Now I'm starting to see a bump into the evolution of gaming with this entry in my list.
First of all, while being minor, there's a story. Even if simple, there's one to see and understand. The music in this game have also stepped up compared with the other games that I've beaten so far. 4 full songs is crazy when you think about it (plus a couples of short music transitions).
Gameplay wise, it's a platformers with mutiple stages. You go from point A and reach point B. You can collect different weapons to use and they all have their own behaviors. The stage screen can go up, down, left and right, which may sound stupid, but it's the first game that I come across that can do that. Also, each stages have a different background design and environnement, in which the world in makes it more alive.
This game, however is really hard. You get two hits before dying (which is more generous than other games with their one-shot death). You can collect some hidden armor pieces to "heal" yourself. The enemies can be really bulls*** with their behavior and placement (especially the flying demon). The jump momentum is a little bit janky and hard to be precise with. Some weapons are really better than others and you want to keep them. Sometimes however, the enemies can drop a random weapon that can block your path and forces you to collect it. This can be infuriating, especially when the game forces you to beat certain bosses with certain types of weapons. If you reach the last level without the right weapon, you will need to restart some stages.
When finally beating the last boss of the game, it will tell you that it was an illusion and that you need to start over. When completing the first loop, it's so unsatisfying that you need to beat a second time to have the true ending.
The game, while frustrating, is fun to do a full loop, but the second one is too much. I used save states to complete this game (and I'm not ashamed of it). Worth to beat at least once.
Game #23 of my challenge
First of all, while being minor, there's a story. Even if simple, there's one to see and understand. The music in this game have also stepped up compared with the other games that I've beaten so far. 4 full songs is crazy when you think about it (plus a couples of short music transitions).
Gameplay wise, it's a platformers with mutiple stages. You go from point A and reach point B. You can collect different weapons to use and they all have their own behaviors. The stage screen can go up, down, left and right, which may sound stupid, but it's the first game that I come across that can do that. Also, each stages have a different background design and environnement, in which the world in makes it more alive.
This game, however is really hard. You get two hits before dying (which is more generous than other games with their one-shot death). You can collect some hidden armor pieces to "heal" yourself. The enemies can be really bulls*** with their behavior and placement (especially the flying demon). The jump momentum is a little bit janky and hard to be precise with. Some weapons are really better than others and you want to keep them. Sometimes however, the enemies can drop a random weapon that can block your path and forces you to collect it. This can be infuriating, especially when the game forces you to beat certain bosses with certain types of weapons. If you reach the last level without the right weapon, you will need to restart some stages.
When finally beating the last boss of the game, it will tell you that it was an illusion and that you need to start over. When completing the first loop, it's so unsatisfying that you need to beat a second time to have the true ending.
The game, while frustrating, is fun to do a full loop, but the second one is too much. I used save states to complete this game (and I'm not ashamed of it). Worth to beat at least once.
Game #23 of my challenge