WaffulSyrup
2017
Completed 150cc, Mirror, 200cc, and all Time Trials (Base Game)
Played the retranslation patch.
This game is a short and solid time that's a bit mean and oddly grindy in two instances which broke the flow for me. Some bosses were also a bit tough mainly due to how precise some maneuvers are to avoid them despite the game not having the movement to back up that precision too much.
It's a solid enough start to Goemon's SNES journey. The music and visuals are nice though, if you ever want to check this out, peep the retranslation patch since it also adds a proper save feature.
This game is a short and solid time that's a bit mean and oddly grindy in two instances which broke the flow for me. Some bosses were also a bit tough mainly due to how precise some maneuvers are to avoid them despite the game not having the movement to back up that precision too much.
It's a solid enough start to Goemon's SNES journey. The music and visuals are nice though, if you ever want to check this out, peep the retranslation patch since it also adds a proper save feature.
Played the English Translation Patch.
My favorite of the SNES Goemon titles and its one I first played a chunk of when I got into emulation when I was a teen (it was also before the game got a translation patch). Never beat it until now and I'm so glad I did.
Goemon 2's level design is super satisfying & imaginative with the Food Castle being my favorite theme having enemies & hazards based off Japanese cuisine and utensils. The humor is solid, alongside the music and presentation blowing the first SNES game out of the water. Goemon 2 is an absolute must play on the SNES library and I'd consider it somewhere in my Top 10 SNES games.
Only nitpick is the mech fights definitely being a difficulty spike later on, but considering how generous the game is with continues & game overs, you'll be zipping back in action in no-time flat.
My favorite of the SNES Goemon titles and its one I first played a chunk of when I got into emulation when I was a teen (it was also before the game got a translation patch). Never beat it until now and I'm so glad I did.
Goemon 2's level design is super satisfying & imaginative with the Food Castle being my favorite theme having enemies & hazards based off Japanese cuisine and utensils. The humor is solid, alongside the music and presentation blowing the first SNES game out of the water. Goemon 2 is an absolute must play on the SNES library and I'd consider it somewhere in my Top 10 SNES games.
Only nitpick is the mech fights definitely being a difficulty spike later on, but considering how generous the game is with continues & game overs, you'll be zipping back in action in no-time flat.
2022
I had this game on my radar for a bit cause it was brought to my attention from SchmupJunkie if I can remember, great channel btw. Despite being a fan of beat em ups, seeing this game in motion didn't entirely sell me on wishlisting it. It wasn't until EGS gave it away as a freebie recently and I played it with a friend and...Man I feel bad getting it for free on EGS this is one of the most enjoyable beatem ups I played in recent years and it might be among my favorites now.
The trailers don't really do it justice at all. Actually playing the game and feeling the movement and control, it felt soooo damn good. There's alot of depth to the game's combat and i love how each character has a varied moveset alongside unlocking more moves for them as the game progresses. You basically have fighting game controls too with parries, supers, cancels, its all here. The music is top notch (they got Johnny Gioeli on the fucking OST) and the visuals are badass. Some of the game's humor (visual & dialoguewise) doesn't land for me but its not enough to harken the experience. The game is fun as hell and I looooved causing so much carnage onscreen. Hell, they even have a mode where you can tag in another character MvC style, that's something I never seen any beat em up do.
My only issue with the game is how deaths work. If you die, there's a lot of waiting inbetween for the other player to hop back-in. Can't sacrifice one of your extra lives to resurrect a pal, or anything. You do come back on the next screen you go to, but you're stuck withe 0 lives and the character you selected. You only get your 2 designated lives back if everyone dies on a level. It feels like a weirdly archaic design choice when alot of beat em ups back then allowed for character switching and a lives reset upon a death with the penalty being a loss of score.
Overall though, Jitsu Squad is a VERY fun beat em up. I implore anyone to check it out if you love the genre, you won't be disappointed.
The trailers don't really do it justice at all. Actually playing the game and feeling the movement and control, it felt soooo damn good. There's alot of depth to the game's combat and i love how each character has a varied moveset alongside unlocking more moves for them as the game progresses. You basically have fighting game controls too with parries, supers, cancels, its all here. The music is top notch (they got Johnny Gioeli on the fucking OST) and the visuals are badass. Some of the game's humor (visual & dialoguewise) doesn't land for me but its not enough to harken the experience. The game is fun as hell and I looooved causing so much carnage onscreen. Hell, they even have a mode where you can tag in another character MvC style, that's something I never seen any beat em up do.
My only issue with the game is how deaths work. If you die, there's a lot of waiting inbetween for the other player to hop back-in. Can't sacrifice one of your extra lives to resurrect a pal, or anything. You do come back on the next screen you go to, but you're stuck withe 0 lives and the character you selected. You only get your 2 designated lives back if everyone dies on a level. It feels like a weirdly archaic design choice when alot of beat em ups back then allowed for character switching and a lives reset upon a death with the penalty being a loss of score.
Overall though, Jitsu Squad is a VERY fun beat em up. I implore anyone to check it out if you love the genre, you won't be disappointed.
Played the English Translation patch
Man....
This is one of Goemon's most ambitious games on the SNES by far, but the execution ranges from being solid, baffling, or downright bad to the point where the game feels rushed. Konami decided to have the action platforming level to level based gameplay take a bit of a backseat and opted for a more Action RPG-like experience on par with A Link to the Past.
It has neat ideas, I love how you can swap between Goemon, Ebisumaru, Sasuke, and Yae on the fly each with their own set of abilities, I did like some aspects of the overworld exploration, the bosses were fine (the mecha fights were a downgrade from Goemon 2). Music is solid, presentation is nice, and the humor is definitely a hit or miss for me.
As for my issues: The mecha fights are less challenging than they were in the predecessor, the points leading up to the mecha fights themselves are a boring slog, gone are the quick skating levels you done with Impact in Goemon 2. The biggest smoking gun is how punishing this game is with game overs. The 2D levels in this game are LONG (with some exceptions) averaging 20-45 minutes of playtime each. The save feature is present in Inns, but they also moved them to designated signs on the overworld located outside of the levels you'd play through. But if you happen to game over within the level(s) say goodbye to all that progress you initially made, you're back to square one where you last saved. You do get the ability to save in the level only after you beat a boss or enter a section with Impact. It feels really cheap especially with the levels themselves being fairly stingy in handing out recovery items and whatnot too (which can be counteracted by buying armor and recovery items) but you also gotta be careful cause enemy respawning is just a constant thing the series does so you'll be caught off guard in more ways than one.
I was also pretty annoyed with a snippet of the endgame being a convoluted fetchquest that you aren't entirely clued in on unless you talked to alot of NPCs throughout the game. It definitely felt like a last minute "we gotta wrap this game up" pull to have an excuse for getting the last 3 metal plates you need to unlock the finale, a semi-underwhelming finale carried by the heartwarming ending.
Overall, Goemon 3 isn't a bad game, it's more of a mixed bag that had alot of ambition crushed by the weight of it's execution. I'd say it's worth a play to form your own conclusion, but personally, I don't see myself coming back to it even with the knowledge I have now when it comes to getting through it.
Man....
This is one of Goemon's most ambitious games on the SNES by far, but the execution ranges from being solid, baffling, or downright bad to the point where the game feels rushed. Konami decided to have the action platforming level to level based gameplay take a bit of a backseat and opted for a more Action RPG-like experience on par with A Link to the Past.
It has neat ideas, I love how you can swap between Goemon, Ebisumaru, Sasuke, and Yae on the fly each with their own set of abilities, I did like some aspects of the overworld exploration, the bosses were fine (the mecha fights were a downgrade from Goemon 2). Music is solid, presentation is nice, and the humor is definitely a hit or miss for me.
As for my issues: The mecha fights are less challenging than they were in the predecessor, the points leading up to the mecha fights themselves are a boring slog, gone are the quick skating levels you done with Impact in Goemon 2. The biggest smoking gun is how punishing this game is with game overs. The 2D levels in this game are LONG (with some exceptions) averaging 20-45 minutes of playtime each. The save feature is present in Inns, but they also moved them to designated signs on the overworld located outside of the levels you'd play through. But if you happen to game over within the level(s) say goodbye to all that progress you initially made, you're back to square one where you last saved. You do get the ability to save in the level only after you beat a boss or enter a section with Impact. It feels really cheap especially with the levels themselves being fairly stingy in handing out recovery items and whatnot too (which can be counteracted by buying armor and recovery items) but you also gotta be careful cause enemy respawning is just a constant thing the series does so you'll be caught off guard in more ways than one.
I was also pretty annoyed with a snippet of the endgame being a convoluted fetchquest that you aren't entirely clued in on unless you talked to alot of NPCs throughout the game. It definitely felt like a last minute "we gotta wrap this game up" pull to have an excuse for getting the last 3 metal plates you need to unlock the finale, a semi-underwhelming finale carried by the heartwarming ending.
Overall, Goemon 3 isn't a bad game, it's more of a mixed bag that had alot of ambition crushed by the weight of it's execution. I'd say it's worth a play to form your own conclusion, but personally, I don't see myself coming back to it even with the knowledge I have now when it comes to getting through it.
This remake (and DKC1 GBA) were my earliest gaming memories I remember fondly. Despite owning a bootleg cartridge of the game (yes seriously, it was the EU rom flashed on a cart but the localization label was from some Donald Duck game) I still had extremely fond memories of DKC2 on the GBA as the theming, atmosphere, music, levels designs. Just everything about the game really tailored my taste in gaming.
Nowadays, as an adult I prefer playing the SNES original of DKC2 just for the music and visuals alone but the GBA remake is absolutely no slouch and is worth checking regardless (same for the other GBA remakes of DKC). At its core its still DKC2, an already amazing game but the other little things it adds is pretty nice, they're nothing too substantial compared to what DKC1 and DKC3 got on GBA but its appreciated nonetheless.
Despite preferring the SNES original I didn't want to rank this game lower due to the visuals and music being crunched down to level with the GBA's hardware cause hey, I feel that does fall to subjectivity and it's still DKC2 which again, still a great game!
Nowadays, as an adult I prefer playing the SNES original of DKC2 just for the music and visuals alone but the GBA remake is absolutely no slouch and is worth checking regardless (same for the other GBA remakes of DKC). At its core its still DKC2, an already amazing game but the other little things it adds is pretty nice, they're nothing too substantial compared to what DKC1 and DKC3 got on GBA but its appreciated nonetheless.
Despite preferring the SNES original I didn't want to rank this game lower due to the visuals and music being crunched down to level with the GBA's hardware cause hey, I feel that does fall to subjectivity and it's still DKC2 which again, still a great game!
2001
A technically impressive game on the GBA for sure, the fact that it plays around with 3D stuff without performance drops is cool as hell. Unfortunately I don't think it's very fun to actually play due as someone that loves schmups to the warped perspective. The music is solid tho.
I'm not too familiar with GeGeGe no Kitaro at all. That said this game looks alright (I really like the character designs), music is nothing too noteworthy. Fukkatsu! Tenma Daiou is basically a boss rush-esque game that doesn't feel as satisfying to play because you don't have much options at your disposal. The bosses are relatively simple but I did find a chunk of them annoying since you can't really out-maneuver them. Not a bad game, but I've played better.
1994
An interestingly fun title that was handled by the same devs behind the Sonic Game Gear games. Screen crunch aside with not being able to see what's below you in later levels, this game has a great sense of mobility and speed, bosses are piss easy. A fun time nonetheless though, defs up there with favorite Game Gear games.