard drop. I prefer playing using this hack as it's a welcome modern Tetris feature.
So, if I gave Tetris for the GB 4.5 stars, then it follows I just have to give 'From Below Pocket' a perfect 5 stars. This is easily the best version of Tetris you will find on the handheld and one of the best retro Tetris experiences out there. A must have homebrew title for puzzle fans.
Congratulations to Matt and the dev team!
1989
Tetris is perfect. It's so perfect that an alien could understand how to play it and would have an awesome time no matter what galaxy they come from. If you don't know what Tetris is and you are reading this then you should be shot (in the leg because I don't condone outright murder). Or at the very least, you should play NES Tetris immediately.
There have been improvements since NES Tetris came out to be sure. But the core design need to not change at all. In fact, changing anything about the core design diminishes the game absolutely. As far as retro Tetris is concerned, the NES version is S tier and a perfect 5 star game. The Game Boy version is basically the same version... except for one very important difference!
Where NES Tetris has a 20 block high well, the Game Boy version is only 18 blocks high because thats how many 8x8 pixel tiles you can fit in the lower vertical resolution of the Game Boy screen. And that makes high level, high speed play quite frustrating compared to the NES version. For example, when your well is about half way full, and a long piece comes your way, 18 tiles just doesn't quite cut it. You end up watching your long piece get blocked before you can even react, all too often. That is why I don't award this game with a perfect score. It pains me to not give GB Tetris a perfect score, I must say. It's not the Game Boys fault, after all. But that's how perfect the original NES design is. A 20 brick high well is just perfect.
If only there was another Tetris game on the Game Boy or GBC that solved this problem...?
Well, there is!! It's Matt Hughsons 2023 Tetris clone, "From Below Pocket"! Check out my review of that for more info.
There have been improvements since NES Tetris came out to be sure. But the core design need to not change at all. In fact, changing anything about the core design diminishes the game absolutely. As far as retro Tetris is concerned, the NES version is S tier and a perfect 5 star game. The Game Boy version is basically the same version... except for one very important difference!
Where NES Tetris has a 20 block high well, the Game Boy version is only 18 blocks high because thats how many 8x8 pixel tiles you can fit in the lower vertical resolution of the Game Boy screen. And that makes high level, high speed play quite frustrating compared to the NES version. For example, when your well is about half way full, and a long piece comes your way, 18 tiles just doesn't quite cut it. You end up watching your long piece get blocked before you can even react, all too often. That is why I don't award this game with a perfect score. It pains me to not give GB Tetris a perfect score, I must say. It's not the Game Boys fault, after all. But that's how perfect the original NES design is. A 20 brick high well is just perfect.
If only there was another Tetris game on the Game Boy or GBC that solved this problem...?
Well, there is!! It's Matt Hughsons 2023 Tetris clone, "From Below Pocket"! Check out my review of that for more info.
1991
I've played The Chessmaster for the Game Boy quite a lot at this stage.
Chess is Chess, we all know what it is. But the question we are here to answer is how well did the developers translate the Chess experience to Game Boy?
The Chessmaster has an excellent array of options to taylor the experience to your liking. Here is a selection of notable options:
- Save and load functionality
- Customizable board orientation
- Multiple difficulty settings
- A move timer function
- 2 Player functionality
- Reverse move functionality
- A great Tutorial Mode for newcomers
- A decent hint system
There are a lot more options, too. It's basically the best licensed version of Chess on the Game Boy you are going to get.
But what I don't like about it is the SFX and the Graphics. Each time you move and your opponent moves, there is this horrible .WAV file that playes out. It can get very annoying so I tend to play the game with no volume.
The graphics are extremely bland and pretty rough around the edges.
You control a hand that hovers over the board and picks up and moves pieces on A press and with the Dpad respectively. The point and click style UI works well enough. It's a little clunky but playing Chess with Dpad (and not a mouse) was never going to be perfect.
One addition that is sorely missing is the ability to put a piece back down quickly by pressing the B button or something. I often pick up a piece, think about my options for while and forget where the piece used to be. Putting it back in its original location can be a pain at times.
The AI is fairly good. It's not going to blow your socks off but it gets the job done for the Game Boy. At harder difficulties there is significant wait time while the AI does its best to out play you. So it's best to play on the GBC and take advantage of the better processing speed, but even then, the wait times can be too long on harder difficulties.
The Chessmaster is the best Chess experience in the licensed catalogue. I ended up making a graphics modification hack for this game because it's overall excellent code wise but is let down in the graphics department. My own hack (titled "Super Chess Master") can be found on my website and swaps out all the pieces for Nintendo characters. A link to my website can be found on my Profile, if you are keen to check it out.
I couldn't fix the horrible SFX but hey, you can't win every game.
Chess is Chess, we all know what it is. But the question we are here to answer is how well did the developers translate the Chess experience to Game Boy?
The Chessmaster has an excellent array of options to taylor the experience to your liking. Here is a selection of notable options:
- Save and load functionality
- Customizable board orientation
- Multiple difficulty settings
- A move timer function
- 2 Player functionality
- Reverse move functionality
- A great Tutorial Mode for newcomers
- A decent hint system
There are a lot more options, too. It's basically the best licensed version of Chess on the Game Boy you are going to get.
But what I don't like about it is the SFX and the Graphics. Each time you move and your opponent moves, there is this horrible .WAV file that playes out. It can get very annoying so I tend to play the game with no volume.
The graphics are extremely bland and pretty rough around the edges.
You control a hand that hovers over the board and picks up and moves pieces on A press and with the Dpad respectively. The point and click style UI works well enough. It's a little clunky but playing Chess with Dpad (and not a mouse) was never going to be perfect.
One addition that is sorely missing is the ability to put a piece back down quickly by pressing the B button or something. I often pick up a piece, think about my options for while and forget where the piece used to be. Putting it back in its original location can be a pain at times.
The AI is fairly good. It's not going to blow your socks off but it gets the job done for the Game Boy. At harder difficulties there is significant wait time while the AI does its best to out play you. So it's best to play on the GBC and take advantage of the better processing speed, but even then, the wait times can be too long on harder difficulties.
The Chessmaster is the best Chess experience in the licensed catalogue. I ended up making a graphics modification hack for this game because it's overall excellent code wise but is let down in the graphics department. My own hack (titled "Super Chess Master") can be found on my website and swaps out all the pieces for Nintendo characters. A link to my website can be found on my Profile, if you are keen to check it out.
I couldn't fix the horrible SFX but hey, you can't win every game.
2022
I have played this game A LOT. It's one of my go-to chill out games because well, it's Wordle. Everyone knows Wordle by now and it's a well loved word puzzle game enjoyed by anyone that can read. The ROM is free to download on itch but I purchased the cartridge only edition to support the dev (and because I love this game and want to hold nice things in my hands).
Wordle itself is like Tetris; bare bones in its design, but with a quite frankly godly amount of replayability. The Games design it's just perfectly balanced as a puzzle game. Just as with Tetris, if you change one element, increase the letters per word, or remove or add a guess from the list, then the game is diminished. So right out of the gate, GB Wordyl is firing on all cylinders.
But what about it's interface designed specifically for the Game Boy? Well, it's doing really well on that front too. Navigating the letter selection is easy. You can move the selection cursor around the current word table to input letters out of order by holding SELECT and pressing A or B. You can also enable an auto fill of the correct letters already discovered. I was surprised at how effortless the experience of playing Wordle is without a keyboard, and having to use a Dpad, in fact. The user interface has been designed with care and close attention to detail.
As for the aesthetics, the SFX are rich and rewarding. And the animations are equally excellent, especially when you watch the letter boxes spin when a new line rolls over. There is also SGB support for those that want to play this on the big screen with a friend. I find it quite engaging to consider the solution with my partner for example, so the SGB feature is a welcome addition.
I will say that the only thing letting this game down is the graphics. There is a "starry sky" landscape used as a back drop but it doesn't really do anything positive for the experience over all. The chosen color palette is very bland as well. I can see why the graphics have been prioritised below everything else because it's a hefty amount of code packed into a 32KB ROM. Ultimately, these problems are a trivial matter as you soon forget about them while contemplating the correct answers.
If you're reading this BBBBBR, come find me and we can make an edit to the game together! I always envisioned a stack of books piled up on each other so you are spelling out the names of them on their spines!
If you're a puzzle fan, GB Wordyl is an excellent addition to your GB library for its expertly designed UI and well, its Wordle on the Game Boy!
PROs
---------
- User Interface design is exceptional
- Impressive coding feat considering the whole game fits on a 32KB ROM
- Supports a huge variety of languages
- Excellent SFX design
- ROM is free to download and code is open source
- It's wordle on the GB
CONs
----------
- Bland graphics and color palette design
Wordle itself is like Tetris; bare bones in its design, but with a quite frankly godly amount of replayability. The Games design it's just perfectly balanced as a puzzle game. Just as with Tetris, if you change one element, increase the letters per word, or remove or add a guess from the list, then the game is diminished. So right out of the gate, GB Wordyl is firing on all cylinders.
But what about it's interface designed specifically for the Game Boy? Well, it's doing really well on that front too. Navigating the letter selection is easy. You can move the selection cursor around the current word table to input letters out of order by holding SELECT and pressing A or B. You can also enable an auto fill of the correct letters already discovered. I was surprised at how effortless the experience of playing Wordle is without a keyboard, and having to use a Dpad, in fact. The user interface has been designed with care and close attention to detail.
As for the aesthetics, the SFX are rich and rewarding. And the animations are equally excellent, especially when you watch the letter boxes spin when a new line rolls over. There is also SGB support for those that want to play this on the big screen with a friend. I find it quite engaging to consider the solution with my partner for example, so the SGB feature is a welcome addition.
I will say that the only thing letting this game down is the graphics. There is a "starry sky" landscape used as a back drop but it doesn't really do anything positive for the experience over all. The chosen color palette is very bland as well. I can see why the graphics have been prioritised below everything else because it's a hefty amount of code packed into a 32KB ROM. Ultimately, these problems are a trivial matter as you soon forget about them while contemplating the correct answers.
If you're reading this BBBBBR, come find me and we can make an edit to the game together! I always envisioned a stack of books piled up on each other so you are spelling out the names of them on their spines!
If you're a puzzle fan, GB Wordyl is an excellent addition to your GB library for its expertly designed UI and well, its Wordle on the Game Boy!
PROs
---------
- User Interface design is exceptional
- Impressive coding feat considering the whole game fits on a 32KB ROM
- Supports a huge variety of languages
- Excellent SFX design
- ROM is free to download and code is open source
- It's wordle on the GB
CONs
----------
- Bland graphics and color palette design
I have played through this to 100% completion a few times in my life.
I suspect R&D1 decided to switch to Wario for their Mario Land Series in order to slow things down and better design for the smaller resolution of the Game Boy screen. Mario, being a fast paced sprinting, jumping machine just didn't work as well on the Dot Matrix screen because if you are going fast, then you have less time to react to obstacles coming at you - and that is difficult to design around with the GBs resolution. A larger than life, slow to move character on the other hand... well, that would suit the DMG Game Boys limitations quite well.
Wario is large, full of character and his animations are packed with fun detail, a series staple going forward and something only possible to pull off when you slow the platformer movement right down, else you would get frustrated trying to react to obstacles coming at you too quickly.
Although there are only 40 courses in the game, by modern standards perhaps on the small side, the level design is top quality and as tight as you would expect from top tier Nintendo platformers. I enjoy the relatively small amount of content on offer as this means we only get the best ideas. There are also loads of secrets to find in hidden exits and treasures so replay value is great.
Power-ups serve the game play well and when combined with remembering points of interest that lead to hidden treasures locked behind a power-ups special ability, a nice memory game amongst the platforming can be enjoyed.
I think removing an already collected Treasure at random when you game over, only to have to go back and redo that content to get it back is perhaps a bad idea. These days, I think Nintendo would have taken away some of Warios coins instead. There are some cheap enemies in here as well. The fire balls don't have a telegraph and can deliver some particularly frustrating deaths, for example. On the whole though, the enemy design is fantastic and counters Wario's charge attack and Power-up abilities well. The bosses are unique with the final Boss fight being genuinely fantastic.
All in all, Wario Land makes for a nearly perfect platformer experience on the Game Boy and doesn't seem to get as much love as I personally think it deserves.
I suspect R&D1 decided to switch to Wario for their Mario Land Series in order to slow things down and better design for the smaller resolution of the Game Boy screen. Mario, being a fast paced sprinting, jumping machine just didn't work as well on the Dot Matrix screen because if you are going fast, then you have less time to react to obstacles coming at you - and that is difficult to design around with the GBs resolution. A larger than life, slow to move character on the other hand... well, that would suit the DMG Game Boys limitations quite well.
Wario is large, full of character and his animations are packed with fun detail, a series staple going forward and something only possible to pull off when you slow the platformer movement right down, else you would get frustrated trying to react to obstacles coming at you too quickly.
Although there are only 40 courses in the game, by modern standards perhaps on the small side, the level design is top quality and as tight as you would expect from top tier Nintendo platformers. I enjoy the relatively small amount of content on offer as this means we only get the best ideas. There are also loads of secrets to find in hidden exits and treasures so replay value is great.
Power-ups serve the game play well and when combined with remembering points of interest that lead to hidden treasures locked behind a power-ups special ability, a nice memory game amongst the platforming can be enjoyed.
I think removing an already collected Treasure at random when you game over, only to have to go back and redo that content to get it back is perhaps a bad idea. These days, I think Nintendo would have taken away some of Warios coins instead. There are some cheap enemies in here as well. The fire balls don't have a telegraph and can deliver some particularly frustrating deaths, for example. On the whole though, the enemy design is fantastic and counters Wario's charge attack and Power-up abilities well. The bosses are unique with the final Boss fight being genuinely fantastic.
All in all, Wario Land makes for a nearly perfect platformer experience on the Game Boy and doesn't seem to get as much love as I personally think it deserves.
1990
I have played 40 mins of Penguin Wars.
Penguin Wars is a Dodge Ball sports game featuring a collection of cute animal characters. Each character has their own unique speed, stun wait time and charge time stat's. Select a character and obliterate your opponent by piffing balls at the smiling face on the other end of the table. The player with the most dodgeballs on their side of the table when the timer runs out loses. You can get extra points for smacking an cute animal square in the face and stunning them.
Penguin wars has some good ideas and a lot of charming characters but it feels like there could have been more wild mechanics thrown in to the mix with the special characters that pop up on the board or maybe having each main character have their own special charge attack. Making those aspects of the game more crazy and unique would have really helped give the game more strategy and lasting power.
I do think that the charge attack with the fast pace throw offers some pretty nice strategy with its risk/reward timer system.
I am a super fan of Sanrio World Smash Ball on the Super Famicom and this reminds me of that a lot. Smash Ball is what I'd be picking if I want to scratch my Dodge Ball itch in the end - mainly because it's easier to play multilayer for me. But this is good for when I'm not around my SFam. I will play again in future just to destroy that Rabbit with a fast paced charge attack 👌 I didn't play 2 player because I don't have the necessary hardware but that mode would be this game at its most fun, for sure.
PROs
---------
- Good selection of characters with different stat's.
- Nice to see some "curve balls" with the special characters running across the platform during play.
- Cute Aesthetic with charming character art.
- The charge attack makes for some interesting strategy.
- Stun-locking the Rabbit with a charge attack until you win is the most cathartic thing ever after getting stun-locked over and over in the late game.
CONs
---------
- Somewhat Shallow Game Play that doesn't have a strong lasting power overall.
- Getting stun locked by a smiling rat AI is just the worst feeling lol. Sometimes you can just sit there for many seconds watching yourself getting absolutely destroyed with nothing you can do about it. 100 percent not fun.
Cow is the best.
Penguin Wars is a Dodge Ball sports game featuring a collection of cute animal characters. Each character has their own unique speed, stun wait time and charge time stat's. Select a character and obliterate your opponent by piffing balls at the smiling face on the other end of the table. The player with the most dodgeballs on their side of the table when the timer runs out loses. You can get extra points for smacking an cute animal square in the face and stunning them.
Penguin wars has some good ideas and a lot of charming characters but it feels like there could have been more wild mechanics thrown in to the mix with the special characters that pop up on the board or maybe having each main character have their own special charge attack. Making those aspects of the game more crazy and unique would have really helped give the game more strategy and lasting power.
I do think that the charge attack with the fast pace throw offers some pretty nice strategy with its risk/reward timer system.
I am a super fan of Sanrio World Smash Ball on the Super Famicom and this reminds me of that a lot. Smash Ball is what I'd be picking if I want to scratch my Dodge Ball itch in the end - mainly because it's easier to play multilayer for me. But this is good for when I'm not around my SFam. I will play again in future just to destroy that Rabbit with a fast paced charge attack 👌 I didn't play 2 player because I don't have the necessary hardware but that mode would be this game at its most fun, for sure.
PROs
---------
- Good selection of characters with different stat's.
- Nice to see some "curve balls" with the special characters running across the platform during play.
- Cute Aesthetic with charming character art.
- The charge attack makes for some interesting strategy.
- Stun-locking the Rabbit with a charge attack until you win is the most cathartic thing ever after getting stun-locked over and over in the late game.
CONs
---------
- Somewhat Shallow Game Play that doesn't have a strong lasting power overall.
- Getting stun locked by a smiling rat AI is just the worst feeling lol. Sometimes you can just sit there for many seconds watching yourself getting absolutely destroyed with nothing you can do about it. 100 percent not fun.
Cow is the best.