I didn't know much about The Messenger upon jumping into it. I just knew it had quite the positive word of mouth and it was pretty much a love letter to Ninja Gaiden and similar games of the NES era. On its own that would've been quite enough as a legit good game, but The Messenger blew my expectations away when it comes to its ambition as a 2D game.

It's hard to talk about the game without spoiling too much, so I'll limit myself to what was shown in trailers, since one of the twists of the game is being able to hop between past and future versions of the levels you're traversing, which not only changes the layout and the look of the current stages, but it also bounces the player between NES-styled graphics and Genesis-styled ones, complete with accurate soundfont for each of the versions of the stage.

The game is mostly a straightforward action platformer with a bit of an interesting mechanic for air-hopping, kinda like how Shovel Knight can bounce off elements of the stage or enemies with his shovel. In this case, the Messenger can earn an extra jump each time he hits either an enemy or some other interactable stage element. It's not quite as intuitive as Shovel Knight, and it needs a bit to be mastered properly, but thanks to a very expansive and varied level design, along with a simple, but effective power up system, The Messenger proves to be one of those though as nail platformers that will challenge your expertise of the genre. The lack of lives isn't devoid of consequences, thanks to a little demon spirit who will bring you back to life everytime you die, in exchange of stealing any game currency you find for a limited time since your last respawn.

The boss battles are another highlight of the game. Very varied, impressive and each completely different in scope and patterns. It's hard not to gush about them without spoiling anything, but they're the kinds of boss battles that tend to be pretty memorable, even long after you finish the game.

The story also has quite a few interesting quirks in terms of events, though the constantly self-aware meta jokes may brove to be too much for many if you'd want something a bit more earnest and involved. I'm not against self-awareness, but games like Shovel Knight and Hi-Fi Rush managed to also have some emotional involvement along with it, if you catch my drift. Thankfully a lot of the jokes are actually good, so it's not like you won't get enjoyment out of it.

Also kudos to the composer, as the soundtrack may as well be the best element of the game. fantastic, memorable tunes, both for their past and future versions, I certainly look forward to see the work of this guy in the future.

I feel like the only thing keeping this title from getting a perfect score from me, aside from a few negligeable gripes, is the ending feeling a bit too sudden, it feels like it should've had at least one more boss phase to really top things off.

Despite this, it surely is an experience worth playing through, definitely one of the best indie offerings out there.

The first time I found out about this game I was so surprised. Imagine thinking Wario Land 1 is the only one of its kind since the series took a different direction from the second game onwards, only to find out there IS an old-styled Wario Land on a console everyone forgot about. It's a shame this game isn't available on modern platforms.

Especially since, despite its short length ? It's a quite fun experience. It plays pretty similarly to the first Wario Land game as already stated, with an added gimmick that predates the depth effects done on some 3DS games and from which gems like Mutand Mudds took inspiration from.

Wario is gonna have to explore levels and rack up as many coins as possible, as well as a key to access the exit of a level and a secret treasure to get the true ending. Nothing too complex, but it's enough to have fun, as, even if the game can be finished in a bunch of hours, what is there offers a varied level design and stages that are fun to explore every nook and cranny of, looking for those elusive secret rooms to try and rack up as many points as possible, which then can be gambled for more lives or to increase our total treasury at the end of the level.

The bosses are also a highlight, as they use the depth effect as much as possible, all in their own way. And, while the levels themselves won't be excessively difficult for anyone experienced in platforming, some of the bosses, including the final one can kick some serious ass, so that finishing the game will feel like enough of a satisfying challenge to overcome.

Graphics are also very good, definitely a step-up from the first game, with Wario being more expressive and the stages sporting a surprising amount of detail, which could be considered only held back by the unfortunate choice of color palette of the system.

The music is perfectly in line with the first game, so if you liked the somewhat deranged, crooky tunes of the original title, you're bound to enjoy this game's offering too. Definitely a short, but very sweet experience that would deserve to be introduced to modern audiences!

The Adventures of Star Saver is a charming way in its weirdness. It's an early Game Boy game, an age where publishers were still understanding what kind of experiences would make sense on a handheld, as such there's a sense of chaotic experimentation to the art direction of the game that I can't help but find fascinating.

The premise is simple and straighforward: Two siblings are abducted by aliens and one of them is freed by this sentient mecha power suit that looks like it came out of an anime like Orguss, who promises the kid to help them save his other sibling. Peculiarly enough, in the western versions you play as the boy, while in the Japanese version you play as his sister instead.

The game is a straightforward action/platformer, in which you have to traverse through linear levels on board of the power suit, which can pick up power-ups along the way to increase its shooting range. Getting hit once, though, results in the power suit being knocked out and being left to play as the boy/girl, armed with a much inferior beam weapon until you can find a power-up that will give you back the power-suit.

Despite the obvious jankiness and the somewhat nonsensical progression and themes of the levels, it's enough of a fun time, simple enough to "get" the core controls without a manual. The level design, as mentioned is pretty linear and the enemy variety isn't great, though the bosses are all completely different in attack patterns and, despite being simple, it's fun to figure out their safe spots (although the final boss is quite a bit of a cheap shot, as it requires learning its repetitive, but relentless attack pattern down to an almost-perfect run, which may bother some).

I feel like the main problem is that, while the game as a whole is decent if serviceable, the hitbox detention isn't the best, resulting in getting knocked out of the power-suit without warning, which can be frustrating for players less used to the genre. Luckily it's a short game, so even if you get a Game Over, it's not hard to catch back up quite quickly.

This is a Taito game, so of course, the music is pretty good, with some tunes being more memorable than others.

Overall, an obscure, janky, but somewhat fascinating game from an age where handheld games were still in their infancy and devs were still poking around for the right themes and gameplay patterns.