It may seem like a simple task to single out what is considered a good or bad product when it comes to the various elements it implements, but there are several external factors that can make judging a product fairly more challenging. Aspects such as the time of release, competition at the time, its overall financial performance, and how well the product has aged over time are taken into consideration time and time again when looking back on a product to determine how good or bad it is in the modern day. One external factor that does often get in the way of this would be a product’s cult status. There have been many, MANY examples of pieces of media released over the years that, at the time, didn’t quite reach the same height of success or popularity as others, and as such, gains a small, yet passionate following over the years that will typically defend the product to no end, despite what the actual quality of the product may entail. One example of a product with a cult status that has received this fate would be with Alisia Dragoon.
Before I had played this game, I had heard plenty of times from plenty of places that this was apparently one of the most underappreciated games on the Sega Genesis since it was a commercial failure. I had been interested in checking it out, and I liked the name, but I had put it off for sometime simply because it just didn’t catch my eye as much as other games. Eventually though, I decided to finally check it out, and I will admit, the game is pretty good… but definitely not as good as many of its fans would hype it up to be. There is a lot to love about the game, and if it had less issues, I would probably be one of those people who would hype it up to no end, but as it stands, those issues are still there, and they are enough to drag it down for me.
The story is typical for a game of this era, where an evil force kills Alisia’s father and takes over the world, and when she gets old enough, she goes on to stop him, so the story isn’t anything all that special, but it was clear that the story wasn’t the primary focus, so that is fine, the graphics are pretty great for the Genesis, having a lot of fantastic effects such as with your main lightning attack, and there being plenty of vibrant environments to travel through, the music is also pretty good, with there being plenty of tracks that go very well with the action taking place on screen, the control is decent, giving you enough options to maneuver around and take down enemies, while not being too frustrating to get a handle of, and the gameplay is typical of a Genesis action platformer, but with several additions that make the game stand out from others.
The game is, again, a 2D action platformer, where you take control of Alisia, fight through a set of eight stages, take on many different strong monsters and foes using your volatile lighting attacks and other skills, gather plenty of health potions, as well as several items that will help level you up, increasing both your health bar and the strength of your lightning ability, and take on plenty of bosses that will definitely put your reflexes and skills to the test. From the start, you already feel extremely powerful, given this lighting shot that can decimate many foes early, and as you keep going, it just gets better and better, making you feel a true sense of progression and satisfaction. Not to mention, this type of leveling up and getting stronger wasn’t that common in platformers at the time, so it was nice to see.
Alongside your regular attacks are also your pet monsters, which can assist you in battle at anytime throughout the game. There are four of them to choose from, and each of them have a unique skill that can greatly help you out, such as a dragon that shoots fire, a lizard that throws boomerangs, and a bird that launches thunder that nukes everything on screen. These are already pretty cool and helpful as is, but you can also upgrade these monsters as well, increasing their health and power alongside you, and trust me, you will need this, as some of these powers are quintessential to even standing a chance against some of the later games foes. I love these monster partners, as they helped me out of a jam numerous times throughout my playthrough, and I made sure to always upgrade them to make them stronger whenever I got the chance so I had an easier time. Other then that though, there isn’t that much making this game stand out from the rest, but that is ok, because there is more then enough here to where any fan of old-school platformers can have themselves a pretty good time.
Unfortunately though, there are several issues holding this game back from being great. First and foremost, the difficulty is pretty harsh, with there being MANY different things that can gang up on you and kill you so quickly in this game, so if you aren’t prepared for what comes ahead, then you will be screwed. Sure, you do have a lot of health, and attacks don’t do too much damage, but you are attacked so frequently that it doesn’t even matter how much health you have, because one second you have it, and the next it flies right out the window. This also isn’t helped by the fact that you get ONE LIFE at the start of the game. If you die at all, that is an instant game over, and you are sent back to the title screen. Sure, you can find continues to make the journey somewhat more manageable, but do you know how many of these I managed to find in the game? One. Just one. Fucking fantastic. And finally, this may just be a me thing, but I found traversing the terrain of a lot of the levels pretty annoying at times. There will be plenty of times where you have to go up and down slopes, which not only looks extremely awkward, but is also very awkward to maneuver around, giving you very little room to see whatever lies ahead of said slope, making it so that enemies can land an easy hit. There was times when I would just simply say “Fuck it”, and just run through the damage just so that I can make it to the next part, and I don’t like it when a game makes me want to do that.
Overall, despite some annoyances with the difficulty and the frustrating terrain of levels, Alisia Dragoon is a pretty good title for the Sega Genesis, and one that I do think should’ve gotten a lot more love and attention back in the day, but it is definitely not as good as many of its hardcore fans would make it out to be. I would recommend it for those who are fans of obscure Genesis titles, as well as those who are old-school platformer nuts like myself, but for everyone else, you don’t need to give it anymore love and attention that it has already garnered from its cult status. But hey, if you did want to play it, you can easily do that either on the Sega Genesis Mini or the NSO. But only with the expansion pass. You know, the one that costs like $60 a year just to play a bunch of shitty emulations of games that you most likely already own. Yeah, that one.
Game #367
Before I had played this game, I had heard plenty of times from plenty of places that this was apparently one of the most underappreciated games on the Sega Genesis since it was a commercial failure. I had been interested in checking it out, and I liked the name, but I had put it off for sometime simply because it just didn’t catch my eye as much as other games. Eventually though, I decided to finally check it out, and I will admit, the game is pretty good… but definitely not as good as many of its fans would hype it up to be. There is a lot to love about the game, and if it had less issues, I would probably be one of those people who would hype it up to no end, but as it stands, those issues are still there, and they are enough to drag it down for me.
The story is typical for a game of this era, where an evil force kills Alisia’s father and takes over the world, and when she gets old enough, she goes on to stop him, so the story isn’t anything all that special, but it was clear that the story wasn’t the primary focus, so that is fine, the graphics are pretty great for the Genesis, having a lot of fantastic effects such as with your main lightning attack, and there being plenty of vibrant environments to travel through, the music is also pretty good, with there being plenty of tracks that go very well with the action taking place on screen, the control is decent, giving you enough options to maneuver around and take down enemies, while not being too frustrating to get a handle of, and the gameplay is typical of a Genesis action platformer, but with several additions that make the game stand out from others.
The game is, again, a 2D action platformer, where you take control of Alisia, fight through a set of eight stages, take on many different strong monsters and foes using your volatile lighting attacks and other skills, gather plenty of health potions, as well as several items that will help level you up, increasing both your health bar and the strength of your lightning ability, and take on plenty of bosses that will definitely put your reflexes and skills to the test. From the start, you already feel extremely powerful, given this lighting shot that can decimate many foes early, and as you keep going, it just gets better and better, making you feel a true sense of progression and satisfaction. Not to mention, this type of leveling up and getting stronger wasn’t that common in platformers at the time, so it was nice to see.
Alongside your regular attacks are also your pet monsters, which can assist you in battle at anytime throughout the game. There are four of them to choose from, and each of them have a unique skill that can greatly help you out, such as a dragon that shoots fire, a lizard that throws boomerangs, and a bird that launches thunder that nukes everything on screen. These are already pretty cool and helpful as is, but you can also upgrade these monsters as well, increasing their health and power alongside you, and trust me, you will need this, as some of these powers are quintessential to even standing a chance against some of the later games foes. I love these monster partners, as they helped me out of a jam numerous times throughout my playthrough, and I made sure to always upgrade them to make them stronger whenever I got the chance so I had an easier time. Other then that though, there isn’t that much making this game stand out from the rest, but that is ok, because there is more then enough here to where any fan of old-school platformers can have themselves a pretty good time.
Unfortunately though, there are several issues holding this game back from being great. First and foremost, the difficulty is pretty harsh, with there being MANY different things that can gang up on you and kill you so quickly in this game, so if you aren’t prepared for what comes ahead, then you will be screwed. Sure, you do have a lot of health, and attacks don’t do too much damage, but you are attacked so frequently that it doesn’t even matter how much health you have, because one second you have it, and the next it flies right out the window. This also isn’t helped by the fact that you get ONE LIFE at the start of the game. If you die at all, that is an instant game over, and you are sent back to the title screen. Sure, you can find continues to make the journey somewhat more manageable, but do you know how many of these I managed to find in the game? One. Just one. Fucking fantastic. And finally, this may just be a me thing, but I found traversing the terrain of a lot of the levels pretty annoying at times. There will be plenty of times where you have to go up and down slopes, which not only looks extremely awkward, but is also very awkward to maneuver around, giving you very little room to see whatever lies ahead of said slope, making it so that enemies can land an easy hit. There was times when I would just simply say “Fuck it”, and just run through the damage just so that I can make it to the next part, and I don’t like it when a game makes me want to do that.
Overall, despite some annoyances with the difficulty and the frustrating terrain of levels, Alisia Dragoon is a pretty good title for the Sega Genesis, and one that I do think should’ve gotten a lot more love and attention back in the day, but it is definitely not as good as many of its hardcore fans would make it out to be. I would recommend it for those who are fans of obscure Genesis titles, as well as those who are old-school platformer nuts like myself, but for everyone else, you don’t need to give it anymore love and attention that it has already garnered from its cult status. But hey, if you did want to play it, you can easily do that either on the Sega Genesis Mini or the NSO. But only with the expansion pass. You know, the one that costs like $60 a year just to play a bunch of shitty emulations of games that you most likely already own. Yeah, that one.
Game #367