In 1987 Square released Final Fantasy for Famicom, a game that would commence a long going legacy on the entire industry. For the time being, it was pretty elegant on sound and customization options. Nowadays the characters are virtually blank and the plot is regarded as too pale compared to what later entries would become regarded as theatrical narratives.

Ready for the 35th anniversary, in collaboration with Tose, SquareEnix launched the "Pixel Remaster" series. A refinement of the first 6 games with fancy optional soundtrack arrangements and a visual overhaul with crafted special effects. In addition to that, they included what could be a very ballsy feature of toggling random encounters on and off at the players' whim, as well as allowing you to adjust the reward rate of battles up to a quadruple. These features can make the game's pace accelerate to a dramatic proportion that leads to potential controversy; for many players the very struggle of running through the brambles of monsters stopping you often through the way is part of the endurance test. In the case of the first Final Fantasy, I deem the inclusions of these to be a fascinating experiment to improve the quality of life of these traditional formats.

Time has not been too kind to the original FF1, the game has gone through at least 4 prior revisions on different platforms, and while they all usually went for just an audiovisual overhaul, the inclusion of these additional tweaks invites to experiment players to get their Warriors of Light so strong and overpowered that these can easily become about 30 levels above the expected quota. I found that by turning off encounters just to scout the area, while turning them back on to encounter new enemies + gather EXP it creates a far more relaxed environment that does not compromise the pace of the emotional impact of the story, this requires a sense of balanced moderation from the player.

Anyway, so THIS entry in particular? First time beating it. It's all right, I give it about the same respectful regard as Dragon Warrior 1, you got to be aware of what kind of content you are subscribing to. The Pixel Remaster version adds a slightly more cinematic sense, cutscenes have been squeezed in to feel slightly more fitting with the subsequent entries and not look like a stick in the mud. After playing through this version, I believe I still want to try playing a run of the NES release and test my patience.

If you are looking for a very basic quest that is not too character-driven, while being nicer on your eyes and ears, then this one is for you.

At the turn of the century, Genndy Tartakovsky had already cemented his status as cartoon superstar with the megahit of Dexter's Laboratory and co-developing the incredibly profitable Powerpuff Girls. After these successful ventures, he wanted to explore daring territory, a show that would be suspenseful, full of visceral action, some dark themes, and still retaining a tasteful amount of comedy on the mix. That show would be Samurai Jack. Much like our titular hero, we warp towards the future, just about 20 years. Adult Swim would present a long waited final season to the show without the usual restraints of children's programming all while still keeping the signature style it is recognized for. And then a video game based on these events is announced.

Battle Through Time is a 3D action game with a style that is considerably similar to the likes of Devil May Cry, with a skill tree, many kinds of weapons to choose from, and without a combo system. Alas, it is unfortunate that the variety of enemies you fight in this adaptation is pretty scarce, and there are plenty of features that only feel kind of basic when compared to the likes of many predecessors of the past couple decades.

So is it a bad game? Not really, in fact I would say it's easily the best video game ever made under this license, to which unfortunately it might not be a bar too high to pass. This was developed by Soleil, a Japanese studio that does handle plenty of licensed titles as well. They did do a pretty good job with this title, alas I suppose it is not absolutely stellar.

It simply could be much better, it turned out just above okay, I suppose.

Rare is well known for being one of the most prevalent video game powerhouses that ever hailed from Europe for the NES. We are provided by them an action-adventure game that one might consider by its high-fantasy themes to be a very distant ancestor of the likes of Elder Scrolls or even the Legend-in-the-making of Zelda, however this is 1987 we are talking about here, and frankly the ambitions of what a video game could become were still highly experimental, so users would make-do with this release.

Is it good? It's... something.

Wizards & Warriors is a very stiffly controlled game, equipped with a sword of very short range, awkward jumps, a completely chaotic battle flow, and map exploration that is all bounded to a single character-following screen. It seems like our hero Kuros is in a very tight situation here, but at least the game happens to be really forgiving with unlimited continues, so progression may not be as painful as one could expect, especially from a relatively early NES game. I have not mentioned the power-ups our hero encounters on the way, over time there are acquirable upgrades that can give you an upper hand in different situations, such as getting an extra boost for your jumps, or a very handy boomerang-like axe that makes attacking far more bearable.

Aesthetically speaking, Rare's signature cartoony essence is actually pretty strong here. While the box art may invite a heavy metal escapade of the era, it really tastes like a closer predecessor to Banjo-Kazooie, we're talking about a goofy looking knight fighting pretty Halloweenie enemies like purple bats, jittery skeletons, and hanging spiders; indeed it is carrying some of the essence from their days finding success making ZX Spectrum games. And I have not even mentioned how visually speaking, while it is not the finest painting in the gallery, there is plenty of ambition going on with some of the animation and drawn assets.

All things considered, I find Wizards & Warriors to be a game that is very difficult to recommend unless you're a die-hard Rare enthusiast or want to see the Western involvement on this celebrated console. I think you could do far worse.