Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 13: Atari Lynx Collection 1
Blimey this is tedious. The game is reasonable enough, simply match tiles in a grid by putting them next to tiles that share the same colour or the same symbol, use all the stones provided to win and get a dull pretend fireworks show.
Problem is, its all just... so... boring! There's no flair, no animation, no music, nothing of any kind. Theres also no real extra modes to extend the game anything past a few plays. This feels like the sort of game a grandmother would buy for their kid on a long car ride but they probably wouldn't as they'd see the skimpy lady on the front and presume otherwise. Also the Lynx had next to no battery life so the car ride wouldn't work either.
Blimey this is tedious. The game is reasonable enough, simply match tiles in a grid by putting them next to tiles that share the same colour or the same symbol, use all the stones provided to win and get a dull pretend fireworks show.
Problem is, its all just... so... boring! There's no flair, no animation, no music, nothing of any kind. Theres also no real extra modes to extend the game anything past a few plays. This feels like the sort of game a grandmother would buy for their kid on a long car ride but they probably wouldn't as they'd see the skimpy lady on the front and presume otherwise. Also the Lynx had next to no battery life so the car ride wouldn't work either.
2017
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 12: Oliver Twins Collection
And so im at the end (for now) of my Dizzy adventures on Evercade. I do hope now they have Amiga emulation running that they do another set showing off the adventures of Dizzy.
Anyway at any rate, onto this one and while its not quite as grand as Wonderland Dizzy, this is still a pretty solid game with some really pretty graphics for a NES and quite a bit of challenge. The game is certainly harder than Wonderland, the casual mode offered doesn't offer unlimited lives anymore but feels more like an actual difficulty switch which absolutely helps when we're back to everything is trying to kill you Dizzy mode.
Thanks to being mostly new as well and being less of a port of older titles, theres a fair amount to do, even if by this point quite a few of the puzzles are repeating and are feeling old hat. This also comes to the graphics too, with a lot of reused assets from previous titles, some have been edited to make them look nicer but they are still clearly reused assets.
I would also like to have a Dizzy game where Zak isnt the main villain at this point. I know thats like wishing Robotnik wasnt the main Sonic villain and we all know that often goes badly but it would be worth more of a go right?
Certainly its a fun game and for Dizzy fans its still a high point but the lack of new ideas is a bit grating. So basically Wonderland Dizzy but slightly harder and not quite 'as' good but still worth playing.
And so im at the end (for now) of my Dizzy adventures on Evercade. I do hope now they have Amiga emulation running that they do another set showing off the adventures of Dizzy.
Anyway at any rate, onto this one and while its not quite as grand as Wonderland Dizzy, this is still a pretty solid game with some really pretty graphics for a NES and quite a bit of challenge. The game is certainly harder than Wonderland, the casual mode offered doesn't offer unlimited lives anymore but feels more like an actual difficulty switch which absolutely helps when we're back to everything is trying to kill you Dizzy mode.
Thanks to being mostly new as well and being less of a port of older titles, theres a fair amount to do, even if by this point quite a few of the puzzles are repeating and are feeling old hat. This also comes to the graphics too, with a lot of reused assets from previous titles, some have been edited to make them look nicer but they are still clearly reused assets.
I would also like to have a Dizzy game where Zak isnt the main villain at this point. I know thats like wishing Robotnik wasnt the main Sonic villain and we all know that often goes badly but it would be worth more of a go right?
Certainly its a fun game and for Dizzy fans its still a high point but the lack of new ideas is a bit grating. So basically Wonderland Dizzy but slightly harder and not quite 'as' good but still worth playing.
2019
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 12: Oliver Twins Collection
I have no idea why but there's so many random puzzle spinoffs of games and almost all of them seem to have the same issue, that being there being a complete lack of energy.
I mean its not for lack of trying at least, here we have not one, not three but five different puzzle modes, one about matching sets of card icons, one about matching 3 or more of the same shape, one of matching rows of lines, another about finishing a picture puzzle and another about clearing a board by taking set moves. There's certainly a ton of content here and for people who like their puzzles its well worth playing as none of them are 'bad'.
But also if you was to ask me if I would remember any of them or even outright recommend any of the five to play, I don't think I would be able to. Its all just a bit flat and the Dizzy coat of paint isnt enough to make this anything more than an obscure curio of a game.
I have no idea why but there's so many random puzzle spinoffs of games and almost all of them seem to have the same issue, that being there being a complete lack of energy.
I mean its not for lack of trying at least, here we have not one, not three but five different puzzle modes, one about matching sets of card icons, one about matching 3 or more of the same shape, one of matching rows of lines, another about finishing a picture puzzle and another about clearing a board by taking set moves. There's certainly a ton of content here and for people who like their puzzles its well worth playing as none of them are 'bad'.
But also if you was to ask me if I would remember any of them or even outright recommend any of the five to play, I don't think I would be able to. Its all just a bit flat and the Dizzy coat of paint isnt enough to make this anything more than an obscure curio of a game.
2017
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 12: Oliver Twins Collection
What an adorable platformer we have here. Its actually a really fun little ride with some fun and fair levels, a decent variety of enemies and cute music to go along with it all. Sure its a little bit lacking in the level graphic variety and theres not all that much there but for the short time you'll be playing this, you'll generally have quite a fun time.
Though realistic-drawn dancing Pogie is absolutely horrific and shouldnt have been inflicted on anyone. That thing is going to haunt my dreams.
What an adorable platformer we have here. Its actually a really fun little ride with some fun and fair levels, a decent variety of enemies and cute music to go along with it all. Sure its a little bit lacking in the level graphic variety and theres not all that much there but for the short time you'll be playing this, you'll generally have quite a fun time.
Though realistic-drawn dancing Pogie is absolutely horrific and shouldnt have been inflicted on anyone. That thing is going to haunt my dreams.
2015
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 12: Oliver Twins Collection
Oh dang what a hell of a glowup here. Firstly, the music FINALLY is at a tolerable level. I said tolerable, not great but its now no longer making me want to take a drillbit to my ears.
But the rest of the game is just so good. What we have here is a modified version of Magicland Dizzy, but with some of the more bullshit elements either removed outright (no more terrible shark riding just to get in/out of the castle) or smoothed out. As for the game itself?
Firstly moving about is so much better, you no longer roll for ages and die against every little thing, the game is more cautious, gives more warning when danger is around and the puzzles feel better to play with overall. It just makes for an overall better gameplay experience as a whole.
What makes this package even better is the additions of a couple of extra modes to make casual play more fun. Firstly is a 'Casual' mode which removes most deaths and adds unlimited lives for the few times you can die (like pits). Theres also an option to play as both Dizzy and his girlfriend, allowing you to swap over at any point to make backtracking a little less of a hassle.
Overall its just such a joy of a game to play and I was indeed happy, theres still some issues like the mentioned backtracking and the platforming still is a little heavy.... But who cares. Its fun.
Oh dang what a hell of a glowup here. Firstly, the music FINALLY is at a tolerable level. I said tolerable, not great but its now no longer making me want to take a drillbit to my ears.
But the rest of the game is just so good. What we have here is a modified version of Magicland Dizzy, but with some of the more bullshit elements either removed outright (no more terrible shark riding just to get in/out of the castle) or smoothed out. As for the game itself?
Firstly moving about is so much better, you no longer roll for ages and die against every little thing, the game is more cautious, gives more warning when danger is around and the puzzles feel better to play with overall. It just makes for an overall better gameplay experience as a whole.
What makes this package even better is the additions of a couple of extra modes to make casual play more fun. Firstly is a 'Casual' mode which removes most deaths and adds unlimited lives for the few times you can die (like pits). Theres also an option to play as both Dizzy and his girlfriend, allowing you to swap over at any point to make backtracking a little less of a hassle.
Overall its just such a joy of a game to play and I was indeed happy, theres still some issues like the mentioned backtracking and the platforming still is a little heavy.... But who cares. Its fun.
Yep this game absolutely existed and its over and done with in about ten minutes because Waldo barely hides his ass in each of the stages. I mean I get this was made for children but even children could finish this in such a flash that it'd make every parent who so much as spent a penny on this wish for a refund and return.
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 12: Oliver Twins Collection
Christ no. This absolutely was a rush job of a NES port because as usual the audio is absolute horseshit and despite being directly ripped from previous games, somehow sounds even more distorted than usual.
Gameplay wise Dizzy's platforming has improved, there's nowhere as much bullshit with the timing and rolling but instead its replaced by having no lives system, one hit kills and absolute horseshit deathtraps littered everywhere. I know I'm using the Evercade and save states are an absolute godsend in this case but I shouldn't have to rely on them because the game tiny length necessitates this sort of nonsense to pad out the playtime.
Also once again we've resorted to dropping/picking up items to rotate through them and I had hoped we were past this nonsense but no.
Christ no. This absolutely was a rush job of a NES port because as usual the audio is absolute horseshit and despite being directly ripped from previous games, somehow sounds even more distorted than usual.
Gameplay wise Dizzy's platforming has improved, there's nowhere as much bullshit with the timing and rolling but instead its replaced by having no lives system, one hit kills and absolute horseshit deathtraps littered everywhere. I know I'm using the Evercade and save states are an absolute godsend in this case but I shouldn't have to rely on them because the game tiny length necessitates this sort of nonsense to pad out the playtime.
Also once again we've resorted to dropping/picking up items to rotate through them and I had hoped we were past this nonsense but no.
1993
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 12: Oliver Twins Collection
Another day, another multicart game released for the NES way past the point of relevancy. Once again the music is bad but this time the graphics are now bad too and look super muddy at all times.
Then theres the gameplay which is bad on all fronts, controlling Robin Hood himself feels slow and the level design is tight and restrictive. Its just no fun to play at all.
Another day, another multicart game released for the NES way past the point of relevancy. Once again the music is bad but this time the graphics are now bad too and look super muddy at all times.
Then theres the gameplay which is bad on all fronts, controlling Robin Hood himself feels slow and the level design is tight and restrictive. Its just no fun to play at all.
1992
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 12: Oliver Twins Collection
This was absolutely one step forward, two steps back when I compare it to the Fantastic Dizzy. Firstly lets do positives, the puzzle system is much better here, you no longer need to cycle through items to just use them, the actual range of where you need to use items feels a hell of a lot more generous and less picky than before and theres not quite as many random identical looking keys clogging up the inventory. All good.
Also better is the overall presentation... ish... Music is still absolute ass but having mini dialogue cutscenes between Dizzy and whoever hes speaking to is neat, everything from Menus and general UI is better and theres no more hiding crap behind foreground objects.
But thats where the good ends, the big issue here is just the platforming. It was tricky and roughish before, now its just flat out bad. Dizzy's inertia is so frustrating to use and it makes even the most basic of jumps a trial to do. His 'way' of just rolling everywhere after jumping is the cause of all the gameovers. This also 'rolls' through the entire game with the annoying cloud sections being 'right' under the main lake, just for maximum annoyance.
Its frustrating because theres a good chunk of good here but its spoiled by the platforming behaving like ass. Thank god for save states.
This was absolutely one step forward, two steps back when I compare it to the Fantastic Dizzy. Firstly lets do positives, the puzzle system is much better here, you no longer need to cycle through items to just use them, the actual range of where you need to use items feels a hell of a lot more generous and less picky than before and theres not quite as many random identical looking keys clogging up the inventory. All good.
Also better is the overall presentation... ish... Music is still absolute ass but having mini dialogue cutscenes between Dizzy and whoever hes speaking to is neat, everything from Menus and general UI is better and theres no more hiding crap behind foreground objects.
But thats where the good ends, the big issue here is just the platforming. It was tricky and roughish before, now its just flat out bad. Dizzy's inertia is so frustrating to use and it makes even the most basic of jumps a trial to do. His 'way' of just rolling everywhere after jumping is the cause of all the gameovers. This also 'rolls' through the entire game with the annoying cloud sections being 'right' under the main lake, just for maximum annoyance.
Its frustrating because theres a good chunk of good here but its spoiled by the platforming behaving like ass. Thank god for save states.
1986
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 12: Oliver Twins Collection
Well.... this 'sort' of functions, its honestly not a very good racing game and while the graphics are fine and the gameplay mostly works, the levels as a whole are too rigid and tight, causing even the lightest of touches to cause a crash where you'll have trouble catching up from thanks to each race having so few laps on the counter.
Its certainly not the worst racing game I've played, the controls are pretty passable and theres plenty of courses to play on so its not skimping out on content... but I'm not really going to touch it again either.
Once again no surprise that this was part of a multipack because there is no way in hell anyone would have accepted this as a full price release or even a single release back in 1991.
Well.... this 'sort' of functions, its honestly not a very good racing game and while the graphics are fine and the gameplay mostly works, the levels as a whole are too rigid and tight, causing even the lightest of touches to cause a crash where you'll have trouble catching up from thanks to each race having so few laps on the counter.
Its certainly not the worst racing game I've played, the controls are pretty passable and theres plenty of courses to play on so its not skimping out on content... but I'm not really going to touch it again either.
Once again no surprise that this was part of a multipack because there is no way in hell anyone would have accepted this as a full price release or even a single release back in 1991.
1992
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 12: Oliver Twins Collection
Honestly I don't have a lot to say about this one, even Codemasters themselves knew this wouldn't fly as a single release when they put it on the Game Gear and NES and bundled it wholesale with others to fill in space.
As it is, its a rather average arcade maze game, run around, grab fruit, avoid enemies and pick up random powerups. There's a few fun little puzzley bonus rounds where you slide around to pick up fruit but the time limit is so strict, its often quite difficult to actually hit all the fruits for the bonus.
If anything it just doesn't have a lot that makes it all that special, the levels are 'fine' aside from one or two rather mean spirited layouts and the whole thing isn't quite as fast as it should be. Its not horrible by any means but i'll probably forget about its existence quite quickly.
Honestly I don't have a lot to say about this one, even Codemasters themselves knew this wouldn't fly as a single release when they put it on the Game Gear and NES and bundled it wholesale with others to fill in space.
As it is, its a rather average arcade maze game, run around, grab fruit, avoid enemies and pick up random powerups. There's a few fun little puzzley bonus rounds where you slide around to pick up fruit but the time limit is so strict, its often quite difficult to actually hit all the fruits for the bonus.
If anything it just doesn't have a lot that makes it all that special, the levels are 'fine' aside from one or two rather mean spirited layouts and the whole thing isn't quite as fast as it should be. Its not horrible by any means but i'll probably forget about its existence quite quickly.
1991
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 12: Oliver Twins Collection
My expectations for this game were pretty low so im honestly happy that it surpassed those expectations by an absolute country mile. What we have here essentially is a top-down free-roam shooter where you just blast everything to bits while occasionally doing some rescuing in the process, all in the name of 'FREEDOM' and 'NATIONAL SECURITY' and the sort of stuff that would make 80s film-goers chant in unison about America... in a British game.
Its a pretty fun affair, if a little one-note in its style, the shooting is fast and furious, the explosions and constant stream of powerups makes it fun to persevere ahead and its mostly a fun time.
That said the 'rescue' mechanic sucks a bit and amounts to a rather dull rhythm minigame... Also GOOD LORD the music and sound design is all bad, flat out bad, shrieky, gritty and unpleasant to listen to. Stick this shit on mute.
Still, a competent, if rather unspectacular little shooter. Nice.
My expectations for this game were pretty low so im honestly happy that it surpassed those expectations by an absolute country mile. What we have here essentially is a top-down free-roam shooter where you just blast everything to bits while occasionally doing some rescuing in the process, all in the name of 'FREEDOM' and 'NATIONAL SECURITY' and the sort of stuff that would make 80s film-goers chant in unison about America... in a British game.
Its a pretty fun affair, if a little one-note in its style, the shooting is fast and furious, the explosions and constant stream of powerups makes it fun to persevere ahead and its mostly a fun time.
That said the 'rescue' mechanic sucks a bit and amounts to a rather dull rhythm minigame... Also GOOD LORD the music and sound design is all bad, flat out bad, shrieky, gritty and unpleasant to listen to. Stick this shit on mute.
Still, a competent, if rather unspectacular little shooter. Nice.
2008
Oh Christ this is a mess. I mean the combination of Phoenix Games and a '100 in one' compilation was always going to be a hot disaster but I wasn't quite expecting just how nothing this all is with the barest of attempts at graphics and sound patched loosely over the most nothing early flash game era stuff imaginable.
But they can't even get the basics right, there's a Tetris game with 'fun' unique pieces like O shapes with a gap right in the middle, games where the AI freaks at random, games that just openly break as you play.
What a total shambles.
But they can't even get the basics right, there's a Tetris game with 'fun' unique pieces like O shapes with a gap right in the middle, games where the AI freaks at random, games that just openly break as you play.
What a total shambles.
1993
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 12: Oliver Twins Collection
I grew up with several Dizzy games on my Amiga so coming to this is a mixed bag. As a whole this has aged... ok. For those who dont know what Dizzy games are, its essentially a mix of platforming and adventure point and click item puzzles and for the most part its decent with a lot of caveats that stop it from being really great.
Like the platforming itself isnt bad, but it takes some real time to get used to. Dizzy is quite heavy and the jumping mechanics has a lot of inertia being it, so you need some runup to make any real distance and Dizzy himself on landing often rolls on impact, making precise jumping rather difficult. Like I said, its tricky but doable.
The point and click puzzles fit a similar vein, mostly consisting of rather basic 'bring item to x' to solve things and get access to new places. The problem comes with Dizzy's rather sparse inventory space, he can only hold 3 items, also rather annoyingly (though this is more an issue with the NES edition of this), in order to cycle through items, you need to drop and pick up each successive item to cycle it to the back of the item menu. Its just clunky and given theres a LOT of items in the game, you'll often be needing to cycle through or dump items in easy to reach places. It all amounts to quite a bit of tedious back and forth with really doesnt help the game.
The game also has a habit of throwing rather mean 'Gotchas' at you, the occasional full on death trap, butterflies that reverse controls right next to pit edges, ants that damage you but you can barely see them and foreground elements that sometimes hide things. This all isn't stuff that breaks the game but it does cause what should be an enjoyable little romp into a more annoying time.
I'm also docking points for the.... soundtrack? I don't know why but the NES music is just the worst, its loud, irritating and often just shifts into LAA LAA LAA YAY music at a drop of a hat, often for no reason.
Ultimately once you get used to the platforming and the nature of the game, it isnt too bad but I feel theres better Dizzy games I could play.
I grew up with several Dizzy games on my Amiga so coming to this is a mixed bag. As a whole this has aged... ok. For those who dont know what Dizzy games are, its essentially a mix of platforming and adventure point and click item puzzles and for the most part its decent with a lot of caveats that stop it from being really great.
Like the platforming itself isnt bad, but it takes some real time to get used to. Dizzy is quite heavy and the jumping mechanics has a lot of inertia being it, so you need some runup to make any real distance and Dizzy himself on landing often rolls on impact, making precise jumping rather difficult. Like I said, its tricky but doable.
The point and click puzzles fit a similar vein, mostly consisting of rather basic 'bring item to x' to solve things and get access to new places. The problem comes with Dizzy's rather sparse inventory space, he can only hold 3 items, also rather annoyingly (though this is more an issue with the NES edition of this), in order to cycle through items, you need to drop and pick up each successive item to cycle it to the back of the item menu. Its just clunky and given theres a LOT of items in the game, you'll often be needing to cycle through or dump items in easy to reach places. It all amounts to quite a bit of tedious back and forth with really doesnt help the game.
The game also has a habit of throwing rather mean 'Gotchas' at you, the occasional full on death trap, butterflies that reverse controls right next to pit edges, ants that damage you but you can barely see them and foreground elements that sometimes hide things. This all isn't stuff that breaks the game but it does cause what should be an enjoyable little romp into a more annoying time.
I'm also docking points for the.... soundtrack? I don't know why but the NES music is just the worst, its loud, irritating and often just shifts into LAA LAA LAA YAY music at a drop of a hat, often for no reason.
Ultimately once you get used to the platforming and the nature of the game, it isnt too bad but I feel theres better Dizzy games I could play.
2018
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 11: Xeno Crisis & Tanglewood Double Pack
The game to compare this to is some of the more esoteric Sega stuff that was on the Mega Drive and 32X. I'm talking stuff like Ecco the Dolphin and Kolibri... Just with not as good graphics.
Those games have a sort of surreal charm to them and this certainly applies here, the overall worldbuilding and design feels cute, there's interesting elements abound....
But also like those games, its often absolutely unintuitive as hell and you'll spend half your time just wondering 'What am I supposed to be doing' as you flail helplessly against every bit of scenery and item in a sheer panic hoping to find that one bit or level section that'll help you progress. It's INFURIATING at times.
When not lost the game is... fine... its not exactly winning awards but for the most part its a perfectly passable platformer with some neat ideas but without any of the sense to showcase those ideas properly. Shame.
The game to compare this to is some of the more esoteric Sega stuff that was on the Mega Drive and 32X. I'm talking stuff like Ecco the Dolphin and Kolibri... Just with not as good graphics.
Those games have a sort of surreal charm to them and this certainly applies here, the overall worldbuilding and design feels cute, there's interesting elements abound....
But also like those games, its often absolutely unintuitive as hell and you'll spend half your time just wondering 'What am I supposed to be doing' as you flail helplessly against every bit of scenery and item in a sheer panic hoping to find that one bit or level section that'll help you progress. It's INFURIATING at times.
When not lost the game is... fine... its not exactly winning awards but for the most part its a perfectly passable platformer with some neat ideas but without any of the sense to showcase those ideas properly. Shame.