At this point in time, Rare didn’t necessarily have the best track record when it came to their releases. Sure, they did have the Battletoads franchise, which mostly managed to have pretty solid games, and they had developed several other games that hold up relatively well, but most of the rest of the games that they have developed were either uninteresting, forgotten, or just straight up terrible. It was enough for them to stay in the business for as long as they had been, but not to the point where they could reach the same level of success and notoriety as other developers, like Capcom, Squaresoft, or Konami. That is, until they were approached by Nintendo who, after seeing what they could pull off with games on the SNES using pre-rendered graphics, decided to give them a shot at developing a brand new game in a similar style so they could compete with what games like Aladdin were doing on the Genesis. They were given the reigns to make a new game in the DK franchise, which, aside from the Game Boy game that had been released earlier in the year, hadn’t really seen any major attention in nearly a decade, and thus, Rare went on to not only make a new game to reintroduce DK to modern audiences, but to also completely re-invent the character and his world, changing both DK and Rare's reputation forever. This would result in what would become the start of one of the best sub-series that DK would ever be a part of, Donkey Kong Country.

I have had quite the history with the DKC series over the years, with my first proper introduction to the series being with DKC Returns back in 2010, when I was still a dumb kid, and I had no clue as to what a Super Nintendo or a Rareware was. Eventually, I would discover the wonders of what we refer to as “retro gaming”, and it would lead to me getting my hands on a SNES for myself, with this being one of the first games that I had ever gotten with the system. I don’t think I had ever heard of the game beforehand, so needless to say, I was excited to try it out, and naturally, I ended up loving it. So now that I am playing it again after all this time, I can say that it holds up extremely well, being pretty basic for a platformer, but having some of the best design, personality, and fun challenges from any platformer of this era, and it successfully managed to reinvent DK into what he would be to this day.

The story is pretty simple, where the villainous King K. Rool steals Donkey Kong’s banana hoard with the help of his Kremlings, which makes DK very sad, so he then sets out with his nephew Diddy Kong to go beat them up and get his bananas back, which is a very silly premise, but one that fits perfectly for this series, and I am all here for it. The graphics are pretty good, not only having a pretty unique style for a SNES game at that point, but also holding up extremely well, with all of the different models for the characters, enemies, and bosses looking very charming, and the environments look just as great right alongside them, the music is fantastic, with there being plenty of different tracks that I still love to listen to to this day, such as the final boss theme, the theme for the first level, and my favorite track in the whole game, the underwater level theme (if I drowned IRL while this music played, I would be going out happy), the control is pretty great, with both DK and Diddy having the proper weight to them, and each action they can perform feels just right on a SNES controller, and the gameplay itself is pretty basic for the genre it takes on, but it still manages to be a solid experience all the way through, and I would rather a game be simple yet solid rather than experimental yet flawed.

The game is a 2D platformer, where you take control of either Donkey Kong or Diddy Kong, go through many different worlds, each one containing their own set of levels that will challenge you in plenty of different ways, defeat many different enemies and Kremlings along the way while gathering plenty of bananas, collectibles, and power-ups to assist you on your way, find many of the other members of the Kong family such as Funky Kong, the coolest motherfucker on the planet, Candy Kong, the Kong who made a lot of kids question themselves when they were younger, and Cranky Kong, the Kong who resembled everybody’s grandparents in one way or another, who will each help you out in their own way (except for Cranky, who just says you suck and makes you depressed), and take on plenty of bosses that will prove to be quite the “challenge” to overcome to get your precious bananas back. A lot of it is pretty standard for a platformer, and some who aren’t new to the genre may question why you would bother playing it with plenty of other options out there, but not only does the graphical and musical style help give this game its own unique identity that holds up extremely well to this day, but it also still manages to be a fun game all on its own, with many ways it changes up the formula and keep you going.

For every single level in the game that you go through, there is always something new and exciting waiting for you, even if the changes may not be as big as others. You start out going through a pretty typical platformer level, nothing too exciting for you to see or do, but then you get to levels where you will be going through ancient temples, fighting different foes, finding different animal buddies that can help you take out enemies and give you more momentum, and there are even extreme cases of changing up the gameplay, such as levels where you are riding minecarts, ones where you are grabbing fuel for a conveyor belt you are riding on, and ones where you are turning on the lights to keep the Satan crocodiles from waking up. While some of these gimmicks are definitely preferable over others, each one is very fun to go through and experience, all while the game makes you think more and more about what to do in each situation, even if the goal is obvious.

What also helps keep this game fun and fresh throughout the entire journey would be in terms of its difficulty. For those of you who have played this game, you know it isn’t easy in the slightest, and while I wouldn’t say it is as hard as other platformers out there like Castlevania or Ninja Gaiden, there are still plenty of the moments where the game will test your skills in pretty extreme ways, such as with precarious platforming in plenty of levels, adding gimmicks like wind and barrels you need to shoot out of, timing your jumps on minecart segments effectively, and so many more examples. However, despite how hard it can be, it never feels unfair. There is always a chance for you to figure out what to do, how to overcome these challenges, whether it be through simple trial and error, or just by taking your time, and even if you do manage to fuck up and get a game over, if you have been using save points properly, then you shouldn’t be sent too far back to where it discourages you from continuing forward. Not to mention, it feels immensely rewarding whenever you do conquer some of the challenges in this game, managing to make it to the next save point so that you can press on towards whatever challenge may lie ahead.

For those of you wanting a little more out of your platformers though, fear not, because this game isn’t just a simple “run to the end and you win” kinda deal… or at least, it doesn’t have to be, anyway. Throughout each of the level, there are plenty of different bonus areas that you can access, each one giving you some kind of bonus, whether it be with extra lives, or even by sending you to this bonus area where you can collect all of these golden tokens as one of your animal buddies for even more extra lives! Not only do they help you prepare for the journey ahead, but each one does add to your percentage total, and it can even change the ending that you get if you manage to find everything… which isn’t much different then the normal ending, but it will keep Cranky Kong from complaining too much, fucking old-ass prick. They are pretty fun to go for, not just for the sake of completion, but they can be pretty tricky to find to, making you really look around every corner to see what walls or floors are breakable, and where else you could look just in case you end up missing something along the way.

So yeah, most of this game is a blast from start to finish, but there are some gripes that I have with it that do keep it from being a perfect game in my eyes. For one thing, the boss fights FUCKING SUCK, not because they are too hard, but moreso because they are uncreative and boring. Most of them consist of just bigger versions of enemies that you fight in the regular levels, with some of these even being repeated as the game goes on, and while some of them try to mix things up a bit, it’s only methods of doing so is by either giving you a different weak spot to hit, or just by taking on an enemy gauntlet, which isn’t exactly fun to deal with. The only good boss in the entire game is the final one against K. Rool, because not only does the foe you fight actually put up a fight, but the ways in which he does and when you can hit him is pretty creative, and it keeps you on your toes.

Secondly, while most of the elements in this game are pretty fair, and you can get through a lot of the challenges easily, there are some things that were put into this game that I am just not a fan of. There’s one example of this that sticks out to me as clear as day, and that is with one of the bonus areas that you find in Oil Drum Alley. Whenever you go into one of the other bonus levels in the stage and clear it out, you have to take the barrel that you get and throw it ABOVE the wall that you would normally hit in order to clear it out, which will grant you access to another bonus area you need to go through. If you don’t know about this on your first go, and you end up missing it, you cannot go back and try getting it again, making it so that, if you are going for 101% completion, you are FUCKED. That’s not necessarily that bad for those who just wanna go through the game normally, and I myself have never had this happen to me, but the fact that it can happen at all is pretty shitty, and I’d imagine there is at least one person out there who didn’t know about it, figured out what they was missing, and had their day ruined because of it.

Overall, despite the terrible bosses and some secrets having strict punishments for not finding them, the original DKC is still a fantastic game after almost 30 years, having very fun platforming challenges, wonderful visuals and music, and plenty of things to do for those that wanna go the extra mile that you usually wouldn’t go for in a platformer like this. I would highly recommend it for those who are fans of Donkey Kong, as well as those who love 2D platformers in the first place, because while this certainly isn’t my favorite game in the series, it is still one of the best platformers you can play on the SNES, and one that would launch an equally fantastic series that would continue to get installments for years to come…………. at least, until 2014, that is. Seriously, Nintendo, bring back Donkey Kong in a brand new game already! And maybe also try to bring back the Kremlings while you’re at it, too. That would be nice.

Game #532

There is no such thing as a perfect video game. No matter how good a video game could be, or how much it is beloved by the general gaming public, it will never be able to reach the status of truly being beloved by everybody, to where nobody could find a single flaw in it, or everybody could love it as equally as another. However, even if there will never be a perfect video game, there will always be… our perfect video games. The ones that we hold near and dear to our hearts, ones that we love everything about and will continue to love about all the way until we die, no matter what anyone else says, or even if another video game comes along to take its place as your own perfect video game. So, I figured it was about time that, for my 500th review, I would go ahead and talk about my absolute favorite game of all time, without question: the original Mega Man X.

But, before I get into gushing about this masterpiece, we may as well lay down some history for those that somehow aren’t in the loop as to what this is. At this point, it was 1993, and people were getting FUCKING SICK of Mega Man. There were 13 different Mega Man titles that had been released so far, and while there were some different, unique titles of this bunch that we don’t like to talk about, most of them played exactly the same. Yeah, they each had their own set of differences that made them stand out for hardcore fans of the series, but to the general public, they all just seemed to be the same game over and over and over and OVER again, to the point where franchise fatigue set in pretty goddamn early. So, if Capcom was gonna continue making these games, or even take the series to the next generation of consoles, they were going to have to step up their game a bit. They were going to need to add a bit more attitude, a bit more color, a bit more to do, a bit more to find, and more of this universe to explore. To sum it all up, they were going to need to take Mega Man… to the Xtreme (no, not that Xtreme...not that one either).

Needless to say, this experiment with the series managed to become a major success. This singular game would go onto being widely praised by critics and fans alike, selling over a million copies in its original release, and it is now considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time. Not only that, but it would also lead to creating another separate series alongside the original Mega Man series, one that would continue getting games all the way up to this day, whether it be through main entries that would progress this game’s story and mechanics, side games that would take the series in new and interesting directions, or even things like… Mega Man X Dive… (oh trust me, I have some choice words for that game whenever I get to it… you know, in 5 years). As for what I personally think of it myself… I mean, I think my profile page on this website says everything I need to, but I will go ahead and continue showering this game with all kinds of praise either way. You may as well get a drink or some snacks, because if you couldn’t tell already, this review is gonna be a long one.

I don’t remember specifically when I first learned about Mega Man X, but I do know for a fact that, at that point, I was quite familiar with the Mega Man series, having played quite a bit of the NES games in the past, and falling in love with them enough to where I had become obsessed with them. The first exposure I had to the game was with the original video on it made by The CharityFraudist before it was removed from the internet, and from that first impression I got from the game, I was… mildly interested in it. It did look pretty good, but it just looked like another Mega Man game that just so happened to be made for the SNES. Nothing that I felt like I needed to get my hands on immediately. However, as time would go on… that mild interest I had in the game would only grow from there. I would watch more videos about the game, more videos that would go deeper into it, explaining how it advanced the series further, how it was designed so intricately, and how these decisions made turned it into the classic that we knew and loved today, which got me more eager to get my hands on it then ever before. It was only when I had gotten my Dad’s permission to download it on my Wii U that I finally got the chance to play it for myself, and needless to say… it was love at first sight.

The story of the game is one that is somewhat familiar for the Mega Man series, but at the same time, it takes it to places it had never been before. The game takes place 100 years in the future after the classic series, where an archaeologist by the name of Dr. Cain would discover a capsule within the remains of a robotic facility, one that contains a robot created by the late, great Dr. Light. This new robot, known as Mega Man X, was different from all the other ones, able to feel complex emotions, have human-level intelligence, and even its own free will to do whatever it feels. This type of technology was then replicated by Dr. Cain over the years, in order to create a new set of robots that would also carry these same traits, which would go onto be known as Reploids. Over the years, Reploids and humanity would then co-exist with each other, learning to help each other out and make the world a better place. That is, until some of the reploids started going haywire, starting to cause destruction and commit crimes all over the world, now being labeled as Mavericks.

In response to this, a group of Reploids would be formed to take care of these rogue robots, including Mega Man X, known as the Maverick Hunters. However, eventually, the leader of the Maverick Hunters, Sigma, would end up going maverick himself, and with the help of eight other different mavericks, would go onto spread a level of chaos across the world that nobody had seen before. Feeling partially responsible for this, Mega Man X, or just simply X, decided to set out to take out all of these mavericks, as well as Sigma himself, to ultimately save the world. Again, like I mentioned earlier, it is very similar to the original Mega Man if you only look at it on the surface level, but there is a lot more going on here in comparison, which I can really appreciate and love.

The graphics are fantastic, having the perfect fit for a Mega Man game made for a new generation, while also having plenty of life, energy, and personality through all the stages, characters, enemies, and bosses, the music is some of the best that I have ever heard in all of video game history, having plenty of BANGERS to accompany you through the many different stages present in the game, while also managing to fit the tone for whatever is happening in the game, the control is just right, being mostly what you would expect from a Mega Man title, but also integrating new mechanics that feel buttery-smooth to pull off, making playing the game just that much more satisfying, and the gameplay is, once again, mostly what you would expect from a Mega Man title, but it adds enough to where it feels like a completely new experience, one that many would go to love and adore for years.

The game is a 2D action platformer, where you take control of X, go through many different levels in plenty of different locations, with a good majority of them you can choose to go through in any order you want, run, jump, and shoot your way through many different obstacles and enemies that stand in your way, gather plenty of different health and ammo pickups that will assist you along the way, fight many different bosses and Mavericks of varying types and sizes, and gain plenty of different power ups from these Mavericks that you can use against other enemies and bosses to your advantage. On the surface, it is pretty much what you would expect from your typical Mega Man title, which could cause some who were sick of the series to be drawn away immediately, but when you actually get into the game, not only does it have plenty of new features that would become a staple part of the series, but also that X-factor that breathes new life into this series that it desperately needed at the time.

For starters, aside from the many weapons that you can get from the Mavericks in this game, there are also now many different new, optional goodies that you can find which will greatly benefit you on your journey forward. From the start of the game, you may notice that your health bar is significantly smaller than the life bar from the NES games, which may seem like quite the downgrade at first, but then as you go along the game, you will then find the Heart Tanks, which will increase your health till it is at its proper size. Some may call this completely unnecessary, but I love this change, since it allows for a sense of progression not only for yourself, but also for X as a character, which I will get more into later. Alongside this are the Sub-Tanks, which are the replacement for the Energy Tanks in this game. Unlike E-Tanks, which you could only use once before they go away forever, you are able to use these tanks an infinite amount of times, as long as you are able to store plenty of energy in them to fill you up. Once again, this could be seen as a bit of an unnecessary change for some, but I greatly prefer having a few E-Tanks that I can refill rather than a bunch that I can only use once, so this change is all good in my book.

From the beginning of the game, you can also see that, as an upgraded version of the original Mega Man, X has plenty of new moves and capabilities that the original Mega Man never had. On his own, he is taller, faster, stronger, and he has the ability to jump up walls repeatedly, which is a fantastic enough addition to your moveset already, but that is only the beginning of what X is truly capable of. Throughout the game, you can find many capsules laid around the stage, each one containing a brand new piece of armor for X to use, as well as a message from Dr. Light on how to use it. Of course, there are ones that are pretty situational or typical, such as the helmet upgrade, which lets you break blocks, as well as the body upgrade, which allows you to take less damage when hit, but then you get the GOOD shit, such as the Buster upgrade, where you are able to charge your X Buster even further to fire an extremely powerful shot and to charge up your weapons, and the leg upgrade, which lets you dash along the ground and move through stages a lot faster than before, which would become a staple ability of X for future games in the series.

All of these upgrades and optional goodies that you can acquire are all fantastic in their own way, and they do a great job at making both X and the player much stronger than ever before, able to take on anything that stands in your way with the amount of style and aggression that feels just right. Sure, not all of them are too useful, and you could just view them as a means of completing the game, but not only does it feel satisfy to find a good chunk of these goodies, which are actually pretty cleverly hidden among the stages, but they do add to your character in numerous ways, and they don’t feel like just simple “things to collect”.

Not to mention, they all contribute towards you getting the ultimate reward for your effort, which you can gain from Armored Armadillo’s stage before the end of the game. After performing a cryptic sequence of events, you can then find a final capsule on the edge of a cliff, containing another message from Dr. Light, who just so happens to be wearing a very… familiar costume. You then get the upgrade, and it turns out to be the Hadoken, straight from Street Fighter II, which you not only perform in the exact same manner as in that game, but it also is your most powerful weapon, able to one-shot any enemy and boss no matter what. This, in my opinion, is the PERFECT reward for getting all of the items in the game, not just as a Street Fighter fan, but also just in general, as it feels incredible to nuke every single boss after this with this weapon, but not to the point where it feels broken, since you can only use it if you have full health.

Ignoring all the new additions, the game itself still remains incredibly satisfying, even if you disregard all of the different goodies you can find. This can all be seen as early as the intro stage of the game, which is one of the best intros of any game in video game history, even more so than World 1-1 in the original Super Mario Bros. Upon pressing start, you get thrown right into the game, without any kind of intro cutscene or instructions screen to hold you back, and you can learn all of the basic controls right off the bat, blasting through the many different enemies that you are faced with. Not only that, but it also places you in unavoidable situations where it also teaches you how to use your new abilities, such as when you get thrown down into a pit upon destroying a giant bee robot, forcing you to climb back up the cliff to get back in action.

It not only does a great job at setting you up for the gameplay, but it also manages to integrate the game’s story and theme in perfectly. Upon reaching the end of the stage, you are then stopped in your tracks by a brand new foe: a purple-Boba-Fett-reject in a mech suit known as Vile, and upon fighting him, he seems practically unstoppable! None of your attacks seem to be doing any damage, and he proceeds to wipe the floor with you, with there being seemingly nothing that you can do to counter him whatsoever. It eventually leads to a point where you get trapped in an energy shot, grabbed by the fist of Vile’s mech, and taunted as you face what could be your final moments in the game. That is, until… you hear something from off-screen start to charge up.

All of a sudden, an energy blast is fired from off-screen, ripping through the arm on Vile’s mech suit, and freeing you from his clutches. Vile then flees the scene, as a new ally comes in to chase him off, known simply as Zero. And let me tell you, when you first see this guy in action in this scene, you think he is BADASS. He’s got the style, the power, the attitude of a warrior, and… flowing, blonde locks, which is kinda weird, but he is still cool! Infinitely cooler than you, that is. It is then at this point that X starts to doubt his capabilities as a Maverick Hunter, being unable to defeat this one foe, who seemed to overpower him in every way imaginable. However, Zero then gives both X and the player reassurance, saying that you are destined to take him out, and that you will get stronger as you press forward… maybe even stronger than him.

It is then, from that point on, that your goal is clear. You then proceed to take on all the different stages, defeating all of the Mavericks, gaining all of their powers, finding all of the upgrades, and getting stronger, faster, smarter, and overall better throughout the whole game. You then feel this power fully envelop you as you take on Sigma’s Fortress, defeating the many different enemies, bosses, and even all the Mavericks again with all of your newfound powers and abilities, even going as far as to fully come back around and defeat Vile after all this time. This, right here, is what makes this game perfect in my eyes: that feeling of growth, the immense satisfaction of achieving these goals, the hidden potential you have right from the start, and seeing it through all the way to the end in the best and most timeless manner a game could ever manage. It’s just like real life, when you think about it: just when you are at your lowest point, all you need to do is to just simply pick yourself up and keep on going, trying new things and going down different paths, until you can ultimately find the right path for you, and having the ability to prove all of the nay-sayers wrong. I’m sure we have all felt that at some point. I certainly have, believe me.

Overall, there are some things about the game that I could nitpick here or there, such as the helmet upgrade being useless after a certain point, some points of the game being somewhat annoying to go through, and the boss rush of the game going back to how it was in the original Mega Man, but at this point, none of that matters to me, and none of that ever will matter to me. This is, without a doubt in my mind, my favorite game of all time, one that I loved from the moment I first pressed that start button all those years ago, and one that I will forever continue to love, enjoy, praise, and remember for many, many years to come. I would absolutely recommend it, not just for fans of Mega Man or 2D platformers in general, but for EVERYBODY to play at least once in their lives, as it truly is that great on its own, and it is that special to me. There may come a time where I find a game that will manage to surpass this in terms of… well, everything that I had just mentioned, and when it does, I will gladly welcome it with open arms, but until then, I will always forever love Mega Man X, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon……………………….. so that means it is all downhill from here, folks! No, I kid, I kid, but it is a shame that Zero, Vile, and Sigma are now dead, and that they will never come back after this……………. nope, never. Nope nope nope nope. Certainly not in the next game, no. Certainly not in the third game either, nope.

Game #485

While it hadn’t gotten as much love as other Nintendo franchises at this point, like with Mario, Zelda, Kirby, and others, the Metroid series was still considered to be one of their big IPs at the time, and had a bit of a reputation at that point. The original Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus, despite not reaching the same level of quality as future titles in the series, were still good games in their own right, and were a pretty good launch point for this series as a whole. Not to mention, they were pretty successful, selling 2.7 million copies and 1.7 million copies respectively, so naturally, a sequel was going to be made… but not right away. There would be somewhat of a gap in between releases, primarily because the devs were waiting for just the right time, the perfect time, to bring Samus back into the limelight once again. This perfect time would come in 1994, and with the help of Intelligent Systems, who had developed plenty of games with Nintendo before (including the original Metroid), they would then release the long-awaited next chapter in the Metroid saga, Super Metroid.

Unfortunately, it wouldn’t go onto sell as well as its predecessors, but it would go onto garner universal praise from fans, die-hard or otherwise, and critics alike, with it now considered to be not only one of, if not THE best Metroid game of all time, but also one of the greatest video games ever made. Many have sung its praises over the years in many ways, it would get plenty of mods later down the road supporting replayability, it would become a favorite amongst speedrunners, and it would help go onto establishing an entire sub-genre of video games as a whole. As for myself though, I wouldn’t jump onto the Super Metroid bandwagon for quite some time, despite watching plenty of videos about it that would praise the game and go into great detail about why it was considered a masterpiece. When I eventually did decide to give the game a fair shot, I immediately understood why, as it is an incredible game, and absolutely deserves the reputation it has garnered over the years. While it may not be my personal favorite Metroid game, it is clear when playing the game that the devs put plenty of love, detail, and care into this game, making it one of the best games you could ever play not only from this era, but from any era.

The story continues on from where Metroid II ended off, where Samus Aran, now with a baby Metroid in her possession, brings it to a team of scientists at the Ceres research station to conduct further study on the specimen, but shortly after she leaves, the station is attacked by Ridley, back in the flesh after his defeat in the original game, killing everyone inside and stealing the baby Metroid, and fleeing back to the planet Zebes, so it is up to Samus to travel to Zebes once again, get back the baby Metroid, and uncover what is really going on here. It is a fairly simple premise, one that is easy to understand for new players, but also complex enough to create intrigue for those that are wanting to learn more about this game and its universe, making it very pleasing to experience and ponder about.

The graphics are absolutely phenomenal, not only bringing Samus to the 16-bit era in the perfect way, but also creating plenty of iconic locations, enemy designs, and atmosphere that still holds up tremendously well almost 30 years later, the music is wonderful, creating a perfect balance of being moody, setting the tone for many of the environments you travel in, yet still being filled with plenty of life, while also being tense and action–packed when it needs to, the control is perfect, feeling like the perfect evolution for how Samus should control in one of these games, while giving plenty of new things to mess around with right from the get-go that give you more versatility than ever, and the gameplay is pretty similar to the last two titles in the series, but now it has been made to be a lot more exciting, approachable, and memorable.

The game is a 2D action-adventure game, where you take control of Samus Aran once again, go through the depths of the planet Zebes once again, this time with much more detail, life, and secrets to find, defeat plenty of creatures, big or small, that inhabit the planet and want you dead as you go deeper and deeper into the planet, gather plenty of upgrades to Samus’s arsenal to make her into the ultimate warrior, such as with health upgrades, beam power ups, or regular power ups that give you new abilities, and take on plenty of bosses, both new and old, that will provide a challenge to those unprepared for what is to come. It has all the same elements that the previous two games had, not really introducing anything that majorly different for the series at the time, but there is one thing that it does manage to do above all else: perfect the formula.

As I mentioned earlier, Samus is now more capable then she has ever been before, not only having the same basic abilities and powers that she could get from the previous game, but she is now also able to aim in eight separate directions, she can crouch, and she even now has a wall jump, where you can continuously scale up a wall if you press the right sequence of buttons, allowing you to ultimately make the game YOUR BITCH. It is the perfect way to naturally evolve not just Samus and her capabilities, but also how the game plays, because when compared to the original game and Metroid II, this is just perfect in every way. Not only that, but the arsenal of weapons that she can acquire throughout the game is just as helpful as before, with classics like the Missiles, the Morph Ball, the Hi-Jump boots, the Screw Attack, and the various beam powers making a return, and each of them are incredibly helpful in plenty of situations.

Not only that, but there is also a good amount of new power ups for you to mess around with in the game as you go about finding them. There’s the Speed Booster, which allows Samus to run extremely fast and make her an unstoppable bullet train, the Shine Spark, which allows you to fire yourself through hard structures while using the Speed Booster, the Grapple Beam, which can be used to latch onto certain surfaces and swing around all over the place to reach new areas or more goodies, and the X-Ray Scope, which allows you to scan nearby areas to see if you can find any hidden passageways, power ups, or otherwise. Most of these new additions would become staples in the series in the coming years, and all of them are extremely useful and wonderful to test out in plenty of locations… with the exception of the X-Ray Scope, which I barely used at all, but hey, it is there for newcomers, so that is good.

And speaking of newcomers, like I mentioned before, this game is much more approachable when compared to the previous two titles, not just in terms of what it provides the player, but also in terms of design. In the first two Metroid games, there was always the possibility of getting lost or confused while traveling through these corridors, because not only did you not have any way to track where you were in the game, but also because a lot of the hallways look almost identical to each other, meaning you could think you are in a whole new area, but instead are stuck back-tracking when you didn’t want to so that.

Thankfully, with Super Metroid, not only do you now have a map which can track where you have been, making it a lot easier to decide where you want to go next, but every single area in the game, big or small, now has a distinct look and design to it, making it so that you will always have new things to discover, and even if you haven’t fully explored one area due to a lack of tools needed to do so, you can always find your way back in order to do so later. With that being said though, even though you do have a map, it doesn’t automatically point out every single thing to you, encouraging you to explore around more and see where more items and secrets can be hidden, which is always a great thing to have when it comes to any video game.

One last admirable quality about Super Metroid that I really admire, especially when it comes to video games of this era, is in terms of its storytelling. Most games around this time either don’t give you too much story at all, or they are all saved for cutscenes and the instruction manual, which is fine on its own, but it doesn’t give you much opportunity to really connect with the game’s world as a whole. Super Metroid, however, manages to do this flawlessly, starting off with an intro sequence that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know, or about what happened in the previous two games, but they tell you enough to where you get ready to go and want to learn more. Even when you land on the planet of Zebes, you can tell that it’s gone through plenty of changes, with the first areas looking all desolate and destroyed, no doubt a result of your actions from the original game. However, after you get the Morph Ball, this beam of light shines on you from the corner of the room, and suddenly, all kinds of baddies are up and at 'em, ready to take you down, which is a really nice detail.

Everything else remains relatively normal and simple from there on out, until you end up fighting Ridley, where after you defeat him, you end up finding the capsule that the baby Metroid was sealed in… but it is now shattered, and the baby Metroid is gone. You have no clue what could’ve happened, so you end up going about the rest of your business, getting more items, fighting more guys, and breaking the game to your heart’s content, until you reach the final area of the game, where you descend down further into the core of Zebes, and that’s when the final events of the game start to kick off. Oh, and by the way, spoilers for the final act of the game are coming up, so if you haven’t played or seen through that part of the game yet (even though you have had 30 years to do so), then just skip to the final paragraph of the review.

As you enter this area, you notice that it is surprisingly… quiet. There isn’t that much going in with the environment, and the only enemies that you find in this place are Metroids and those weird ring things that shoot out from the walls. Eventually, you find more enemies later on, but they appear to be… drained of their life, disintegrating upon contact, leading you to suspect that something weird is going on here. You then find another one of these enemies, alive and well, seemingly impossible to kill as you try every single weapon on it, but nothing works. Before you can think of what to do next, all of a sudden, this GIGANTIC Metroid comes out of NOWHERE, and latches itself onto that creature, draining it of its energy, and probably scaring the shit out of whoever is playing the game at that point.

After it finishes off this creature, it then heads straight for you, starting to completely drain you of all your energy as well, with you being able to do anything about it, as you fidget around in an utter panic. However, before your health bar drops to zero, all of a sudden… it stops. It stops draining your health, and it detaches itself from you, letting out some cries, until ultimately fleeing the scene. It is then you realize that this giant Metroid that almost killed you was the baby Metroid that you got from SR388, and it had one HUGE growth spurt, but even after becoming the ruthless killer that all Metroids naturally are, it still cares deeply about Samus, and wishes to bring no more harm to her.

Once that is all over with, you once again go through the game like normal, finally reaching Mother Brain, back once again from the original game, right alongside a fight that seems like it was ripped straight from that game, with you needing to defeat her in the exact same way. However, when it seems like she is destroyed, she then rises up from her defeat once again, now rocking this brand new body. Naturally, you start to throw everything at her, but it doesn’t seem like anything is really doing all that much to her, as she fights back and then starts to charge up something. This then leads to her firing this gigantic rainbow laser beam of death at you several times, which not only starts draining away all of your health like crazy, but it also takes away all of your missiles and bombs too!

At this point, you are now stuck, unable to move, and getting continuously beat up by Mother Brain, wondering how the hell you are going to get out of this one. However, before Mother Brain can land the final blow with one more laser beam attack, the full-grown baby Metroid then suddenly barges in and starts draining Mother Brain of all her energy, causing her to start to stagger and cry out in a panic, until she is left petrified for a brief moment. The Metroid then goes towards you, latching onto you once again, but instead of draining your health again, it then starts to… heal you? No clue how the hell they are supposed to be doing that, but at this point, you’ll take it. But then, while the Metroid is starting to heal you, Mother Brain gets back up.

It then starts to fully attack the Metroid non-stop, causing it to grow weaker and changing to a much weaker shade of purple and yellow, until the Metroid then unlatches itself from you, and then goes in for one final attack. Unfortunately though, before it can land that final blow, Mother Brain gets the upper hand, killing the Metroid, and causing it to explode into dust. You may not have known him for long, but you are probably feeling pretty saddened and angry about Mother Brain killing your baby, but fear not, because from the ashes of the Metroid, you gain one final upgrade to your beam that is capable of killing Mother Brain: the Hyper Beam.

You then unload plenty of shots from your own rainbow laser, right into Mother Brain’s dumbass face, until it ultimately crumbles to the ground, ending your mission, and leading you to quickly escaping from the planet. This entire sequence of events, from where you find the destroyed capsule all the way up to when you kill Mother Brain, is executed flawlessly. It is such a simple sequence of events, but they are presented to the player so naturally, without any real pauses in the gameplay, allowing you to fully get absorbed in these moments, which make them all the more surprising, jarring, heart-breaking, and satisfying. Of course, you probably already knew about all this, and you may not think it is such a big deal, as did I when I went into this game, but even when I knew all of what was going to happen, it still made it so that those emotions were rushing through me by the end, and if a game manages to do that even when you already knew it was coming, then that deserves only the highest regards.

Overall, while it still isn’t my favorite game in the entire series, or even my favorite 2D Metroid for that matter, I can’t help but fully admit that Super Metroid, on its own, is almost completely flawless, giving a natural evolution for this series that excels it to new heights, and providing so much fun throughout all that it offers, whether it be through gameplay, presentation, story, or otherwise. I absolutely recommend it for anyone, those who are big fans of the Metroid series, or if you are someone that is wanting to get into the series yourself, because it is not only a perfect starting point for newcomers, but also a title that has held up masterfully after all this time, and it is clear why it is still so prevalent in plenty of gaming communities to this day. Although, I will say one thing, for those of you who are planning on playing this at some point… make sure to save the aliens. You may not know what I am talking about, but trust me, you will want to remember that, so that you won’t get shunned by your peers for doing something wrong.

Game #492

Throughout the 30 years of its entire lifespan, it was always clear why the original Doom was not only a phenomenal game in its own right, but why it is now considered a bona fide classic to this day. There were aspects about it that future games would manage to refine and execute better, but even with that in mind, the game was still fast-paced, action-filled, immensely satisfying, rewarding for those who took the time to really look around for secrets, and it created a type of game that not too many others could properly replicate, in terms of both quality and feel. It also helped that the game was immensely successful, and is now considered to be the father of FPS games to come out from that point onward, so naturally, given the game’s immense success, a sequel was developed right away to continue this game’s legacy and to refine a lot of the elements present within the game. This game would come out not too long after the original, and it would be known as Doom II: Hell on Earth.

Making a sequel to the original Doom and releasing it so soon was kind of a risk for id Software, when you think about it. The original game already had plenty of things that people absolutely loved, and plenty of different reasons to play it over and over again, whether it be through playing through single-player mode to see what secrets you missed, or even through multiplayer mode with your friends. So, how the hell (Ha Haaaaaaaa) were they going to top the original game in such a short time? Well, that, my friends, was simple: by making Doom again, but better. This development choice would pay off for them, not only going on to also sell very well, but it would also receive just as much praise as the original game, if not more. In my opinion, it absolutely deserves that recognition and success it got, because I not only think this game is better than the original Doom in just about every way, but I also consider to be fantastic, providing yet another round of non-stop, blood-pumping action with just enough change to make it wonderful to revisit time and time again.

The story picks up right from where the original game left off, where after defeating the Spider Mastermind from the previous games, Doomguy finds his way back to Earth, where he finds that it has been completely overrun by demons, slaughtering innocent lives and taking over the planet as their own, so naturally, it is up to him to single-handedly take them all down and stop this demonic invasion once and for all, which is a simple enough set-up that both feels satisfactory enough for a natural continuation, while also being just enough to get the player right into the meat of things. The graphics are……. literally the exact same as the previous game, but hey, that’s fine, as the game still looks great either way, the music is also just as wonderful, having plenty more kick-ass tunes to jam out to while shoving the barrel of your gun in some poor demon’s face and blowing it clean off, the control is… also the exact same, so nothing more to touch on there, and the gameplay is very similar to the original game, to the point where you could call it a direct copy with nothing else going on, but there is more to it then you realize.

The game is still a first-person shooter, where you take control of Doomguy once again, go through many different levels, now all bunched together rather then being split up into multiple episodes (which is a better choice, if you ask me), take down any demonic scumbag that stands in your way as you find your way through these facilities and hellish landscapes, gather plenty of different health and ammo pickups, power ups, and additional weapons to make your slaughter all the sweeter, and take on plenty of big and bad forces of hell that will fuck you up if you aren’t ready and quick on your feet. In many ways, it is almost identical to that of the original Doom, which is a good thing, considering that this style of gameplay was already fun enough to begin with, so you can jump in right away and have a blast, but underneath the similar coat of paint, there is a little more going on here.

When I say this game is identical to the original Doom, I mean that in almost every way possible. The graphics, gameplay, general feel, and means of progression are the exact same, which may make you question why this was made as a sequel in the first place, instead of say, an expansion of the previous game. However, when you look deeper into it, you’ll then notice some key differences that make it stand out. If I were to describe the game in one sentence, I would say it is “Doom for Super Players” (but not that kind of super), as while it may be incredibly similar, the gameplay is much faster, more difficult, more reactionary in plenty of scenarios, and all the more invigorating. Even from the first couple of levels, you notice a lot more going on in them then the first batch of levels in the original game, which does make this feel more like a natural progression for the Doom series, for if you have played the original game, you should be experienced enough to handle whatever this game can throw at you.

What also helps with this is that, while most of the game remains relatively the same, there were some key elements that do spice things up. There are new enemies to be found here, each packing their own new means of challenging the player, and not only do they have great designs, but they can be pretty tough to take down if you aren’t careful, forcing you to learn different ways to approach a foe, and thus, improving your skills as a player as a result. In addition, there are new goodies that can be found throughout the levels, such as the Megasphere, which fills up both your health and armor all the way to 200, which is pretty damn helpful, and the Super Shotgun, a new weapon that is pretty much just a better version of the shotgun. That may make you question why they even bothered to make this weapon in the first place, but if you do bother questioning that at all, I will kindly ask you to get the fuck out of here and rethink everything, because the Super Shotgun is AWESOME. Sure, it may use more ammo then its counterpart, but it does more damage, covers a wider range of fire, and can kill multiple targets if used effectively, not only making the original shotgun obsolete in just about every way, but also becoming my new go-to weapon for any situation in this game.

Not only that, but the levels themselves also just FEEL different, still keeping the same general flow of progression familiar for those experienced with the original Doom, while also giving you more to do. You could focus on the goal at hand and just try to find your way to the exit so you can get a move on, but you can also look around in various places that don’t necessarily help you reach the end quicker, but they can reward you handsomely if you go out of your way, encouraging exploration more than ever before. Not to mention, this game still does have plenty of secrets for you to find, and just like with the original game, they can be quite hard to find, so those who enjoy looking for secrets and other means of reaching that glorious 100% mark, Doom II has plenty of that for you in spades.

However, at the end of the day, if you are not a huge fan of what the original Doom gave you, then you definitely won’t be able to get into this title, as it is essentially just Doom 1, but with more stuff. Yeah, it does have new features that can be fun to mess around with, but it has you doing the exact same stuff that you did in the last game with no major changes to be seen, which can definitely turn people away who weren’t able to get into this type of gameplay in the first place. Thankfully though, that is really the only complaint that I can think of for this title, because for those of us who are big fans of this game, it still manages to provide plenty for us to do, see, and kill all the same, and there is nothing more that a Doom Slayer like myself could ask for.

Overall, despite a huge lack of change, Doom II surpasses the original almost flawlessly, and it is a fantastic game as a whole, being even more fun, fast, satisfying, and gruesome as ever, while refining everything about the original game to the point where it could be hard to go back to after this… even though plenty will still go back to it. I highly recommend it for those who were big fans of the original game, as well as those of you who are into classic FPS games in general, because if you somehow haven’t played this game at this point, then… what the HELL are you waiting for?...... alright, you know what, I think that is one too many hell puns for a Doom review. Don’t wanna make reading this feel like you are actually being tortured in Hell, because trust me, there is already plenty about real life that could do that instead.

Game #496

Every journey has a beginning. Whether it be a monumental journey that tells of some great hero setting out to accomplish some goal or to defeat a big bad guy, or rather it be something as simple as how one decided to go to the post office that day, there is always a beginning to every story, and that definitely rings true when it comes to video games. Some of us may have played thousands of games at this point in our lives, while others are merely starting to get into the hobby, but one thing that remains consistent between all of us is that we all had a first video game, the one that would introduce us to this vast, creative and limitless medium, one that either fully enraptured us to the point of seeking out what else you could find, or leaving a simple, yet enjoyable enough impression to where you wouldn’t mind trying anything else out in the future. So, I figured, for the 600th review that I am making on this website (I might be slightly insane), I figured it was about time that I covered the very first video game I ever played in my life, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island.

I don’t remember the exact, precise details of how I ended up with this as the first game I would ever play, but I do have a bit of a brief summary based on what I do remember, which will do a good enough job at painting a picture. Back in 2003-2004, when I was around 3-4 years old as well, I was a dumbass little kid, not knowing what a video game even was, and most likely doing the things that most toddlers were doing back then, such as running around, yelling, eating weird stuff off the floor, and receiving plenty of injuries. One day, my Mom and Dad came home one day with a little present for me, which just so happened to be a gray Game Boy Advance SP, one that I still own even to this day, and one that I share a lot of fond memories with throughout my life. With this, I also managed to get two games, those being Pokemon Blue and Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi’s Island, and with all of these things in hand, I had… absolutely zero clue as to what I was supposed to do with it. After messing around with the things for a bit, most likely opening and closing them, chewing on the sides of them, and so on, I then found out I can shove that weird gray rectangle thing into the big gray brick, while also finding a power switch on the system, leading to it turning on, and from that moment on, I was never the same.

So yeah, obviously, I have a lot of nostalgia towards this game, and while those early experiences were with the GBA port of the game rather than the original, it was still pretty accurate to that of the original game, to the point where I fondly remember several memories of me playing it as a kid, including one instance where I got so angry when I lost to the second phase of the Baby Bowser fight. It was my first instance of rage… you love to see it. But anyways, you all obviously didn’t come here to listen to me babble on about the past. You all came here to hear my opinion of this game, and if you couldn’t tell already at this point, I do still hold a soft place for it in my heart, and I love it tremendously. I can’t say it is perfect by any means,as it does have problems I will get into, but it was still fantastic all the way through, not only as one of the first proper Yoshi games ever made that wasn’t a puzzle game or whatever else, but also as the game that would drag me into the world of video games as a whole.

The story is very simple, yet very charming at the same time, where one night, while a stork is delivering two baby brothers by the name of Mario and Luigi to their parents, he is attacked by an evil sorcerer named Kamek, who kidnaps Baby Luigi and causes Baby Mario to fall down into the depths of the island below. Down on said island, a green Yoshi is taking a nice, leisurely stroll, until he then finds Baby Mario falling right on his back, while also dropping the map that the stork was using to deliver the kids. After gathering with several other Yoshis on the island, they then deduce (somehow) what happened to Baby Luigi, so they all then set out, with Baby Mario alongside them, to go and rescue Baby Luigi from Kamek’s evil clutches, while he and his lackeys plot to take Baby Mario as well to succeed in their ultimate goal. It is somewhat of an odd story, considering how it de-ages the Mario bros. and shifts the focus onto the Yoshis, but it is one that you can easily get behind and want to see through, as you don’t wanna see Baby Luigi get hurt by Kamek……… he can hurt Baby Mario instead, considering how much you have to put up with him in this game.

The graphics are still absolutely amazing even to this day, being one of the best looking games from the SNES library, let alone the best looking platformer on the system, having a very unique art style and plenty of vibrant colors, wonderful character, enemy, and boss designs, as well as plenty of vibrant environments that you will travel through for your whole journey, the music is fantastic, having incredibly up-beat and iconic tunes like this one that will play throughout the game, mixed in with some more “menacing” tunes like this one, most of them being a joy to listen to even after all this time, and the gameplay/control is mostly stuff that we have seen before from the Mario franchise, but not only does it remain really fun to play, but there are several different gimmicks that are present in the game that you wouldn’t typically find in other games.

The game is a 2D platformer, where you take control of one of many different colored Yoshis at a time, go through plenty different levels across many different standout locations amongst Yoshi’s Island, take out plenty of enemies either by jumping on them, swallowing them whole, or throwing others’ dead remains at them to drive the point home, protect Baby Mario at all times to not only prevent Kamek’s cronies from taking him, but also to make sure you won’t be listening to this sound for too long, gather plenty of different eggs to help you defend yourself, solve puzzles, and take down foes, while also gathering plenty of collectibles along the way, and take on some goofy, yet at-times threatening bosses, which range from being big, intimidating foes that can definitely give you a run for your money to……. this guy, who you defeat by just simply holding right…….. fucking flawless. Much of it is your standard platforming affair, even for those who are very familiar with Mario and his past adventures, but rest assured, despite the fact that it carries the name “Super Mario World” in its title, Yoshi’s Island manages to have plenty of unique elements that distinguish itself from Mario quite a bit, both in terms of its presentation and gameplay.

A lot of elements in this game have been done to death over and over again in many other games, such as going from left to right to the end of the level, defeating enemies, getting coins, and so on, but one of the ways that makes this feel much different than that of a typical Mario game is how you are playing as Yoshi the entire time. Naturally, he does not go about his business the same way Mario does, being able to swallow enemies and throw them around as eggs, and as such, this changes up how the game expects you to approach many situations, and it is great because of it. There are many instances in this game that can’t be cleared through just by running and jumping, but instead, you may need to figure out a different way to defeat an enemy or solve a puzzle using your flutter jump or your eggs, and while some of it can get tedious at times, most of it is incredibly solid, still feeling natural and just as fun even after all of these years.

Not to mention, there are plenty of things that this game has that expands upon elements seen in previous Mario games, all to its benefit. There are many different bonus games that can be accessed throughout the game, each granting you the chance of getting a GARGANTUAN amount of lives to use for the future, right alongside several items as well, which you can use at any time while in a level. Most of these items aren’t really all that useful, just being a means of helping you get to 100%, and the bonus games themselves aren’t anything too useful after beating them once or twice, but they can still be pretty helpful whenever you get the chance to participate in any of them, and in some instances, they can definitely get you out of a bind that you are in. Aside from that though, there are also the powerups in this game, which, rather than being the traditional ones we see all the time in typical Mario games, are instead a bunch of different transformations that Yoshi can take on for a brief period of time. You can become a helicopter, a submarine, a robot mole, and there’s even a powerup that allows you to play as Baby Mario by himself, running around and going up walls, because who gives a fuck about logic! Granted, not all of these powerups are fun to use, with some like that robot mole I mentioned earlier having some pretty awkward handling at times, but they are a nice change of pace whenever they pop up, and it is always really neat seeing just what kinds of things that they are willing to transform Yoshi into next.

So yeah, the game does have a lot going for it in the gameplay department, being very fun even all the way to now, but a lot of the reason why this game does hold up also has something to do with its presentation. The game was made with the Super FX chip, one that was able to do a whole lot more then what games like Star Fox could, and when you play the game for yourself, you can really see it working perfectly in harmony. Sprites will frequently change sizes to fit the situations, enemies will jump from the background to the foreground, there are 3D objects that can be interacted with, and the way that some enemies and sprites move around looks much more impressive then any other game from the SNES at that point. Hell, even just by watching the intro sequence, you can see just what kind of stuff this game was capable of, and while it does look a little rough nowadays, I can imagine this kind of thing blowing peoples’ minds back in the day, and it has aged pretty wonderfully overtime. Not to mention, the general art style of the game is perfect in every way, making everything look so vibrant, lively, and adorable, to the point where I want to live on this island and never come back to civilization.

However, with all of that out of the way, I can’t let my nostalgia goggles blind me for too long, because I am well aware that this game is not perfect, despite it being very, VERY close to that point. While most of the game is extremely fun to play, great to look at/listen to, and has plenty of charming elements that makes it a must-play for any Nintendo fan, there has always been one element of the game that I never really liked, and that is going for 100%. For those that aren’t aware, in order to 100% Yoshi’s Island, you have to collect plenty of items in every single level, such as 30 stars to max out your life, all of the red coins, and the five smiley flowers for the chance at a bonus game at the end of the level. That doesn’t sound that bad, but trust me, completing these tasks is MUCH easier said than done, not only because of how hard it can be in plenty of places, but also because of how tedious it is. Getting a lot of these collectibles can be quite a gamble, especially in plenty of areas where you have to have perfect precision when it comes to throwing your eggs, or even in life-or-death situations where you can’t screw up, or else you would have to die or start the level over again.

That’s not even bringing up the fact that, once you do 100% the main levels in a world, you then unlock an extra stage to play for that world, and these stages can be quite the pain in the dino-ass if you aren’t prepared for them. This can be seen even as early as the first world’s extra stage, where for most of the stage, you are riding along the back of Poochy, Yoshi’s dog companion who is also be goodest good boy of them all, while going across a lot of precarious lava and tight jumps, while also having a very small platform to go back to every time you land. All of this and more awaits you when you decide to go for 100%, and while I myself usually tend to 100% the games that I play, I just simply don’t like doing that with Yoshi games. I dunno, maybe it’s because of how it was a series I grew up with, and is near and dear to my heart, but I have always found this games to be a “chill” series, one that I could just play, run straight through a lot of the time, not having to worry about much else, and I don’t think I will ever change my mind on that stance. To be fair though, I am not saying that going for 100% in this game is a bad thing at all, because it is still perfectly doable, and quite the challenge, if you so wish to go for it, but it is just something I don’t think I will ever be likely to do that much whenever I go back to one of these games. Not to mention, the last time I did 100% percent a Yoshi game was with Crafted World, and, ah hah……………… NEVER AGAIN.

Overall, despite me not really getting into the whole idea of 100% this game at many given times, I am eternally grateful that this managed to be the first video game I ever played in my life, as not only is it a wonderful place to start for anybody, but it is also a fantastic game in many ways, having a wonderful art style, fantastic music, addicting and satisfying gameplay, and a sense of identity that the series would carry on its shoulders all the way to this day, which is all for the best in my opinion. I would definitely recommend it for those who have never played any Yoshi game before, as well as those who are just big fans of Yoshi in general, because if you somehow haven’t gotten the chance to play this for yourself, then you are clearly missing out, because it truly is one of the finest platformers from the 16-bit era. happy sigh..... man, it feels great to finally get to this game, after I had been planning it for so long. Although, now that I am done with all my gushing, I don’t have any funny gag to end the review on. Uh… obligatory Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy reference. There ya go, is that good enough? Have I won the Yoshi’s Island internet prize, and will people like me now?

Game #578

(Part 1 of 5)

It seems so wild to me that, despite now living in a constant state of confusion, with the quality of his titles constantly going up and down like a rollercoaster, Sonic was pretty much on top of the world back when he was fairly new to the gaming scene. Not all of his games at this point were good, but for a good majority of them, Sonic had managed to knock it out of the park with high speed platforming, enjoyable challenges and bosses to take on, secrets that lead to wonderful rewards, and just a general overall sense of fun that can be seen throughout the titles, and it was clear at this point that Sega was nowhere near close to stopping. It wasn’t too long after we got a slew of Sonic titles, both main titles and spin-offs, when we would get yet ANOTHER Sonic game, but this one was important, as it was the BIG one, one that would prove to be the fastest and the best of the bunch. That game would come to be known as Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

So, truth be told, out of all my years playing this particular entry in the Sonic series, I had actually never played through the original version of the game. I had always played through the & Knuckles version of the game, which makes sense, given that it is the complete version of this game, but I figured, if I am gonna review this game correctly, I have to cover EVERYTHING about it, all the way from the original release to all the little secrets about this title. Therefore, I decided to then play through the original Sonic 3 for the first time, and what a shocker, it was a wonderful time. I wouldn’t say that this is the version of the game that you should play, nor is it perfect by any means, but for what we have here, it is still a great Sonic game on its own, and one of the best games to have for the Sega Genesis.

The story is similar to the previous games, yet somewhat mixed around, where after his defeat in Sonic 2, Robotnik and his Death Egg end up crashing into another land known as Angel Island, a floating island that manages to sink into the ocean due to the previously mentioned crash. Soon after this, he repairs the Death Egg, and Sonic and Tails can’t have that, so they go off to stop him, which is all mostly a typical story from this franchise, but it is good enough to get you on your way, as well as having a few extra elements to it that I will get to in a bit. The graphics are wonderful, being the best looking game in the series so far, making the environments as colorful and full of life as ever, while also providing great designs for all of the characters, enemies, and bosses. The music is also incredible, with there being plenty of bangers that you can listen to throughout the game, which makes sense, given that part of it was made by Michael Jackson!.... oh, wait, I’m sorry, it was “allegedly” made by him (even though we all know he did). Anyway, as for the controls and gameplay, both of these work just as well as they did before, if not better, and they have some new elements added to them to spice things up just a tad.

The game is a 2D platformer, where you take control of either Sonic, Tails, or both of them at the same time, take on six different zones through many different locations seen on Angel Island, run through each level at the speed of sound while defeating plenty of different Badniks along the way, gather plenty of rings and powerups to help you out against the many foes and traps you will find, locate special stages in order to get a chance at nabbing the Chaos Emeralds, and take on the many different machines that Dr. Robotnik has prepared for you in plenty of boss fights. Those who are familiar with Sonic at this point know exactly what they are getting into with this game, and thankfully, it just so happens to be the fastest, tightest, and most enjoyable adventure in the series so far. Not to mention, just like with every other mainline Sonic game at this point, there have been numerous additions made to this game to ensure you don’t get tired of it easily.

In terms of Sonic himself, he retains all of his moves from the previous games (except for the Super Peel Out, because fuck you), and in addition, he has a brand new move called the Insta-Shield. It doesn’t really do much, as it just creates a little barrier around the player for a brief moment, but this move can actually be pretty useful for both taking something out and getting yourself out of a bind, so I would say it is a good addition to Sonic’s moveset. Speaking of good additions, Sonic also now has new shields he can mess around with, each one of them carrying an elemental property of some sort. There is the Fire Shield, which allows him to not only dash in mid-air, but also protects himself from fiery hazards, the Bubble Shield, which lets you bounce on the ground for extra height, while also protecting you from drowning, and then there is undeniably the best one, the Electric Shield, which gives you a double jump, and it allows you to attract any lonesome ring that you pass by straight towards you. These shields, when you can get them, are very helpful against whatever you may run into along your journey, and on their own, they are pretty fun to use to see what new paths you can reach by using them.

In terms of other new additions, there is, of course, one new character that gets introduced in this game: Knuckles the Echidna, and when you first encounter this guy, you think he’s an asshole! He just uppercuts you out of nowhere, steals all of your Chaos Emeralds, laughs at you, and then runs away, which leads you to think “What a dick! When I find him, I’m gonna kill that fucker!” Unfortunately though, you don’t get to fight him at all in this game, and he just laughs at you more while making your life hell throughout the entire journey. That’s all he really does in this part of the game, but not only does he get more purpose and story in the later part that I will get to soon, but also, just like with Tails, Amy, and Metal Sonic, Knuckles does become one of the central characters of the Sonic series, not appearing as often as some characters like Tails or Robotnik, but enough to where many fans of the series will recognize him and love him all the same. And I mean, how can you not? He’s like Sonic, except infinitely cooler, obviously. Not to mention, he doesn’t chuckle. He’d rather flex his muscles.

Of course though, we can’t forget about one of the main draws of any Sonic game: getting the Chaos Emeralds, and just like with the previous games, there is a brand new method of getting them here, and in my personal opinion, this is the best method of getting them that the series has had so far. Throughout the stages, there are plenty of these big ol’ 3D rings that you can find, hidden in alcoves that are either easy to spot, or can be pretty tricky to find. Once you find them, you just simply jump right into them, and boom, you are in the special stage! No need for any 50 rings bullshit or anything like that, you are just right into it, which I prefer heavily over the alternative.

As for the special stages themselves, they consist of you running through these simplistic, 3D environments where you have to collect a handful blue balls (stop laughing), while doing your best to avoid all of the red balls that plague the levels, and once you manage to collect them all, BOOM, the Chaos Emerald has been retrieved. Yeah, it isn’t as complex, exciting, or drug-trippy as other Sonic special stages, but they are pretty damn easy in comparison to what this series has given us before, and honestly, I am all for that. What’s even better is that, once you get all seven of the Chaos Emeralds, you can now transform into Super Sonic once again, who functions basically the same as he did in Sonic 2, but who cares, because you are now a golden god, and everything cowers in sheer terror as you blaze through them, which is all that matters at the end of the day.

Would you believe it though when I tell you that, in terms of special stages, that’s not all that this game has to offer? If you do still manage to get 50 rings and pass by a checkpoint, a sparkling ring will appear above it, and when you jump into it, you can then enter one of three special minigames, with them serving the purpose of getting you more rings, power-ups, as many rings as you can carry. I don’t typically go for these types of special stages, as I usually already have plenty of rings and lives to work with, but not only can they be pretty helpful for those that need it, but once you get the hang of them, they can be pretty fun to bounce around and exploit for your own good. And finally, speaking of things I don’t typically check out, there is also the multiplayer mode of this game, returning from Sonic 2. It essentially works almost the same as that game, except now you can play as Knuckles, and you run through several stages that aren’t in the main game at all. These are pretty cool to mess around with, not just to see new content, but also to challenge your friends if you have nothing else to do, even if I myself don’t personally ever see myself trying out this mode ever again.

So yes, all of this makes for a better and more enjoyable experience when compared to every previous mainline Sonic entry, but… there is one area of the game that is severely lacking: the content. The game as a whole is pretty short, with you being able to beat it in about an hour if you know what you’re doing, which isn’t helped by the fact that there isn’t as much content here, with there being only six zones with two acts each to play through. That may sound like quite a bit, but compared to Sonic 2, which had 11 zones in total, or even Sonic CD, which had 7 zones, each with two different acts and a boss fight, that is quite a decrease in content. Of course, there is an explanation for all of this (which I will get into in a later part), but still, that does kind of suck, especially if you were one of the people who bought this game back when it first came out, and you were able to beat it relatively quickly, considering what you have to deal with.

Overall, despite the lack of stages for a Sonic game, this is still a pretty great version of this game, one that does offer plenty of content to mess around with, fun new additions that make playing through it all the more enjoyable, and that same solid gameplay that manages to still be just as fun and timeless as ever. I would definitely recommend it for those who are fans of Sonic, as well as those who just love old-school 2D platformers in general, because this is certainly one of the best ones you could find on the Sega Genesis, or from the 16-bit era in general. Although, if we are being completely honest, if you are looking for the true Sonic 3 experience, then you probably shouldn’t play this one, and you’ll soon see why……….. BUT FIRST-

Game #506

Like with Castlevania, the Contra franchise, at this point in time, was on a seemingly perfect streak, releasing some of, if not THE best run ‘n gun games of the 8-bit and 16-bit eras, giving the player plenty of fast-paced, action packed gameplay with some fantastic visuals that only a few others were able to replicate. They were all some of the best third-party games that you could get from a Nintendo console, right alongside other heavy hitters on those systems, but in terms of any games from this series from Sega’s systems, they were left high and dry of any of that sweet Contra goodness. It didn’t really matter too much, cause they had Gunstar Heroes, which was already just as great as Contra, but thankfully, like with Castlevania: Bloodlines, Konami would give the Sega Genesis a taste of what Contra could really do, and they would release Contra: Hard Corps.

Honestly, I didn’t expect too much when it came to this particular entry in the series. I thought it was gonna be great, of course, but I didn’t think it was really gonna do anything that ground-breaking for the series, and would just serve as another entry, not being able to top The Alien Wars in terms of sheer quality. However, after playing it, I realize now that I was wrong. Dead wrong. Even after one playthrough of the game, I knew that this game was absolutely fantastic, but after seeing all that this game has to offer, I can say with confidence that it is PHENOMENAL, and without a doubt the best entry in the series so far. Sure, I guess I could find some nitpicks in it if I looked hard enough, but even then, none of that would stand in the way from the gargantuan amount of fun that I was having with it, and I am so glad I finally checked it out after so long.

The story is mostly what you expect from a Contra game, where in the year 2641, crime has run rampant as a result of the events of The Alien Wars, which results in the formation of the Contra Hard Corps to fight back against it, and one day, when a mysterious hacker reprograms a bunch of robots to cause even more destruction around the world, it is up to the Hard Corps to destroy them all and find out what is going on, which is as simplistic as one of these game’s plots can get, but at the same time, I am having too much fun to care. The graphics are fantastic, being one of the best looking games I have seen on the system, while delivering plenty of great effects, wonderful designs of characters and bosses, and environments for you to blast your way through, the music is, of course, incredible, since it is a Konami game from the 90’s, although a lot of the tracks do sound very similar to each other, but I didn’t mind that all too much, the control is just as tight and responsive as ever, although it did take a bit to get used to the new mechanics the game offered, but it wasn’t a deal breaker at all, and the gameplay was mostly the same run ‘n gun action we know and love, but expanded on even further to make it near perfect in my eyes.

The game is a run ‘n gun game, where you take control of one of the Contra Hard Corps, including Ray Poward, Sheena Etranzi, Brad Fang, and Browny (ok, not gonna lie, those names are pretty bad, even for a 90’s game), go through many different stages through plenty of different environments, even if they aren’t too creative or different from other titles in the series, run, jump, and shoot through many different foes as you do your best to survive the onslaught that is laid out before you, gather plenty of different weapons and bombs along the way to give yourself a fighting edge over your foes, and take on some truly unforgettable bosses, which will test your skill and reflexes in the best ways possible. Those who are well versed with Contra games will be able to jump right in and have a great time, which definitely was the case for me, while also being able to enjoy the new elements implemented to make the game much more enjoyable.

The game plays pretty similarly to any other Contra game, where you run through linear stages, shoot every single thing that moves, and gather plenty of badass weapons to use to help you out throughout your journey, but there are new features here that make the game much more fun to play, even when it was already great to begin with. First of all, in terms of controls, you now have a brand new sliding maneuver that you can use, which becomes very helpful in certain scenarios, and there is also an option now to choose what type of shooting style you want to work with throughout the game… and by that, I mean it makes it so that you either stay still while shooting or move around. This change may not sound like a big deal to most, but for me, it is what I have been waiting for ever since I first played the original game. While it was never that big of an issue, one of my biggest pet peeves with this game, or any other run ‘n gun game, was how whenever you would be aiming diagonally towards an enemy, most of the time, you would run in the direction you are holding, and thus, make shooting in said direction more stressful than it needed to be. Now, you can switch between moving and not moving at any time, which cements this as being perfection in video game form, and you cannot tell me otherwise.

Not only that, but there are also the ACTUAL new features that the game has, such as the case with the weapons. In every previous game in this series, whenever you got a new weapon from a capsule, it would automatically replace the weapon you currently had, which can be useful most of the time, but it can also be a detriment when you have a really good weapon that you don’t want to lose. Here, however, you can carry multiple weapons all at once, being able to switch between them at any time, and whenever you die, you lose the weapon you are currently holding rather than all of them. Again, that kind of shit may not matter so much to some, but this is EVERYTHING to me, as it allows the player to have a fighting chance in many cases, even after death, and makes the game that much more fun and exciting.

And finally, for the last, and definitely the best change that the game makes to the series, is the branching paths. At certain points throughout the game, you will be given the choice to go to one of two different routes, which not only determines what happens in the story, but it also determines what stage you will go to next. There aren’t that many of these choices throughout the game, but there are many different combinations you can make with choosing specific options. For example, in one part, you can choose to chase after this guy named Deadeye Joe, and later down the road, you can choose to fight to the end when faced against a seemingly unwinnable situation. That all leads down one path already, full of plenty of stages that you can have fun with, but then, in another playthrough, you can choose to still chase after Deadeye Joe, but you can also choose to surrender to said unwinnable situation, which leads to an entirely new path full of unique stages, bosses, and story elements. All of this leads to the possibility of getting six different endings, from the best ending to the worst ending, which creates plenty of replay value for those that loved the game already, while also providing a lot of content to experience.

I genuinely can’t think of any actual issues that I have with this game, I had that much of a great time with it. If I had to say anything, I could say that, like with most other Contra games, this game is (no pun intended) pretty goddamn hard, I’d argue even more so than the other games in the series, since there is no option to change the difficulty around, and there isn’t any Konami code to save you this time (unless you are playing the Japanese version). But thankfully, from what I experienced, not much of that difficulty is really all that bad, and there is also the possibility that you could… you know… get good. That’s what I had to do, and it was all the more satisfying because of it.

Overall, despite how the difficulty of the game will still make sure to give you a good ol’ kick in the teeth, this is, in my opinion, the best Contra game so far, and one of the best run ‘n gun games I have ever played, being a non-stop wave of energy, action, and entertainment from start to finish, while offering plenty of desired changes and content to where I didn’t want to stop playing even when it was all said and done. I would absolutely recommend it for those who are big fans of the Contra series, as well as those who love run ‘n gun games in general, because, in my opinion, this game gives you practically everything you could ever want from one of these games, especially from this era. Although, now that all of that is said and done, I can’t help but feel a little upset, because since this game is pretty much perfect, none of the other Contra games after this will be able to reach the same quality as this. But hey, I am willing to see how they will try… and fail horribly.

Game #514

Man, gamers these days are so goddamn needy when it comes to what a video game should have, aren’t they? They’re always wanting big, epic stories, graphics so good that it will make live-action footage look inferior in comparison , a million customizables, 9999fps or some garbage at all times, it’s all too much! Don’t they know that you don’t need all of that in order to make a good game? As long as you have a good foundation to work off of, some creative ideas, and enough content to leave the player satisfied, that should do the trick just fine. Hell, there are plenty of games that were released in them good ol’ days that were able to become classics not by being crammed with too much stuff, but with taking a swing at the fences, creating something that was familiar for some, yet featured new twists to make it more interesting. Take, for instance, a game I definitely should’ve played a lot sooner than later, Wild Guns.

I had known about this game for a long time before I first checked it out, I wanna say since around 2015-2016, when I had watched a video of it on YouTube, and based on what I saw, it looked pretty fun and unique. However, because old habits die hard, it took me way too long to eventually decide to try the game myself, and from what I played back then, I ended up really liking it. It has been a hot minute though, so while I am waiting for the chance to replay through Doom II for a review (real life is a bitch), I figured I would replay this game to see if it still holds up, and unsurprisingly, it absolutely does. It is one of the most fun and unique co-op games that you could find on the SNES, and while it isn’t perfect, with some parts feeling unnecessary or lackluster, it is a joy ride from start to finish that deserves all the praise it can get.

The story is fairly simple, where a woman by the name of Annie loses her family due to the Kid Family abducting and killing them, so after seeking the help of a space bounty hunter known as Clint, the two of them go off to get revenge on the family in the most explosive and brutal way possible, which is almost as basic as a revenge story can get, but it doesn’t waste any time and gets you into the action right away, so I can get behind that. The graphics are pretty great, with all of the levels and enemies fitting both the western and steampunk aesthetic very well, and all of the enemies, characters, and bosses are full of life with animations galore that are pretty great to witness, the music is wonderful, matching the tone of the settings flawlessly and fitting for all of the gunplay that will be happening all throughout the game, the control can take a bit to get used to for those who have never played the game before, but they can get used to it fairly quickly, and it works well enough, and the gameplay, on the surface, is pretty typical, but the way that it is carried out makes it stand out from all other games at the time, and it works wonders.

The game is a shooting gallery title, where you take control of either Clint or Annie, go through six different levels full of plenty of different sections you can blast through, shoot up anything and everything that appears on screen, making sure to grab items by shooting them (makes sense to me) and dodge any bullets that are fired your way, gather plenty of different money items, bombs, and different weapons that can help you out against your foes along the way, and fight against plenty of bosses, ranging from the big and ruthless, to the small and fast, all of them being a joy to face for plenty of reasons. In any other title, all of this could be seen as typical for this era, with nothing else to show for itself, but the fact that it chooses this style of gameplay makes it a lot more unique and fun to blast through, especially with a friend.

Since you don’t need to worry about trying to reach the end of any kind of stage, or really any goal that isn’t right in front of you, the game prioritizes the gunplay over everything else, and it feels appropriately immensely satisfying, allowing to mow down plenty of enemies before you while making sure to apply the perfect dodging maneuvers. Not only that, but the different weapons you can acquire make it even more satisfying to annihilate whatever lays before you, having a much bigger range of fire then before, along with, of course, dealing much more damage. This especially rings true with the Vulcan Gun, which doesn’t last all too long, but whenever you have it, you feel UNSTOPPABLE, as everything seemingly goes down with just a few shots, and you can cover a lot of ground with it. And finally, one more noteworthy thing to note about the game is, again, the theme it has. It isn’t necessarily original, having a bombastic western setting with a whole lot of shit going on at once, but the inclusion of robots does, ironically, add a bit more life and charm to it, along with each blending into each other flawlessly, to the point where you can’t imagine it without either of those things.

With that being said though, the game isn’t perfect. While I do praise the main gameplay for being incredibly addicting and fun to mess around with, it doesn’t really change up at all throughout the whole game, aside from the places you go to and the enemies you fight, which can turn some people away if they aren’t drawn into this immediately like others. Secondly, while most of the bosses are completely original, there are quite a few that are repeated several times, which can make them tiring to fight whenever you run into them again. And finally, this is just a personal complaint myself, but it does kinda suck that all of the powerups that you do get throughout the game each have limited ammunition. Sure, it would probably be too unbalanced if they didn’t have ammo limits, but you could still take them away whenever you get hit by anything and be fine, because trust me, given the way this game works, you WILL get hit by something sooner or later.

Overall, despite its lack of variety and repeating bosses, Wild Guns is a fantastic title that has aged incredibly well over the past 30 years, one that manages to keep the gameplay fast and satisfying at all times, while not being too long to the point where you are just hoping it would end at some point. I would highly recommend it for those of you who love old-school co-op games, or any game for that matter with this level of energy and style, because with the right person beside you, I guarantee that you will have a blast with this title. It’s just a shame though that this never got any kind of sequel later down the line. Yeah, it did get a remaster with additional content, but that can only go so far! MAKE WILD GUNS 2, COWARDS!

Game #494

A long time ago, there was a little game company known as Game Freak, who around this time hadn’t really done anything too noteworthy in the industry. Sure, later down the road, they would make some absolute, guaranteed everybody-knows-them-by-heart hits, like HarmoKnight, Drill Dozer, and Tembo the Badass Elephant, but around this time, they made much smaller and more simple games, such as original titles like Mendel Palace, or even games based on already established franchises like Yoshi for the NES and Mario & Wario. All of these games were good in their own way (I assume anyway, because who the fuck actually played Mendel Palace), but none of them would be anything that most would consider to be spectacular, able to stand on their own and be beloved by many to this day. That would all change though when they would go onto making one game, one game that would launch them into a string of successes that are still going on to this very day, and this game would simply be known as…………. Pulseman.

For a good while now, I have been very curious about checking out some of Game Freak’s lesser-known titles, because I hadn’t really played that many of them. I have obviously played Yoshi, as you can see here, and I also played this other thing of theirs called Pokemon, but you probably don’t care too much about that, which wouldn’t be surprising, since clearly nobody knows what that game is, but aside from those two, I haven’t checked out anything else they have made. Pulseman is one that I have had my eye on for quite some time, not only because I love the design of Pulseman himself, but also because it looked like a lot of fun from the brief bits and pieces that I have seen of it. Not to mention, it was only released for us Americans through the Sega Channel, and as we all know, all of the best games were locked behind that service. So, I finally decided to try it out, and yeah, I did end up having a pretty great time with it, with the game managing to keep things fun and engaging pretty much all the way through, even if there were several issues that did pop up from time to time, although none of that stopped me from enjoying myself.

The story is……… quite something, to say the least, where the world is thrown into chaos by the evil Doc Waruyama and his Galaxy Gang, so it is up to Pulseman to set out to stop this mad man from getting away with his evil deeds, which isn’t really all that creative or interesting, but the weird and stupid stuff comes in when you learn about how Pulseman was created, which definitely caught me off guard. So, apparently, there was this scientist named Doc Yoshiyama, who created an artificial intelligence named C-Life, who was able to feel, think, and express complex emotions much like a human. After some time passes, he ends up falling in love with what he has created, and since he probably is a big fan of the movie Her, he uploads himself into his computer, where he and C-Life then proceed to have passionate sex, and from this sex, Pulseman is born…………………….. yes, that is actually part of the plot of this game, and I don’t know whether or not I should be impressed by the fact that they put that in this game, or concerned about someone at Game Freak wanting to fuck their computer.

But anyway, the graphics are, to me at least, fantastic, not only having wonderful designs for Pulseman and several of the other characters, but also having plenty of bright and colorful environments pleasant throughout the game that you travel through, even if they can be a little too much on the eyes at times, especially for those with epilepsy, the music is pretty decent, having plenty of great tunes to listen to while running through plenty of these stages, even if it doesn’t reach the same quality as other soundtracks from the Genesis, and the gameplay/control is pretty solid all around, being very simple on the surface level, but having plenty of gimmicks and challenges that keep you on your toes and have you experiment with what you can do, which kept things fun and engaging for me all throughout.

The game is a 2D action platformer, where you take control of Pulseman, go through seven different stages through plenty of stand-out locations all across the globe, take out plenty of enemies along the way and conquer a handful of platforming challenges using your electrical powers for combat and transportation, gather plenty of different health items, extra lives, and temporary power-ups to help you along the way with whatever you are dealing with, take on several bonus stages to get extra lives by turning yourself into a game of Breakout, and take on plenty of bosses that will challenge you in plenty of ways, while still being pretty manageable to defeat. In many ways, it is just a standard platformer through and through, so anyone burnt out on the genre wouldn’t be able to get into it just from hearing a description like that, but like with several other games on this same system, the style and charm it has does most of the heavy lifting, while also still managing to keep the main gameplay fun, addicting, and, dare I say, electrifying.

Since this is a platformer that was made on the Genesis that was made after Sonic the Hedgehog, one of the key aspects of the gameplay is speed and momentum, which I think plays a huge part in why I was having such a good time with the game. Not only are there a lot of instances where there are plenty of narrow pathways for you to run down, gain plenty of speed, and blast your way through enemies and platforming challenges using proper jumps and attacks, but some of your more powerful attacks are charged up through running, where you can then launch a ball of lightning out of your hands to just obliterate your foes. This also manages to be a great way to aid you in proceeding through levels as well, as you can charge yourself up into being a ball of electricity that bounces around the screen for a good bit, which can not only allow you to reach higher places much easier, but also ride on electric currents that are pretty fun to grind along and jump to and from flawlessly.

Of course though, this game isn’t a Sonic the Hedgehog, so it doesn’t focus primarily on speed, and there are still plenty of different platforming challenges to take on, and for the most part, they were great to take on. Some of them can get pretty repetitive, such as having to constantly break these walls of bricks to proceed forward at plenty of moments, but thankfully, this is interrupted with plenty of other sequences throughout the game. They manage to keep the gameplay consistently exciting and engaging, while also being properly mixed with the more speedy sections of the game. Also, one other part I also really enjoyed is whenever you are fighting the Dark Pulseman boss, and you have to defeat him by stunning him by clashing with him in mid-air before hitting him, complete with slowdown and sparks flying to emphasize the impact. It isn’t much, but that shit makes my brain go brr in the best way possible, and made that entire boss fight much more enjoyable, even if it did get somewhat tedious after a bit.

I won’t lie though, this game is far from perfect, as despite how much fun I was having with the game, I can see plenty of its imperfections clear as day. The level design for some of the stages could definitely be improved on, such as with plenty of instances where you need to get through these very narrow gaps in order to proceed through the level, and it can take a little bit to get through them. Sure, you can always just turn into a ball of electricity to bypass these sections, but doing that can be pretty clunky at points, so it does slow things down to a halt, which I wasn’t a fan of whenever that kind of stuff popped up. Not to mention, there were several glitches that I ran into while I was playing the game, such as instances where I would walk through walls, get stuck in some parts of the ground, and even one or two instances where I was thrown to the other side of the screen for seemingly no reason. I’m not sure if that is just because of the fact that I was playing this on the NSO, but even then, it is clear that this game needed a little more polishing up before it was shipped out to the market.

Overall, despite some clunky level design here and there, as well as those few glitches that I did encounter, I ended up having a great time with Pulseman, being one of the most fun, fast, and engaging platformers on the system that doesn’t involve any blue rodents, and it is definitely one of the best late-release games for the system. I would definitely recommend it for those of you who are a big fan of old-school platformers, as well as those who only know Game Freak for Poke- I MEAN, uh, frantically looks through list… Little Town Hero (sure, why not), because if you think they are merely a one-trick pony and nothing more, this game can truly show just what kind of other games they are truly capable of. Just, you know, ignore that part about the story where the man fucked the computer, and it gave birth to a creature. Definitely wasn’t expecting to learn that myself today.

Game #554

For every generation of systems that Nintendo had up to this point (and by that, I mean only three of them), each one has had at least one Castlevania title, and while some of them definitely haven’t held up the best over the years, most of them kick all of the ass. The NES had Castlevania I and III, the SNES had Super Castlevania IV, the Game Boy had Belmont’s Revenge, and even other platforms like the Turbografx-16 had Rondo of Blood, so yeah, there was plenty of good Castlevania to go around. But… what about with Sega? At this point, they had received zero love from the series whatsoever, which is understandable, given Nintendo’s iron grip on developers back in the day, but come on, Sega needs some of that dracula love at some point! Well, thankfully, they would eventually get some of that love, with the only Castlevania game to ever be released on a Sega system, Castlevania: Bloodlines.

It had taken me a bit of a while to get to this game initially back in the day, probably because I had no clue that it even existed. I was well aware of the NES and SNES Castlevania games at the time, but I wasn’t aware of this particular title until I implemented a little element into my life called “research”. So, I found the game, I played it, and I loved it, which I can easily say is still the case all these years later. Not surprising, but this is yet another fantastic entry in the Castlevania series, one that doesn’t quite reach the peak of Nirvanha like Super Castlevania IV or Rondo of Blood, but one that manages to stand all on its own and deliver quite a great time.

The story is what you have come to expect from Castlevania… for the most part, where a vampire by the name of Elizabeth Bartley seeks to revive her uncle, Dracula, back from the dead, and she does so by starting World War I (no, I’m not kidding) and spreading chaos all over Europe, so it is up to two brave souls to take it upon themselves to save Europe from her deadly forces, and to stop Dracula’s revival, which is mostly what you expect from Castlevania, but the added details and new villain is a nice touch. The graphics are pretty good, being very vibrant and colorful with plenty of great animations throughout all of the stages, the music is, naturally, incredible, with it not reaching the same heights as IV and other games, but at the same time, it has a very unique style that no other game in the series had at the point, and it fits wonderfully with the game, the control is mostly what you would expect, not being as free and fun to get a handle on like in IV, but still offering plenty to work with, and the gameplay is standard for a Castlevania game, but with its own set of gimmicks and ideas to make it more exciting.

The game is a 2D action platformer, where you take control of either John Morris or Eric Lecarde, go through many different stand-out locations seen all throughout Europe, defeat the many wicked monsters that you will find with whatever weapon best suits the situation, gather plenty of gems, health items, and sub-weapons to help you out along the way to ensure success, and take on plenty of bosses, some being typical for the setting and series, with others being of a… unique variety. Any Castlevania player should be able to jump into this game pretty easily, as nothing has changed too drastically from previous games. Nevertheless, it still remains pretty fun to go through, not only while messing around with the new features the game gives you, but also with quirks it also carries.

While it does look, sound, and play very similarly to past Castlevania titles, you can tell right from the moment you turn on the game that Bloodlines has its own style and set of flavors that make it stand out from other games. Since this game is on the Genesis, Konami took full advantage of having less restrictions when it came to the content they showed off in the game. When you hit the title screen, you are greeted by a pool of blood, accompanied by the rib cage of a long-gone creature, finishing it off with the logo of the game dripping blood to add to what is already there. As you go along in the game, some enemies will have much more detailed death animations, spilling guts and blood all around them, their body parts exploding and revealing organs and bone. Hell, even when you play as Eric, whenever you die, the spear that you are holding ends up flying through the air and landing straight on you, stabbing you through your side.

They clearly did not hold back on the gore and blood factor for this game, which, while not as extreme as something like Mortal Kombat or Splatterhouse, was still pretty intense for a game like this, and it makes the game all the better for it. What also adds onto this extra layer of flavor are with the very creative bosses that can be seen throughout the game, such as with a boss made out of gears, Mothra from the Godzilla movies (it may as well be), an extremely sinister hellhound, and one of Dracula’s final forms, which is a creepy-ass demon creature that has a mouth on his crotch (if we don’t ask questions, we will remain happy). Not only are they pretty fun to fight, but their appearance and ways of attacking make them all the more memorable.

As for the gameplay, it also stays relatively similar to the other games in the series, but with several new additions seen throughout. From the start, you get the option of playing as either John or Eric, each one of them having differences that help them stand out from each other, with John playing closer to that of one of the Belmonts, wielding a whip that he can swing in multiple directions and use to swing across gaps, and as for Eric, he wields a spear instead, which doesn’t have as much versatility as the whip, but does have a longer range, and it allows him to perform a super jump whenever the situation calls for it. Both of them are pretty fun to play as, being similar enough to each other, while having key elements that make you wanna try them out. Not to mention, with these unique traits, one character can access parts of a level that another one cannot, which encourages multiple playthroughs to see what else the game has in store for you, which I am all on board for.

In addition to this, there is also the sub-weapons, which work almost identically to how they worked in the other games, but this time with a big difference. If you upgrade your weapon to its strongest form, it will also allow you to use more powerful versions of the sub-weapons, such as with the axe, you can now throw multiples of them rather then just one, and with the Holy Water, you can now unleash a wave of holy fire rather then just one spot on the ground. Honestly, I myself never really found a need to use these new sub-weapon upgrades, as the game is perfectly manageable without them as is, but even then, having the option to acquire and use these is, again, much appreciated, and I imagine it would definitely help out newcomers when they try out the game for themselves.

Now, despite all of the good things that this game has going for it, there are quite a few things that hold it back from being too good. First of all, unlike all of the other Castlevania games before this, which had unlimited continues, this game felt the need to give you only a couple of them, and can I just ask, WHY?! Yeah, this may not matter for those playing the game through re-releases and modern hardware, but just in terms of the game itself, it is still Castlevania, which means it can kick your ass whenever it wants to, and as such, you need every continue you can get. Secondly, while most of the game is fun to play through, there are some parts that are just annoying to get through.

In the last stage of the game, there is this one section where parts of the screen are distorted from each other, making it so that, visually, your body will disconnect, making it pretty difficult to judge where you are and what you should do in order to ensure your safety. Oh, and not to mention, you also have Medusa heads constantly flying by, which also adds onto the annoyance. Sure, it isn’t too hard, but again, it is just more annoying to deal with then anything, especially since you are then greeted by an anti-gravity section immediately after it, and that is about as fun as it sounds. And just to top it all off, as if the devs knew exactly how to get on my nerves, there is a boss rush that you gotta deal with, which I don’t let get to me too much, because it is almost the end of the game, but still.

Overall, despite the limited continues, as well as several sections of the game being way more annoying to deal with then they need to be, for being the series’ only venture onto Sega platforms, Castlevania: Bloodlines manages to deliver a familiar, yet fresh new experience that any Castlevania fan would be able to sink their teeth into and enjoy all the while. I would definitely recommend it for those who were fans of the previous games, or if you are fans of the series in general, because there is plenty here for you to love and enjoy all the same. But anyway, now that we are done with playing that game, what Castlevania game is next up on the list?.......... ooh, bastardization! My favorite!

Game #501

While it may have been a remake of the original Castlevania and not a completely original game, Super Castlevania IV was, without a doubt, one of the best Castlevania games ever made. Not only did it add plenty of content to make it the definitive version of the original game at that point, but it also made controlling Simon much more enjoyable and satisfying, with full midair control while jumping and being able to whip in eight different directions. There were no real complaints that I had about the game overall, and it is definitely the best way to bring the series to the 16-bit era. With all that being said, however… in my original review of that game, I did mention that it was not quite my favorite Castlevania game, or even my favorite classicvania game. That game would be released just a couple years later, but only in Japan, while us in the west would get the inferior Castlevania: Dracula X. Eventually, we would get the original version of that game released as part of Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, where it would get fully translated in English as Castlevania: Rondo of Blood.

In many different ways, Rondo of Blood could be seen as nothing too extraordinary when it comes to a classicvania game, and in other ways, it could even be seen as a step back when compared to what Super Castlevania IV brought to the table. However, what it does add greatly outweighs what was lost in this title, making for what I would consider without a doubt to be the best of the classic Castlevania games. Even back in the day, when I was just playing it for the first time on my Wii out of curiosity, I knew that I preferred this over all the others, despite all the additions that they would bring to the series. There is so much to love about this game, as it manages to still retain the good ol’ Castlevania gameplay intact while still being pretty fun, while also adding plenty of elements that benefit it just enough to make it edge out over the others.

The story is, for the most part, exactly what you would expect for a Castlevania game, but it does add several other elements to make it seem somewhat more original, such as there being several maidens that were kidnapped to be used to bring back Dracula, which does add a little more flavor to the story other then it just being “dracula bad, go kill”, the graphics are incredible, with this definitely being the best looking Castlevania game at this point, and the designs of the enemies, bosses, and Richter himself still looking great all the way to this day, the music is as great as you would expect for a Castlevania game, with plenty of rocking tunes, as well as remixes of classic tracks that hold up extremely well, the control is exactly what you would expect from a Castlevania game, and it works pretty well, even if it isn’t as versatile as what Super Castlevania IV gave us, and the gameplay is also what you would expect from a classic Castlevania game, while also adding in several new additions to make it stand out from others.

The game is a 2D action platformer, where you primarily take control of Richter Belmont, take on a set of at least eight stages across plenty of different gothic environment, fend off plenty of different monsters, both classic and new, which will give you quite the challenge if you aren’t properly prepared to take them on, gather plenty of hearts, money, sub-weapons, and health items throughout the game to assist you in your quest to vanquish the unholy creatures before you, and take on plenty of different bosses that range from familiar faces, to all new foes that will test your strength and reflexes. For the most part, it plays pretty much like your standard Castlevania game, and it doesn’t really warrant any reason to play it over other titles, at least, on the surface level. But, what it does add to the series greatly benefits it in the long run, and makes it fun to come back to even now.

Like with Castlevania III, this game has plenty of different alternating pathways that the player can take, but unlike with Castlevania III, you aren’t just flatout given the option to choose between them, but rather, you have to find them in the stages for yourself. That may seem like a hindrance to some, but for me, I always love shit like this, where you are encouraged to explore these seemingly linear levels to see whatever kinds of secrets you can find, and it is all the more rewarding whenever you do eventually find them. And also like Castlevania III, this game brings back the option of being able to play as multiple characters. As you go through the stages, you can end up finding and saving the maidens that got captured at the beginning of the game, and while most of them are just there for you to save, one of them, Maria, ends up becoming a character that you can swap between at any point. For those of you who haven’t played this game, let me tell you, when you unlock Maria, you will not wanna switch back from playing as her, because she is AWESOME. Not only is her main attack pretty cool and very useful, but the sub-weapons she gets are extremely helpful in certain circumstances, especially against bosses. The only downside to her is that she takes double damage, but with all that stuff that I mentioned earlier, plus having the ability to double jump and perform a special attack on top of that, how can you not want to stick with her for the entire game?

In addition to those new features, we also get fully animated and voice acted cutscenes for the first time in a Castlevania game, and they are pretty well done……… or at least, I would say that, if I wasn’t playing the Japanese version, and I could understand what they were saying. I would play through the English version, but that’s only part of The Dracula X Chronicles, which I don’t have, and I wanna save those for whenever I do get around to that game, so for now, I will just say that the cutscenes do look and sound really good, even if I can’t understand anyone. And finally, this may be a tiny little thing, but I gotta mention it anyway: you no longer permanently lose sub-weapons upon picking up a new one. For every Castlevania game before this, whenever you picked up a new sub-weapon, the one that you were currently holding gets completely replaced, which does kind of suck in some instances, where you end up picking up a sub-weapon that you REALLY didn’t want. Any classic Castlevania player knows this struggle, we have all gone through it. Thankfully, this time around, whenever you do grab a new sub-weapon, the one you were holding gets tossed aside, and you can choose which one you want before proceeding forward. It may not seem like much, but trust me, that is a fix that I am incredibly thankful for.

With all that being said though, as much as I have sung this game’s praises, and while I myself don’t have any problems with it, I can see why people may not prefer this over the previous title. This game returns to the classic control style of the original games, meaning that you can only whip whatever is directly in front of you, and you have an arching jump. While I myself don’t personally mind this, as I am very used to this style of gameplay, those who didn’t like this style and loved the changes that Super Castlevania IV introduced will probably be disappointed when going to this game. But again, that would probably only apply to some certain players, as this didn’t bother me at all. And not to mention, you get a backflip and slide, which Super Castlevania IV didn’t have, so your argument is invalid either way. For me, this game was still great to play through even to this day, and with the added replay value of the many different pathways and the multiple endings that you can get depending on who you beat the game with, it gives the player many different reasons to want to try this game out and go through it again and again.

Overall, this is, in my personal opinion, the best classic Castlevania game ever made, as it not only is another round of that incredibly fun and satisfying gameplay that we all know and love, but the many additions that this game would introduce adds to the amount of charm and fun that can be experienced from it, which I’m sure any longtime fan of the franchise could appreciate. I would definitely recommend it for those who are fans of Castlevania, or even for those who want to get into the series, because even if it may not be as accessible as Super Castlevania IV, it has plenty going for it that makes it worth checking out. Just, you know, make sure you are playing the CORRECT version of the game, and not Dracula X. It isn’t bad by any means, but nonetheless, it should be ashamed of itself for even existing in the first place.

Game #412

We have covered many different fighters from SNK on this website so far, from the good to the bad, the iconic to the obscure, the stupid to the…. equally as stupid. You get the picture, we have covered a lot so far, but we have yet to cover… THE SNK fighter, the one that most people gravitate towards when they think of the company, the one that has managed to outlast every single other one and become the flagship franchise for the company. This wasn’t just any simple fighting game though, because we have already had too many of those to count from the company, but instead, it was gonna be a crossover event, one that takes two of the big fighting juggernauts from the company, along with several others, and bring them together for the first time to duke it out, not only to defeat a common enemy, but also to stand as the best of the best. This was the story… of The King of Fighters ‘94……………. or at least, that is what happened when it did get turned into a fighting game rather than a beat-’em-up.

Out of all of the fighting franchises from this company, this is the one that I had heard the most about before checking out for myself, not only because of how huge it had gotten ever since its inception, but because of its entire concept in general. At this point in time, there had never been a fighting game that’s primary focus was to be a full-on crossover game, taking two different universe and clashing them together, so seeing a game not only take Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting and having them duke it out, along with characters from Ikari Warriors and Athena because why the hell not, must’ve been really exciting for anyone who was fans of any of these games. And hey, it clearly paid off at the end of the day, because the game would go onto get yearly installments for quite some time, as well as plenty of spin-offs, side games, and other forms of media released right alongside it to this day. So, now that I am pretty familiar with every single franchise that is represented in this game, I figured it was about time I gave the series a shot with the first game, and to the surprise of nobody, I ended up really enjoying it. It most likely does not come even close to the quality of future titles, and it isn’t toooooooo different from their previous title, but it does manage to not only be a great introduction for the series as a whole, but also a really good fighting game all on its own that i am really happy to have checked out.

The story doesn’t try to be anything more than what you have come to expect, where a new face in town known as Rugal decides to host a brand new King of Fighters tournament after seeing Geese and Krauser do so in the events of Fatal Fury 1 and 2 (as well as Art of Fighting 2, but who cares), sending invitations all over the world which not only reaches the main characters from those games, but also plenty of other newcomers from around the world, so they all come together to form teams of three to take on the tournament, become the definitive King of the Fighters, and figure out what sinister intentions Rugal might be hiding. It’s an SNK fighting game, so it would feel weird for this to not be the plot, and I don’t wanna risk tearing a hole into the fabric of the universe, so I will just accept the generic plot and move along from there.

The graphics are wonderful, having some fantastic sprite work, animations, and designs for all of the characters, stages, and effects, although there are some parts like the drawings for the characters during the ending cutscenes that definitely do look rough around the edges, and is just… ugh, the music is great, having plenty of kick-ass tunes to go along with you kicking your opponent’s teeth in, but of course, you will barely be able to hear it over the sounds of the many sound effects that will be playing as you fight your opponent, and the gameplay/control is mostly what you would expect from a fighting game, but with several changes and gimmicks that would not only become a staple part of the franchise, but would make fights much more interesting as a whole.

The game is a somewhat-typical 2D fighter, where you take control of one of eight different teams, each consisting of three different fighters from other SNK games, or completely new faces that would become regulars in the series, take on plenty of other teams in locations fought all around the world, throw out plenty of different punches, kicks, and special moves to eliminate all members of the team while relying on your team’s special skills, block and dodge accordingly to sustain minimal damage to any member of your team at any time, and bask in the sweet glow of victory for those few moments…. only to then get pummeled by the next opponent who will come by. Most fighting game veterans would be able to comfortably settle into this game and have a great time with it, even with the apparent changes made to the formula, which one can easily adjust to if they know what they are doing, and still have a great time with it.

If you SOMEHOW haven’t caught onto this already, the one big change made in this game compared to every single fighting game before this is how you take control of a team of characters rather then just one solo character, and while this doesn’t affect the gameplay too heavily, it does make just enough of a change to where it does make you think about how to approach matches. Rather than the typical “three rounds and ya win/lose” formula that most fighting games have, each fighter can only be used once per match as long as they aren’t knocked out, and whenever a fighter is knocked out, they are then switched out for the next fighter on the team in the order that you selected. The only other time I have ever had experience with this style of fighting is with Marvel vs. Capcom, so I was fully aware of what this system was gonna be like going into it, and from what we have here, it works out pretty well.

It does make you think more about how you go about winning a fight, based on what character you are playing as, what moves they can pull off, their speed, their attacks, all of that shit, and seeing how you can be using a completely new character on the fly if you fuck up, it adds another level of strategy and complexity that was simple to grasp and incredibly satisfying to master. Not to mention, given how you don’t get a full health bar back whenever you beat an opponent, the game encourages you, more than ever, to play smart, and not just constantly spam the same move over and over again, or just button mash, in the vein hope of winning (even though, with some of these games, I have no choice but to do that).

Other then that though, not too much has changed if you compare this to other SNK fighters, as it is mostly your standard romp. The only real other differences I can see is that there are no bonus stages to take on, and the way that you use special moves is a bit different, but otherwise, you know what you are getting into with this, and as someone who has now played more of these then I can count, I can safely say that this was one really fun. Of course, the combat was rough around the edges, but the flow of fights still felt pretty satisfying, the energy that was there made a lot of the game feel exciting and fun, the little extra story bits here and there were very interesting, and with the fact that you essentially have 24 different characters to mess around with, there is plenty of things to do that will leave you busy, especially if you are going for all the endings.

However, as is traditional with fighting games, we gotta talk about the elephant in the room, and that elephant’s name is Fighting Game Syndrome, where the game’s CPU will not hesitate to pummel your ass to the ground before you even have a chance to comprehend what was going on in the first place. Although, with that being said, I didn’t actually find the difficulty of the game to be that bad when playing through it……. THAT IS, until I reached the final battle with Rugal, who takes on your entire team by himself, and that right there is a dirty, rotten trick. It lures you into a false sense of security, with you thinking “PFFT, three against one? This will be a total cakewalk!”, but then you actually fight him, and you will learn to never trust one of these games again. His first phase is pretty standard, nothing too bad that you can just easily get through if you know what you are doing, but then he throws off his coat, and that is when SHIT GETS REAL. He will be throwing out all these crazy attacks, comboing you before you can do anything to stop it, push you across the screen and slam you into the walls, and it is an absolute nightmare of a fight at this point. Of course, he is beatable, but you need to be pretty skilled at these games in order to take him down, and while I wouldn’t say this boss is as hard as, say, Geese Howard in Fatal Fury 1, he will still have you begging for mercy if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Overall, despite fighting game syndrome being in effect and Rugal needing to go fuck himself in every way possible, this was a great way to start off an ambitious franchise like this, and an overall really good game, having plenty of what SNK fighters had that make them so fun to try out and beat, a gameplay gimmick that shakes things up to where it is much more interesting without sacrificing what makes these games work, and having plenty of fan service from plenty of points in SNK’s history with the characters that you can’t help but appreciate if you have been playing all of these games like I have. I would definitely recommend it for those who are big fighting game fans, as well as those who love the other fighters from the company like Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting, because this game manages to blow both of those out of the water in every single way, and I can’t wait to see what the next installments have in store. But if there is one thing I will ask for, it would be to PLEASE tone down the final boss of the next game so that they won’t be as much of a pain to fight?....... who am I kidding, it’s SNK, they’re not gonna do that. And given what played at the end of the game there, looks like I am gonna have double the fun with it in the next game, so YAY FOR ME!....................... help

Game #572

It makes complete sense that, out of all of the old Hudson Soft franchises that Konami would bring back into the modern gaming scene, Bomberman would be the one that they would choose, but the iteration of Bomberman they would bring back was a bit of a surprise. They have released a small variety of Bomberman games in the past couple of years, like Amazing Bomberman and whatever this stupid weeb shit is, but for the most part, the series has had its primary focus on the Super Bomberman set of games, starting with Super Bomberman R, and continuing on with other titles like Super Bomberman R2, which was released last year. These games could be considered completely separate entities from the other Super Bomberman games, considering how they look and feel much different from those games, but if that is the case, then why would they even bother putting the “Super” in that title in the first place? Not to mention, it is interesting seeing this kind of take on the character and its world in recent years, which has gotten me interested in this little sub-series, even if most of it has nothing to do with what is currently being made. But anyways, I figured I would start to give the sub-series a try by, of course, starting out with the first game, Super Bomberman.

I haven’t played this particular iteration of Bomberman before, nor any of the other games in this sub-series aside from SBR, but I have seen it in action several times before, primarily due to this video by Sr. Pelo, which, if you haven’t watched it, please do so, cause it is funny shit. But anyway, it did make me wanna try out the game, even though when going into it, I wasn’t expecting much from it. It was probably just gonna be another Bomberman game, just this time on the SNES, and to be fair, it is mostly just that, but there was enough new stuff there, as well as enough charm and character, to where I ended up having a pretty great time with the game as a whole, and I would say it is my favorite Bomberman game that I have played so far.

The story is somewhat complex for this franchise, but not by much, where a robot tournament is being held by the evil Carat Diamond in Diamond City, with the robots in the tournament having the same capabilities that Bomberman have, taken from the Black Bomberman after being kidnapped by them, but soon after, Black Bomberman escapes their clutches and goes to warn the White Bomberman as to what is going on, so it is up to the two of them to team up and take on Carat Diamond and his evil minions to stop their dastardly deeds. It is a simple premise, yet one that is somewhat creative and enjoyable, even though you will most likely not know what the fuck is going on in the game itself if you didn’t try reading up on the plot beforehand.

The graphics are fantastic, having plenty of personality and detail put into all of the enemies, characters, and bosses throughout the stages, and the game’s overall style is much more preferable then what had come before it on the NES, the music is pretty sweet, having plenty of great tracks that I really grew to love while playing through the game, such as this one and this one, which I never got tired of listening to when they popped up in the game, and the gameplay/control is exactly like previous Bomberman games, so you should know almost exactly what to expect if you have played literally any other game in the series before, but compared to past games, it does add in a few new additions that make the game that much more fun addicting to play for me, hence why it is now my favorite title in the series so far.

The game is an isometric maze game, where you take control of whatever color of Bomberman you choose, go through a set of six different worlds, most of them containing their own set of levels that you have to conquer, use your bombs to blow up whatever debris is around you and blow up the many foes that you will encounter, while also making sure to not blow up yourself in the process, gather plenty of power ups that can either increase your massive firepower to heights you never thought possible, or become a detriment to you and cause you grief, because why would you pick up something that has a skull on it, you fucking idiot, and take on several bosses that will provide a bit of challenge if you aren’t quite ready for them. Most of it is your standard Bomberman experience, nothing to really get too impressed by, but it is the added charm and character from the graphics and animations in this game, coupled with the new additions to the series, that made me end up loving it more than I probably ever would have if they weren’t there to begin with.

While this isn’t the first game in the series to introduce them, this game now has boss fights, something that was severely lacking in the original two NES Bomberman games, with the bosses ranging from your generic big bad robots to a nightmare-inducing clown head that I want away from me as soon as possible. These bosses, as a whole, aren’t really all that challenging, and if you know what you are doing, you can take down a lot of them pretty easily, with the exception of the final boss, who does require a little more strategy to take on, and I did struggle quite a bit with him. Nevertheless, these bosses still provided fun enough challenges, and it was a nice change of pace to take these guys on whenever I got to them.

In addition, you can now play through the main game with a friend, who will control Black Bomberman and can do just as many things as the White Bomberman can do. I myself didn’t have the pleasure of playing through the game with a friend, because I am a lonely sack of shit, but the fact that the option is there is still pretty neat, and I imagine that that would be the best way to play through the main mode… even if you can still blow each other up with your bombs. If you are not a fan of doing that in a co-operative setting, then not to fear, because as is tradition with Bomberman, there is a Battle Mode where you and up three other people (with the multitap, of course) can duke it out in an explosive match in the arena to see which one of you truly is the mightiest Bomberman of them all. Naturally, this is definitely where most of the fun that this game offers is gonna be had, and from what I have played, this is definitely the best multiplayer mode that the series has had so far, even if other games after this obviously have managed to surpass this by a long shot.

Of course though, given that this is a Bomberman game that we are talking about, most of it is still the same old shit that you have been doing time and time again, and for those who can’t get into these games, or even for those who have gotten sick of them, there will be nothing in this game that will win you over above the others. Yeah, there are those new features and enhanced modes that I mentioned, but most of these additions are just standard features you can find in any other game, so having them here really doesn’t seem like a selling point, unless you are someone who is a big fan of the series like I am. Also, some parts of the game were somewhat annoying to deal with, such as World 5 of the main mode, which was just a gauntlet against the Robot Bombermen that were made, and let me tell you, fighting them was just… sharp inhale, SO MUCH FUN (kill me). But hey, despite all that, for a game that is over 30 years old at this point in a series full of plenty of other, very similar games, it still manages to be a fun time regardless, and that is all I care about at the end of the day.

Overall, despite not that much change, Super Bomberman managed to take the typical Bomberman formula, give it a new coat of paint, and expand on it enough to where I can say it is a great time, one that is great to play whether through the single-player mode or with some buddies in some versus matches, and one that fans of the series can get a kick out of all the same. I would definitely recommend it for those who are big fans of this series, as well as those who just couldn’t get into what past games like Bomberman 1 or 2 gave them, because while there isn’t much new here, it manages to polish up most of the rough edges and add enough personality to where you could get a kick out of it regardless of what came before. satisfied sigh... you know what, I am glad that I decided to stick to these games, cause each entry just seems to be getting better and better as I keep playing them, and it makes me wanna get to the next game as soon as possible! But, of course, I gotta look at some other stuff first, just to not make things too stale. So, I’ll see you all in a month or so when I inevitably play Super Bomberman 2, and probably forget this game ever existed at all.

Game #559

So far in this series, we have had a trilogy of frustrating, yet wonderful games on the NES (all the problems with Simon’s Quest aside), and two handheld titles that weren’t quite perfect, with Castlevania: The Adventure in particular being extremely flawed, but for what they were, they were pretty effective as the first handheld titles for the series. Oh yeah, and there was also that one arcade title as well, but shhhhh, we don’t talk about that game in this household. Now, after this slew of titles, it was about time that this series was brought to the next generation of systems, with Masahiro Ueno being up to the task, not only deciding to make the game less frustrating in comparison to previous games, but also making a game that would be a remake of sorts of the original Castlevania. So, after two years of development, Super Castlevania IV was released to the public, and has since been praised and enjoyed for many decades to come.

This is considered to be one of, if not THE best, game in the entire Castlevania series, and when you play it, you can definitely see why. I myself wouldn’t consider it the best game in the series, as there would be several games made later down the road that I would say I enjoyed a lot more then this game, but don’t think that I am saying this game is bad, because that couldn’t be further from the truth. In my opinion, this is what I would consider the PERFECT rendition of the original Castlevania, and it is executed flawlessly in practically everything that it sets out to do. Yeah, it is kind of a step back when compared to Castlevania III and the features that game introduced (which is understandable, but still), and some of the bosses can be a huge pain in the ass, but none of those things ruined my experience with what is the perfect way the Castlevania series could have entered the 16-bit era.

The story is… basically the exact same as the original Castlevania, which is completely fine, as you really don’t need a big story to get you into the action, the graphics are absolutely fantastic, not only having the perfect look for these gothic environments, but also having fantastic atmosphere, which can even be seen as early on as the intro cutscene and the title screen, the music is GODLY, with plenty of original tracks along with remixes of classic themes, and there are some real head-bangers to be heard from this, the control is… I’m not ready to gush about them just yet, we will get to them eventually, and the gameplay is a pretty good evolution of the classic formula, while keeping things mostly familiar for those who are coming from the previous games in the series.

The game is your typical 2D Castlevania title, where you travel through many different side-scrolling levels, whipping many different gothic monsters along the way, gathering hearts, sub-weapons, and items to help you deal with the many baddies seen throughout, and taking on many larger-then life bosses, with the bosses themselves having great variety, either being classic monsters we have seen before, or new types of monsters with their own gimmick. Yeah, the game sticks closely to the original formula from the original Castlevania, which is kind of a letdown, again, considering what Castlevania III brought to the table, but what makes up for this is how the game manages to take this formula and perfect it.

Playing through the game overall does feel a lot less frustrating then that of the original game, with there not being too many instances of cheap damage or deaths that you will encounter. Now don’t get me wrong, this game is still pretty damn hard (after all, it wouldn’t be a Castlevania game if it was easy), but a lot of the hardships you will encounter can be taken care of pretty easily, and you will feel responsible for the damage you take and deaths you suffer… well, most of the time anyway. There will be several bosses, especially towards the end, where you will have quite a difficult time with them, as they are relentless, but thankfully, with the help of the unlimited continues, they shouldn’t take too long for you to take down once you learn their patterns.

One of the defining features of this game, and one of the reasons that I absolutely adore it, is with the control. This game has the BEST control scheme out of any of the classic Castlevania games, and I wish the future games would’ve stuck to, but hey, at least we have it here. For all of the previous game, while the control was enough to get a hang of, it was still pretty limited, with a very stiff movement and being unable to change your jump in midair. Thankfully now, despite still have a somewhat stiff movement, you can change your direction in midair while jumping, as well as do things like jump onto stairs to help you get through places faster. It may not sound like much, but it does help out a lot, making the pacing much faster, and giving you an edge up over the enemies. And speaking of getting an edge up over the enemies, this also goes into your whip, which is the best that it has been and will ever be in any of these games. Not only does it still pack a punch and have a great length, especially with the powerups, but you can also whip it in 8 different directions, as well as being able to… flail it around like an idiot, for some reason. I don’t need to explain to you how helpful this maneuverability and attack range is, allowing me to get plenty of hits and kills in on enemies that, if the attacking was the same as the original game, I would never be able to do easily without some damage.

Overall, despite some slight hiccups to be found here and there, this is definitely the best entry in the Castlevania series so far, and one of the best in the entire series. If you were a fan of the original trilogy of games, or you want to experience the series but don’t know where to start, then I would highly recommend it, as I guarantee that you will have at least some fun with it. I can’t even think of an ending joke this time around, the game is just too good. Go play it. NOW.

Game #254

Welp, it’s been long enough, and I’ve been told I am not allowed to have fun today, so I figured it is about time to check out another one of Marvel’s… INCREDIBLE games that they threw out onto store shelves for a quick buck back in the day, and hey, since I went back to the X-Men lineup of games previously, I figured it would only be appropriate that I go back to another one of Marvel’s heroes that I have covered in the past, Spider-Man, or Web-Bitch as I like to call him. He usually has at least one or two games out there that are of either decent or, in rare cases, incredible quality, but then most of the time, you have games like Return of the Sinister Six, which makes me never want to trust Spider-Man with anything ever again. But hey, that was just one bad game, right? I mean, SURELY he would get things right the second time, right?........... yeah, probably not, but we will see if that is the case with The Amazing Spider-Man on the Game Boy.

Out of all the Spider-Man games that I could’ve chosen from, this one was all the way on the bottom of my list, as I know damn well how bad these licensed Game Boy usually are, and this one was probably gonna be no different. However, it then caught my attention when I learned that this game was actually made by Rare, the same guys who would go onto making games like Battletoads, Banjo-Kazooie, Conker, and plenty of others. I don’t know how they ended up being the ones to make this game, but either way, it did make me curious as to how the game would turn out with them behind it. So, I played through the whole thing, and I will give it this… it is LEAGUES better than Return of the Sinister Six, but aside from that, there is not much else going for it. It is still a bad Spider-Man game, one that not only comes with its own serving of licensed game bullshit and cheapness, but also manages to do nothing else to separate itself from many other pieces of media that involve the character.

The story is just another Thursday for any superhero, where a gang of Spider-Man’s most deadly villains have captured Mary Jane and threaten him with her life, so it is up to him to swing on out and stop them before it is too late, which is a story that’s about as compelling as watching a dust ball rolling across the floor. The graphics are Game Boy graphics, and the sprite work is… passable, but to its credit, I can at least tell what most things are, and again, it looks a whole lot better than that other Web-Bitch game that I played at one point, the music is incredibly forgettable, where I can’t recall a single thing I heard throughout my entire playthrough, but I have some faint memory of it not annoying me at all, so it has that going for it at least, and the gameplay/control is just as basic and sloppy as it sounds, with some mechanics that take some getting used to, but all in all, it does the job for playing this slog of a game.

The game is a 2D action platformer, where you take control of Spider-Web-Bitch-Man, go through a set of 6.75 levels, each taking place in a different location throughout New York, punch, kick, and web up many different enemies that you will come across, while making sure that you don’t let the game fight back against you so that you can actually do any of this properly, gather different capsules along the way to not only heal yourself when you need it, but also give you extra juice for your webs so that you can continue swinging and webbing to your heart’s content, and take on plenty of familiar foes in several boss fights, which can range from being as cheap and full of bullshit as you would expect, all the way to… the Rhino boss, where he just runs back and forth a bunch until you punch him to death. Great job with that one, guys. But anyways, you get everything you could ever expect out of a cheap Spider-Man game from back in the 90s here, and instead of being a completely unbearable experience all the way through, it is… a little unbearable all the way through, which is a blessing at this point.

If there was a checklist out there that could mark off every single little thing that a licensed game like this would do to ruin your day, then this game would check off a lot of those boxes, because a lot of these problems do pop up in one shape or form throughout your adventure. These problems include horrible combat, where you basic punches and kicks are delayed and feel really heavy, making it hard to tell whether or not you are hitting an enemy, or even when you should throw a punch or kick, awkward moves, where some moves like the different types of jumps you can do take a lot of time to get used to because of how bad they are, unfair difficulty, which sees countless enemies being thrown your way to create some sense of challenge, when it reality it is just an excuse to turn Spider-Man into a bloody corpse on the floor, and unfair sections, where all of those elements I just mentioned before are paired together with terrible platforming sections that I swear are impossible to get through without some sort of save states. It is all here, folks, and if you are able to stomach this stuff like I can, then chances are that you will have a bad time, but not to the point of wanting to rip your hair out. However, for any average gamer, one that would rather have a Spider-Man game like the ones that Insomniac are being forced to make until the end of time, you give them this for 10 minutes, and they will chuck it in the trash at the 5-minute mark.

However, to be fair, there were actually some parts of the game that I actually did kinda like. In-between some of the main levels, there are some stages where you are climbing up a building to reach your destination, which are a nice change of pace, and are simple enough to get a grasp on, even if some of that nonsense I mentioned earlier does get sprinkled in from time to time. Alongside that are these cutscenes that play in-between each level, which just has Spider-Man talking with one of villains while the two of them throw bad comic-lines back and forth at each other, which are funny to watch just for how low-effort they are. And finally, one thing that I am REALLY grateful for… whenever you die in this game and still have an extra life or two, you don’t get sent back to the beginning of the level, but instead, you respawn right where you died, and THANK GOD FOR THAT. Seriously, I can’t even imagine how you would be able to beat some of these levels without that kind of handicap.

Overall, despite some funny cutscenes, some fine levels here or there, and a very generous handicap, I can’t say this is anything more then just yet another cheap-ass Spider-Man game that was made for a quick buck to cash in on the superhero’s popularity, not only incorporating every single licensed game trick in the licensed game handbook to piss you off, but also not having its own identity when it comes to the gameplay, being as boring and generic as you could possibly imagine. Don’t bother checking it out, whether you are a fan of Spider-Man’s other games or not, because it really serves no purpose other than just to exist, and it doesn’t deserve any of your attention. Hell, let me be the one to play for you instead, just so I can warn you about the dangers of these games… which I am gonna have to do anyway, considering that this game apparently got two sequels, and I can already tell that they are gonna be… sigh, SO MUCH FUN! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, Spider-Man… Spider-Man… gonna go splat like a spider can…

Game #561