Although it had a severe case of arcade syndrome that I could not overcome, the “pilot episode” of this series, KiKi KaiKai, was a good time from what I had experienced. It was pretty unique for the most part, controlling pretty differently from many other shmups at the time, allowing for a lot more versatility and assistance, as well as having a pretty unique theme for the genre as well, revolving all around Japanese locations and mythology. It was also pretty successful at the time, but despite this, it did stay as a one-off for 6 whole years, until the year 1992, where Natsume, who were previously known for Power Blade and… um… Spanky’s Quest (you know, everyone’s FAVORITE cult classic), would take over development for not just the next title in the series, but for all other titles in the series following. So, moving the series from the arcades to the SNES, the series would be brought back as Pocky & Rocky.

Despite not having played the previous title before the time I decided to review it, I actually do have some experience with Pocky & Rocky, with me owning physical copies of both this game and Pocky & Rocky 2 for the SNES. I had played both of them previously for a good amount, and I remember enjoying my time with them, despite not having anyone to play with, so I was excited to revisit the game after a long time. Now, after finally replaying the game, I can say that I glad that I did, because this game is pretty great. Sure, it isn’t perfect, but is a fantastic improvement over what we got with KiKi KaiKai, and I would go as far to say that it is a hidden gem for the SNES, despite it being more commonly known then other titles on the system.

The story basically just involves evil coming back once again, even if it has a little more depth then your typical old school title, which I can get behind, the graphics are pretty great, looking much more detailed and appealing then that of the previous game, and having plenty of personality when it comes to the design of the characters, enemies, and bosses, the music is great, providing plenty of memorable and appropriate tunes for the various settings of the game, and I can still recall a good amount of the tracks that I heard after a while, which given my small brain, that is pretty impressive, the control is solid all around, feeling about the same as the previous game, but it does feel much better to play, being pretty smooth overall, and the gameplay is also very similar to that of the original game, but improved in just about every way, as well as managing to improve on the issues that the original game had.

The game is a scrolling shmup, where you take control of either Pocky (no relation to the candy) or Rocky (no relation to the boxer), take on a set of levels, each of them unique from one another, take out many different enemies inspired by Japanese mythology in whatever way helps you out the most, gather plenty of powerups, health items, and different weapons to use to your advantage, and fight plenty of tough bosses that will put your reflexes and skills to the test. In a lot of ways, it is very similar to the original game, but anyone who has played the original game and then this one can agree when I say that it is improved upon greatly, with there being more powerups to use, as well as less instances of bullshit enemy spawning.

New to this game, obviously, is the fact that now you can play it with a friend, where another player can take control of either Pocky or Rocky depending on who you choose, and this, my friends, is the true way to properly experience this game. While I myself wasn’t able to play this game with a friend, I have seen plenty of footage of co-op gameplay online, and it looks like so much fun, because not only do you have a distinct advantage with twice the firepower and skill, but also there are moments where, when you slide around, you can knock into each other and send them flying across the screen to deal damage to enemies. It’s the small little things like that that actually make it feel like a true co-op experience, y’know? Not to mention, there are clear differences between Pocky and Rocky in terms of their speed and range of attacks, so it is nice to see that one isn’t a clone of the other. And finally, you also get new maneuvers that weren’t present in the original game, such as the previously mentioned slide and a special attack that can deal LOTS of damage when used effectively, making things all the more fun and satisfying.

With all that great stuff in mind, however, it isn’t perfect by any means. There were still some instances of bullshit to be found within some of the level design and the hazards that you would face, such as in the case of Stage 5, where there are these spiked balls that are rolling towards you in multiple corridors, and I swear, it is up to complete random chance that determines when the balls will spawn, and how many will spawn at a time, making it almost impossible to know for sure when it was safe to move ahead before getting out of the way again. Trust me, I died plenty of times in this section because of that, and it did get pretty annoying. Aside from that though, there isn’t really that much else I can say that the game does wrong, except for maybe how it doesn’t do too much different then the original game, which in my opinion isn’t a bad thing at all. Not only does this game manage to do everything that game did but better, but managed to add much more variety while adding multiplayer, so it definitely eclipses that game by a mile.

Overall, despite having some bullshit moments here and there, Pocky & Rocky is a fantastic sequel, and, if you want my opinion, is the true start of this underrated series, definitely being a hidden gem among the SNES library. I would definitely recommend it for those who are familiar with other titles in the Pocky & Rocky series, as well as those who just want a quick game to play with a friend, because this game will definitely be the perfect fit for you and then some. Although, good luck finding a copy of the game that won’t cost you over $100 for it. Then again, you could just emulate it, like plenty of others have probably done. Don’t lie, we all are true pirates on the inside.

Game #356

When it comes to the launch title of your video game console, there are two very important factors that said titles have to achieve in order to be deemed successful. The first of these is to attract attention towards themselves, show what this system has to offer and what could lead to other titles of similar quality later down the road, which would incentivise customers to spend their money on them for that holiday season. The second of these factors would be to show off what your console is capable of, showing off the new features it comes with when compared to either the previous console from the company, or other competing consoles on the market, making sure that you can stand out and above the rest. When it comes to Nintendo, they have managed to deliver plenty of launch titles over the years that have managed to succeed in either matching one of these factors, or even both at once, and which have resulted in some high quality titles that either stand on their own or are part of a successful franchise. One franchise in particular from the company consists of nothing but launch titles though, primarily being made to show off what their respective systems could do, and that franchise would happen to be Pilotwings.

Over the years, I had heard plenty about Pilotwings, either from word of mouth or, rarely, from Nintendo themselves, and from what I had heard, it sounded like a pretty neat little series that had some quality titles. However, I myself had never gotten around to playing it, primarily because I am not really a fan of flight simulation games. Not to say that they are bad, but it is just not really the thing I am looking for when it comes to a video games. Either way, after going for this long without touching it, I decided I may as well go ahead and give this series a shot, of course starting with the original game, and I gotta say…. yeeeeep. This is a flight sim alright. For what it is, the game is good, and it does its job very well, showing off just what the Super Nintendo was capable of when it came out, but this is definitely something that I probably won’t be going back to anytime soon, or at all.

The graphics are great for the time, not only providing plenty of bright and varied colors to look at, but also taking full advantage of the SNES’s capabilities to show off what the system could do, and it is pretty impressive for 1990, the music is… well, it is very limited, as there aren’t too many tracks to listen to, I guess because they wanted to make it “realistic”, but for the few tracks that are there, they are a good listen, the control, for the game we are dealing with here, is pretty solid, feeling heavy enough to where it feels realistic enough for the time, while also still having plenty of options to help you out in a tough situation, and the gameplay is extremely basic, and it probably won’t last you that long depending on how much you are willing to tolerate, but it does its job, and a damn good job at that.

The game is a flight simulator, where you take control of some random doofus we know nothing about, take control of a set of vehicles and air related stunts ranging from planes, hang gliders, sky diving, and even a jet pack, complete plenty of training missions involving going through rings, flying to certain points, and making sure to land properly, for god sake, take on several bonus games in the process to garner more points which either involve jumping on a bunch of platforms at once, or diving into a pool while… dressed as a penguin (you know, as one does when trying to get a pilots’ license), and qualify to not only move up to other levels of training, but also take on real flight missions with stakes behind them. It may seem like a lot for those who aren’t familiar with the flight simulator genre, but from what I can gather, this is all pretty basic stuff, so if you are looking for anything too new from this title, you may be disappointed. That being said, it does still manage to accomplish what it sets out to do, which is the most important result at the end of the day.

This game was meant to show off what the SNES was capable of, and it did so almost flawlessly. Not only are the graphics obviously a huge step up from what was seen from every game on the NES, but it also took full advantage of the console’s Mode 7 capabilities, providing plenty of sequences and graphics that, at the time, must’ve looked mind-blowing to consumers. Sure, it wasn’t able to utilize everything that the SNES was capable of, such as hidden features like the Super FX chip, but for being one of peoples’ first impressions to this new piece of hardware, aside from F-Zero, there was nothing else like it at the time. And as for the game itself, it can be a pretty decent time. Yes, there is a HUGE learning curve, especially for someone like me who doesn’t play these kinds of games, but when you get a handle on how to control all of these vehicles and stunts, it does feel fun to pull off a lot of the things you manage to do in this game, and it manages to throw new twists and turns at you as you progress to make sure that the game doesn’t come off as too easy.

With that being said though, if you are a huge flight simulator fan that has played plenty of others, then I’m not sure how you think about this game. Yes, it manages to do a lot for what it has to offer, but what it has to offer is pretty basic stuff that you have probably seen in many other games, and not just ones from the same genre, so there isn’t much the game has to offer here other than the basics. Not to mention, I’m not really a fan of how you technically have to play through the game twice in order to beat it. Granted, the second half of the missions are all somewhat different from the previous ones, and they do have new content and challenge, but considering that it starts you out on the title screen that now says “Pilotwings Expert”, it just feels like padding for the sake of it, and yeah, the game doesn’t last long at all, so this is to be expected, but for me, it isn’t really worth putting more time into just because of a few weather conditions.

Overall, despite being pretty basic and not offering much for the genre as a whole, Pilotwings does manage to fully accomplish what it sets out to do, being a pretty good launch title for the SNES, and as my first true exposure to the flight simulator genre, I can say that I had fun with it, even if I am not too eager to see what else the genre has to offer after this. I would recommend it for those who are fans of flight simulators, as well as those who want to see what the SNES provided at launch, but for others, there are definitely plenty of other games out there that do what this does, and manages to do it much better. Besides, you don’t need to sit there and constantly get scolded by your trainers in this game whenever you fuck up in anyway whatsoever. So what if I crashed your multi-million-dollar aircraft, Tony? You probably did as well too at some point, so SHUT THE FUCK UP!

Game #355

You ever played that one Sonic spin-off on the Genesis known as Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine? That one was a bit of a weird one, wasn’t it? It played pretty much unlike any other Sonic game before and since, featured these weird orbs that you would match together, and had practically nothing to do with Dr. Robotnik or his goons, aside from them just appearing in the game. And you know what’s even weirder than that? Sonic wasn’t the only series to have this kind of game. Kirby also had a game called Kirby’s Avalanche, which functioned pretty much exactly like that game, except this time with Kirby characters, and was released on the SNES rather than the Genesis. But wait, why exactly are these two titles so similar? What the hell is going on here?! Well, for any of you who grew up with either of those games and had held these questions in your mind for a very long time, then let me be the first to tell you that those two games were actually alterations of the first in what would become a long-running, extremely popular puzzle franchise, Puyo Puyo.

Like a lot of others, I did first discover this series through Mean Bean Machine, as well as Kirby’s Avalanche to an extent, and aside from those games, I had never really had any true experience with Puyo Puyo before. I had been aware of the series for a while, being somewhat interested in it, but not too much enough to the point where I wanted to give it the time of day. But, lately, I had been wanting to check out more classic puzzle games, rather then simply just only playing Dr. Mario and a little bit of Tetris every now and then, so I decided to give the first game a shot. So, after having my first proper experience with Puyo Puyo, rather then just confusingly playing those other two games as a kid and wondering where the platforming went, I found the first game to be… good. Yeah, just simply good. It can be pretty fun for what it is, but there are some things holding it back from being a game that I would want to go back to, both because of the game and myself.

The story is pretty simple, just being about this Dark Prince wanting to take over the world, and this random girl being the only person who is able to stop him… by playing a series of puzzle games against a bunch of random people (I mean, how else would YOU save the world?), the graphics are pretty good, having plenty of colors to admire, and plenty of variety when it comes to the characters and their expressions, but the main grid for the matches does get pretty boring to stare at, which is to be expected, but still, the music is actually pretty good, giving you plenty of enjoyable tunes to bob your head to, and even ones that are pretty intense for a game about stacking goofy-ass slimes on top of each other, the control is… well, I mean, it’s a puzzle game, so the control is pretty basic, but it still works well enough, even if laying down the puyos down can feel pretty stiff at times, and the gameplay is very similar to other puzzle games at the time, but it manages to be different enough to where it stands out from others, and it manages to be pretty fun at points.

The game is a puzzle game, where you take control of Arle Nadja, go up against 13 different opponents of varying types, sizes, and species, stack up four puyo or more of the same colorto rack up points and combos to fight back against your opponents, keep your stack from reaching the top of the screen so that you can keep delivering the smackdown onto your opponents, and cry yourself to sleep when you realize that you will never be as good as others who know these games like the back of their hand. Or at least, that last one is how I typically react to a pretty hard match of this game. So yeah, when compared to many other games in this series, this game is pretty basic, which is to be expected, given how it did lay the groundwork for every single other title to come since, and improve on it in plenty of ways. With that being said, as someone who only has experience with this version of Puyo Puyo, I can still say that I had a pretty good time with it for the time I spent with it.

There is a reason why franchises like Tetris, Dr. Mario, and this one have managed to last as long as they have, because they are able to take their very simple concepts, experiment with said concepts in numerous ways, and pump out installment after installment that changes up the formula in a way that could be seen as either a new standard way to play said games, or just simply a weird experiment that was a one-and-done thing. Of course, for every improved sequel to come afterwards, they all have the original game as the primary source for their development and success, so nailing a formula on your first go-around in a puzzle series is REALLY important, and in terms of Puyo Puyo, I would say it managed to do this pretty well. It is pretty addicting and satisfying to get the hang of, laying down these puyos, building them up, and unleashing a set of combos to absolutely DECIMATE your opponent, which doesn’t happen all the time for me, but when it does, it does make you want to keep going and see how much more you can keep this streak up until you have eventually had their fill. Not to mention, with several modes available to choose from, such as a multiplayer and endless mode, there is plenty of different ways that you can experience the game just in case single player gets a little stale.

Of course though, if you are an affluent fan of Puyo Puyo, then you may rarely ever come back to this title when choosing a game to play. While I myself haven’t played any other game in the series, I have seen a few of them in action, like Puyo Pop Fever and Puyo Puyo Tetris, and based on what I have seen there, they have managed to expand the game in plenty of ways, to the point where, like with other games like Bomberman and Super Mario Kart, it makes it very hard to come back to the original in comparison. Also, this may be the primary reason for me as to why I won’t go back to this game that soon, but… I completely suck ass at it. Yeah, obviously, a newcomer isn’t going to be the best at this type of game, but again, I was playing Mean Bean Machine and Kirby’s Avalanche years before I had the original game, so it is safe to say I have had plenty of time spent with this game to where I could get somewhat good at it. And yet… I just can’t. I have tried out certain strategies, including what I learned online to help me out, and it did work for a little bit, allowing me to beat six of the stages in the main story mode, but after that, it didn’t go anywhere from there, and just ended in loss after loss after loss.

Overall, despite how other titles improved upon the basic formula after this, and despite how terrible I am at the game, I would still say the original Puyo Puyo can be a fun time, and if this was your only way of experiencing the franchise, it can provide hours of entertainment, especially if you have a friend to face off against. I would recommend it for fans of the series, as well as those who are fans of puzzle games in general, but for everyone else, you’d be better off sticking to later titles in the series. But anyway, with all that out of the way, since Sonic and Kirby got Puyo Puyoed, what other game series could get this treatment? Mario? Zelda?.......... Mortal Kombat? Hey, if Street Fighter can get their own puzzle games and work, then I don’t see why Mortal Kombat can’t do the same. Just, you know, lean into the ridiculousness and don’t make another Mythologies or Special Forces.

Game #354