So far for the duration of time that I have been on this website, I have talked about a handful of the good Sonic games, some of them that many consider to be some of the greatest of all time not just in the series, but of all time. Even if I haven’t been extremely positive about a particular game in this series so far, it hasn’t really been too negative either, just more so indifferent about the kind of game that it was (cough, Spinball, cough). But you know what, I think it is about time that I stop being nice to this spikey cracked-out rat, and it’s finally time I start being mean to him and his series. It was only inevitable, because as many Sonic fans know, for all of the good Sonic games that were available from this series, there are five more shitty ones just around the corner. However, I don’t feel like picking on one of the obvious targets like Sonic Drift or Sonic Labyrinth… not right now, anyway. Instead, I wanna go after another forgotten title in the series that most Sonic fans aren’t aware of: SegaSonic the Hedgehog.

This was a Sonic game that was released pretty early in the series’ lifespan exclusively in Japan for the arcades, and one that I have been wanting to try out for a very long time. I do remember playing on the actual machine of the game at one point whenever I went to the Galloping Ghost Arcade (which by the way, if you haven’t been there, do yourself a favor and go there ASAP, because it is the best modern arcade I have ever been to. Tell them that Mega sent ya), and from what I remembered, I liked it enough, even if I was annoyed by some certain aspects about the game. It has been a long time since I played it there, so I decided to check it out on the Mame emulator, and once I did play it, I came to a very stunning revelation… it fucking sucks! Granted, there are plenty of admirable qualities that the game has, and I do like a lot of the things it is trying out, but it manages to trip and fall right on its face when it comes to its execution, and becomes an annoying chore to sit through.

The story is pretty damn average, where Dr. Robotnik kidnaps not only Sonic, but also newcomers Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel, and entraps them on an island, so it is up to the three of them to escape before Robotnik can take them out, which is a fine enough premise that I can get behind, because from everything else the game has, the story would be the least of my concern. The graphics are really damn good, having plenty of cartoony and wonderful animations for all of the characters, accompanied by wonderful environments, which make the game much more fun to look at then play, the music is pretty good, having plenty of great tracks for all of the levels, which also made the game much more fun to listen to then to play, the control is… well, I’ll get into that later, and the gameplay is somewhat inventive for the series, and I do like what they try with it, but not only could it have been done a lot better, but… sigh, goddammit…

The game is a 3D platformer of some kind, where you take control of either Sonic, Mighty, or Ray, go through a set of seven treacherous, yet very short levels, run through at the speed of sound while avoiding certain death at every turn from gaps, obstacles, or otherwise, jump around and break things when you need to so you can proceed forward and avoid death, and stop playing the game, go find a cabinet of Sonic the Fighters, and play that instead so that you can enjoy life. For what we got here, again, a lot of it is very interesting on paper, and I do like a lot of the things that are going on here, but the way that it was presented makes it way more frustrating to play then anything else, and by the end of the game, I was giving Sonic and co. the middle finger in response to their collective thumbs up.

I wouldn’t even necessarily call this game a “platformer” per se, even if there are platforming elements seen throughout, because it is more so a long, multi-segmented obstacle course. For every single level, you will primarily just be running down a bunch of long paths, avoiding whatever obstacles come your way, grab whatever rings you can, and hoping to reach the end. There are no enemies to fight, no bosses to take on, no additional collectables or power-ups to get, nothing. It is just one straight shot from the start to the end, and hey, that can be pretty fun at times. The constant energy the game gives off really does make going through some of these much more enjoyable, which is also helped by the colorful graphics, animations, and the new characters Mighty and Ray, who were pretty neat to finally see in action…. you know, before they would be thrown into the vault for the foreseeable future, only being let back out on a few occasions.

However, then you actually try playing the game for yourself, and you find it is an aggravating trainwreck for most of the journey. For most of the game, you are constantly being chased or hounded by something, whether it be falling spikes from the ceiling, a wave of lava, a falling bridge or whatever, so you have to constantly keep running forward at all times, which is pretty hard to do considering all the different traps and obstacles that you only have a split-second to avoid, and needless to say, you won’t be avoiding most of them. A lot of the problems with the obstacles can be attributed to the game itself most of the time, but then this gets into the one thing that is probably the game’s biggest setback… the control.

Unlike most Sonic games, this game uses a trackball controller, where you will be constantly spinning the ball around to make Sonic and co. go in a specific direction, while also having a separate button to use to jump, and once again, in theory, this COULD work… but then you think about it more and see it in action, and you find out that isn’t necessarily the case. Given how fast Sonic is, you will be zipping around the areas you go through so goddamn much, and given how most of these areas have pits everywhere, you will have a hard time keeping track of yourself most of the time without falling off a ledge, especially in some of the later levels with very precarious bits. Of course, a lot of that is attributed to me using the arrow keys to control this game, but even back when I was playing this in the arcade, I remember struggling with it, since Sonic himself is a little too fast, and also, may I remind you, you have to CONSTANTLY be moving because something will always be hounding your ass!

Overall, despite the wonderful presentation and charm that is oozing out of every corner of this game, when you go to play it yourself, it then proves that under that lovely coat of paint is something that is just unbearably annoying, having very little variety in what you do throughout all the stages, being unforgiving with many of its obstacles, and having a control scheme that just doesn’t work out in the player’s favor. I would only recommend this for those of you who are huge Sonic fans, and you haven’t had the chance to play it for yourself, because if you haven’t, then by all means, give it a shot. You may just end up loving it, but as for me, I would much rather watch it then play it ever again. Also, what kind of name is SegaSonic the Hedgehog, anyway? We all know that Sega made Sonic, you don’t need to remind us of that. What’s next, are they gonna make SegaShinobi, or SegaChuChu Rocket, or SegaHouse of the Dead?......... also, rip Mighty and Ray, because they are probably never gonna be coming back after Sonic Mania Plus.

Game #549

With the release of Star Fox back in 1993, Nintendo had proved to the world just what the Super Nintendo was truly capable of, bringing advanced 3D graphics to the console scene where their competition couldn’t, and it definitely paid off in the end. Sure, the game may look extremely primitive by today’s standards, but it was revolutionary for its time, and it managed to sell 4 million copies by 1998, so based on this success, it was clear that not only did Star Fox have a bright future ahead (or so they thought), but so did the Super FX chip. Plenty of devs would then use this chip to develop more games for the system, including Nintendo themselves, who would use it to develop another beloved classic from the SNES’s library… which we will talk about later, but for now, let’s do Stunt Race FX.

I have known about this title for quite a while now, but I haven’t really had any interest in playing it for myself. It looked fine enough from what I have seen on the cover of the game and some short gameplay clips here or there, but it just looked like “the SNES 3D racer” and nothing more, giving me no reason to play it over others. But hey, why not, it can’t be that bad right? I have had good experiences with these experimental titles from Nintendo on this system before, so this one can’t be that much of a downgrade from what we got before. So, I went ahead and played it for a good while, and I did actually end up liking it a lot. I wouldn’t say it is anything revolutionary, or even that much better than other racers on the system, but for what it sets out to do, it does a fine enough job, and I am glad to say that I finally got it out of the way.

The graphics hold the same level of quality as Star Fox did, and by that, I mean it is polygonal as shit and extremely primitive, but once again, it is really impressive for the SNES, and a lot is happening at once to where it is visually interesting to look at at times, the music is pretty good, having some enjoyable tracks that get you in the mood to be racing, but I couldn’t really pay too much attention to that when I am trying to steer this bathtub on wheels, the control works out well for the most part, but of course, given the graphics and the kind of game this is, it can get pretty frustrating to control in plenty of areas, and the gameplay is extremely typical, just being your average racing game… but in 3D!.......... even though that had already been done at this point, but shhhhhhhhhhhh.

The game is your typical racer, where you take control of one of three-four vehicles to race on the track with, each one with their own specifications and stats in terms of speed and durability, race along plenty of different prix and courses across plenty of environments, make sure to stay on the track while maintaining first place against your other competitors, gather several power-ups that can either give you a speed boost or help fix any damage that has been done to your car, and check out plenty of the other modes available, such as obstacle courses, a time attack mode, multiplayer modes, and the bonus stages that will make you tear your hair out. A lot of this is pretty standard for a racing game of this time, but once again, the main difference between this and all the other ones is that it is using ambitious 3D technology, and for the most part it works… well enough, and I had fun with it, despite how rough around the edges it is.

Unlike a lot of racers, where they are all about going fast and making quick turns to make sure that you can reach the goal before any of your opponents, this one takes things a little slower, not just because of the graphics are the frame rate, but also by having cars that feel much heavier to drive around with. This can even be seen whenever you collide with something, as the cars’ parts will jitter around all over the place, with you flopping about like a fish before you can get back on track and into the race again. Some may see this as a downgrade from other racers, and I can completely understand why, but for what it is worth, I think it works well enough for this kind of game. I can’t even imagine what playing this game would feel like if all of the cars were meant to go as fast as cars in other racing games go. It would probably feel like an absolute nightmare to try to get a handle on. Not to mention, this game gives the player plenty of things to do despite how simple its set-up is, so if you end up really liking what you get here, then the game will keep you busy with quite some time with all of the other modes and tracks that you can race on, each featuring plenty of detail and fun inclusions that spice the gameplay up.

Of course, with all that being said, this game leaves a lot to be desired in terms of a 3D racer, even at this point in time. At this point, we have had Virtua Racing, Ridge Racer 1/2, Daytona USA, and even by the end of the year, games like Sega Rally Championship and Cruis’n USA would be released, all of which manage to be great early 3D racers that don’t need to sacrifice speed in order to maintain proper gameplay. Sure, this one has the benefit of being able to be played at home, but not only could it be doing a lot better to keep one’s attention for much longer, but there were also much better racers on the console to check out like F-Zero or Super Mario Kart, making one question why they would bother playing this over others.

Not to mention, while most of the game works well enough to where I didn’t have too many problems with it, the turning on the tracks can definitely give you a hard time, especially when you are taking control of specific vehicles. One instance I had that was really hard to get a proper handle on is with the bonus stages in the prix, where your car would go inside this trailer truck, and you would have to drive it through all of these gates, and let me tell you, trying to turn with this thing is beyond impossible if you are hoping to have a smooth and clean turn. They were trying to make it so that the turning on this thing was as realistic as possible, which I guess I can appreciate for a game like this, but considering that this is the same game where all of the cars have goofy-ass eyes on them, I’m clearly not playing this for realism, and I would just like to have a much smoother race.

Overall, despite there being many better options out there and having the turning be a pain in the ass in plenty of moments, for being the first racing game to take use of the Super FX chip, Stunt Race FX did a pretty decent job with what it had, providing plenty of enjoyable races, modes to try out, and yet another showcase of what this console can really do, and while it certainly doesn’t reach the same levels of other racers that came before and since in terms of quality, it still does a good job with what it has. I would recommend it for those who are big racing fanatics, as well as those who like the more experimental titles on the SNES when it comes to presentation, but for everyone else, again, I would stick with any of those other titles I mentioned earlier before playing this. But hey, I guess if anything, the game is much more memorable than other racing games that used the Super FX chip, like Dirt Racer or Dirt Trax FX. Yeah, bet you don’t know what either of those games are, don’tcha? Don’t feel bad, I didn’t either until I looked it up 2 minutes ago.

Game #548

Like with After Burner, I had practically forgotten about the Space Harrier series shortly after I had checked out the original game, which is a shame too, because I had a great time with that game when I played it. The game itself wasn’t all that complex or interesting, and it was pretty short, but like with After Burner, it kept things exciting with its blinding speeds and constant action, fun gameplay, and challenging scenarios which were pretty satisfying to overcome. It’s too bad there weren’t too many other games in this series that were released after the original, but there were a few, so I figured it’s about time I got to playing another one by completely ignoring the weird 3D one and moving straight onto Space Harrier II.

Unlike the original Space Harrier, this one was originally released exclusively for the Sega Genesis, made to be one of the launch titles released for the system right alongside others like The Revenge of Shinobi and Altered Beast, and when you learn that little tidbit of info about the game, you can pretty much figure out what you are getting into with this game. While a good number of these launch titles were original games, games like Golden Axe and Ghouls ‘n Ghosts were pretty much just home console versions of their arcade counterparts, so in many ways, Space Harrier II is essentially an at home version of the original game. It does feature some new elements, some that improved upon some small issues that the original had, but it is pretty much just the original game, except worse, to the point where I can only say it is ok and nothing more.

The story is as basic as sequels get, where Harrier gets a distress call from the 214th sector of space, and when he goes to investigate, he finds that Fantasy Land is being taken over by evil creatures once again, so it is to him to set off on his own to take them all out, which is an alright story, not doing anything new or exciting from the original, but it is a sequel to an arcade game, so I would’ve expected nothing less. The graphics are pretty good for a launch title, looking close enough to the arcade game’s graphics, but with an obvious downgrade in terms of both the animations and general visuals, the music is pretty good, having plenty of good tracks to listen to while blasting robots in the face, but nothing that leapt into my ear and decided to stay there for the rest of the day, and the gameplay/control is identical to that of the original, to the point where you wouldn’t be blamed if you just mistook this game for being a downgraded port of the original.

The game is a 3D rail shooter, where you take control of Harrier, go through thirteen stages through various very-similar lands full of dangerous baddies, dodge plenty of obstacles and enemy fire as you are flying forward at the speed of sound, shoot down as many things as you can, living or otherwise, while watching that score of yours soar higher than you ever thought it could possibly go, and take on plenty of bosses that have such mind-boggling tactics to beat such as shooting them in the face and… waiting a bit, and then shooting them in the face. Any veteran Space Harrier players (all two of you) will be all too familiar with this gameplay style, and be able to jump into it all too well, even if it will most likely make them just want to go back to the original game.

When this game is practically identical to the original, I mean it, as if you take a look at both of them side by side, you can barely tell them apart. This isn’t limited to just the visuals either, because nothing is changed about the gameplay at all, which can be good for those who just want a version of Space Harrier they can play at home without needing some 3D glasses, but it could be disappointing for those wanting some more out of the sequel. But hey, to the game’s credit, it doesn’t feel like a complete repeat, because it does improve on one aspect of the original game: the bosses. There were a good handful of bosses to take on in that original game, but a lot of them were repeated throughout the game, making them not as exciting to get to and take on. Thankfully though, with this game, not only are most of the bosses unique from each other, but a good handful of them do incorporate some challenging scenarios to overcome, which I did enjoy taking down. There is only one boss in the game that you have to take on again (aside from something I will mention in a second), which I am pretty grateful for, and thankfully, the boss that does get repeated is simple enough, so it doesn’t take too long to get through that.

If that doesn’t interest you at all, then I wouldn’t say anything else about this game will. Not only is it basically a worse version of the previous game, but it still has all of the same problems the original game had, such as being extremely repetitive and how the last stage is just a boss rush, even though there REALLY didn’t need to be one. Also, one other thing that did get on my nerves quite a bit with this game in particular is with the frame rate. I’m not the kind of guy that really tends to complain about frame rates in games unless the downgrade is pretty noticeable, and you can definitely see that with this game, as it is chugging along the most of the time, unable to handle a lot of what is going on on screen at once. Obviously, this was gonna be the case no matter what, given the limitations of the Genesis, but it is still something to point out just in case you wanna try this game for yourself.

Overall, despite having more boss variety and keeping the fun gameplay in-tact, Space Harrier II is pretty much a nothing sequel, doing nothing to make itself stand out as better or more original compared to its predecessor, and giving you no reason to check it out when the original is already accessible and readily available for people to play. I could only recommend it for those who LOVE the original game, and just want nothing more then just to play more of it, but for everyone else, you are much better off just playing the first one only, and nothing else from there. It’s no wonder why this series never managed to continue after the second game, only to be brought back for some obscure arcade spin-off game after a decade of nothing…………… although, now that I think about it, if there ever was a modern-day reimagining or remake of the original Space Harrier, that would be pretty cool. I’d be all over that shit, so Sega, if you are looking to revive any more of your dormant IPs, this one is just begging for another chance.

Game #547

For being pretty much the only wrestling game they would ever make, Capcom did a pretty great job with what we got from Saturday Night Slam Masters, providing plenty of possibilities for fights against many formidable opponents, fun moves to pull off, seamlessly implementing some fighter mechanics to make it more engaging, and having the feeling of being a proper wrestling game with the inclusion of items to use and intros for each individual character at the start of a match. The game was really good all around, and it would’ve been cool to see a proper followup to it at some point, expanding on the characters’ movesets, the type of rings you could enter, and possibly raising the stakes with new characters and story elements introduced…………… that would not happen though, and instead, we would get Ring of Destruction: Slam Masters II.

Despite being a wrestling game at its core, the original Slam Masters game did implement enough fighting game elements to where, when the time came to develop a sequel, I guess Capcom was just nervously twitching around, like a drug addict who needed their fix, and just exclaimed to themselves “FUCK IT!”. Thus, what we got out of this sequel was just your typical Capcom fighting game, still being themed around wrestlers and containing several wrestling techniques, while focusing on the one-and-one aspect above all else. That kinda sucks, but at the same time, this was a Capcom fighter from the mid-90s, and thus, it turned out to be pretty damn good, not quite on the same level as some of their other releases around the time, but still great enough to where anyone could go in and have a great time battling it out with friends.

The graphics are very similar to that of the original game, still being lively, having wonderful designs for all the characters and stages, while also having plenty of over-the-top animations for all of them, which is great to see, the music is still effective in getting you in the mood to perform a piledriver on any poor fool that dares to challenge you, and plenty of the tracks are great to listen to whenever they pop up, the control is greatly improved upon here, feeling a lot more smooth and responsive, which makes sense given the company is more suited to this genre, and the gameplay is… exactly like any other one-on-one Capcom fighter, so you know pretty much what you are going to get out of a game like this.

The game is a 2D fighting game, where you take control of one of the ten fighters from the original game, as well as any of the newcomers introduced here, or if you are me, you still just pick Mike Haggar anyway above anyone else, take on plenty of opponents in rings from all across the world, throw out plenty of punches, kicks, and special moves to deplete your opponents’ two health bars down to nothing, perform several wrestling moves during the fights just to remind you that this is supposed to be a wrestling series, and bask in your glorious victory as you prove to everyone else that you are the slammiest master of slam masters. Any Capcom fighting veteran would be able to jump into this with no problems, and for those who were big fans of the original game, while this is quite different from that previous title, you should be able to adjust to this new style pretty quickly and have a great time with it all the same.

While it is a fighting game at its core, the game still manages to keep the wrestling motif front and center, with all the characters being wrestlers of some kind, all of the fights taking place inside of a ring, and with the many different wrestling moves, throws, and techniques that you can pull off. It isn’t much compared to what you could do in the previous game, but hey, it is still there, and they can help change up the tide of a fight and add a little pizzazz into your typical match. Not only that, but unlike the original game, the characters in this game actual have some notable differences between each other, especially with some of the newcomers. For example, there is Rip Saber, a wrestler who is rocking a military theme, complete with military maneuvers and throwing grenades as part of their moveset, and then there is also The Wraith, who is pretty much a zombie-grim-reaper-wrestler-thing, with plenty of spooky techniques to accompany him. It is a little ridiculous when you compare it to the previous game, but since it all takes place in the Street Fighter universe, it all makes complete sense to me.

Despite all of that though, at the end of the day, this is still yet another Capcom 2D fighter, and it plays exactly like you have seen plenty of times before. It still manages to be fast and fun, especially with some friends to fight with, but there isn’t anything else to make this stand out or be more preferable from other options like Street Fighter II or its many, MANY different variations. Not to mention, if you were a die-hard fan of the original game, like it was one of your favorites of all time, then you definitely aren’t gonna like this game. Yeah, it still does have the wrestling theme and several of the moves, but it is a fighting game more than anything else, so it will probably be pretty disappointing for those hardcore wrestling fanatics.

Overall, despite not doing anything too special and completely abandoning the gameplay of the previous title, Ring of Destruction still lives up as a pretty good fighter, one that has plenty of fun with the wrestling motif while still providing the fun, fast-paced and addicting nature that you would find in any of Capcom’s other fighters from around that point. I would recommend it for those who are big fans of Capcom’s other fighters, as well as those who just need another thing to play with friends, because while it doesn’t stand on its own like the original game, you could certainly do a lot worse then what we got here. Too bad though that, after this game, we would never get another Slam Masters game again, and the series would forever be thrown into the realms of obscurity. But hey, the original game would at least get plenty of re-releases overtime………….. while this one would forever be stuck in the arcades. Way to go, guys.

Game #546

The original Athena game was, without a doubt, the absolute worst game that I had ever played from SNK so far. I could admire some things that it tried doing, such as having plenty of neat items and upgrades to find that encouraged exploration, as well as the fact that the game didn’t take itself too seriously given the story, but all of that couldn’t distract me from how horribly the game controlled, how relentless it was right from the start, how awkward it felt to do anything aside from walking to the right, and giving you little chance to do anything to defend yourself from the start before you are ambushed by all the enemies that are thrown at you. I don’t understand how anyone could release a game like that and say it was good and ready to go back in the day, or even how they thought that following the game up with a sequel would be a good idea, but nonetheless, we got one just one year later in the form of Psycho Soldier.

Naturally, I wasn’t looking forward to checking out this game whatsoever. The original game had already left such a bad taste in my mouth after the short time I had experienced with it, and given SNK’s pattern with sequels, I assumed this was gonna change practically nothing about the formula, and it would end up being yet another complete mess of a game. However, in the biggest plot twist of the 20th century, Psycho Soldier actually turned out to be a MASSIVE improvement over the original game in just about every way. I wouldn’t say that it is anything more than just simply being good, and it also has its fair share of issues that did get in the way of how much fun I was having, but needless to say, I would choose to play this game over the original Athena title any day of the week.

The story is a bit more generic than that of the previous game, where suddenly out of nowhere, evil creatures from the land of Shiguma appear on Earth, Japan specifically, and start terrorizing its many citizens and destroying everything in sight, so it is up to Athena Asamiya, a descendent of the Athena from the previous game, to team up with her friend Sie Kensou to take out the villainous scourge using their psychic powers, which is a basic enough set up, and it works well enough for what this game is. The graphics are very similar to that of the original game, but it does look a lot more appealing, both in terms of the environments you travel through and the designs of the characters, enemies, and bosses, the music is good, having plenty of enjoyable tracks, and even one that has someone singing what I can only assume is the theme song of the game… with the singing being incredibly compressed and amateur as shit, but hey, A for effort I guess, the control is much better here, with you having plenty of control over what you are doing and all of your actions feeling just right, and the gameplay is also a major improvement, mixing things up to where it isn’t as ambitious as its predecessor, but this style is executed much better here, which I prefer as a whole.

The game is a 2D action platformer, where you take control of either Athena or Sie, go through a set of six very similar stages through several different environments, jump in-between each lane and take out the many enemies that you will find along your journey to prevent them from getting an upper hand on you, get plenty of different power ups, weapons, and special items to help you out along your journey, and take on several different bosses or enemy gauntlets that range from being relatively manageable to the exact kind of difficulty that you would expect from an arcade game. In most aspects, it is your typical arcade platformer, but that is a step up from the last game, which was an abnormal arcade platformer, so I will take it at this point.

If I were to make any comparison of this game to something I have already reviewed in the past, I would say that it is a more flashy version of SonSon from Capcom. The game will constantly be scrolling from left to right, and you will need to hop up and down between four different rows to not only take out enemies, but also to get the various different power ups in the game. This definitely isn’t the kind of platformer I like to play, but for the most part, this kind of approach works, and you can cover a lot of ground in these levels before the screen forcibly pushes you to your next destination. In addition, the weapons and power ups that you get while playing this game are pretty fun to mess around with. From the start, you are equipped with a lightning laser shot that can be upgraded to get bigger and do more damage, as well as these spinning orbs that will surround you whenever you are on the ground. Not only do these act as a shield from incoming projectiles, which really helps in plenty of cases, but you can also throw them at enemies to do more damage and to break blocks quicker, making some sections a breeze when you are caught in a jiff.

In terms of actual new weapons that you can get, the sword makes a return from the previous game, and it is a lot more useful this time, because not only can you use it to slash your way through enemies, but it also helps break a lot of the bricks in the level much faster, allowing you to find more items and to get a move on in the stage. But none of that compares to the best power up that you can get in the whole game, where if your energy bar is full and you find a big green egg in the level, you can turn into a whole ass phoenix, able to fly all around the stage and set your enemies ablaze with your fire breath. Unfortunately, this form is temporary, as it does go away upon beating the stage you are currently in, or if you get hit too many times, but it is still fun to just decimate everything in your way with this transformation.

Naturally though, since this is an Athena game we are talking about here, it has several issues that I was not that big of a fan of. Arcade syndrome is present in this title, and while things start out pretty smoothly, and you can build up plenty of support to protect yourself, by the last couple of levels, there will be enemies and projectiles flying around everywhere at you, to where it feels impossible to beat the game without at least a couple of credits on stand by, which does kinda suck. That’s not the only aspect of difficulty in this game though, as while the scrolling of the stage is slow enough to where you won’t feel like you constantly have to hold down the right stick to not die, there can be plenty of instances where you will get ambushed by an enemy or so in a corner, and due to the fact the screen is constantly moving, you have no choice but to die just to get a move on, and that shit always blows, no matter what kind of game it comes from.

And finally, while there are plenty of power ups that do help you out and make you stronger, there are also several power downs, taking away whatever you got for yourself and leaving you extremely vulnerable. There will be these red beams with skulls on them that will drain all of the energy from your meter, not only making you less stronger, but also giving you very little chance to transform into your phoenix form or get better equipment, which especially sucks when you don’t see it coming until it is too late. That doesn’t even compare to the worst power down, the golden skull, which upon contact takes away EVERYTHING from your arsenal. Your sword, your orbs, your upgrades, all of it: gone. It is absolutely painful to run into one of these, especially in some instances where, again, you don’t see it coming until it is too late, and you end up feeling like a chump as a result.

Overall, despite the difficulty in certain areas, the power downs, and the scrolling getting in the way of your enjoyment at times, Psycho Soldier was still a good game that I am glad that I checked out, excelling in every area that Athena fumbled in through several means, and providing you with a fun and engaging time that I would say is worth checking out for a good while or so before moving onto something else. I would recommend it not only for those who liked the original Athena, but also for those who HATED that game as well, because while this isn’t a masterpiece by any means, it does still manage to be more competent and enjoyable then that piece of shit ever managed to be. It’s too bad though that, after this game, we would never see any hint of a third game in the Athena series ever again………….. until 12 years later, that is. Because I guess the demand for another one of these games was just too high at that point, clearly.

Game #545

It may be a bit premature to say, since I haven’t really thought about it all too much, but out of all of the shmups that I have played and reviewed so far, the original Aero Fighters was definitely one of my favorites that I have covered. It definitely had its fair share of quirks that I wasn’t a fan of, such as how short the stages can be and how the game makes you beat it twice in order to beat it completely, but it had multiple characters to select from, plenty of fun shot types to mess around with across each characters, and enough explosive action to make my brain go brr in excitement, which was all enough for me at the end of the day. And hey, it was enough for plenty of others as well, to the point where it would end up getting a sequel not just for arcades, but also for the Neo Geo systems, to ensure that the series would join the SNK Cinematic Universe, or SNKCU, which is totally a real thing. So after two years went by, we would then get the sequel to the original game in the form of Aero Fighters 2.

Repetition is the name of the game when it comes to most shmups, and if there is anything SNK was good at back in the day, it certainly was repetition. While this hasn’t been the case for all of their titles (from what I know anyway), a lot of SNK’s major releases around this era, especially when it comes to their fighting games, have very little differences between them to make them stand out from each other, so it only makes sense that they welcomed a series like Aero Fighters into their family. What I am trying to say here if you haven’t picked up on it at this point is that Aero Fighters 2 is a very “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” title, which in this case is a good thing, because Aero Fighters 2 turned out to be yet another pretty good game, one that doesn’t quite surpass the original game, but one that still manages to be fun and frantic for any shmup enthusiast to enjoy.

The story is, what a shocker, aliens are attacking the world again, and it is up to you and an even bigger cast of even more colorful characters are the only ones who can take them down, which I would say is extremely lazy, but the pretty colors and explosions are distracting me and making me forget about all of that. The graphics are almost identical to the previous game, which I would be a teensy bit upset about, but it is an SNK game after all, so there is no use in complaining at that point, the music is pretty good, having plenty of great tracks to listen to while blowing shit up, even if nothing really stuck with me after the playthrough, and the gameplay/control is also identical to that of the original game, which some people could be tired of at this point, but again, I can’t focus on that because of the pretty explosions.

The game is your typical arcade shmup, where you take control of one of eight different characters in different fighter jets, go through a set of ten different stages through locations around the entire world, and even in the depths of space, shoot the fuck out of everything on screen, even if it isn’t trying to kill you at all because you need them bonus points, gather plenty of different powerups to assist you along the way and gather plenty of money icons to increase your points so you can dominate those other chumps in the high score table, and take on plenty of big, bad, and overly-detailed bosses that are a blast to fight, both figuratively and literally. It has just the right blend of familiarity and adrenaline that can be imprinted into your head and make you not want to stop playing, as it remains really fun, despite how, at the end of the day, not too much has changed from the original game.

To summarize this game as a whole, it is basically just Aero Fighters but with more stuff. Not only are all of the stages, bosses, and obstacles that you find new, but there is also more content as a whole, and more fun quirks added to make it that much more memorable and enjoyable. You can even see that as early as whenever you are selecting which fighter jet that you are going to use to use, as not only is there a greater selection then in the last game, but the pilots themselves also have a lot of personality to them, with some of them consisting of an actual baby, a robot, a ninja, and even a motherfucking DOLPHIN! Seriously, how can you not like that? Not to mention, there are more stages, more weapon types to mess around with, more explosions to be seen, and more fun to be had, so if you have a friend that is also a big shmup person like you, you two can jump in and have a really good time with all that is given to you here.

However, for those of you who aren’t so entranced by the art of bullets making contact with objects and watching them burst in an explosive way, then you will probably not find too much enjoyment out of this game, as it is not only yet another typical arcade shmup, but it also has basically zero changes from the original for the most part. Not only that, but the game doesn’t fix any of the problems that I had with the original, with it still being too short, only around 20 minutes or so, and you still have to play through the game twice in order to get the true ending. This isn’t too much of a big deal, especially since the stages themselves are really short, and not to mention there are these new types of stages that just pour power-ups down your throat like it’s candy, but it still doesn’t warrant a second playthrough just to see the stages again with maybe one or two new bosses. Or maybe it does for you, I dunno, but I’m a real one-and-done guy when it comes to shmups, so this is disturbing my natural flow, and I hate it.

Overall, despite its lack of change and its refusal to fix any of the issues I had with it from last time, Aero Fighters 2 manages to still be a really good shmup from the mid-90s, one that gives you all the explosive, fast and fun gameplay that you expect from this series, and one that is just baaaaaaaaaarely better then the original, by a small margin. I would definitely recommend it for those of you who were fans of the original game, as well as those who are shmup fanatics in general, because while you may be short changed of new content, you certainly won’t be short changed of that good ol’ fashioned arcade fun. Again, I have to ask, how can you hate a game where you fight a giant space monkey as a boss? Not only that, but they even one-up themselves here by having a giant eyeball with human hands, and a… weirdly anime-esque octopus boss………….. Japan is weird.

Game #544

Over the course of time, specific genres in video games have become staples of the industry, to where we wouldn’t be able to imagine it without them nowadays. Platformers, adventure games, metroidvanias, first-person shooters, visual novels, and of course, role-playing games, or RPGs are just a few of the genres that continue to be relevant to this very day, through brand new releases that either try to reinforce what the genre is capable of delivering, or even ones that try to elevate the genre to new heights that weren’t thought possible before. However, it wasn’t always like this, for some genres like RPGs weren’t always as big of a staple on the industry as they are now, in America anyways, being outshined by other genres like platformers, shmups, and fighting games at every turn. Some developers would take notice of this, and as a result, they would try to make these types of games more “accessible” to audiences in these territories, all for the better… and for the worst. One such instance of this would be with one odd-ball of a title known as Final Fantasy Mystic Quest.

At this point in time, Squaresoft, the primary developers of the Final Fantasy series, had been working towards making RPGs more accessible through audiences in several ways, such as with the release of Final Fantasy IV in the US being noticeably much easier than the original version, because Americans just can’t handle a game with normal difficulty! They are too stupid, obviously! With this mindset in mind after changing up that title like that, they would then go onto making Mystic Quest, the first side game in the series that was specifically made with the U.S. market in mind, which, as we have seen from games like ActRaiser 2, isn’t exactly the best mindset to have when you are making anything. But nevertheless, the game was released, and has gone onto having a divisive reputation ever since. I only played through the game for the first time a few months ago, and from that experience, I can say that, as a whole, the game is… ok. It definitely has some interesting ideas and quirks that do make it stand out from the rest, but it is primarily a repetitive and sluggish experience, one that never elevates much further then what you are presented with.

The story is, appropriately, extremely basic, where a young adventurer by the name of Benjamin has his village destroyed seemingly out of nowhere, and he is informed by a strange old man that, because of this, he must fulfill the “knight’s prophecy”, where he must travel across the four continents, gather the four crystals, and use them to defeat the demon king, so Benjamin then sets out to do just that, which is a very basic premise, one that is way simpler then what FFIV gave us, but it does fall in line with previous FF games, and it is as simple as they are wanting, so I guess I can excuse it. The graphics are good, having plenty of good monster and dungeon designs, but a lot of it does feel uncreative and artificial, much like the rest of this game, the music is pretty good, having plenty of great tracks that I enjoyed listening to like the battle theme, but it doesn’t quite reach the heights of previous games’ soundtracks, and the gameplay/control is very familiar to those who have played any other Final Fantasy game before this, except now it is much more simplistic to the point where a toddler could play this game and have an easy time with it.

The game is a traditional turn-based RPG, where you primarily take control of Benjamin, go across a vast overworld through four different continents, talk to the many inhabitants of the world who will either give you helpful hints/advice or help you on your journey in some way, find plenty of items that you can use to either upgrade your defense, mobility, or attack, purchase items from the shop, or heal yourself whenever you need to, and naturally, get into random battles, where you will attack your opponent using either your main weapon or whatever spells or items you have lying around in your pockets, gain experience points, and level up to increase your stats. Any RPG veteran knows this set-up by heart, and they will be able to get used to how this game works pretty quickly… in fact, too quickly, if you ask me, and while a lot of it is passable and appealing to said veterans of the genre, it is also completely shallow in its execution in many areas.

If I were to describe this game in one sentence, I would say it is a Final Fantasy game made for babies. Everything about the game, which we have seen time and time again from previous games in the series, has been extremely simplified and dumbed down for the player, which could aid less experienced players along, yes, but it also becomes mind-numbing and unengaging as a result, therefore making it tedious to trek through. Some stuff in the game remains the same, such as walking through towns and dungeons, talking to people, buying items from the shops, and sleeping at inns, so that is all well and good, but in terms of the raw gameplay, the meat and potatoes of what any player would come to an RPG for, that has all been completely changed around for the worse.

Starting off, we have the overworld of the game, which is no longer a vast open land that you can explore freely to see what kinds of locations and creatures you can find, but instead, it has turned into a world map from a Mario game. You travel from location to location with nothing in-between, which does make things faster and more convenient, yes, but it also completely removes any sense of an adventure or its grand scale from this entire journey, making it feel empty and lifeless. The same can be said about the battles themselves, which are no longer random, but instead, every single enemy you can fight in this game appears on the map, to where a lot of the time, you can simply avoid them if you don’t feel like fighting them. Not only that, but instead of encountering enemies while walking along the overworld, you now have these designated enemy spaces, where you can fight 10 different battles in the row to get a certain reward.

Once again, this is a very beginner-friendly approach to something you would typically find in one of these games, which I am all for, but the problem with this is, to make up for this, they spam the fuck out of these enemies, especially in later parts of the game. If you choose to fight every single creature so that you can get as strong as possible (which I tend to do in most RPGs), then you will be spending hours just fighting these random enemies over and over and over again, each one dealing out the same EXP every time, and it is, once again, an absolute slog to go through. Yeah, you can avoid plenty of these fights, but there will be many instances where you CAN’T avoid these fights at all, and will be forced to take on every single thing in your way, and you can imagine how fun that would be.

And speaking of which, the battles themselves aren’t that much better than what you find outside of them. The Active Time Battle system is gone from this game, and we are back to the traditional turn-based system, and it works pretty much how you would expect it to, with the only real difference in this being how the perspective is shifted from the back rather than the side. That is cool and all, but what makes these battles so boring would be because of, again, how simplistic they are. The enemies barely do anything that’ll cause too much harm for you, and even if they do, you can just easily remedy that in a matter of seconds, given how much money you are given to purchase potions and elixirs for healing and revive spells, and the only thing you need to do in order to win these battles is just to spam the attack button and then wait until you win. Not all battles are like this, but it is rare you will find a fight that needs a little more strategy then that to win, and while this is, again, beginner friendly, it is still extremely mind-numbing and boring, especially with the previously mentioned abundance of foes that you will need to take on, a lot of the time at once.

However, with all that being said, I can’t say in good conscience that this game is bad, because it really isn’t. It lacks any of the complexity and innovation that previous Final Fantasy games had, and it can be a chore to go through, but it does manage to accomplish the one goal that it sets out to accomplish: being an RPG for beginners. I could definitely see someone who isn’t really familiar with RPGs at all being able to sit down, play this game, and have a good time with it, even if it wouldn’t be my first recommendation for someone who isn’t all too familiar with the genre. In addition, while a lot of the gameplay features here have been dumbed or are just not that fun to deal with, I do like some of the mechanics and ideas that this game tries out.

For one thing, in a lot of the dungeons and towns you go through, you can interact with various things using your weapons that will help you proceed forward, such as with cutting down trees with your axe, pressing buttons with your sword, or climbing along walls using your claw. It doesn’t offer too much variety, but it does offer some more mobility through these dungeons that hasn’t been seen previously, which is nice. Not to mention, you can jump as well, which also increases the mobility you have in a lot of areas, and as a personal note, I also like how, whenever you are dealing damage to an enemy, their appearance changes depending on how much health they have. It isn’t much, but it is a neat little touch that makes battles somewhat more enjoyable.

Overall, despite its beginner-friendly nature and some interesting ideas that I enjoyed messing around with, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest is one of the most bland and basic RPGs that I have ever played in my life, one that doesn’t offer anything revolutionary or interesting for this series or genre as a whole, and instead ends up being a repetitive slog that you can beat in a single day if you spam through a lot of the fights by just attacking over and over again with no thought. I would recommend it for those who are HUGE RPG fanatics, or for those of you who aren’t familiar with them and want to give the genre a shot, because despite all my gripes with it, who knows: it could potentially become a new favorite of yours. Although, if you are asking me, I would recommend a Pokemon game for your first RPG, preferably FireRed or LeafGreen. Those games at least have adorable creatures you can catch and battle with. This game has some creatures that you could say are adorable, but I can’t catch them……..

Game #543

You know what I am a fan of? When things get WEIRD. And I’m not talking about when things get kinda mystical or fantastical, but more so when something goes out of its way to make you say “what the fuck”, but only in the best way possible. Of course, there have been plenty of games, movies, or what have you that follow typical formulas we have all seen time and time again, and we remain fans of said formulas despite how stale they can get. On the other side of the fence, though, you then get the weird stuff, the products that take what you typically expect from a setting or a scenario, twist it on its head, add a bunch of nonsense for the sake of it, and make something so utterly bizarre that you can’t help but love it and all of its strange, awkward beauty. One of the best examples of this when it comes to video games, especially those from the mid 90s, can be found with Earthworm Jim.

I have little to no experience with the Earthworm Jim franchise entirely, with the only little experience I had with the series being with when I decided to purchase myself a copy of the original game on the SNES, I played it for about 10 minutes, and then stopped to go do something else… for over half a decade. I have always wanted to give it a full shot though, not only because of how it has had quite a few titles at this point, along with a full animated series, but also because I just wanted to see if it was as weird and bizarre as many say it is. So, I decided to give the Genesis version of the game a shot on the NSO, and now that I have fully played through it, I can confirm that yes, the game is really fucking weird, but it is also really fucking good as well. There are some parts and design choices that do get on my nerves, which I can imagine get on others’ nerves as well, but it still managed to be fun, challenging, and weird enough for me to say that I had a great time with it.

The story is simple, yet appropriately bizarre for a game like this at the time, where a random earthworm named Jim is just doing… worm things one day, when all of a sudden, a super suit falls from the sky and lands straight on him, causing him to mutate and inhabit the suit like a regular person, gaining newfound powers and abilities. Because of this though, he then finds that he is being hunted down by several villainous fiends who wish to get their hands on the suit, so it is up to him to venture off into the dangerous galaxy he inhabits, defeat the many foes in his way, and complete his quest of meeting the fairest maiden in the land, Princess What’s-Her-Name. It is utterly strange and beyond stupid, which means it fits perfectly for the kind of game this is, and I wouldn’t change a single thing about it.

The graphics are pretty great, having plenty of great environments to venture through and admire, but they really shine when it comes to all of the characters, especially with Jim himself, who all have animations that looks like it came right out of a Saturday morning cartoon, and it holds up wonderfully after almost 30 years, the music is pretty great, having plenty of great tunes to listen to while blasting apart whatever alien or chicken comes your way, with several tracks like this one sticking with me after my initial playthrough, and the gameplay/control is pretty simple for the time, but it mixes things up with the many different types of challenges and gameplay segments you will run into, which makes things varied and exciting for most of the entire game.

The game is a 2D action platformer, where you take control of Jim, go through many different levels that range from a huge-ass junkyard to the depths of Hell, each one changing things up to keep you on your toes, defeat plenty of strange enemies that you will encounter along the way using either your entire body as a whip or your trusty blaster that can be fired in eight different directions, gather plenty of ammo for your blaster, health pickups, and extra lives to assist you throughout your journey, and take on plenty of different bosses that will not only test your dodging and shooting skills, but will also change things up to where you will need to hit them in other ways that don’t involve shooting and whipping, which are always interesting to see. A good amount of it is standard for the genre, but the game will make sure to throw plenty of things at you to remind you that it isn’t just your typical old-school platformer, and it ends up being much more lovable and interesting as a result, making it a great time to play through.

I have mentioned it many times already at this point, but it bears repeating here: this game is WEIRD. There are so many strange, odd, and juvenile things that happen in this game, giving the game so much personality to the point where I could never imagine this series without some of the random stuff it pulls out of its ass, and I love it for that. For example, there is one part in the beginning of the game where, in order to progress through the level, you have to launch a cow into space, with you being given a Cow Launched prompt as a result of doing so. Why did you have to do that? I don’t know! You just do it for the sake of it, and isn’t that all you really need? Not to mention, this leads to a pretty funny scene at the end of the game that I won’t spoil here, along with you being able to see the cow flying across the background at certain points in the levels, which is pretty funny to see as well. This weirdness also extends to some of the bosses that you fight as well, such as a chicken operating a death machine, some random guy that barfs dead fish at you, and a booger monster (not that booger monster), each being as weird as they sound, and being pretty fun to fight.

Not only that, but the game also manages to change things up when it comes to the primary gameplay as well, making things interesting and more enjoyable as the game continues. In-between most of the levels, you have to race this bird guy towards the end, while also collecting plenty of orbs, shields, and boosts along the way, and while these sections can get pretty hard, especially towards the end, these are a nice change of pace after you make it past the main levels. In addition, there are some other gameplay changes that can be found here as well, such as one where you are bungee-jumping while fighting that booger monster I mentioned earlier, one where you are navigating through an underwater maze using a submarine, and several instances where you are actually separated from your suit, and you need to get through several obstacles so that you can get back in the suit, which are neat to see.

With all that in mind, none of the weird things and fun gameplay changes can prepare you for what is undeniably one of the biggest things holding this game back: this game is REALLY FUCKING HARD. From the start of the game, you will have to deal with plenty of different challenges that aren’t exactly easy, coupled with plenty of enemies and obstacles placed throughout the stages, and while a lot of it is doable, there are also plenty of parts in the game that are brutal to get through. Don’t even get me started on the final level in the game, Buttville, which has so many different spike traps and instances of bullshit that I don’t see how anyone would be able to beat this without using save states or cheats of some kind.

Then there are those stages that just aren’t really that fun to play through whatsoever, such as the case with For Pete’s Sake, which is just one huge escort mission. Throughout the stage, you will have this purple dog that will be happily walking along the whole way, and you have to make sure he gets through the entire level without falling down any pits. You have to do this by making sure to take care of the many hazards along the way, while also whipping the dog to get him to jump certain gaps at plenty of instances, or even to shoot at him to cause him to stop just in case you are in a tight spot. All of this is much easier said than done, and there were plenty of moments where I could just barely manage to get the dog to another ledge or further along in the stage before they could fall into a pit, turning into a hideous monstrosity and then proceeding to kill you…………….. you know, just like real dogs.

Overall, despite its brutal difficulty and several stages that just aren’t fun at all, this game still managed to be one of the most unique and bizarre games that I have ever played from this era, and I managed to have a great time with it for most of the ride, with there being plenty of great challenges that were pretty satisfying to overcome, and the kind of charm that you just cannot find anywhere else. I would definitely recommend it for those of you who love old-school platformers like this, as well as those who just like weird shit, because if this game doesn’t manage to make you laugh or smile at just how weird and dumb it is, then I don’t know what will. I just wonder how they gonna manage to one-up themselves in the next game, in terms of both quality and weirdness. But hey, for a guy that has a last name that sounds like TenNipple, I’m sure it will be an easy feat for him.

Game #542

Man, I really haven’t been covering that many beat-’em-ups recently, haven’t I? Those games used to be one of my go-to genres when it came to whatever game I wanted to try out and potentially review on this website, and while I have checked out one or two recently, it has been nothing like what I had checked out further back then. It makes sense, seeing as I have already covered some of the most note-worthy titles from that era, and I have been focusing on clearing out a lot of other shit, but I think it is about time I go back to talking about more of these games, including some of the more obscure ones that I have been wanting to try out. So, let’s start this train off with one that has been on my radar for a long time, Night Slashers.

Whenever I would scroll through the NS eShop, I would always see this game available on discount, and while I would never purchase it for myself, I had always been curious about it, wondering if it was any good, or if it was better then some of Data East’s previous outings in the beat-’em-up genre, like Bad Dudes or Gates of Doom. I mean, it’s clear it has some nostalgic value to people, seeing as there was a remake announced for the game not too long ago, so I figured I should probably give it a shot to see what it was all about… only to find that it had been removed from the eShop with no word as to why (thanks for that, Johnny Turbo). Therefore, I booted up the ol’ emulator, blazed through it all in one go, and ended up having a good time with it all around. It isn’t too different from other beat-’em-ups of the era, not even having too many unique ideas, but it still manages to be gratifying and fun, both in terms of the visuals and its gameplay, to where I can say it holds up.

The story is your generic beat-’em-up story with a hint of spookiness added in, where the world is suddenly overrun by monsters, mutants, and freaks alike, killing millions of people and taking down all government forces, with the carnage lasting for over three months, so it is up to the Night Slashers, a gang of vigilante warriors, to step up to the plate and stop these creatures once and for all, which is a slightly darker twist on your typical storyline for one of these games, and I like it well enough, even if we don’t get much else out of that. The graphics look pretty great, looking as overexaggerated and detailed as an arcade game like this should be, but it doesn’t look too different from other similar games at the time, the music is alright, having plenty of tracks that I did enjoy while playing through the game, but not many of them stuck with me after I stopped playing, and the gameplay/control is par for the course, featuring most of what you would come to expect from one of these games, but it still manages to be fun and engaging enough to where that doesn’t matter.

The game is your average side-scrolling beat-’em-up, where you take control of one of the three Night Slashers known as Jake, Chris and Hong-Hua, go through a set of seven different levels each taking place in a different environment, beat up every single ghost and goblin that stands in your way using plenty of regular attacks, or even some super attacks when things get too dicey, gather plenty of different weapons, gold, and food items to help you out along your way, and fight plenty of well-known monsters as bosses, each one testing you out not only on how skilled and fast you are, but also how many credits you can put into the machine before you throw up your hands and say “Fuck it!”. Any arcade veteran knows this song and dance all too well, and for what we got here, it works pretty well, and can be a great time with a friend, not just because of the standard gameplay, but the flavor it has compared to other games at the time.

One of the things that sets it apart from many other games at the time is its emphasis on horror. It isn’t necessarily a scary game, and it doesn’t try to be, but many of the enemies you will face will include zombies, werewolves, vampires, Frankenstein, and even Death himself. In addition, the game is also extremely violent, having lots of blood and gruesome death animations, not just for all the enemies, but also for the bosses, as they melt away upon defeat, or they crumble down, only to never be able to fight again… for the most part. It all feels like a cross between the gothic nature of Castlevania and the brutality of Splatterhouse, and for the most part, it works out wonderfully. It can get kinda stale after a certain amount of time, especially with the lack of variety that can be seen in the late game, but for the most part, the style and blood really does carry this game in plenty of places.

Unfortunately though, it can’t carry it for too long, because if you take the style and blood out of the equation, then it just becomes your standard beat-’em-up from the arcades and nothing more. Nothing really new or exciting is added to the gameplay to make it stand out from others, so if you aren’t one that is interested in a horror setting like this, or the amount of blood that is present, then you won’t really be a fan of this. Not to mention, it also houses some quirks that I am not a fan of when it comes to this genre, such as repeating boss fights, and having sluggish combat. It isn’t exactly as sluggish as something like Golden Axe, and it works fine enough for the most part, but it just doesn’t feel as fluid or fast as it should be, and thus, it kinda makes the combat feel like a drag in some places. Not enough to where I would stop playing mid-way through, but enough to linger in the back of my mind while playing.

Overall, despite the repeating bosses, sluggish-ish combat, and a lack of change from other games in the genre, Night Slashers is still a perfectly competent and enjoyable romp, one that provides plenty of gothic elements and bloody brawls for those who are fans of both of those things, and the same gameplay that you can enjoy with a friend for a good half hour or so before moving onto something else. I would recommend it for those who are big fans of beat-’em-ups, especially ones from this era of the arcades, because while it isn’t anything to write home about, it still does its job, and does it well enough to where you won’t regret your time with it. And hey, maybe at some point later down the road, I’ll check out the remake as well whenever it comes out………. you know, if it doesn’t suck.

Game #541

When it comes to any racing game that was made or published by Nintendo over the years, most people would immediately think of Mario Kart for obvious reasons, but right alongside that series, Nintendo has made plenty of other racing series over time that have quite the history to them. Of course, a lot of people would be familiar with F-Zero, a series that used to be thriving until Nintendo ignored it for almost 20 years, until they decided to drip-feed the fans with a battle royale rendition of the original game (hey, better then nothing, right?......), and if you are a special little snowflake, then you may also be familiar with Wave Race, a racing series involving jet skis… and nothing else (I dunno, I never played Wave Race). Ignoring all those other ones though, there is one other racing series that is often forgotten amongst all the others, and that would be with the Cruis’n series, which doesn’t exactly look like the most original or enticing of these games upon first glance, but it has gotten a good number of games ever since its inception in 1994, so I figured I would go ahead give the series a shot with the first game in the series, Cruis’n USA.

Now, since I am incredibly stupid, I decided to play the N64 version of this game for this review, and for those of you who are very familiar with this game, you would know that this is the worst version of the game. I did try to play the arcade version initially, but like with Raiden II, I just couldn’t find several of the files that are needed to properly run the rom, so I had to stick with the inferior version. But again, like I said before, I am incredibly stupid, so when I did play through the N64 version, I did actually end up having a very good time with it. It isn’t too exciting or unique from plenty of other arcade racers, and it does have its fair share of issues, but it managed to do its job and provide me with a fast, fun, and chaotic racing experience, and that is all I can ask for at the end of the day.

The graphics look pretty great, looking a lot more detailed and crisp when compared to something like Ridge Racer, but it is obviously incredibly dated when compared to many of the other racing games that came out afterwards, the music is pretty good, having plenty of tracks that you can listen to while racing through these tracks, with the tracks in the N64 version sounding a bit… off, but I still enjoyed a handful of the tracks available, the controls are simple, yet they work well enough, with you being able to get a feel for the speed and turning easily, although it can definitely feel off at times, and the gameplay is extremely basic for an arcade racer, but sometimes that’s all you need at the end of the day, as the game still manages to be fun regardless of how simple it is.

The game is your typical arcade racer, where you take control of one of four different vehicles, each with their own individuals stats to take advantage of, race through many different tracks that stretch through a good portion of locations found in America, pass by many different opponents along the way and try to keep them from taking first place from you, avoid the many different hazards that you will find during races, such as debris or other vehicles on the road, and try to reach the finish line as fast as possible so you can make your mark on the high score board. It’s the kind of fast-paced racing action that you could get from plenty of other games out there, I’m sure, but it still manages to keep things exciting and challenging throughout all of the races, and any fan of the genre should be able to get a kick out of it.

For all of the 3D racers that I have played for this website so far, one of the biggest things dragging them down was the fact that, despite how impressive they were for the time they came out, most of them were limited to only one track, meaning that you couldn’t get much replay value from the game, and it was just more so a one-and-done deal. So it was a breath of fresh air for me to find that this game has plenty of tracks that you can race through in the game’s grand prix mode, where you will race through areas such as the Appalachian Mountains, the Grand Canyon, and San Francisco. The hazards and terrain you drive on never changes between each course, but the environments definitely do, making most of the tracks feel distinct from one another, and thus, fun to race through, even if some of them can be a little repetitive at points. Aside from that though, there are also some other neat additions that are cool to see, such as the ability to race with a friend (but not with four people at once, because what the fuck is an Ultra 64?), and you can even change the music that you are currently listening to in a race with a push of a button. It isn’t much, but again, it is a nice feature to have.

There isn’t much else that the game has going for it though, as it is still a pretty standard arcade racing game. You drive around, you don’t hit oncoming traffic, you jump over ramps, and you are greeted by a gif of a woman handing someone a trophy whenever you reach the goal. It has about everything you would expect, but not much more, not really giving you much reason to play it over other titles in the genre, or even from this series for that matter. Not to mention, in the “grand prix” mode of the game, in order to be able to make it to the next race in the lineup, you must get first place every time, which isn’t necessarily that bad of a requirement, but considering how crazy and tight some of the future races can be, it can be a detriment more than anything. It isn’t that big of an issue, but it does make my silver-medal-ass look like a chump.

Also, for those of you that plan on playing this game at some point in the future, let me tell you right now, DO NOT PLAY THE N64 VERSION. I managed to have a good enough time with this version of the game, but even with that in mind, the arcade version is MILES better than this for a multitude of reasons. Most of the game remains the same in terms of its content, but the visuals obviously aren’t as good as the arcade version, the music, while still being enjoyable, is definitely a downgrade in several areas, the collision physics whenever you hit anything are completely out of whack, and it can hinder you a lot more than it can help you in plenty of cases, and worst of all, the frame rate is SO BAD. There were many times throughout my time playing the game where it would stutter like crazy, dropping down to single-digit frames, making getting through some parts of the races unbearable due to the constant lag. Thankfully, there were plenty of times where the game ran pretty smoothly, but this becomes too much of a recurring issue that can’t be ignored.

Overall, despite how simple it is compared to other racers, and how terrible the N64 version of the game is, Cruis’n USA still manages to be a pretty great jumping point for this series, and a great racing game on its own, having plenty of races to go through, high speeds all throughout with its satisfying gameplay, and it is challenging enough to where you can’t just simply hold down the acceleration button to win in a lot of cases. I would recommend it for those who are fans of this series, as well as racing games in general, because even if future games make it look like garbage by comparison, it could’ve turned out a lot worse than what we managed to get here. But again, seriously, do not play the N64 version, it is pretty goddamn bad. I just hope that the N64 versions of the next two games manage to run smoothly enough for this system. Or maybe I can actually manage to play the arcade versions of those games. Knowing me though, I’m probably gonna end up getting the short end of the stick either way…

Game #540

Have you ever had a moment where you fuck up royally at something, and you just wish that you could go back and do it over again so that it turns into a positive memory of your life? I’m sure we have all had those instances of memories we wish we could forget, as I definitely wish I could forget about a lot of the fuck ups I made in the past, or to go back and remedy those situations. Unfortunately, unless we ever invent time travel, that will most likely never happen. With video games and other forms of media, though, that is a different story. You could release something that many consider pretty lackluster, bad, or just flat out god-awful, and the people that worked on it could live in shame for the rest of their lives because of it, or, on the other hand, you could go back to what you had before, change some things up or rebuild it entirely from scratch, and you could redeem said product by making it much better in the public’s eyes. One such instance of this happening would be with the dated title known as New Adventure Island.

So, technically, this game is not a remake of the original Adventure Island, and it is instead just another game that was made in the Adventure Island series, but from what I have played here, it may as well be a remake. It shares a lot of very similar elements with the original game, from the levels to the things that you fight, even down to the bosses, which could be seen as a bad thing right out of the gate. I have mentioned plenty of times in the past that I think that the original Adventure Island, and the original Wonder Boy to an extent, are bad games, being extremely repetitive, way too difficult, and just not fun to play through after a while. Thankfully though, this game pretty much takes a lot of the problems that the original game had and fixes it, making a pretty good game out of it. I wouldn’t say it fixed all my major gripes with that original game, but it does make things a lot more fun to play, while also being charming and fast at the same time.

The story is all too familiar for every game in this series, where Master Higgins gets married to Tina in a glorious ceremony at the church, but all of a sudden, the evil Baron Bronsky comes down and not only kidnaps Tina, but also the many island children that have come to enjoy the ceremony, so in a fit of rage, Master Higgins then sets out to once again save Tina, all of the island children, and defeat the Baron once and for all, which is about as generic as a story for this series gets, and it does nothing more then continuing to make me feel bad for Higgins, as the guy just can’t have a relationship without someone kidnapping his girl. The graphics are fantastic, having a wonderful art style that I don’t want to stop looking at, even if the animations for the enemies and bosses leave a lot to be desired, the music is pretty good, having plenty of energetic and cheery tunes, along with some more menacing ones that were also nice to hear, and the control/gameplay is… well, it is an Adventure Island game, so you should know by now what to expect.

The game is a 2D action platformer, where you take control of Master Higgins yet again, go through six different worlds, each with four levels a piece, along with a seventh final stage, dodge plenty of enemies along the way or defeat them using whatever weapons that you may find on your journey, gather plenty of weapons, extra lives, and food items to keep your hunger bar from depleting completely, and take on several fun, albeit very similar bosses that will take some time to take down if you aren’t too careful. For those who have played any other Adventure Island game, especially the original game, then a lot of this will feel very familiar to you, but it does still manage to be very fun most of the time, and it does feel a lot better to play than the original game.

Like I mentioned before, the game is very similar to that of the original game, having very similar level structures, level themes, and the same type of bosses, but thankfully, this game manages to fix all of that by adding in a wonderful little spice of life known as variety. While the level layouts don’t change all too much, all the environments, hazards, and the types of enemies you can encounter change throughout the game, making things visually distinct and interesting for most of the journey and fun to play through, even if it isn’t as interesting as other games. Not to mention, while most of the bosses are the same dude with the head of a different creature, each one has a different attack, such as one that creates a wall of ice spikes to send shooting at you, or one which sends a wave of fire arching towards you. Each one is defeated the same way, but the way that you approach these fights is slightly altered each time, which does make things a lot more fun and engaging, which I really appreciate.

In addition, some elements that were brought into the series in previous sequels are also brought into this title as well. You now have multiple weapons that you can find throughout the land, such as spears, boomerangs, and fireballs, and while most of them work the exact same way, some end up doing more damage than others, making it so that you wanna stick with one weapon for as long as you can for the most effect. And finally, I know I already brought this up earlier, but I absolutely love the visuals in this game, and they help make me want to play more of it so that I can enjoy every second of this. It’s just such a cute art style, and it really shines in instances such as whenever you beat a world, and before the next one, you are greeted with a cutscene that has Master Higgins dancing in some way with some other island creatures, with me having a huge grin on my face the entire time whenever any of these popped up.

However, if none of that sounds all too enticing for you, then at the end of the day, this is just another Adventure Island game. You run around throw things, eat things, and die to that octopus that you didn’t see coming until it is too late. You know how it goes at this point, and this game really doesn’t do anything new or original when compared to every other game before it. That doesn’t necessarily make the game bad at all, but at this point, we are four games in, and the lack of any prominent new features does kinda suck, and it does make it to where I can’t say this game is any better than that of Adventure Island II or even Super Adventure Island. A cute art style can only do so much for something like this before you start asking where all the new, cool shit is.

Overall, despite a major lack of change, and while it isn’t technically a remake at all, New Adventure Island manages to take most of what was wrong with the original game in this series and fixes it to where I ended up having a really great time with it, having the same basic, yet really fun gameplay at a reasonable length, coupled with an amount of charm that made this really enjoyable to admire as I was going along. I would definitely recommend it for those who fans of the previous games in the series, as well as those who didn’t like the original game like me, because while I can’t say for sure that you will like this one much more, you can definitely appreciate the effort put into making this into what is essentially a much better version of that original title. It’s also too bad that this was only released on the TurboGrafx 16, because I would kill to be able to play this game on modern platforms. Yeah, it did get re-released for the Virtual Console and PSN a while back… you know, before those services got shut down……… I hate video game companies so much.

Game #539

Isn’t it always satisfying to see a redemption arc be fully completed? You know, you have this character, series, or whatever that starts out at the lowest point imaginable, where only small percentage of people could say they are a fan of it, but then gradually over time, it starts getting better and better through whatever means, until it then reaches the point where it isn’t necessarily beloved per se, but it is liked by a lot more people then before, outnumbering the others that still don’t like it. One redemption arc I never expected to see would be with the World Heroes series, starting off with a pretty piss-poor attempt at capitalizing on the success of Street Fighter II, which was greeted by groans that could be heard across the world, and then there was World Heroes 2, a sequel that definitely did improve on some elements that were featured in the original game, but it wasn’t enough to make it really great or even pretty good, like with other fighters at the time. Thankfully, I think we have reached the point where the series finally found its stride, thanks to World Heroes 2 Jet.

Despite what the title may tell you, this is NOT an updated version of World Heroes 2, but rather instead, it is the third mainline game in the series. I don’t know why the fuck they decided to name it that with that in mind, or why they decided to include the word “Jet” at the end of the title, but I’m sure it did cause a lot of confusion for plenty of people back in the day. I wasn’t really focused on that for too long though when going into this game, because I was more worried about if I was gonna like it to begin with. This was World Heroes that we’re talking about, and I knew that the second game was better than the original, but it could always drop off in quality again at the drop of a hat. Thankfully though, that was not the case, as this is without a doubt the best game in the series so far, and it is pretty damn good all on its own. Maybe I am foolishly blinded due to the last fighting game I played before this being Double Dragon V, but this game manages to be quite an improvement on the formula established in the previous games, while also improving on several elements that I am very thankful for.

The story is about as lazy and generic as this entire series is, where sometime after the previous game's villains were defeated and their tournament was stopped, ANOTHER tournament is started up by a new team of villains as a ploy to take over the world, so it is up to the previous game's fighters, along with several newcomers, to figure out what's going on and save the world again, which is a story that I expected from a series like this, but at the same time, they could've put a little more effort into it. The graphics do look better than the previous game, having a lot of new flashy animations and detailed stages, but it mostly looks the same as every other fighting game from SNK at the time, so you know what you’re gonna get from it, the music is an improvement from what we got before, with there being some pretty sweet tracks here, but most of it is pretty forgettable overall, and the control/gameplay is what you have come to expect from these games, but this game definitely feels better to play then any other game in the series at this point.

The game is a one-on-one fighting game, where you take control of one of 17 different fighters from all across time, with most of them returning from the previous games, face off against many different opponents in plenty of different stages from across the world, throw out many different punches, kicks, and special attacks to deal damage to your opponent and to throw them off their game, make sure to dodge or block any oncoming attacks yourself so that you can get that sweet perfect bonus, and take on one or two different bosses that will certainly put up a challenge and test your might. It is a 90s fighting game, so you know exactly what you are gonna get with this, but to its credit, not only does it feel better to play then other entries in the series, but there are some slight changes that do make it feel different from the other games.

Like with the last games, there are two primary modes that you can take on, but they are much more simple this time around, with Entry to the Tournament being your standard arcade story mode for one of these games, and The Forging of Warriors is your standard versus mode. Both of them work as you would expect, but what is changed is the match setups that are contained in these modes. Unlike previous games, where all of the fights work in the same 2 out of 3 wins fashion, there are a good handful of fights here where you will take on three opponents at once, one for each round, which makes these fights much more interesting, fast, and exciting. Not only that, but depending on how well you do with each opponent, it will change the ending that you get, which is pretty good for adding some replay value to the entire experience.

Speaking of, the fights themselves do feel like an improvement over the previous games, feeling much smoother, faster, and more manageable than in previous games, with there being plenty of great special attacks that you can pull off that provide some great visuals, considering what came beforehand. In addition, they actually managed to find a balance in the difficulty, which is great to see. We had a problem with the original game where it was too easy, and then with the second game, it did feel pretty hard to get through a lot of the fights, but thankfully this time, a lot of the fights feel doable compared to other SNK games, while not being too easy to the point of being pathetic. Beginners to the series, or just in fighting games in general, may have a bit of a hard time, but you should get used to it pretty quickly and take down your opponents all the same.

If none of that is interest to you though, then there is nothing else here that will catch your attention. What we get here is, say it with me now, another typical SNK fighter of the time, with it having plenty to keep fanatics of the genre entertained, but nothing too new or interesting for me to truly recommend it over the many, MANY other options that were out at the time. Not to mention, while I did say that this is the best game in the series, it isn’t too much of a substantial jump in quality from World Heroes 2, so if you weren’t a fan of either of the two previous games, then you are still not going to have a good time with this one. I managed to have a pretty good time with it, but I can’t say for certain you would as well.

Overall, despite a lack of any major changes and being as uncreative as a typical SNK fighter would be, WH2J managed to take this series and change it from a slightly passable good fighting game to a pretty good fight game, one that has fast and fun enough gameplay, some neat ideas that do make fights more enjoyable for the time they use them, and is sure to satisfy the die-hard fans of this franchise plenty… you know, all two of them. I would recommend it for those who were big fans of the previous two games, as well as those who are big fighting game fans in general, because while this isn’t quite as good as other fighters of that era on the market, there are certainly worse options out there that you can choose over this.

But anyway, before we end this off, can we talk about the dumbass dialogue that is in this game for cutscenes? Yeah, I know SNK games at the time always had horrible translations, but this one is just… chef’s kiss, it is exquisite. There are several moments in particular from the end game that stick out to me, where there are multiple lines talking about wieners, which I am pretty sure is supposed to be winner, and one of the winning quotes from the main villain basically said that I am not good enough to… pop his zits? I don’t know what kind of zits he is talking about, but I don’t want anything to do with him or his zit fetish. Seriously, if you haven’t seen the cutscenes in this game and what they say, go look up a video of it, because it is some GLORIOUS shit, it’s so bad.

Game #538

It may be pretty obscure and generic when compared to many of the different shmups to have come out from the late 80’s to early 90’s, but all in all, the original Raiden was still a good enough time. It had fun and challenging gameplay, great weapons and weapon mechanics to mess around with, and it did feel immensely satisfying to get through some of these extremely challenging sections that were present in the game, despite arcade syndrome and its checkpoint system being a pain in the ass to deal with. Not only that, but it managed to do pretty well for itself as well, becoming one of the best-sellers for the arcade during its initial years, even if things were a tad slow at first, which meant that sequels were naturally going to follow. I mean, why not, it’s not like Seibu Kaihatsu had any other extremely popular games before this one… unless you are a huge fan of Dynamite Duke. But anyway, three years after the original game would come out, we would end up getting the sequel, Raiden II.

I wasn’t expecting too much out of this game, since it didn’t look like anything too impressive considering the screenshots I had seen from it, but I was hoping to get something noteworthy considering how long it took me to set it up. I had initially tried to get the game running on the totally legal Mame emulator, but I for the life of me couldn’t find the proper files for the rom online, whether it be due to roms not having it, or other websites preventing me from looking elsewhere because of my adblocker. So, eventually, I just decided to go with the version found on The Raiden Project, a collection for the PlayStation that features both Raiden 1 and 2 on it, with the port pretty much being one-to-one with the original arcade version. That was great to find, so I finally got the chance to jump into it, and what I got was… certainly more Raiden, alright. I would say it is better than the original Raiden, but that is only be a small margin, as in many ways, they are very similar in quality, but I did end up having a good enough time with the game anyway, so that is all that matters.

The story fills all the requirements of an arcade shmup sequel, where three years after their defeat, the Crystals return to take over Earth once again, thanks to the remnants of their machines forming a brand new army to take the planet over, so it is up to the Fighting Thunder to set out once again to take them down, which is about as generic as a sequel plot can get, but then again, I wasn’t expecting much from the story regardless. The graphics are practically identical to that of the original game, with only slight improvements seen here or there in terms of the icons and animations, but it still overall looks pretty good, the music is good, having plenty of decent tracks to listen to while blowing shit up, but nothing that managed to stick with me when I was done, and the control/gameplay is also practically identical to that of the original game, so any fan of the original can feel right at home with this game.

The game is a vertical scrolling shmup, where you take control of a Fighting Viper, go through eight different stages across several generic environments on Earth and in space, shoot down any enemy that comes your way using whatever weapons that you have at your disposal, gather plenty of different power ups and bombs to get yourself better equipped for the task, while also upgrading said power ups to their maximum potential, and take on plenty of big, threatening bosses that will give you a pretty rough time if you are not a god at dodging and firing back. A lot of this is what you would expect not just from Raiden, but from any other shmup of this era, although to its credit, it still manages to be fun enough for what we get here, and there are one or two new additions that do make things a little more interesting.

In terms of the main gameplay mechanics, nothing is changed: you are still flying along, shooting people down, and trying not to die, but what you shoot down people with has been improved upon in this installment. Most of the weapons and missiles that you get, along with the power ups that can upgrade them, are the exact same, with the exception of a brand new weapon known as the Bend Plasma. At first, when you get it, it doesn’t seem like much, just another regular shot weapon for your ship, but then when you fully upgrade it, it basically takes the form of a Proton Pack, with it being a laser that automatically homes in on whatever enemy is near, which makes it an instant favorite of mine. I love me some all-powerful lasers, and having one that can also home in on people is oh so sweet to get your hands on.

Right alongside this is a new type of bomb known as the Cluster Bomb, which is basically just one bomb containing a bunch of smaller bombs, which are deployed upon use and will consecutively blow up whatever is around you. I don’t think I prefer this one over the regular bomb, as it just does a lot more damage, but this one does cover a much wider range, so it could be useful for taking out any smaller enemies that are surrounding you at all sides, which is nice. And finally, for one last tiny change that was made to the game: the checkpoint system is gone, with it working much more like a regular arcade game whenever you die, and thank god for that too. Makes things a lot less stressful.

With that being said though, it doesn’t eliminate all stress completely. Just like with the original game, arcade syndrome is in full force, as you will be dealing with plenty of things at once shooting at you from all directions, and you need to be a shmup master in order to get through a lot of it. I don’t think I would say this is as hard as something like Truxton II, but it can still get pretty damn difficult. Aside from that though, there isn’t really much else I can say about this game. It is essentially just a slightly better Raiden, which is great to see, especially since it has its own set of stages, bosses, and different power ups to try out, but if you weren’t captivated by what the original Raiden gave you, then this game most likely won’t change your mind on that.

Overall, despite a major lack of change and how it is still incredibly difficult, Raiden II is a step in the right direction from the original game, and just a good game in general, taking everything that worked from the original game, improving on it with some changes and new additions, and just making for a really solid time that any shmup fan could get behind. I would recommend it for those who were fans of the original Raiden, as well as for all those shmup fanatics out there, because while this is far from one of the best ones out there, it still manages to provide the explosive and challenging fun that many would look for from one of these games, and that’s all that matters. But before we go though, I do wanna briefly go over the slightly updated version of this game that was released just a year after this game, Raiden DX. Not much was changed with this version, except there are now a couple of new modes to try out that do change up how the game plays, which is cool, but it doesn’t really alter anything too much to where I would say you need to jump on it if you loved the original so much. And… that’s about it. I would go ahead and ask that the next game in this series tones down the difficulty like I did last time, but seeing as this game didn’t do that, I can only assume it will keep going up from here, and I will be dead by the time I reach Raiden V.

Game #537

(Part 4 of 4)

Y’all ever heard of this weird-ass thing called the Sega Channel? It was apparently this service that was around in the mid-90s that allowed owners of the Sega Genesis to play games on an online service for a monthly fee, which eliminated the need to go out and get the game for yourself if you don’t want to pay a full $60 for a game that was complete trash. It was a neat little idea, and it did last for a good while before shutting down, but while it did have plenty of benefits for owners of a Genesis, it also had plenty of costs as well. On one hand, you do get access to plenty of new Sega Genesis games and demos to play to your heart's content, but on the other hand, there were certain games that were made for the Sega Genesis that were released EXCLUSIVELY for the Sega Channel… for us Americans, anyway. This made it so that, once the Sega Channel was ultimately shut down in 1998, you could never play these games anymore, unless you wanted to go out of your way to buy a foreign copy of the game along with a Mega Drive, but who has the time, patience, and money for that? This meant that plenty of people would miss out on some truly great Genesis titles for the longest time, including today’s subject, Mega Man: The Wily Wars.

Nowadays, there have been several re-releases of this game to where you can easily play the game if you have access to it, but for the longest time, fans in America wouldn’t be able to officially play this game for the longest time, and I remember that this KILLED me inside back in the day. Knowing what this game was, I desperately wanted to get my hands on it for the longest time back then, but I couldn’t, seeing how it was only available in a completely different part of the world. It was only around when I was 15-16, I wanna say, and I went to a video game convention happening in my town where I found someone was selling bootleg cartridges of The Wily Wars that I finally managed to snag a copy for myself, and all was right with the world. It was worth it too, because even after so many years, The Wily Wars is still a pretty great game, one that gives plenty for fans of the series to play through and appreciate, while also providing new content and ideas that were great to see in action.

For those of you who are unaware, this game is pretty much the Mega Man equivalent of Super Mario All-Stars, where it takes the original trilogy of Mega Man games from the NES and completely remakes them for the Sega Genesis, featuring a new coat of 16-bit graphics and music right alongside it, as well as save points, which are not only pretty helpful, but they also make those dumbass grid passwords obsolete (and the whole world cheered). All of the games present here work pretty much exactly like they did back on the NES: they are all still 2D platformers where you run, jump, and shoot your way through plenty of different foes, obstacles, and bosses, gather plenty of different special weapons and upgrades to assist you on your journey, and question how this super-powered fighting robot is somehow unable to stop this crotchety old man from doing evil things. So, needless to say, if you enjoyed your time with any of the original NES versions of these games, then you will most likely enjoy these versions as well.

Really though, there’s not much else I can say in terms of the improvements between these versions of these games and the originals. Unlike with Mario All-Stars, The Wily Wars doesn’t really change anything too drastic about the games themselves in terms of save points, win conditions, or the content that is present, which isn’t a bad thing at all, but for those that are looking for more stuff to mess around with in these three original games, they aren’t going to get that here. They are just 16-bit versions of those original games, which, in my opinion, is still pretty great, because not only can I still enjoy these games in the way that they are supposed to be, but now they look much nicer than before, and looking at all the different sprites for all the characters, enemies, and bosses is nice to day the least, even if some… aren’t quite as good as others (Rock should really put sunscreen on before going out in the sun for that long).

However, despite how much I still enjoyed these renditions of the classic games, I can’t say they are perfect, as there are several issues that do hold them back from being the definitive version of these games, such as the music. Now, I wouldn’t necessarily say that a lot of the music remixed in this game is bad, and there are some pretty great tracks to be heard in this game, but since they are on the Genesis, most of them are accompanied by that good ol’ Genesis twang, so if you aren’t a fan of that, then you will hate listening to this game. Secondly, there is the issue with slowdown, which has been a recurring issue ever since the original Mega Man, to be fair, but here I think is where it is the absolute worst. There are plenty of sections in these remakes where it will slow down where it was never meant to, and while in some instances like with the Yellow Devil fight, it makes things easier, most of the time it isn’t pleasant to look at. Not to mention, there are also some little things that bug me as well, such as there being no difficulty option for Mega Man 2, and whenever you beat any boss, after the jingle plays, Mega Man stands there like an idiot for a good 10 seconds before teleporting out of the stage, almost as if he is waiting for his cue card.

Of course though, for those of you who know The Wily Wars by heart, then you would know that these remakes aren't all that this collection has to offer. Right alongside the remakes of Mega Man 1-3, there is also a new game mode known as Wily Tower, which can only be accessed after you have beaten the main three games. Let me tell you right now, THIS right here is the main reason why anyone should play this version of these games, as Wily Tower is the best part of the entire package. It is essentially a smaller Mega Man title bundled in with the other three, as it features its own entirely new story (and by that, I mean Wily is a dick, and you gotta stop him again), new stages, new challenges, and new bosses that you won’t find in any other game in the series. All on its own, it is really fun, not only because of all the different challenges you take on and the gameplay still being as tight as ever, but seeing all the different enemies and hazards of the main three games clashed together in this mode is pretty neat to see. Not to mention, since this mode was specifically made for the Genesis, the music doesn’t suffer from the same issues that the main games suffer from… at least, not by much, anyway.

But none of that even comes close to what is the main draw of this mode, and that would be how weapons and special items are handled. From the beginning of the mode, you are given access to all of the weapons and special items from Mega Man 1-3, but of course, since there are so many, you aren’t given the ability to carry all of them at once. Instead, before each stage, you are given the option to customize your loadout, choosing which weapons and special items that you can take into a stage, while also being able to swap out your options for whatever stage comes next. This, in my opinion, is a GENIUS mechanic, because not only does it give the player plenty of opportunities to experiment with the items they have access to, seeing what loadout is best for them, but it also allows for plenty of replayability, just to see what works best in what stages. It really does suck that this kind of feature never returns for any of the other games in the series, because it is that good, and I would say that I hope they bring this feature back for a future game in the series… but that would imply that Capcom would make another game in the series at all.

Overall, despite some issues with the music, some instances of slowdown getting in the way, and how I wouldn’t say these are the definitive versions of the classic three games, this is a fantastic collection of remakes of the original trilogy, one that any Mega Man fanatic like myself would love to play not just because of how well these games still hold up, but also because of the equally fantastic Wily Tower mode, not only providing a fresh, new experience for fans of the series, but also by doing things that the series had never done before and since this game. I would absolutely recommend it for those who are fans of the Mega Man series, or even for those who couldn’t really get into the original versions of these classic games, because while the games themselves remain mostly unchanged, the new 16-bit coat of paint and the inclusion of saving may just be all you need to give these games another proper shot. It’s just a shame though that this was initially locked into a subscription service for us Americans for so long… but hey, they at least brought it back!.... and locked it behind another subscription service……. but hey, it’s on the Sega Genesis Mini!...... that is only available in limited quantities…………………. I hate video games.

Collection #2/Game #536

(Part 3 of 4)

It’s no secret to anyone at this point that, in terms of Mega Man games, not only was Mega Man 2 a massive improvement over the original game in just about every way, but it also managed to do gangbusters for the series, which definitely caught Capcom’s attention after the original game didn’t sell well at all. Since this game managed to become such a massive success, they decided that they needed to go all in on this franchise now, not only creating many more games for the future to be released every year, but also to make Mega Man Capcom’s own primary mascot for the foreseeable future. This was great news and all, but this eventually lead to a pretty stressful development cycle when it came to the next game in the series, apparently due to not only having a director that “didn’t understand Mega Man” quite like the last one, but also due to deadlines not being met often, essentially making the final product an incomplete game. Nevertheless, the show had to go on, and thus, one year after the previous game, the world was then given Mega Man 3.

Much like the second game, this game also managed to be a pretty big hit, selling over a million copies, and it has garnered a pretty positive reception over time, but for me, from what I have seen, there have been plenty of people who have the exact opposite opinion. I have heard plenty people sing this game’s praises right alongside Mega Man 2 as being one of the best games in the entire series, and on the completely opposite side of the coin, I’ve heard people say it is a complete misfire, being one of the worst games in the series, and just not that fun to play at all. I can definitely see why some people would have that opinion about this game, but for me, while I don’t think it is as good as Mega Man 2, I would say it is still a wonderful entry in the series, bringing plenty of new elements that would become a staple for the series, and still providing plenty of fun challenges to take on and conquer at the same time.

The story is a bit different from the previous game while remaining mostly the same, where one day, Dr. Wily appears to Dr. Light to say that he is now reformed, wanting to now help make the world a more peaceful place rather than trying to take it over, and as if the last two games never happened, Dr. Light accepts his request, and thus, the two of them start working on a new peacekeeping robot known as Gamma. During the development of this new robot, eight new Robot Masters were developed to help mine the materials needed to create this robot, but all of a sudden, they start to go haywire and start to spread chaos wherever they go, so once again, Mega Man needs to set out to take them down and see who is behind all of this (as if it isn’t obvious enough). It is definitely a step-up from the last game’s story, even if it isn’t anything much more complex then “hey, go kill these robot assholes” again, which I am fine with, but it is just worth pointing out.

The graphics, once again, aren’t too different from the previous game, but they still manage to hold up extremely well after over 30 years, and all of the sprites for the enemies, characters, and bosses still look wonderful, the music is fantastic once again, having plenty of rocking tunes for you to bob your head to as you are going through plenty of these stages, with this being just one of the many great songs that you will hear throughout this game, and the control/gameplay is also very similar to the previous two games, but not only does it manage to still feel pretty great to play and conquer, but there are several new additions that do expand Mega Man’s capabilities, and they are pretty fun to use.

The game is a 2D action platformer, where you take control of Mega Man yet again, go through plenty of different levels that all culminate with one final trek through Dr. Wily’s fortress, run, jump, and shoot your way through many different enemies, obstacles, and platforming challenges that will test you in plenty of ways, gather plenty of health items, weapon ammunition, E-Tanks (which I totally didn’t forget to mention in the last review), and additional upgrades to help you out along your journey, and take on plenty of fun and somewhat challenging bosses, including the eight Robot Masters who, upon defeat, each give you a brand new weapon to use against many other foes you will encounter later down the road. It is your standard Mega Man experience through and through, but thankfully, there are some new changes to see this time around, both in terms of new upgrades for Mega Man, and new characters that would become regulars in the series, which does make the game as a whole very fun to go through when paired with everything else.

As if he was a real big fan of Strider, Mega Man now has the ability to slide in this game, not only being able to not get through narrow gaps to reach hidden goodies and other parts of a stage, but it can also be used a way to dodge attacks from certain foes, making some enemy encounters and boss fights a hell of a lot easier. I’m sure anyone who has ever played the classic Mega Man games to the point of becoming an expert at them pretty much uses this move non-stop whenever playing these games, because it real is a wonderful new technique, as it not only is extremely helpful in all of those circumstances I just mentioned earlier, but you can also use it to get through stages a hell of a lot faster, as it is quicker then just simply walking to the right.

In addition to this, you also have a new pal that joins you throughout this whole game, Rush the dog, who is the best good boy in the history of good boys, and I will fight you on the streets if you say otherwise. Not only is he adorable, but he can also assist you through many parts of the stages, whether it be by helping you reach higher places, flying across bottomless pits to reach your destination, or even by turning into a fucking submarine and traverse you through water easier. While some of these tools aren’t as useful as others, as a whole, Rush is a wonderful addition to not just this game, but the series as a whole, and he is always fun to use whenever he shows up in one of these games… despite how they nerf some of his moves in later games (why did they have to ruin the Rush Jet like that).

And finally, we have yet another new character that plays a big role in this game, Break Man, AKA Blues, AKA Proto Man, Mega Man’s brother who you will often encounter in this game while going through several of the stages, often accompanied by his classic whistle tune. Whenever you hear this, you will then be subjected to facing off against him in what should be a fearsome battle… if it wasn’t piss easy. Seriously, all he does for every single fight is walk from left to right, jump up slightly and shoot at you, which not only makes him pathetic, but it also makes these encounters boring. That’s really the only purpose he serves in this game, other than helping you out at the end of the game, but much like with Rush, Proto Man is a great addition to not just this game, but this series as a whole, and while he doesn’t do much in several titles later down the road, I wouldn’t be able to imagine the series without him.

Now, despite all of the good changes that were brought into this game, there are also several problems that this game has that does drag it down, and that can all be seen in the second half of the game. After defeating the eight Robot Masters for the first time, you are then forced to go through four of the stages you just completed again, only this time they are now harder than before, and in these stages, you will encounter Doc Robot, a recurring boss that will fight you using all of the weapons from the Robot Masters in Mega Man 2. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the first of plenty of instances where these games will pad themselves out, trying to extend game time when they really don’t need to, and I have never been a fan of these segments whatsoever. Yeah, they are still fun and challenging enough to go through, but you can’t help but feel like it is all a waste of time, and I never look forward to these stages whenever I do go back to play this game.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t get much better from there, as the Wily Fortress that follows up these stages is, without a doubt, the easiest final set of levels that I have ever seen in any Mega Man game. Sure, they do have their fair share of challenges that newcomers would probably struggle with, but not only do they give you plenty of health items and E-Tanks like they are candy, but the bosses that you encounter, for the most part, are piss easy, requiring the most basic of strategies to beat, and this even applies to the final boss of the game as well. The only real challenging part of this part of the game would be the fight against the Yellow Devil, returning from the original game, but even then, he is nowhere near as hard as he was in the original game, and since you now have plenty of ways to avoid his attacks and to take him down, he shouldn’t be that much of a problem whatsoever.

Overall, despite how the game pads itself out for the sake of it and the ridiculously easy final set of levels, Mega Man 3 still manages to be a pretty solid game all around, giving plenty of more options for you to traverse through levels that are fun to experiment with, while also continuing to expand the universe and gameplay to where it is still fun to blast through and learn about, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I would definitely recommend it for those who are fans of the previous two games, or for those who are just fans of Mega Man in general, because while it does certainly have its problems, this is still one of the best games in the series that you can get from the 8-bit era. Also, I got some good news: they fixed the cover art!...... sort of. Most of it is good, but then we have Mega Man's face, which looks like he is thinking about doing some of the most devious shit. Not to mention, he's shooting Spark Man right in his Spark Balls, so now he will never be able to have kids.

Remake #10