The kind of game I play once and never return to.
I appreciate what they've done here and the snes sound and style is a nice novelty but F-zero was always a skill based game.

FZ99 takes that skill and leaves it up to random players, I've fully completed GX, X, Climax, and the original, so I know I'm good at these games, yet after 4 hours of playing I could not win.

It doesn't matter that much if you race really well, all it takes is a casual player (or bot) warping in front of you and ramming you into a hard turn at the worst time and your run is ruined, the yellow meter can mess with the balance.

It's as if they took F-zero and put the Mario Kart Bullet Bill item into it, a casual party racing item that has no place here, winning feels up to luck.

I can't really complain because it's free and has ok content, GP is by far the best mode relying more on skilled racing and strategy, yet it's only available for minutes at a time, a baffling decision that really holds the game back.

This was neat to try out for a bit, but I'll stick to X or Climax for my FZ fix.

What I've played from this developer; Shin'en, has always left me a bit unsatisfied.
They're clearly extremely talented at coding with what they can pull of on basic hardware, creating pseudo-3D games and impressive 3D rendered environments with convincing visual depth and you can always count on an incredible soundtrack to go with it, with uncompressed sound that rivals the best the Game Boy Advance can handle, they have a lot of potential as a developer.

But every game I'd played from them pre-2015 was underdeveloped or unpolished. Terrible hit detection, bad visibility, and repetitive games that wear out their welcome quickly. Something like Iridion II comes very close to being a solid game (and I would still recommend trying it), but difficulty balancing, useless weapons, mindless boss fights that go on for too long, and basic enemy patterns hold it back from being great, there's elements of the dreaded "euro shootemup" design in many of their games.
I've always liked games they made in spite of all of that, because the aesthetics and sound were that amazing.

Something like Maya the Bee: Sweet Gold (and Great Adventure) is unassuming, considering it's a licensed game I had even less faith in it, I thought, surely this is a terrible low effort shovelware game.

No, it's actually the opposite, I was very pleasantly surprised once I started playing this, as it turns out this is probably their best game (that I've played so far).

It's the last Gameboy Advance game developed by this team and it looks and plays like it. From the very first level in the game the player is presented with very clean visuals, fluid animation, and a surprising amount of background layers with visual depth, while this really catchy theme is playing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS8y1OUT9H0

Out of the 6 world themes none had underwhelming music, and every level has some kind of nice visual effect. Whether it's ridiculous parallax
https://youtu.be/eAKN2UzwnT4
Transparent background layers https://youtu.be/uq0wGG-iVy0
weather effects https://youtu.be/ctNlewHfYho
lighting effects, or just a nice looking background, the game is consistently appealing visually.

The game plays like a late-era Snes game, movement is smooth and responsive, and there's a small hover move that can be done after jumping making hitting enemies and landing on small platforms more manageable.

One neat and unique mechanic is that the hover move is limited, and has to be recharged with an item throughout each level, there ends up being some light strategy and puzzle solving with conserving it and making it last for when it's needed to clear a wide gap or get some extra height.

The gameplay consists of jumping on enemies, collecting many items scattered throughout the levels to earn extra lives, and a goal somewhere at the end of the level, it's pretty standard.

What makes this fun to play despite the simple and familiar gameplay is the level design and theming, every level has many secret areas to find and they're often intuitive or just hidden well enough to be a challenge to find but not to the point of frustration.
The camera seemed like it was going to be a significant issue more-so with the small screen size advance games have, but thankfully there's a look up/down function mapped to L and R, and the camera doesn't move around too much or too little to be annoying.

Besides that there's a some variety introduced with level specific gimmicks, push-able objects that are part of small puzzles, round objects that roll down hills and can be used to avoid spikes, moving platforms, or objects that need to be stomped from above to be broken that block paths.
Again it's all standard but well implemented, in fact all of these things are near identical to the game Yoshi's Island, even the visual effects that were used, it never reaches that level of ingenuity or brilliance but it's competent at least and keeps the game from getting too repetitive.

So the game isn't very original, players won't find anything groundbreaking or unique here, but it's well designed enough within more open larger levels to stand out and be enjoyable to play in it's own way.
Repetition almost sets in before the environment changes or a different mechanic is introduced, there's also some completely vertical levels which is not something often seen in 2D platformers and works really well with the mechanics the game uses.

It's also a pretty easy game, I only played on the hard mode, which just removes checkpoints and health refills and I still barely had any struggles getting through this game.

It's very laid-back, I would describe this as a comfy game. the clean colorful visuals, nice weather effects, and charming music all make this a very easygoing cozy game, overall it's just pleasant to play.

After beating the game there's an "arcade" mode where all the collectibles are tracked, and getting all of them is acknowledged by the game.
I had more fun playing this way with a real goal in mind, and it means completely exploring every level.

So it's a solid game, but there are some issues. Collecting everything and beating the game unlocks a sound test and image gallery, but that's it, beating the game on hard doesn't seem to do anything either, it takes awhile to fully complete arcade mode, it would have been great to unlock some kind of extra content within the main game, but there isn't much of a reward at all, it's kind of a letdown.

Hit detection is pretty good overall, but a few enemies have unpredictable movement or are harder to jump on than they should be so there were a few deaths that were unfair, some obstacles like falling icicles blend in with the background or fall from off-screen and I got hit by them constantly, the ice levels were dreadful to play because of that, falling obstacles are hard to react to.

Worst of all there are no boss fights, considering how platformer bosses usually end up it's not much of a loss, but some kind of added challenge, especially at the very end would have made more of an impact, otherwise it feels like the game ends suddenly with no real conflict. Instead of boss fights the game has these odd flying stages, they're all the same besides the background changing for each world, it's just avoiding enemies for a few minutes as the level scrolls by until it ends, there's no combat and they're also very easy.

It's definitely not a perfect game, the highs aren't nearly as great as the best you'd find in something like Mario, Yoshi, or DKC, it's derivative and doesn't take as much risks as it could and isn't quite as ambitious or creative as the best of the genre, but there aren't really any low points and for a licensed Gameboy Advance platformer it's much better than it needed to be.

This doesn't set the standard for licensed child-friendly platformers, but it comes awfully close. An overall pleasant experience with great graphics and some nice music.
It's a shame copies of this are so hard to find and that the game only released in PAL regions, anyone looking for a decent GBA 2D platformer that isn't a Mario port or licensed shovelware should find a way to play this.

(meant for cartridge version)
This is an addicting and very well designed puzzle platforming game, the game fully explores it's mechanics and almost never reuses a puzzle or course layout, it's extremely creative. The main mechanic is storing and placing blocks to reach platforms, as the game goes on it introduces new mechanics that all add to the core platforming.

This is also one of the hardest games of it's kind you will find, for me it was refreshing to find a game that simply did not hold back, no idea or precise movement was considered too much by the developers, the game takes it's time training you to be the best at it, then expects you to be the best, I was able to fully complete it without any hints or guides and it was one of the most satisfying game experiences I've had with a SFC/Snes game.

Still I have to mention that this game will not be enjoyable for everyone, if you don't have the patience or time for it you will likely get frustrated and give up on it, and if you aren't into precision platforming with puzzles it does not offer much else.

This game being extremely difficult might sound like it will lead to frustration and overly punishing difficulty and it can get close at times, but don't let it intimidate you.

This game is accommodating for less skilled players and casual play. If any puzzle is too much there are hints that give you the info needed to solve the course, for the game to be this difficult you need responsive and intuitive movement and it has that as well.

The game is designed around using a built in save-state so you can save right before a precision jump or possible softlock and retry as much as you like (and you definitely should!)
it's balanced around perfecting every step so you can replay without saving or checking hints, and doesn't have any real penalty for using it.

In addition to everything I've written the game is full of content, an amount that I found surprising, not counting optional tutorials there are 120 levels to play through and some secrets to search for, along with extra endings for meeting certain requirements.
It will keep you busy for awhile, I've had this game for over 5 years and I still replay it while trying to get faster completion time.

You'll be spending up to an hour or more per level when the game starts getting really difficult so it's good that there's catchy and calm cheery sounding music playing it's enjoyable, but not something I'd search for outside of the game.

Lastly you would expect a game form 1999/2000 on the SFC to look great and the game has very nice detailed visuals, the backgrounds use lots of color and are highly detailed the in-game characters are smoothly animated and the environments look good too.
The backgrounds are static images some animation or layers would've been nice but that's the only negative I have with presentation. overall it has a polished presentation.

All of this adds up to being what i consider to be one of the Super Famicom games that I have enjoyed the most, play this however you can especially if you like this genre, it is something special.

Incredible, if there was a peak or final form of the single screen arcade style game this is (probably) it.

I find myself asking where has this game been all this time? How could I have never heard of this? I'm surprised a game this good has gone unnoticed.

This is one kind of game that when looking up footage, within minutes I realized I had to play it. There was so much creativity and talent put into this game, it's brimming with originality and ambitious ideas. The levels are often dynamic, changing, and completely unique to this game, playing this was a breath of fresh air.

The easiest way I can describe how this game plays is like if you took Saturn Bomberman (with it's focus on bomb mechanics and ride-able creatures) fused it with Snow Bros, added in throwing mechanics from Mischeif Makers, and gave it the visuals of the best of Parodius and Harmful Park

The spectacle of this game is almost unmatched, there were many games of this type for systems like PS1 and Saturn, but none of them used 3D for backgrounds or visual depth.
Each world has different effects and visual gimmicks that often effect the level itself. there's nice parallax and layering, or panoramic visual effects.

World one flips the screen once in awhile while swapping the background much like a stage play.
World 2 had one of the most inventive use of background effects I've seen in any PS1 game, the level tilts and swivels with the background and effects player movement
https://youtu.be/u2TKbrNGItE
another world had water going up and down the play area with nice transparency, the sound would echo and distort when entering water too.
https://youtu.be/-UrtY6I8FCo
See here the amount of layers moving around
https://youtu.be/Osb6uHqkH0g

There's so much going on visually at times it almost gets overwhelming, there were times where i almost lost sight of my character, it's very chaotic but in a good way. It's very distinct and appealing visually, there's so many small details and always something going on in the background to look at.

Gussun Paradise (Yoyo Puzzle Park) takes place in a theme park, so each world is an attraction such as a boat ride, water park, ect and it all ties together nicely.

The game has you throwing enemies and bombs across the screen, it feels like Mischief Makers, or Gunstar heroes in that throwing is a key part of the game, the key to clearing levels is trying to clump all the enemies together and catch them in an explosion.

Your character alone can use a projectile that can push or stun enemies but not defeat them. It's the bombs that spawn in that need to be used to blow up enemies. This is a more unique approach to clearing out enemies, it requires more thought and planning than usual and adds a lot of needed depth.

In addition to this there are characters and objects that can be found randomly that can take an extra hit and add an ability like multiple jumps, one that draws in all collectibles, a flying one, or the one I liked to use that lets the player fire a full-screen laser at any time to stun enemies.

There's a lot of charm in the characters and their many fluid and detailed animations, the enemy variety stands out too.
There's a great 2 player battle mode in the game or it can be played cooperatively.

Every aspect about this game is well thought out and polished, it gets difficult near the end and a bit frustrating (in a good way) but never too much, and continues are plentiful.
I thoroughly enjoyed this the entire way through. It's just fun to play this in general.

My only complaint is the last few levels rely on either bringing in powerups or nearly memorizing specific patterns or strategy otherwise there was barely a chance to beat them, the enemies can easily get the upper hand and to add to everything going on the last world flips upside-down once in awhile which is very disorientating but still kind of neat, the story is also not interesting at all and feels tacked-on, could have been better but not as integral to this kind of game.

This is one of the most unique and inventive arcade style games I've played, it's packed with fresh ideas and engaging mechanics. was thoroughly enjoyable all the way through, absolutely a must play and an outstanding PS1 game.

Super Mario RPG (the Snes original) wasn't just well made, it was creative and ambitious and mixed genres to make something unique.

Very little if any of my perspective on the original game comes from nostalgia, it's not just a memory or a bias for the past, maybe it was for many other people. but it isn't for me.
I replayed the original game just a few years ago and still enjoyed it as much as I had before even though it was probably the fifth or sixth time I've played through it, the game still felt compelling and I appreciated some aspects of it more than I had before.

So considering my appreciation for the original it's no surprise this remake was my most anticipated game this year, not just this year but in a long time.

The respect for detail and most of the original translation is commendable, and adding a new soundtrack to go with the new look was a good choice, and having an option to switch to the original music is something I wish every remake did. Most of the charm and character is unchanged and the look and sound is accurate if not better.
There's a lot that can go wrong with remakes (and it often does) so it's a relief that it turned out the way it did.

New features like post game content, bestiary, options menu, autosave, team attacks, and fast travel are a nice addition and though not necessary they improve things overall, I have no complaints with the these things. They did try to make it a smoother experience and these are all good additions. They are the kind of changes that remakes should have; additions that don't take away from the experience or appeal of the game, but are significant enough to make a positive change.
If only all the changes were like that.

The original Super Mario RPG has three distinct identities, Platforming and exploration, side games, and the battle system.
These three aspects are mostly separate from one another but compliment each other extremely well while breaking up the pace, this made the gameplay stand out from everything else and is part of what made it so great, it's packed with unique and creative scenarios.
After completing the remake, a lot of it lived up to my expectations. The remake does two of these aspects just as great, but the third...

As much as I can praise this remake, even if it still is mostly the same game, story, characters, and really fun side games and excursion with most of the style intact, there is something that really holds it back.

For the first 6 hours playing this remake something really didn't feel right. the game looks great, plays fine, and still has great music, and yet I didn't feel anything at all. I couldn't figure out why.

I've played many newer and deeper games in the genre since then, maybe I couldn't appreciate this anymore, I wondered if my standards had just changed since then, but that's not the case.

While I did enjoy several parts of the game, I thought I'd feel the same kind of joy and innocent wonder the original game still gives me but outside of a few moments that didn't happen.

During my entire time playing I had this feeling like the game felt so small, and insubstantial in odd ways I never experienced playing the original, yet it took the same time to complete and the maps are identical.

The game really is small.
Take Rose way or especially Booster pass for example; they're no more than a few small connected rooms, even several of the main areas aren't larger than most beginning dungeons in any typical RPG, I'd just never noticed before.

It took me awhile to realize why I wasn't enjoying it. It's not that the scope of the game had changed it was how long I was taking in each area.
Those places felt larger because I was fighting enemies for longer. needing to try and make an effort to avoid losing, using real strategy, items, special moves, ect made everything feel more substantial.

That's the main problem I have with this remake, by changing the battle system it affects the pacing of the game and makes most fights an afterthought, not only did I have less incentive to use all of my resources and instead just mindlessly attack and perfect guard, I was blowing through every encounter.

The splash damage, super attacks, and perfect guards make this easy already, but now party members can be swapped in a single battle, there's no tension when I can switch to peach to heal/revive any time, or use Bowser/Mallow to absorb damage and switch back.
There was a risk reward to choosing power over defensive characters, or sticking with magic types while trying to outlast a dangerous boss, most bosses didn't even get to use all of their attacks or have any chance at all to pose a threat.

And all of this happened in my playthrough where I forgot to buy gear for the first 4 main areas in the game, I was using starting equipment, and went out of my way to avoid most enemies and level ups and I STILL defeated bosses in half as much turns as the original game.

I won't call the original perfect, but every attempt to modernize it comes with some risk of taking something away, and over-correcting. Part of the appeal just isn't there anymore, it was already easy for the genre, that was the most significant flaw, instead of fixing that it's just worse.

My problem isn't just that it's different, I know if I didn't have the context for the original game I'd still think this remake is overly easy.

I have some mixed feelings on this game, some parts are better and really well executed, while the main part of the game is changed in a way I don't think benefits the game at all.
So it's not all bad, but its not as great either, I did end up having a good experience with it once I got to the sunken ship and onward and the post-game finally provided some real battles.

It's not really unpolished at all or poorly designed, despite everything there's enough here that it was worth my time, it unfortunately does not replace the original game, but it has a different appeal (added features and visuals) that the original can't replace either.

Still great for beginners, especially anyone that might have struggled with the original, there are still some fantastic aspects of this game.
Fans of the original or anyone interested should still try it out.

The developers had some respect/restraint with the source material. I don't think it's as "faithful" as everyone says but it's no disgrace to the original game either.

Considering the context the game was made in I think it should not be as good as it is.

Cho Ren Sha 68k (which translates to Super Rapid Fire) is a top down view arcade shooting style game that was originally made for the Japan exclusive X68000 computer in 1995. I'm playing the PC version

This game doesn't hide its influences, much like a modern indie-shooter like ZeroRanger it feels like a celebration of mid-nineties arcade games made by someone who is not only a true fan but has a deep understanding of the games they appreciate.

In this case; late Toaplan and Raizing games and maybe a touch of Recca and Raiden 2.
Despite being inspired by other games by very talented developers with decent budgets it is somehow competes with that level of quality and (arguably) transcends it while having its own identity and unique mechanics in a time when high quality indie and homebrew games were very uncommon.

There's nothing about this game (besides a few minor elements) that feels outdated, it seems like they wanted to make a challenging game but prioritized making it as fun and inviting as they could.

This game has style, it's really nice to look at, there's shrapnel, explosions, and particle effects that often fill the screen and the enemies and boss designs are top-tier, all-around it's just a pleasing spectacle to watch.
animations are smooth and sometimes creative, this game can impress from visuals alone.

But it's more than just a good looking game.
This is a game that seems simple at first but has more depth and intricacies to discover than most games in this genre at the time, after over 10 years I am still discovering new things when I play it.

It can be deceptive, at first it won't seem like much more than a typical STG for it's time, but the more time you invest the more secrets and game mechanics you discover the better it gets.

There are hidden extra enemies that can show up if you play a certain way, some bosses have secret attack phases, or alternate ways to fight them under certain conditions, most players might never find them.
And that's just on the surface; there's also hidden modes and options that completely change core mechanics of the game.
You can fine-tune the game to play the way you want it to if you know how.

This game is difficult, as you might expect. but it is far more reasonable than the arcade games of this generation, extra lives are not finite and powerups are frequent, you can get a sheild to take an extra hit or stockpile powerful bombs that leave you invulnerable for a short time.
There's a creative risk-reward mechanic within the powerup system that feels ahead of it's time, but even at base power the ship is powerful enough to take care of enemy waves and won't take that much longer to take out even the most intimidating bosses, recovery from losing a life is thankfully very forgiving.

Enemy bullets are easy to see and follow, I never lose track of my ship even when the screen is covered in enemy projectiles, hitboxes feel generous as well, I can slip through walls of bullets often without getting hit.

The game has a nice flow to it and there's no wasted space, new enemies and patterns are introduced often at a quick pace, it's an extremely varied game that doesn't get stale.

Not only does it flow well but the in-game music fits each level perfectly, the music always matches the intensity, and pace, slower levels have calmer themes that typically put me in a trance like state while playing. levels where enemies are dense and oppressive have equally intense music to match, tracks like the final level theme "all or nothing" give the impression that you're up against an impossible threat but always has hopeful undertones it really motivates the player to keep trying.

The boss theme is great, late into the game the theme unexpectedly changes and the boss is so much larger and aggressive than what came before, it perfectly gave the feeling of intimidation like you know you're in for a tough battle before it even starts, it goes way harder than you would expect and makes those later challenges even more memorable despite still being fair. If the player can overcome them it feels superhuman like you've transcended your own abilities. I wouldn't hesitate to call the final few bosses iconic.

The soundtrack really is very good, this is to be expected from games like this but it still stands on it's own. I like every track, the stage three theme "Pleasure Trip" especially stands out in a great way.

The soundtrack is incredibly good I can't do it justice with this review even with the sound limitations the composer was working with I think it so well done and still holds up.

The sound effects for things like powerups and enemy explosions are satisfying as they should be.

So far I've been going on and on about how great this game is, but there's just a few things I need to point out.

First of all, you don't have rapid-fire and have to repeatedly tap to fire, it adds to the intensity of the game. thankfully this is a PC game so if the player doesn't want to play that way all that's needed is a controller mapping apps and a decent controller and rapid fire can be used.

But there's two real weakness this game has:
For all of it's 7 stages there is one background. just one endlessly scrolling image, to make up for this the game is continuous.
It never fades or has to load in a new level, it's completely seamless and it pays off in a way I won't spoil, the player will have to manage to beat the game once to understand what I'm referring to.
Like many games of this time from Konami or Cave the game will loop when you beat it, but there's some extra content if you manage to clear it again. While the game does end there is no ending cutscene, no credits, no intro, no story, the game lacks this category of presentation, this may be a deal-breaker for some players, the game is all about it's gameplay and not much else.

Typically a legendary, well-polished decades old STG like this will cost way too much. The good news is, it's free.

The bad news is it has not been ported to modern systems, it's locked to X86k or Windows 10, you might have to make a serious effort to get it running properly, but it is more than worth the effort.

All of the positive elements I've mentioned perfectly come together to make a very addicting game I never stop playing and one I could never forget, it comes very close to being my overall favorite game. I think it was truly ahead of it's time and a game I don't think will ever be perfectly replicated.

If you like overhead arcade shooting games this is one you really should find a way to play.

On Saturn there's Guardian Heroes and Radiant Silvergun, both games I've always really liked and immediately got the hang of.
And then there's this game...

My first time playing this I felt like I was fighting the game mechanics, I often felt like I was missing something.
I really struggled my way through this game, brute forcing my way to the end while throwing away multiple continues. I didn't understand why it couldn't just be a straightforward run-&-gun or action platformer, it seemed like the added mechanics just got in the way.
It was so frustrating and exhausting to play. I just saw it as the one weak link in the developer's history.
And so this game just sat on my shelf for many years and I'd always remember it as that weird mediocre treasure game.

Only now after coming back to it years later and finally understanding how to play it I feel qualified to write this review.
Silhouette Mirage comes from a developer that is most known for out-of-the-box ideas and experimental game design, and this is one of their games that pushes things even further than usual.

Silhouette Mirage is a misunderstood game, and I also misunderstood it.
This game is deceptively esoteric and deceptively genious. So much so that it took many playthroughs before I finally "got it"

Silhouette Mirage has a color polarity system but the player can't just easily change color at the press of a button you have to face left or right, it's the kind of idea that seems arbitrary and unique for the sake of being unique at first. It's easy to write the mechanics of this game off as shallow the game can almost feel mechanically confused, but the truth is that it isn't just a gimmick, most mechanics are deep and thoughtfully designed.

That's how the game is deceptive, before I really learned the deeper skills and mechanics I assumed that jumping over enemies and trying to move around them was a effective way to play, instead it's all about manipulating and forcing enemies into places where they are at a disadvantage, in other words move the enemy not yourself. It's counter-intuitive to the the way most games would go about something like this. There's a lot of depth to this idea, and it does work in practice once it's properly understood. Many of the bosses in the game feel the same way, before I understood their gimmick, patterns, or weakness they seem tedious and unfair but now they're fun to fight and a reasonable challenge. It's a huge contrast in difficulty all coming from the mechanics themselves. Nothing about Silhouette Mirage is minimal or simple.

This is primarily a run-and-gun game, but it feels a lot like a beat-em-up in some aspects with how spacing is used, it's really important to navigate around enemies and push them into place to control the situation.

You can shoot enemies with the same color and it won't do damage, it might seem like a waste but what this actually does is drain their energy, my first time playing I didn't understand the utility of this and only tried to damage them, it's really important to drain some enemies of all their power first.

It's a really clever layer added to this mechanic, instead of just aggressively attacking everything the game has a focus on disarming your opponent first, so you can get in closer and deal heavier damage. The game prioritizes defense and patience in a really unique way there's not really any run-and-gun game that does things like this. Silhouette is certainly no Contra or Metal Slug, you can't just run in and blast away groups of enemies.

Once an enemy or boss is disarmed they usually have no attacks they can do anymore leaving them open to being grabbed, you can grab and thow almost any enemy and boss which is important for controlling the battle and spacing, but the player can punch money out of enemies and bosses while grabbing them.
This leads to some grinding for shops where you can buy healing items and upgrade weapons, it's essential to have a chance against harder bosses later into the game, there's another layer of resource management added to everything that's already going on here.
It's a lot to keep track of and will keep the majority of players from enjoying it. This is definitely not a game for everyone, I think it has a niche appeal. It's a very demanding, complicated, and punishing action game.

As well as everything works and how well planned and developed many aspects of the game are, there are some serious problems that skill alone can't fix.

My first time actually getting to the final level of the game I was experimenting with weapons and ended up stuck with the Bomb weapon named Angara, the massive problem with this is that Angara can only hit ground targets, you see the final few bosses are exclusively airborne... I could not hit them, I had no chance. My entire playthrough ended right there at no real fault of my own, because the weapon system is so under-developed and unbalanced. The game can be very frustrating like this and not in a satisfying way, there's a smoke/toxic weapon and a targeting homing shot that both take too much setup when you could just get much higher DPS with anything else and worst of all weapons give enemies knockback. This is no issue with the standard shot, Laser, or boomerang, but the rest just hit once launching the enemy away while the rest of the attack misses.
There's no reason not to just use half the weapons.

If I had to pick out the most significant weakness from Treasure as a developer, the most significant and recurring problem that can show up in many of their games, it would be over reliance on gimmicks and one-off ideas.
committing too hard to an idea at the detriment of pacing or enjoyability, at times it's as if they thought the idea was too good of a concept not too put in the game without considering if it's worth including to begin with. I always reward a game for creativity and I think they deserve some credit for trying and experimenting with new ideas, but those ideas can't always be good. Sometimes it's possible to go too far in that direction, I think they get a bit carried away at times.

I think this flaw is the worst demonstrated in this game, often it's just one or maybe two bosses in their games that have this issue but here I can count at least six that do this, it's a lot to explain as the scenarios can be very specific, so I'll let parts from my latest playthrough (on very hard) speak for itself. It's as fun as it looks (so not at all)

SPOILERS FOR FINAL BOSS
https://youtu.be/rUB-91LxKeE

Whenever there's a boss exclusively in the background it's just dreadful, both of those go on for five or more minutes as the player is just waiting around for them to damage themselves.

You would want a game like this to scale in difficulty gradually and naturally, with a few exceptions that's true here and the game overall is challenging, but the semi-final boss is an absurd massive spike in difficulty, and it's fought right after another very hard boss being the third one in a row with no heals or shops in between, it's especially cruel design and it artificially lead to most of my playthroughs ending early.

As it turns out the key to actually fighting them is just holding reflect or attack in the corner, like a lot of the gimmicky parts of the game figuring it out is the challenge but once that's over with it's just pathetic, fighting it knowing the solution just takes all the challenge and skill away. The most mindless nothing kind of gameplay.

For every 3 great boss fights there's a really bad one, the bosses that are straightforward to fight end up being the most fun and thankfully they make up the majority of the game, many have a clever gimmick that just helps or makes it much easier without getting in the way or ruining the overall flow and there are a lot of them, not all boss fights are bad there's a lot of very memorable and fun ones.

I have a lot to complain about in terms of gameplay, but I can't complain at all about the presentation
graphically it's a nice looking game with charming and unique character designs, they're about as unusual as the rest of the game, every level takes place in a very different environment from the others and there's a lot of imaginative and appealing locations, it's nowhere near the spectacle or scope one would expect from Treasure, nothing mind blowing or awe inspiring but it's still above average and the game is very distinct.

The soundtrack is catchy it's not my favorite but there are a few standout level themes and it's well varied
Overall the game has a very unique character and style with a strange and complicated plot to go along with it

Despite being complicated the game is responsive and has many moves to take control of any situation, it feels good to run up walls or slide and the character has a lot of air movement without being too "floaty"

Not every idea works well and it can be cumbersome a lot of times, there are some awful parts in this game that there's just no getting around. It's a game that has a lot to like but it takes a lot of work to learn to like this game. There's some really good bosses and levels here that are brought down by the bad ones I have a list of complaints with this game, but in the end it still has enough good ideas to make it worthwhile.

In spite of everything I appreciate that the developers took some risks, some ideas failed but without that first attempt they may have never learned from their mistakes, and maybe some of the later games that surpassed this one wouldn't have been made, if anything Silhouette Mirage is an extremely unique and unusual game that any action game fan should experience.

I went into this game expecting the worst, late release, no one talks about it, I was burnt out just having finished the other Kaitos game, this game wasn't cheap used and it left me with a horrible first impression.

So I'm extremely glad that I eventually came back to it and gave it a chance, I went from not thinking anything of it to it being possible, or very close to being what I consider to be the best RPG game that generation, and I truly mean that.
Every single problem I had with the first game was improved in this Prequel game.

This is an RPG where you use a deck of cards as attacks in battle, it's explained in the story and is part of the lore of these games, it sounds boring and un-fun to use cards but in practice it's more of a nice theming story element than a game mechanic.

This game looks incredible, if you've played other
Tri-ace/Monolith games you will know what to expect, it has the same kind of level of detail and art you might see in Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile, ect
Except both Baten Kaitos games have a sky/nature themed art style, it's really impressive and highly detailed, most backgrounds are animated, and are often layered creating a real sense of depth, considering the game takes place on floating continents this is very important. I often would just stop and leave the game running while appreciating the art and music.

Everything about the game starts slow, and this is my only complaint and it's a big one, the story is a "slow burn" and the first town you start in is actually a maze-dungeon that is dreadful to navigate, it took me 4 hours to get to the "good part" It's honestly horrible and probably a large reason why fans of the first game typically regard this as a bad sequel after playing a few hours and never coming back.

If you start this game or have dropped it early on I encourage you to give it another chance, I insist it gets MUCH better.

Battles are actually fun, the first game was more about planning and setting up your card deck before battle, that is still an aspect in this game but it has been simplified a bit in favor of chain attacks and fast battles where you have to make quick decisions.

Most people who complain about it being simple I believe have not played up to where mechanics are added that add a great amount of depth to the battles.

This game if you give it the time becomes extremely satisfying, at one point I was pulling off 15-card chains with my party uncovering the secret attack combinations that result in powerful and fun to watch super moves, I was beating super bosses on the first turn, there's no way I can describe how it feels to bide turns waiting for the perfect lineup of cards and unleash a super long chain attack that carries over between all three party members, I can't say enough good things about the battle mechanics, they eliminated all the turns where you get stuck with non attack items and have to waste all of your turns.

The story in this game... It starts slow as well, you slowly uncover a mystery, learn about the characters, the game explores some themes I don't typically see in this genre and there's some very well done plot twists that I wont spoil.

Most RPG plots and twists fall really flat for me, so it says a lot that I was engaged with it the entire way through, the backstories, lore, ect are super interesting and well expanded upon, the story isn't typical I somehow grew to appreciate the characters, it's weird to say this is a game that caused me to Feel things, like actually got a response out of me at several points, I'm cynical and have played a decent number of RPG and story games so that's an achievement, a bit at the very end hit Very hard unexpectedly, it was truly moving and made the final fight unforgettable much like Xenoblade did if you have played that. I would give the story and writing a perfect rating.

The writing is mostly entertaining, the main cast often has a lot to say about everything (no silent protagonist here) and they often bicker and go back and forth in ways that come off genuine, this is helped a lot by the voice acting which isn't perfect but far above average for the time and a massive improvement over the below amateur quality in Eternal Wings (the first game).

This game is 70 hours long I assumed the quote boasting this on the back of the box was exaggerating but no, it really took that long, the good news is mandatory backtracking and fetch quests are kept to a minimum and the game doesn't have many archaic illogical moments to get you stuck or waste your time, the game has a good momentum introducing new towns and dungeons as you go, and this time there's some good side content if you're up for it too, you're typical RPG coliseum is one of them and it included several extra hours of gameplay.

And as if I haven't already explained so much I like about this game the music is incredible, almost too good for words, the composer somehow came back from Eternal Wings' already amazing ost and did it better, comparing both Origins has a lot more variety in music genres, tempo, and atmosphere, some themes manage to be very emotional, the rock themes are well appreciated and create high energy, best of all the main battle theme never gets old, it's extremely good. Whether it be instrument choice, depth, track length, originality, most racks are near unmatched, I think this is the composers best work to this day, Le Ali del Principio is incredible shockingly good, every track fits the scenes they are used in perfectly, this is a legendary soundtrack.

If you take anything from this review, if you bothered to read any of this, find a way to listen to this soundtrack I think you will not regret it. Personally, as a game soundtrack CD collector this was a must-have and one that I treasure owning, the soundtrack stands on it's own as a great experience even outside the context of the game.

The game comes on 2 discs, you cant save when starting 2 and you start on a hard boss, this in one of the most frequent complaints I've seen about this game and it is very true, I was fortunate that I took my time exploring so I had the best equipment and was leveled enough, but you can permanently softlock after about 30 hours so it is important to be aware of this.

So yeah I think I've gone on long enough, TLDR this a fantastic Gamecube exclusive RPG worth it for the physical copy if you want to play that way, and worth the time investment, just don't let the prologue ruin it for you.

This game is the reason I have a Dreamcast

Border Down is a port of an arcade game that was made on the Dreamcast arcade counterpart Naomi, years after the system was discontinued.
The foundation of Border Down is built from successful ideas and mechanics form older arcade shooting games with unique ideas and mechanics built off of them.

A lot of old arcade shooting games have some kind of adaptive difficulty also known as "rank"
Expert players come up with ways to keep the difficulty down so high scores and 1 credit clears are manageable known as rank management.

I've always been on the fence about this aspect of games like Battle Garegga (the game probably most well known for "rank" also Ibara and Pink Sweets) it's built into the game in a way that players are expected to intentionally lose ships and avoid powering up, it feels counterintuitive and even when I fully understood these systems I didn't enjoy playing that way.

These systems feel more like a checklist of seemingly random actions the player has to take to play optimally, they're often secretive and intentionally obscure, and hidden within the code of the game, with the intention that with enough trial and error players will decode the games complicated systems and create a "route" through it.

Realistically you'd never want to intentionally crash a ship or lose a life in a regular game, and you would always want to be fully powered, it doesn't make sense for the characters in game to do this, and it's not explained narratively in any way, it's sort of superficially layered onto the game.

Border Down does something incredible, it takes this rank concept of losing lives, fully communicates the mechanic effectively, and gives it context while mixing it with a branching level path system seen in games like the Darius or Star Fox series.

It's completely up front with the mechanics of the lives system to the point that it's the core identity to the game, it's narrative, even the name "border down' is referring to this mechanic. The game makes the idea of losing a ship on purpose make sense and made actually want to engage with it.

Dominant strategy ruins a lot of games for me, in this game though there are many possible ways through the game it has a rank system with real freedom, I had fun coming up with my own route.
Losing doesn't just make the game go easier on you or lead to a different end level boss, you get a new view or perspective of the current level to play through, the game is only 6 levels long but the separate paths can look and feel entirely new depending on the level.

Each life (or ship) is on a separate path (the game calls them borders) and there's three of them, instead of just choosing the path, normally losing a life (intentionally or not) moves the player down one path from green, to yellow, then red.
When on green you can sometimes see the yellow ship flying through it's route in the background for example, the in game protagonist is exchanging remote control between three different ships.

Another thing this game really gets right is not only do the mechanics all have narrative and gameplay context, they all feed into another in some way.
You can get "extra lives" in Border Down just like you would any arcade game from reaching a certain score however this " extra life" is just earning back the previous higher path and ship, the other gameplay mechanics all tie-into getting scores to regain these paths.

Besides rank and paths this game uses the laser mechanic from Metal Black and G-Darius where you exchange weapon power for a very powerful laser that clears the screen and makes the player invulnerable.
This has a new layer of depth to it as any bullets erased and hits on enemies adds to a score multiplier, so using it effectively and at the right spots is important to earn back lost ships and defeat bosses.
Each boss has it's own version of the laser and just like in those two previously mentioned games you can counter it with your own, creating a cool looking spectacle but also severely damaging the boss and adding a much larger score multiplier.

The game is extremely difficult, so memorizing when bosses use their attacks and how to deal with them is important, the game feels ahead of it's time in that it has a practice mode where any part of levels can be replayed and restarted instantly for easy memorization. it's not necessary to beat the game but it helps a lot.
I can see it being too frustrating for a lot of people but with the practice mode and unlockable free play (unlimited continues) it is still accessible for anyone that decides to put enough time into it.
It's all about finding your preferred path and strategy through the game, it will test even the most skilled players looking to beat the game on a single credit but it is a mostly fair challenge.

There are open levels like in space or in the sky, but the game has many cluttered sometimes claustrophobic levels with environments the player needs to precisely fly through and these can be very tense.
A collision with a stationary wall or ceiling wont result in a loss unless you keep pushing into it, you can scrape by obstacles and still get through the game is often demanding while being lenient.

In general this game has very smooth and polished gameplay, it is meticulously designed and in some ways ingeniously built.

That's not all this game has going for it, it looks great too.
The game is fully polygonal, a lot of shooting games don't use 3D space that well, often playing it safe, with little to no camera movement, or dynamic movement through environments or background details, they're usually still kind of flat.

While this game still plays just like any 2D side scrolling arcade game the camera often will pan around and go in or out of the background usually in between the main areas of a level (automated like cutscenes). Sometimes the level wil start scrolling in a different direction, sometimes up, down or diagonally, it keeps things feeling fresh.
Bosses will fly around in the background or appear in the distance earlier in the level before you end up fighting them, and during fights they can move in strange and surprising patterns all over the playable space. The game expects the player to move all around the screen to dodge attacks and aggressively take care of enemies, space is used extremely well.
Sometimes you can see bosses from a different path in the distance or the obstacles on an alternate path, it makes it feel and look like a real place or environment that I'm fighting through.
There's often random ships, debris, ect flying around in the background there's always something going on and a lot of detail to it. It's very dynamic and the game has a lot of spectacle that keeps it engaging just to watch even after many playthroughs. It's full of neat and impressive small details like these.

Overall the graphics are also polished though it's a lot of grey and black most likely to keep bullets and enemies visible. There were times where enemy bullets would get lost in explosions or fire effects, these don't come up often, but it's unfortunate that it does and there were times where I suddenly lost a life without seeing what hit me, it's one of the few flaws I have with this game.

The music is strange, I like it out of context, but it's often upbeat and whimsical. The feel and challenge of the game is very intense and it really doesn't fit until the later half of the game, I don't know what to think about the way the game sounds or what they were going for, it is catchy though. The Dreamcast has a remix mode with new music so at least there's that.

This game was made by a lesser known (at least at the time) company: G-Rev, they later assisted development on Ikaruga and much of the visuals camera work and polish are there too, it's interesting to compare both games as design wise they feel like complete opposites while having many of the same level mechanics, they seem to specialize in games that can be casually appreciated but take years to master.
It definitely is frustrating at times and takes a lot of patience.

Border Down is a game that feels like the culmination of years of iteration and experimentation and this is the natural conclusion and peak of those ideas, it's truly unique and memorable, and I am still addicted to it, I don't have much to complain about.

I definitely recommend this one, even if you have to play on easy and use infinite continues, it's worth it for the uniqueness and visual polish, It was very enjoyable to play through even when struggling or getting a game over.

When I found out about this game I was drawn in by the visuals and spectacle, and I decided I needed to get a copy with a Dreamcast and I don't regret it. It was everything I hoped it would be and it's still my favorite Dreamcast game.

This is so smooth to play, this game is short and it has some rushed or thrown together aspects but it's really enjoyable despite that.

This is a beat-em-up that plays on a single plane, there's fighting game commands, dashes, throws, and a variety of moves that add some depth to the game, there's the usual meter and super moves too.

What makes this worth playing is how fast and smooth it is, linking together attacks and reacting or countering enemy attacks feels very satisfying, dashing into a jump/dash then dashing again into a rushing attack just feels very much like maneuvers from a good fighting game.

The player and most bosses and enemies also have long range attacks at their disposal with multiple levels of attack power based on the input, with air/anti-air versions too.
You can throw enemies around and juggle them, it's cool to find another game that has all the best aspects of something like Guardian Heroes (which I've read was inspired or influenced by this game)

The enemy AI moves around quickly and can counter the player attacks easily so bosses and even most average enemies put up a good fight, it's a difficult game but it didn't feel horribly unfair like many 90s beat-em-ups and didn't rely on boss I-frames, long range grab/throw attacks or overly long health bars like so many games like this do. I personally find most games in the genre kind of exhausting and hopeless to even consider beating on a single credit, it's always great to find a game in this genre that seems like the devs thought more about making the game fun for even casual players and wanted players to have a good chance to beat the game, this game pushes back but not too hard, there's an Easy and hard mode with unlimited continues if the player wants more or less challenge.

So, it's true this game is extremely short, and it ends abruptly
I'm ok with that, in some ways it benefits the fast pace and makes this much more replayable, but it's going to be a deal breaker for the average player and I think the devs knew it would be unacceptable to release this with such light content, so this also features a VS mode and I think that's very important to consider with this game as it does add a lot of value to it.
All the movement and attacks are carried over into vs mode, I've played some games that had this feature as a disposable extra or novelty, often these extra vs modes on games like this are shallow and underdeveloped
however this plays just like any other high quality fighting game, now this isn't just the main 1 player mech vs one of the bosses or something, no they put in every single enemy and boss in this mode with all of their moves, even the small filler enemies that have one attack just.
And of course it's unbalanced but that doesn't stop it from being enjoyable with a 2nd player, it's commendable that there's so many playable characters that all play and move differently.

As if that's not enough, with a simple code the main mode can be played with any of the boss characters, and even more are added to the vs mode, there's a fantastic amount of replay value with so much variety added from this feature, it really elevates this from an alright game to an amazing one.

This is a remake of an old PC game, I actually enjoy the remade music and most of the visuals here despite the basic low-budget feel some of it has.

The robot designs specifically are very appealing, the design in general has a late 80s OVA look to it that I enjoy, there's nothing impressive or deep going on in terms of tech here, the backgrounds are flat and kind of blurry and there's barely any moving parts to it, the custscenes have some nice art in them but they're extremely simple and amateur, it shows how little time or budget was given to make them.

There are some negatives but it's mostly presentation, even so I appreciate that the game is so focused on gameplay and that's where nearly all of the effort and polish went, I'd rather play a really satisfying game with mediocre presentation than a boring one that looks great, anyone looking for a decent story or lengthy campaign should look elsewhere.
This game is all about Substance over style (though again the mech designs and settings definitely have some style).

The truth is, if it has a giant blue mech on the cover I'm going to buy it anyway, I can't say it was worth $290 US, but I wasn't disappointed and I'm very glad to have this game, I'll get my moneys worth even if I have to play through this 50 times or play the vs mode with CPU or a friend for hundreds of hours, I don't think I'll get bored of it.

This game was made for a very specific kind of person, if that's you, you will adore this game, most people will probably hate it.

I'm one of those people that really enjoys this game despite it's faults. The story is near non-existent, the voice acting is possibly the worst I've heard in a game, the camera is uncontrollable and clips into the ground or nearbly walls, the key to winning is circle-strafe and hold shoot for most of the game, you do battles over and over until the game ends.

Does that sound fun? I am making this sound like trash, but thankfully there's more to this game


You can play as over 100 different characters, and there's a lot of variety, lots of them play completely differently, a lot of the enjoyment of the game comes from building a team of varied bots and surviving waves of enemies, the sheer number of varied playstyles and possible team combinations keeps the game from getting stale.

You only start with one, the main borg (as the game calls them) you start with is the most stylish and can link attacks together.
Most character moves are fun to pull off and are visually appealing, some borgs can fly freely or dash around the arena extremely fast, these are simply fun to use, others are more tank-like besides the literal tanks you can play as, you get all kinds of vehicles including airships or even a Dragon that is way too big for the game its in, yes you can play as the bosses too.

It's Guardian Heroes if you mixed it with Virtual on and it's amazing.

you randomly get new borgs after each battle and the cutscene that plays for it is always exciting when it unexpectedly shows up, it seems like you never know what you'll get to play as next, it could be a boss enemy, something rare? or a duplicate o f one you can already own so if you want a team of all the same borg you can do that too.

the 1P mode is decently long and every time you finish the game you can start over with new more powerful and rare borgs possible to unlock so if you get into it you could be playing this for 100s of hours, if you want every borg it could take much longer than even that.

The game has multiplayer, you can use your teams and other players can build them from your set or bring their own via memory card, playing against another person might be the most fun way to play the game, as a multiplayer game this is one I could see people keeping in their rotation.

This is a game about breaking away from a controlled world without free will. It's a game about taking a risk to find something meaningful and almost every aspect of it embodies that philosophy.

Some might see the character art and assume this is no different from so called "mascot platformers" of the time.
Instead of the usual colorful vibrant worlds and carefree settings the game features barren wastelands, abandoned spaces, and landscapes almost void of life.

Venturing into an unknown abandoned world. More than anything it really captures the feeling and atmosphere of discovering left behind landscapes and hostile ruins untouched for hundreds if not thousands of years. It is a game filled with the sense of mystery and discovery, within a game that itself is nearly forgotten and undiscovered.

The plot has more thought put into it than I expected, it's not exactly deep but it explores ideas that I don't often see in games and it's not a clear cut premise about saving the world, revenge, defeating an evil antagonist, ect.

There aren't many characters in the game but they get plenty of screen-time and are distinct from one another, the game is fully voiced in English and this helps the personality of each character come through, it's not bad acting or script either it's competent overall but not amazing.

Whether it's the of often obscure secrets the game holds or the odd and surprising unique visuals in certain areas it feels mysterious to play, it starts off with dull brown rocky textures of an underground network of caves, into an expanse of broken down abandoned metropolis to some egyptian inspired ruins and tombs.

These areas are populated with undead monsters the game calls ghosts, which are the previous residents of these levels. The game leaves this a mystery, it makes one wonder what happened to these places and why is everyone living in this one structured city underground, it brings to mind games like Panzer Dragoon and various dungeon crawlers with it's setting, it somehow feels like a perfect fit for a Saturn game.

What makes this game so unlike "mascot platformers" of it's time is it's subdued
approach to level design, if I had to describe the feel of the game in one word "subdued" would be it.
The starts of really slow almost quiet and slowly eases into more dense visually striking areas, It seems like it's not out of laziness or lack of creativity but restraint.

The game plays in a unique way too, there are fully 3D environments with a top down fixed angle and what makes this game special is full camera rotation, it's the one thing mechanically that the game uses the most. It makes jumps much more manageable and deals with depth perception better than purely isometric games.
Often puzzles and navigation are centered around looking at things from a different angle, at times the environment and camera are used in very interesting ways.

Like many Saturn games all characters, enemies, and objects are flat 3D rendered images with multiple variants for each camera angle, and it works well here.

The enemies are very simplistic looking but there is some charm to their design even if they could be a lot more detailed and are at times goofy-looking, enemies are the one thing ingame visually that doesn't mesh well with everything else.

Truth be told I like Sonic 3D Blast, I always have, it's flawed but still charming and fun overall especially the Saturn remake, despite its limitations it's a game I enjoy and appreciate...
But what if it was better?

Essentially this is if that game had been given the time and budget to be fully realized, improved, and given some actual plot and character.
In other words while Sonic 3D is good, W.W. is everything it could have been.
For a game about the theme of "freedom" it feels like the developers had exactly that, and were able to make basically anything they wanted, as a result it ends up being experimental, creative, and inspired.


The level design is difficult to sum up because every of the games 6 worlds have a different gameplay focus and pacing, it's full of variety, some worlds are more straightforward, one was focused on running down a winding path to beat a timer much like a racing game, and a later world focused on puzzles more than platforming, and these were inoffensive and fun to solve.

At times it seems as if the developers were influenced by early first person shooter games with small secrets and collectibles hidden everywhere and hordes of enemies that fill rooms all that leave behind a corpse when defeated so you can tell where you've been.
It has its own obscure secrets and a rotatable wireframe map that looks almost ripped out of early Doom, the levels feel as if they had been designed in a raycasting type of 3D engine despite that not being the case.

Willy doesn't jump on enemies to defeat them, instead he uses a short range and fast melee attack or slower long range boomerangs, while there isn't much depth to it on the surface the game uses the environment to make it more interesting whether it's putting enemies in hard to reach or disadvantageous places, or having traps that open up a room full of enemies unleashing them into the play area, often objects and items need to be hit or collected with the boomerangs and often these are their own small puzzles that add variety to the game, enough to never be completely dull and ideas are used as much as they need to be without getting repetitive or redundant.

The player can jump, rotate left/right, and dash in addition to attacking, it's a simple game to play and is easy to get into.

By far the most memorable and striking thing about this game to me is the environment and music, it's not just stereotypical ruins and forests, there's some surprising artistry here, to the point a few times I just had to stop and look around for a bit looking at every intricately designed detail.

The way color and lighting are used is memorable, and genius. often there will be some ruins or slightly generic natural environment and suddenly bright neons and harsh pure white or black surfaces will come up, these often have a number of moving parts, like a switch somewhere will make the floor shift around to form an intricate colorful geometric designs. Things often are intentionally clashing yet somehow they don't feel out of place. There is absolutely nothing else like it that I've seen, it is simply amazing.

And all of this; from the visuals, atmosphere, and plot wouldn't be nearly as effective without the music, it fits every level perfectly often subdued and atmospheric, the more melodic parts come in as the game gets going.

I suggest listening to "Detriam City" or "Ruins of Khuf" to get a feel for what kind of music is used, these are the highlights for level themes and (the sadly unused?) track 11 is also very good.
The music is a good listening experience even just on its own

The game does also have a 90s era theme song and ending with vocals that would not sound at all out of place in any Saturn era Sega game such as Nights, Sonic R, Burning Rangers, ect. It is that exact sound and direction.

I wouldn't call this game hard, but it can get challenging, Willy Wombat doesn't have a lives system, you have one generous health bar, if it runs out the game ends and it goes back to the title screen, where the option to reload the last save is given, if you didn't save you have to redo everything up to that point, it's not too punishing and while saving costs some ingame currency it's one of those cases where the game gives more than enough to save frequently.

The last few worlds focus more on precision platforming, often this risks being frustrating or causing players to give up but thankfully this game is forgiving and almost never used bottomless pits or damaging ground around difficult jumps.

collectibles are part of the incentive to actually explore levels, instead of getting 100 coins for a life, getting all of the collectibles in a level earns a save, and levels can be replayed at any time, beyond that there are items that expand the max health bar and these are important to survive the later more hostile parts of the game, but not essentially enough to ruin the playthrough if a few are missed.

_________________________________________


While there a many positives, I do have some complaints as well starting with the minor stuff;

-enemies are mostly simplistic and don't fit the visual fidelity of the environment or main character

-a few levels are more tedious to get through than fun. Sometimes taking a wrong turn, falling off a ledge, or taking the wrong portal means starting the entire level over. Thankfully this only happens in a few areas and often getting back to the end doesn't take more than a few minutes.

-some environmental sound effects in a few specific places overlap and get very loud and annoying

-some areas get very cluttered leading to the framerate going way down (again only happens in a few specific areas)

-the early levels don't have as much going on and can be a bit boring during a replay

-getting 100% can be a chore since levels often have a sudden point of no return late in the level any missed collectibles means starting over, this happened to me several times


The most glaring problems;

-This game has a run maneuver, keep in mind this is a Saturn game, so there's plenty of buttons that can be used.

6 out of these are already used and while button mapping is an option a 7th input could have easily been mapped to this yet it can only done by tapping a direction twice in succession, it can't be changed

This alone doesn't feel good, however what makes this much worse is when platforming gets precise; often I'd try to get close to a ledget to line up a jump and accidentally press forward again too soon, starting an unintentional sprint right off the platform, it's really annoying.

-completion does nothing, I got 100% but it was more about the journey than the reward (though I could be missing something this game is very obscure with its secrets)

-The worst thing about the game is the bosses. While there are 3 fights, 2 are basically the same and are so easy it's comical, the stun frames on the boss don't work so you can just mash attack and end it in about 5 seconds and the attacks it has are really easy to dodge.

The last boss has 2 attacks and doesn't do much, you push it off the ledge in about 20 seconds once it's figured out and that's it, no extra phases, no special attacks, and it looks really bland and thrown together, it's a really unfortunate way to end the game, but it shows that despite everything else being so good some things had to be cut, this aspect of the game was underdeveloped for whatever reason.

Altogether even with those faults this is a very unique and experimental game, even if it stumbles a bit it's still unlike any game I can think of and one that left a strong impression. The ambition, creativity, and passion still comes through in the level design and visual elements and it has an atmosphere that is well worth experiencing, at times relaxing mysterious and awe inspiring, I was invested all the way to the end

Not "near-perfect" in execution but extremely enjoyable and fantastic to experience, and one that hasn't been replaced.
This absolutely should be enjoyed by a wider audience and I recommend it to anyone looking for something more off-beat, subdued, and accessible from this generation

My first experience with any game in this series, it went far above my expectations, there was a learning curve getting used to the controls of a more realistic flight game, but once I had it figured out it felt amazing to play.

The presentation and story were great, they went above expectations with this too, I was not expecting so much world building and background for the fictional setting and the acting was mostly good.

What stood out to me was the variety of play-styles and morality system that leads to having many different strategies to play the game.

I quickly realized I like using Air-to-ground and flying as low as possible while taking out targets with just the standard gun, it was thrilling breaking away at the last moment or flying through cluttered environments while dodging missiles. Looks amazing for a PS2 game.

The air combat was good to, the ai had variety between enemies, the bosses were all interesting and had to be taken on in different ways.

I have one complaint, it takes awhile to get into missions, you have to usually fly into the map for a minute and wait for all the pilot banter, and if you lose you have to wait through it all again, I got tired of certain lines that get repeated very time I had to start over.

I enjoyed this the whole way through, and I will definitely play through again to try harder difficulties and different routes and ships, this is a new favorite and I plan on trying a few others in this series. Highly recommended for a flight-combat type game.

I'll never forget the first time I started up this game on N64, whenever that windy atmospheric music track starts playing all the memories I used to have playing this for that brief period of time come back.

All this time, that's what has really stuck with me, the sound and visuals of this game were really something unique, the music (only in the N64 version) really nails the apocalyptic war theming the game has, yet it's juxtaposed with cartoon style characters and environments with goofy voice lines and comical weapons.

It's always been the identity of this game series, but Armageddon does this the best out of any of them.

Sometimes returning to something I haven't played in many years might turn out to be different or not nearly as good as I had thought, but this is one game where I enjoy it even more now. I think in terms of age it holds up alright.
(I'll get into that more later)

That intense nostalgic presentation, paired with the inviting art style and immersive catchy music makes this game relaxing in a way. It's easy to just jump into a quick deathmatch or random map and blow away some bots while taking everything in, it was great stress relief.

It would be easy to write this game off as mindless shallow fun, a disposable multiplayer game, just for kids, it looks that way on the surface but there's more to this game.

First of all there's a good selection of modes available, there's your typical mission based campaign mode, and several others for quckplay, or others that vary based on how customizable they are, there's a good selection of modes here and a decent amount of content to keep anyone playing.

The main 1player mode has good variety and is extremely challenging, it was mostly fun to overcome it and learn new skills to beat the game, the difficulty curve is all over though, and there will be missions that a player will get stuck on for awhile, then clear the next in just a few attempts.

There's a lot of weapons to use and they come in a wide variety, coming up with solutions with the tools given can be satisfying and fun, the destructible environments add a lot to the gameplay, players can dig through or destroy any wall/floor and hiding in them can be an interesting strategy.

The games biggest gameplay strength is definitely the variety of actions the player can take at any given time and paired with any map this can mean tons of possibilities, the weapons and maps aren't always balanced the best, but that's part of the fun of the game, sometimes you never know what situations you'll end up in.

The bot A.I. is not great but good enough to keep me entertained, they can be easy to exploit once their pattern is noticed, they can be unfair in how good they play as well.
It's best to play with the "retro" game style to keep it balanced.

Before getting into how the N64 verison plays I have to make it clear that I am reviewing the N64 port of this game, and it is the only version I have played at the time of writing (I should give the PC or Dreamcast versions a chance sometime)

The N64 port has several differences I think I prefer, and others that make it worse to play. I am not blinded by my nostalgia for this game, there are significant flaws here.

To start with positives, there's the soundtrack which was added for just this version, it's really good, but I've said enough about it already.
The game is lower resolution, in just about any game this would be a downgrade but (at least to me) it's more like a pixel filter, on PC it looks like random clip art and characters drawn in an old flash animation, when pixelated it has more of a hand drawn look, it looks more like a Video-game and less like an app played in an online browser or something.

There's more color and variety in the backgrounds than the blank ones in other versions, and some extra options like the map randomiser.

The game is a bit more zoomed in and that does cause some problems, while it's nice to be able to see my character more closely for platforming and aiming, moving the camera around is required much more than usual.

There's less options for multiplayer, and some others are locked behind completion, the game is a bit buggy too it can occasionally crash and if you beat the campaign and try to re enter it in the menu it will also crash the game, you can't replay it by normal means, there's a lot that feels unfinished in this way, and important progression info is not displayed on profiles or in the menu.

Completing the game was fun but frustrating
Getting medals in 1 player modes unlocks more weapons and gameplay modes for multiplayer but there's a big problem. You do this by getting silver medals or gold, but they way you get these is not told anywhere not even in the manual and you can't see what you have/haven't done it's not shown anywhere.

I assumed it would be based on turns taken, time used, damage taken, ect. but it's the number of times you've attempted the mission, it's nonsense. The player has to beat each mission in at most 2 attempts (resetting or quitting out still counts) and with how difficult and punishing the game is that is unreasonable.
This is so much worse because core multiplayer options like retro or all weapons are locked behind these medals, most players will likely never get to play multiplayer the more balanced or fun way.

What is also affected badly is controlling the game, the N64 controller is already more difficult to get used to, but in this version some button mapping makes no sense an is overcomplicated, I find myself pressing the wrong button and accidentally wasting my turn or throwing a grenade at my own character, worst is the flight movement is extremely sensitive, so much so that 2 levels built around it were cut from this verison, what is still there is nearly impossible to play, as just pushing left/right for one frame will nearly turn it a full 90 degrees, just passing the tutorial for the game was difficult.

This game is turn based and AI characters take more time to make their move in this version, it's generally a slow game when against a computer opponent.

So there's definitely a lot going against this game, but a lot I like about it, I can see why players would not prefer this port or find this game in general difficult to get into, but there's enough added to it.
If someone can overcome the difficulty and get used to the game is becomes very enjoyable, not to mention the multiplayer can be endlessly enjoyable, it's easily one of the best multiplayer games on N64 or any console it was on, and one I still return to once in awhile, the one player modes are varied, provide plenty of content, and can be enjoyable at times but are less consistent.

This is a very unique and ambitious game. It was clear that despite the N64 port having a limited and possibly troubled development, it had a lot of care put into it and is worth trying at least for the multiplayer. This is one of my favorite games of this generation in spite of everything.

Gundam Seed PS2 is a unique, surprising, and mindlessly fun action game, but you probably have never heard of it, not only is it Japan exclusive it's a Gundam Seed PS2 game of which there are at least 4 more with "Gundam Seed" in the title, a very crowded genre with an IP that was being overused at the time. The extremely basic game title here only makes this worse and the bad reputation of the anime and other Seed tie-ins indirectly effect this game. You'd probably never guess this is a run & gun - beat-em-up hybrid, and probably the best of any of the Seed games with some actual effort and creativity put into its development.

This game comes from the same developer as Wild Guns, Ninjawarriors, and specifically the Battle Assault games, it's quite the pedigree, this game doesn't live up to any of those, but it is still well made and fun all the way through, it's definitely one of the better licensed games from this company.

I don't know anything about Gundam Seed, and really my knowledge about Gundam in general is very surface level, I'm not familiar with a lot of it I can't read or understand Japanese anyway so I'm not going to miss the story in the game, but it seems to follow the anime up to the point it was made, to the end of the first season (this is a problem, I'll get into that later)
Overall the presentation here is pretty good, the cutscenes are well animated, some clearly are clips from the show but a lot of it is original for the game, there's 2D animated scenes and some in-engine ones, the menus are sleek and nice looking, and the attention to detail is great, ingame models are decently textured and detailed, and ingame environments look great except for the far off parts of the background being very blurry, some of the ground textures are blurry and out of place in a few spots, enemy explosions leave a lot to be desired with a very small effect and no shrapnel, it looks very unconvincing. Overall it's a decent looking game.

What really stands out visually is as you are fighting enemies are will have their own chatter and reactions as they fly in or are defeated, with a little animated profile that displays above them, many enemies have their very own voice and likeness, these aren't just silent faceless enemies to mow down, I was reminded there are supposed to be pilots here and kind of adds to the seriousness and stake of the setting, it's a cool detail and it makes the confrontation with ingame rivals and end bosses feel a lot more dynamic.
I appreciate the music this game has too, it would be easy enough to just copy over the anime soundtrack or give it a generic orchestral or rock sound, but this has a very nice Synth soundtrack that stands out compared to other Gundam/Mech games, at times it has a sort of Mega Man X PS1 era sound https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYjDzLErnsc
Other tracks set the mood with seriousness or intensity for the fast paced parts well, and an end credits theme that conveys the war ingame is not over and there were some serious losses.


This is a shorter arcade focused kind of game, the beat-em-up elements are satisfying and responsive. Combat has a lot of wind-up and recovery without many actions to cancel out of it and dashing can feel delayed, it does end up feeling like piloting a massive mecha and isn't quite as smooth as you'd hope.
It's not too slow or clunky overall, moves are still fun to pull off, though there's only two attack buttons (long range and short range) there directional inputs, some follow up attacks, aerial maneuvers, and a super move that takes some health, these all add enough depth to it and I was never bored with the mechanics nor did it get too repetitive or old, it's somewhat standard but well executed.
I wouldn't say it's as satisfying or smooth as something like Mad Stalker or Gear Fighter but it's serviceable.

The game has an auto target system that will keep the player facing the enemy, and auto-aims long range weapons, while there are enemies on the same single plane, others fly in or wander in the background shooting back at the player from far away and indicators show where the bullet will cross the play area or hit the plane of ground the player is on, and these can be targeted and fired at from the player too, it's kind of unique and novel for this kind of game and I really appreciate the idea.

Having a side-scroller with fighting game mechanics, where you can target enemies in the background perfectly fusing Gallery shooter with beat-em-up is just fantastic, the potential for a unique and dynamic action game is definitely there.
The main issue with this game is it sort of combines all the ideas from their previous games together, and on paper it's genius the way this could work, but this game doesn't quite pull it off as well as I'd hope, it IS really cool that there's this other dimension to the game with dodging attacks from the background and dividing your offense between the two.

The way long range works is a lot like Wild Guns, and had me remembering a lot about how that game worked if it was just as frenetic and smooth as that game it could have been great. What really limits this and takes most of the skill and depth away is you that can't aim the cursor at all. It locks on automatically and the fire rate is VERY slow no matter what build you choose.
When firing the player is locked in place, there's no dodge roll like in Wild Guns and a delay to jump out of firing, it's just not that satisfying.
This game has the exact same multiplier system as wild guns too, defeating enemies without letting go of fire or moving adds a score bonus this should be a good thing as in Wild Guns this added to some great risk reward depth especially when you could shoot down incoming bullets to keep the chain going, but here you just hold the fire button while all the aiming is done for you, it's way too incentivized to just stand and shoot mindlessly as the brain-dead AI on your own plane slowly walks at you and maybe decides to attack, they often don't get a chance to pose a threat before they've been blasted away, just tanking damage and holding the fire button can nearly get the player through entire levels, and worse, it's the dominant strategy for getting score and leveling up.
This game has the same problem as something like Devil May Cry 2, thankfully it's not as broken or exploitable and bosses will force the player to engage with them, it's a significant oversight but it didn't ruin the game for me.

Score is also experience which adds to you max armor, when you run out of armor the weapons equipped at the beginning of each level break and you're stuck with the basic starting mobile suit, bosses have their own armor and it works the same way, it's a unique and engaging health system

Shooting on the ground locks you in place, but while hovering (which the player can do for quite a while) you can freely move around while shooting, so dodging fire from the background becomes easy, all while the enemies on the ground just stand waiting for the player to land, they won't even try to jump at the player, this loses the score multiplier so at least it's not incentivized but it's a bit broken and unbalanced.

You could stay on the ground and do flashy fighting game moves while guarding strategically and getting score bonuses, but why take the risk?
In between some of these levels there's on-rail sections where the player can freely fly around, these are more focused on shooting and has the same aiming/targeting system, whenever enemies get in close the player can do some melee moves, and sometimes you have to time the attack to counter an incoming enemy, these levels were more simple but were also fun to play, still it's essentially Sin & Punishment 2 but slow and simple, there's not as much going on in these levels but I did kind of enjoy the more minimal approach. These levels were a pleasant surprise despite how simple they are.

The game starts very easy with very few enemies at once, it takes a few levels before it really starts getting more hectic and then when the game seems like it finally hits it's stride, it ends... There's no hard mode or extra levels to really put the players skills and moveset to the test and there isn't much fanfare for the final fight, I had no idea I was fighting the final boss nor did it feel like the last level, that's the worst thing about this game, since the anime hadn't finished airing at the time, they couldn't really have the game end in a substantial way.
This is pretty standard for Natsume licensed games, all the Power Rangers games, Gear Fighter, Endless Duel, all ended abruptly without a satisfying conclusion and I've seen many other licensed games from this company that did the same.

Before any mission the player can choose between some different modifiers to add to the mech, sadly there aren't any other mobile suits or characters to play through the game with, these all have different combos and weapons (though not drastically different) that add a great variety on top of everything.
After clearing the game a score attack mode with no level ups and a VS mode are unlocked, Vs mode lets two players fight on any (ground not flying) level setting with any of the ingame boss Gundams, and the five versions the main game had, it works well enough though the different mobile suits can be unbalanced and it's not as deep as a dedicated fighting game, still a good addition it was fun from what I was able to try.

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed just isn't up to the standard or scope of the original titles that came from these developers it's generally plays like "diet Wild Guns" fused with "diet Gear Fighter" which don't get me wrong, still ends up being a lot of fun. This still surpasses many licensed games in general, and many Gundam related games, it's one of the better ones, and for the unique approach to gameplay alone it was well worth playing, at the very least it has a great visual and audio presentation to go along with that, and a fun enough VS mode for some added content and longevity.

For the price a used copy of this goes for it's really a bargain, and overall I'm not that disappointed by it. The novelty of it makes up for a lot, it's a fun, quick, and easy game to go through in an afternoon. The game is a little mindless, but not every game needs to be deep or difficult. I really wanted to like this more than I did, but it's still a solid game. I'd recommend this one, even for non-Gundam fans, if you like the other games I've mentioned in this review, definitely play this game, it's not going to change your life, but it's a decent way to spend an hour or two.