Treasure can be a little hit or miss for me. I love Dynamite Headdy and Alien Soldier, but I find Guardian Heroes and Gunstar Heroes to be pretty mediocre. Actually, writing it out like that, maybe it's just something about games with "Heroes" in the title. I mean, I don't like Sonic Heroes either... I must remember to investigate this further.
Mischief Makers is the cutest Treasure game I've played, and probably one of my favorites from their library, second only to Dynamite Headdy. It is also a Treasure game for a Nintendo system, which is a bit novel in itself given the company's adherence to Sega hardware, and being a 2D platformer from a generation where those were becoming less and less common, I was already inherently interested in it. I'll play just about any fifth gen 2D game, I just think they're neat. Something about the rising popularity of pre-rendered sprites meshing with fully-rendered 3D elements just appeals to me.
The grab-and-shake mechanic is a lot of fun to mess around with, and as was typical of Treasure, there's a lot of level variety to keep the game feeling fresh and engaging. Of course, sometimes its gimmicks don't land, and in particular there's a few bosses (especially in the late game) that just feel kind of weak. To get 100% completion, you also have to beat every boss encounter without taking damage, and I hate that crap. Whoever decided that should be a requirement clearly went on to program achievements for RetroAchivements.
But all the charm more than makes up for Mischief Maker's wobbly end game. Just don't let Marina Lightyears hold your baby.
Mischief Makers is the cutest Treasure game I've played, and probably one of my favorites from their library, second only to Dynamite Headdy. It is also a Treasure game for a Nintendo system, which is a bit novel in itself given the company's adherence to Sega hardware, and being a 2D platformer from a generation where those were becoming less and less common, I was already inherently interested in it. I'll play just about any fifth gen 2D game, I just think they're neat. Something about the rising popularity of pre-rendered sprites meshing with fully-rendered 3D elements just appeals to me.
The grab-and-shake mechanic is a lot of fun to mess around with, and as was typical of Treasure, there's a lot of level variety to keep the game feeling fresh and engaging. Of course, sometimes its gimmicks don't land, and in particular there's a few bosses (especially in the late game) that just feel kind of weak. To get 100% completion, you also have to beat every boss encounter without taking damage, and I hate that crap. Whoever decided that should be a requirement clearly went on to program achievements for RetroAchivements.
But all the charm more than makes up for Mischief Maker's wobbly end game. Just don't let Marina Lightyears hold your baby.
Weatherby
1 year ago