Cleared on May 2nd, 2024

First of all, this review or even my knowledge of the game would not have been possible without @duhnuhnuh. You’re really generous for gifting the steam key gift.

Strikey Sisters is a fantastical and energetic take on a genre of block breakers that is so simple that even a middle schooler with Scratch could develop. Instead of a paddle, you have magicians swinging magic balls, clearing blocks and taking on enemies and bosses on a quest to get their pet bat back.

Surprisingly, the game not only has a premise, but also cutscenes and even voice acting. The bad news is that my feelings are very mixed. It’s not that I have a problem with an Arkanoid/Breakout style game having a story or anything, it’s designed to be a comedy that doesn’t take itself too seriously which makes it good for chuckles in-between stages or more specifically before a boss fight begins, and I did get some amusement here and there. The problem is that the main leads can feel very predictable and repetitive after a while. Marie is a diet Lina Inverse where she’s brash and rude with a pursuit of luxury and a confident magician attitude. The problem is that some of her jokes feel kinda mean and she’s just picking fights for no reason other than just because. Though to be fair, Elene tries to be polite to the bosses, and still ends up rubbing some of them the wrong way. As for Elene, she whines a lot. I know she’s concerned about her pet, but they could have cut it down by half, and we’d have still got the point of how over-sensitive she is. The rest of the characters consist of the bosses which have one scene and a few lines of dialogue during boss fights. This makes them fairly one note although you may remember a few for very bizarre reasons such as that one monster that name dropped Monsters Inc. No, not some parody of the movie, but Monsters Inc. straight up. To further drive home that point, in the credits, we have Mike and Sully watching the movie with the monster in question. And moments later, on an unrelated note, we could see another boss with… Wile.E Coyote… huh? Monsters Inc I guess I get since they are monsters, but the hell does Wile.E have to do with Strikey Sisters? I hope the royalties they have to pay are worth the joke. The biggest problem I have with the story is that some of the cutscenes take a bit too long, and it wouldn’t be such a problem if some of the dialogue didn’t feel deliberately padding.

The voice acting is something else I should bring attention to, and depending on your standards for voice acting, you might either think it's fine or really grating. As someone who watches anime exclusively with English audio, I’m definitely on the side that thinks it's fine. It’s very amateur, but it does have charm to it. Even though I kinda ragged on Marie, her voice actress wasn’t too bad, and I even thought she was voiced by Sarah Wiedenheft at first because of how similar they sounded. Omri Rose voiced all of the male characters, and he did a good job making me convinced there was at least one or two other male actors involved.

As for the game itself, it takes the usual block breaker genre routine and puts a lot more action into it. Each level has enemies that will stand in your way of clearing all the blocks with means of trying to mess with you. You have enemies that will try to waste your time with defensive tactics while others will try to attack your character directly either through melee approach or through projectiles. They are well varied which means you’ll need to take note of what they do and strategize accordingly, and luckily you have your own arsenal of skills to help you. You can not only bump the ball with your body, but you can swing your sword at the ball to increase its speed and width in which you are able to hit the ball, and it's also useful for enemies that get too close or to just block projectiles. You can even charge the attack to launch the ball faster and give it enough force to take down a block in one hit when it would take two, and it does more damage to enemies and deflects projectiles. In addition, you have spells and buffs which drop off of enemies and you’ll need to pick up as it heads toward you. Here’s my ranking from least useful to most useful.

Slow Ball can be usable in more frantic scenarios where you need better reaction time, and allow you to better aim your swing at the ball. The thing is, it doesn’t always come at the best time which slows the pacing of the game, and even contributes to an issue that I have with all block breaker games. That one moment where the ball is just bouncing around the field making no progress while you slowly wait it out like the DvD logo bouncing around the screen. If you could actually control when you activate it, it would be so much better.
Fireball is one of those “better that you have than you don’t” power ups where it's nice to have, but it isn’t always practical. When it bounces around, it leaves trails of fire that when touched, will damage the enemies. The issue is that it only works on grounded enemies, and if you accidentally get it while Iron Ball is active, it overrides the buff.
Monster Trap is another “better than you have than you don’t” spells except it's more useful in that it lasts indefinitely which means that the chances of them landing on it are better than Fireball flames, but the positioning of the traps are randomized and monsters move so slow that you might end up taking them down already before they can get close to the traps.
Lightning is a nice spell to have for randomized damage across the board, but the downside besides its randomness is that it can make 100% runs more difficult if you aren’t careful. You don’t have to collect all of the coins that come out of the blocks, but you do need to collect at least 60% of the coins for the green gems, and sometimes 70% for hidden levels.
Speed is a good power up for covering more ground, especially in single player mode where the board distance feels much wider, but very few times has it ever come in clutch for me.
Spread Shot gives you more controlled damage compared to Lightning, but it only hits four targets and sometimes may not land where you intend to, at least concerning narrow spaces.
Double Ball is a great power up to have, and it's easier to maintain in this game compared to others in the genre. It still takes a bit of skill, but it does synergize really well with the other ball power ups. Even Slow Ball since it gives you more time to react.
Bombs are launched towards all enemies on the field, and after a few seconds detonates and blow them up. Generally, they can avoid it just by getting out of the way, but most of the time, they would be too slow and get hit.
Dark flame gives you more controlled damage in a straight line and pierces through all blocks and enemies. It is very useful for harder to reach blocks and if positioned well can take down up to two columns of blocks.
Both Shield and Chicken give you extra protection and healing which is insanely invaluable as you only have three lives before you have to start the level from the beginning. Not much to say there.
Iron Ball is the ultimate power up and should be acquired with every chance possible. It will go right through blocks, allowing you to speedrun levels. It doesn't always swing in your favor, but at least early on in each level, you are bound to gain some value out of it.

And you’re really going to need these powers because the game is hard. It does translate the level progression format better than pinball games when they try to adopt the idea, but this is a game where you bounce balls on bricks, so precision, foresight, and even luck play a hand in the game. Not only can certain layouts be a real pain, such as when blocks are behind multiple pillars, but some enemies can be difficult in their own right. The hardest ones are the set of enemies during the final area and the mechanical area. There are units that take a lot more damage than normal and explode if they get close enough, there are units that burrow underground and strike with little warning unless you keep moving to avoid the attack in advance, and there are units that will shoot faster than you can block with your swings. The worst part is that oftentimes these harder enemies will force you at a major positional disadvantage. If they attack while the ball is heading in your direction, you may not be able to deflect the ball at the risk of taking damage, and of course, let’s not forget the accuracy of your shots when dealing with enemies will not go in your favor, and they may be positioned to where it’s even harder to hit them and they will infinitely spawn until you clear the blocks or in the case of the boss, until you defeat them.

The bosses are really difficult. Well, a good majority of them, anyway. What many of them have in common is that you cannot hit them up front as they will deflect your shots and need to hit them from the side or back, or with a spell which is a tall order as is, but combine that with all the blocks and enemies in your way, not to mention a barrage of attacks you need to worry about. Get comfortable because it’s gonna take awhile. That said, most of the bosses have only two attacks and one enemy type to worry about, but those attacks may be enough to give you serious trouble such as the succubus that can teleport to you and strike which will force you in a very bad position. My favorite fight in the game is Erin, the policewoman as she is the only boss fight (maybe aside from both phases of the final boss combined) with four attacks and for some reason uses one of the final boss themes as if she was meant to be a superboss (when in reality she’s one of the easier fights from what I remember)

The soundtrack adds to the game’s enjoyment with each zone having its own theme, and the upbeat tune really blends well with the world and its cute artstyle and colorful pixelated graphics. Some highlights include Valdia’s Theme, Elysaid’s Theme, Odavius’ Theme, Lord Vanik’s Hideout, and all of the boss themes.

And when you’re done with the game, there are a bunch of extra levels that you can do, and while I’ve yet to do all of them, I think I’ve played enough of the game to give my assessment.

TL;DR: Strikey Sisters is a great way to experience block breaking to make it more dynamic while minimizing the inherent repetitiveness. Instead of keeping you engaged for maybe 3 rounds at most, it can keep you engaged for over 60 levels with its enemy variety, powerful spells in your arsenal, and the pursuit of mastery through collection of green gems and filling in the bestiary. It took me 7 hours to clear the main game, but I imagine that it’ll take me more time just to clear the extra levels with all 3 stars each. If you see this game on sale, it might be worth looking into, and there’s no harm in keeping it in your storage since it only has 60 megabytes.

Cleared on April 25th, 2024 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 61/160)

The first of the "Strike" trilogy, Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf is a top down helicopter shooter where you complete a series of missions given to you in a large desert map whether it'd be shooting down targets, rescuing allies and civilians, or just deploying your co-pilot to carry out ground missions.

Desert Strike isn't typical from your usual shoot em ups for the 4th console generation as you have an open world to roam rather than scrolling through an area and shooting anything in your way. The controls are much more clunky which is a deliberate choice although there is a setting that allows you to control "From Above" which is considered the "easy" mode as you are able to strafe while you shoot. For some reason, even though it would've made the game easier, I really did not like the feel of the setting as you can't go backwards, making picking up objects and people difficult. You feel slower, and I don't know if I'm crazy, but it feels like you're consuming more fuel. For this reason, I just ended up playing the whole game with momentum active and while dodging attacks are more difficult, sometimes requiring trial and error even, it does encourage a more strategic approach overall.

Even though the game is hard, there is a mercy aspect of being able to acquire resources that can replenish your armor and fuel which are both crucial for survival as well as ammo which is crucial for offensive missions. You have fuel cans, armor boxes with the option of unloading people at landing sites to regenerate armor, and ammo crates which refuel your ammo.

The weapons in your arsenal consists of Machine Gun, Hydra which are small missiles, and Hellseekers which are big missiles. The Machine Gun you will never run out of, but the damage it deals is very minimal and is more useful for damaging buildings and on-foot soldiers. Hydra and Hellseekers both serve the purpose of being able to take on vehicle units as well as destroying tougher buildings if time isn't on your side, and that's going to happen often as even if you are able to avoid attacks with ease, your fuel will deplete overtime and you need to decide whether you should take your time and conserve your ammo, or blow it away immediately and rush to the nearest can. Also, both fuel cans and ammo are limited and while you can find more in buildings, they are hidden from the map.

On that note, the map offers you insight on where you need to go which makes it much more useful for navigation as to what you need to do, so you don't get lost. Well, that is until at one point in the 3rd level where it doesn't tell you where you need to go for the final mission which is the one where you escort the buses.
Side note: I've had the game actually crash on me when I landed near the area. I don't know what happened, but then I tried clearing out nearby units and it bypassed the crash issue.
There was also another vague mission inquiry in the final level where it doesn't tell you where you need to go to deal with the garbage trucks holding the nuclear weapons. The game does at least give you a visual detail of the trucks, and there's a chance you might know if you somehow passed by the area while doing the 3rd mission, but I still thought it was strange.

Another one of my problems is just the lack of music. It does have an awesome opening theme and the mission briefing music is also good, but as you play the game itself, I was left with no choice but to use my own music. To be fair, each campaign is long, and it may be annoying to listen the same song for that period of time, but that didn't stop Outlanders from trying to make you listen to the same song for 3 hours on end.

But I like the more strategic approach of the game as you need to make out your surroundings, do some exploring for extra resources, and plan your every move in order to overcome your foes. Worst case scenario, the game does have a password system, so you can pick up where you left off or just keep trying until you nailed down the perfect strategy.

Cleared on March 18th, 2024 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 60/160)

I can't with this game. I just fucking can't. It is so awful, and no, I'm not just going to leave it at that. I'm going all the way with this review, hopefully to the point where I reach the character limit because if I'm going to be rating a game 1 or 0.5 stars, it needs to be said with confidence and clarity as to why the game is so bad.

At a glance, when you look at snippets of the gameplay, you see a first person shooter where you face off a gauntlet bosses. You think that the game doesn't seem all that bad although you may sometimes hear the opinion that the game is not very good although not bad enough to make the Top 10 or even Top 30. Maybe Top 50, so you'd assume that maybe it's just mediocre. Nothing special. So you pick up the game, start it up and prepare to shoot down the dragon.

The first thing you are greeted with is a large wall of text that gives you a rundown of the premise which I guess doesn't seem too bad. The premise is that disputes across the galaxy are settled with a duel to the death. Your interest in these death duels is that you're part of a federation seeking to regain control of the traffic lanes that ensure trade and food supply in an ongoing effort to win the war against the pirates ruled over by the "super 9", and you must take down all of them in the duel.

The game also tells you, in it's own words "Do not simply hold down the fire button and blast away! If you do, you will not be successful! Death Duel is not a "shooter"! Get to know how your targeting system works and learn to select the proper weapons from the weapons shop! No two weapons or opponents are the same. A good warrior studies the weaknesses of his opponent and plans the proper strategy to take advantage of them." This gives you an indicator of the mechanics that you are to expect.

With the exception of the first boss which comes from a preset of weapons, you are able to buy weapons per round. However, you can only have three weapons at a time, and all of the ammo you didn't use is lost, so you'll need to buy them again or buy a new set of weapons. Each boss has it's own set of weak points which make timing and aiming your attacks mean a lot in a game like this. But what are your weapons?

Machine Gun is the simple projectile weapon which is very cheap although very underpowered. For earlier battles, this can be a good weapon to have on hand and even for a few later battles it could be useful to pick off certain weak spots.

Missiles are a powerful weapon with scarce ammo that aims in an upward arc. If it lands, it can be very potent for taking out weaponry on the foe.

Laser Gun is supposed to be a stronger Machine Gun, but due to some enemies having an immunity, it's only really practical when it is on sale early game.

Skimmer is a strong weapon that is strong all throughout the game and accomplishes what the Machine Gun does being a bullet weapon.

Lob Grenade causes the foe to stop attacking for a couple of seconds which is good against foes that repeatedly attack you nonstop.

Grenade is a downward arc explosive that can pack a lot of heat when it connects, but is very hard to aim.

Energy Ring locks the foe in place to stop them from moving, making your aiming easier.

SloMo Cloud slows the enemy down which sounds inferior to the Energy Ring, but some foes have an immunity to that and not the cloud.

Lob Mine is a powerful weapon that acts as a trap that if the foe steps on, they will feel a lot of pain although this is only if they are grounded and their weak points are already dealt with.

Homing Missile is the ultimate weapon. It deals a lot of damage, it is sure to hit weak points, and if it doesn't finish it off, then it will pave way for your other weapons to finish it. The problem is that it is super expensive as all hell.

For now, though, you have a preset of weapons for your first boss, and right off, you are greeted with this ugly ass entity they call a human girl with a face that's reminiscent of the wojak npc meme. She just straight up looks like a mannequin with a face, a robot. I know this is the Sega Genesis, and sprites that try to look sexy aren't going to be worth a nut in this day and age, but having played Outrun recently, I thought they looked passable there, and the Genesis port was 1 year ago. The game in general is just unpleasant with its graphics. Some of the boss designs might look alright, but Krax Xarkton, Kuros Tizrak when his mask comes off, and especially Yorgik Somtix were so gross to look at, and I mean in a bad way. And you might not pay much attention in motion, but when you look at it the sprites for the dragons, you realize their heads look really stupid too. They're so ugly they had to hide them both behind a wall at the start of a match. But then there's the shopkeeper who looks like a fucked up fusion of Cyborg from Teen Titans and Long John Silver from Treasure Planet, and you have to see his face and exposed belly every round. Also his monkey has a wojak npc face too. Of course, let's not forget the ending screen if by some chance you actually get to the end where this "sexy lady" congratulates you for winning the game. They try to make it detailed, but the textures and colors are really off. You can also point towards the thick eyebrows, but I like girls with thick eyebrows. It's the dark shade of blonde in contrast with the golden shade of blonde hair that makes it unattractive. Also, if you pause at a certain frame while she talks, it looks like she is pogging.

Another issue with the presentation is the soundtrack which is just... not good. It's not the worst Sega Genesis soundtrack or even the worst that I played through, but it is so forgettable. To be fair, I end up forgetting about soundtracks from the Sega Genesis games even the good ones, but at the very least I want it to make me feel something in the moment, and the game's soundtrack never does that for me. It's just really mediocre.

But what about the gameplay? Well, as a first person shooter duel, your objective is to aim at the enemy boss, take down their weak points, and you win. But each foe has their own complications.

Shanox Moisail is the first boss of the game and despite what the game tells you, you can in fact just senselessly shoot him and very likely win. The thing is, though, he is so agile that trying to shoot him down is really frustrating and this goes for almost all bosses in the game. Combine that with the scuffed aiming and sometimes even hitboxes, and it's just a recipe for disaster. And keep in mind, your ammo is limited and if you run out, you have to try again or until you get a game over. Now you can remedy this by pressing the start button which will allow you to move your cursor to better aim, but you are going to have to stand still and your foes will attack you, and if you lose all your health, you have to try again.

So you're thinking, ok. I'll just simply take my time... except time isn't what you got because you have a set time limit to take your foes down. And when you combine that with the cover they can take, it can drag fights on for longer than needed.

So once you manage to get the boss down, you can enter a qualifier round to gain some points which are converted into currency, or the Pheelae as the game calls it, and the aiming is so scuffed. You have 3 buttons for aiming. One that fires left, one that fires center, and one that fires right. This also applies to the duels themselves, but because of how small the targets are, aiming for them is actually really difficult. And you will notice that the cursor will initially be slow when you move it and then suddenly jank itself forward which makes it that much harder to aim. And these aren't just mere bonuses to rack up Pheelae, they are required in order to progress and if you don't meet the quota, you lose a life and have to try again.

And don't think the bare minimum is going to cut it because you need to perform well, take the enemies down fast, meet the qualifier quota fast, and hit enemies in as many of their weak points as possible in order to rack up more Pheelae and if you don't have enough Pheelae, you don't have enough ammunition to take down the bosses, and if you don't have enough ammunition, you can't defeat the boss, and it's practically a game over. But perhaps the most fucked up thing is that just the simple act of choosing the wrong layout is enough to ensure an automatic defeat and the worst part? You can't go back to the store, you are forced to commit to the battle until you lose all of your lives and you have to start the game from the very beginning. This isn't as much of an issue when you are playing with save states, but keep in mind that you can't conserve ammo in between rounds as you lose them all, so you have to rebuy the weapons. So even when using save states, I still ended up in a position where I didn't have enough ammo which meant I was forced in an unwinnable situation and had to start all the way from the beginning. To top it off, it's not just the ammo you are paying for, but also the repairs on your robot as failure to do so will mean taking more damage from the foe.

So what about the rest of the bosses? Forsal Jeraba is actually easy enough if you are able to bait him to the right. He will never move and you can just shoot off his limbs and his tail, then his face and you win. If you time your shots well, you can do it with only 80 machine gun ammo.
Krax Xarkton is aggravating as he can curl into a ball which will make him invincible and he'll just spam it, making it harder for you to actually get him down.
Darrius Morb's legs are so scuffed to aim at which makes this seemingly slow robot harder to aim. When you get his legs down, however, he will convert into a spring although by that point, as long as his weapons are down, you can just shoot his head to win.
Borb Eubistapcia is a dragon that regenerates his health, he flies around, and there is so much cover on the field that it makes it really hard to even hit him in the first place. Easily one of the worst bosses in the game.
Karl Borgas is one of the easier fights as long as you shoot his right arm (his right), so he doesn't regain his left arm. He's also one of the slower enemies if I recall correctly, but still not that easy to aim.
Kuros Tizrak, despite being a slug, is remarkably agile and hits hard too. Dispatching his weapons means he won't be an issue in that regard, but defensively, he will juke your weapons and take a bit of damage himself.
Yorgik Somtix requires you to take down his arms and then his legs in that order. Once you figure out what you need to do, he is really easy... and that's another problem. Once you figure out the best loadout, the fights go from frustrating to just being boring. You don't feel this great sense of accomplishment, you just feel nothing. If that sounds like the effect of looking up a walkthrough, maybe it is, but I was already losing my patience with this game to begin with, so it's not like I'm missing out on anything impactful. If anything, I may have saved myself from having to fight the final boss a second time after the bullshit he would've pulled on me.

The final boss, Simas Julius is a robot much like you, and you need to down his arms, his legs, his cannons, and his head in that order. He is competing with Borb as the worst boss in the game. He attacks way too fast, he can phase out and still attack you while you yourself can't hit him, and you have to be specific as to where to aim. He doesn't take a lot of damage otherwise, and hopefully by this point you'll have enough Pheelae on hand for some Homing Missile shenanigans, but once you defeat him, the game will proceed to trick you into thinking that you have defeated him. He will then pull out a white flag which might make you think he surrendered, but no, he's about to blow up in your face which will spell an instant game over for you. So you need to shoot him down before he blows up and that's it. The game is cleared.

You are then greeted with dialogue from the girl at the ending, and it's well... let me show you.

"The Council has promised me to the champion
The Duels have ended
There will be no more pain for you, today
The road was not easy, but you have shown yourself to be a worthy hero
Take some time off now, Barret Jade and prepare for the terror that awaits you in Death Duel II
I always leave with the champion!!"

Yes, this is real dialogue from the game, and it's so half-assed even for Sega Genesis standards. Oh yeah, and the credits are in her dialogue box as if she is talking about the people that made this game. Also, "prepare for the terror that awaits you in Death Duel II" lol. The dialogue in general is just really crass especially with that earlier mentioned wojak girl as though she's trying to be quirky with "hardcore" dialogue, but all I can think is a robot saying that to me. The good news is that you can press start before she shows her face and says anything, so you can get straight to the fight.

This is a game that might've been too ambitious for its own good. It has the idea of delivering a first person arcade style shooter battling against bosses on the Sega Genesis complete with a variety of weapons and budget management, but they really did not think these ideas through. Could it have been a lot better with extra time in development? Would Death Duel II even improve on the original? I'm not sure.

Cleared on March 18th, 2024 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 59/160)

Here's an interesting tidbit about this game. The "get ready" sound effect that is used when you start a race is also used by Space Harrier every time you respawn after you lose a life. Never would've imagined running into that sound effect just after I played that game.

Anyway, Outrun is a game where you drive one large course with multiple different paths leading you to 5 different outcomes. Each route has it's own layout and scenery, and it is well versed in its locations. You drive a car at a high speed, totally not putting the girl next to you in danger. There's 2 different speeds that you can set it to which include L which is meant to be slow and steady while H allows you to move at incredible speed. L is initially useful for starting the race as it has better acceleration, but once you get to 110 miles, switching to and staying in H is optimal as you can just tap the drive button to slow down to improve your steering while maintaining good speed.

There are four different songs that you can choose which include Magical Sound Shower, Passing Breeze, Splash Wave, and Step on Beat. Each of which try to emit a more tropical sound, and Splash Wave in particular reminds me of something I would hear in Sonic Adventure if it was demade on Sega Genesis. I will say that the soundtrack from the arcade does translate really well onto the Sega Genesis. It isn't going to outdo it, but the arcade version already sounded like the Sega Genesis with some extra depth to it.

It's really just a simple race to the finish game. It doesn't give me the excitement that Outrun 2019 did, but for a game made in 1986 and ported to the Genesis in 1991, it did what it sought out to do and make a game where you can go driving.

Cleared on March 17th, 2024 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 58/160)

For a game that tries to match the gameplay of its predecessor on the Arcade in 1988 on the Sega Genesis, it has aged better than it's partner in crime Super Thunder Blade as the openness of the game makes it feel more suited to an arcade port as you don't find yourself being distorted with incoming obstacles nowhere near as much. The game can seem pretty choppy with its frame rate, but after playing it enough, I learn to get used to it. At least it actually stays consistent throughout the game.

The game is a 3D perspective shooter where you can collide with the ground to run across the battlefield at high speed, or fly in the air to hit enemies in the sky and avoid ground attacks. There's nothing much else to it. Just shoot and dodge. The controls do handle itself well as I never really felt like it was working against me, and the speed isn't too slow that it makes the attacks unavoidable, but not too fast that you just accidentally crash into something.

One thing I find odd about the game is that it doesn't follow the usual conventions of distributing music. Most games will have it so that every stage has its own level, but the boss themes are shared across most bosses in the game (usually aside from the final boss theme getting its own theme). However, this is a case of the same song playing across the levels, a really long song, but every boss in the game has its own theme. It's odd, but in retrospective, it made the boss rush towards the end a little more bearable.

The bosses are relatively simple once you get them down. Really most of them amount up to keep moving so you don't get shot although some of them such as the cat do try to make things more interesting. There's 12 before you get to the final boss, and you will have to fight them all once you clear all 12 levels with significantly less health before you can take on the final boss. I know people really hate boss rushes because they are always there to pad out gameplay although personally I've never really minded all that much. As for the final boss, he is really hard, especially when he transforms into a spiraling fireball and charges at you, and he just attacks really fast in general. And everytime you hit him, he will teleport.

For what it is, I thought the game was fine. Dare I say, with enough practice, I think it could actually be one of the easier games in the Genesis lineup.

Note: Even though Hellfire Saga is a Sega Genesis game, it is not listed as part of my ongoing 160 Sega Genesis Games challenge.

I was wanting to wait until I was finished with my challenge before delving into more modern Sega Genesis games, but damnit, I couldn't help myself even if I tried. So I decided to give it a playthrough, and it was a hell of a good time.

Now from the cover, what do you think this game is about? Is it an adventure game about a demon hunter venturing into the depths of hell? A shoot em up game where you shoot demons in your wake?

If you're answer was a Sonic the Hedgehog game, you would be correct... I'm not even kidding. If you thought Shadow the Hedgehog's video game was edgy with guns, mild swearing and aliens that resemble demons, you have seen nothing yet. There is blood, explicit demons, and Sonic literally venturing into the depths of hell.

It's a 2D side-scroller in the same vein as the Sonic the Hedgehog games on the Genesis where you jump and spindash, but compared to the other games in the series, it will really test your knowledge of momentum, and you know that Instant Shield you had in Sonic 3 & Knuckles? I hope you've got the timing on it down because you're going to need it to stand a better chance against the obstacles this game throws at you. As hard as the game is, they are generous enough to give you unlimited lives, and you can always save and come back later if need be. Although given how short the game is, it's likely you'll beat it in one sitting, anyway. Another interesting quirk is that the health system works differently from all other Sonic games. Usually, the way it works is that if you take damage, you lose all of your rings although some games will just have you lose a set amount like 20 or so. Here, you have health points and the rings you collect here will replenish it which means that you'll have 5 set hit points maximum compared to the usual 2 (or more depending on your ability to collect rings).

As edgy as it is, I just really love the aesthetic of the game. I have such a odd fascination with the clashing style of dark themes with colorful cartoony characters. It's difficult to explain, but seeing Sonic venture into hell itself is just really cool. Like I never would've imagined wanting to see it, but after seeing the proof of concept a few years back, now I did. Along the way, he sees demons of all kinds, many of which are directly ripped from or based off of games from the 16 bit era notably Castlevania. The only one that I thought was out of place was that guardian transforming into Mickey Mouse for some reason. I'm not really sure what the explanation here was. Maybe something about Disney being evil, modern Disney being driven by greed, or maybe it has to do with that South Park episode involving Mickey.

The boss fights are a highlight, and the advantage of a Sega Genesis game in 2023 is that they already figured out what it means to be engaging while also keeping the challenge. There are three acts with each of them having a mid-boss and another boss at the end and a few of which will have multiple phases. So there are a lot of bosses in the game with about 18 in total, and I wouldn't say that there's a single boss that I found to be dreadful to face. On Hard mode they develop new patterns with their attacks and the final boss goes from being kinda underwhelming to being a challenge. The only problem that I have is that (at least concerning the V2 patch + Hard Mode) the final boss can crash the game when you get close to him for the 4th time which I thought was odd since I was able to clear him once. My first thought was maybe it had something to do with level select, but it turns out that even after playing through the full game once again in one sitting, it still somehow crashes. Upon further investigation (for Hard Mode specifically, not sure about the other difficulties), I have theorized that during the third wave of attacks, he needs to use his missiles before he turns the screen black. If he does not do it, then don't hit him until he performs the attack. Otherwise, it may store data towards the fourth wave that it wasn't supposed to. I don't know how this works since I am not a programmer, but the point is to not hit him too early during the third wave of attacks.

The music is easily the best part of the game. Some of which is remixed from other games, namely Castlevania, but some of them are entirely original and they all really match the fast-paced action of the levels. To say that picking a favorite among them all is no joke would be an understatement. However, I think the miniboss themes, Forest of Decay Act 2, Death's boss theme, all three of Malicious Glance's songs, and the Main Theme are my contenders. In a recent patch, they added a new song for the final boss which I thought was going to be ass, but after listening to it long enough, I think it ended up being one of the best songs in the game, and it really improved the final boss. Too bad it's not uploaded anywhere on Youtube as far as I'm aware. But to give you an idea on what it sounds like, it's a 16 bit remix of the song Follow Your Ghost by Periphery.

The game is technically not any longer than a typical Sega Genesis game, yet it somehow still feels really short. To be fair, there are a lot more bosses in that game than what Sonic 1 and 2 had, and it took the lock-on cartridge technology from Sonic & Knuckles to let Sonic 3 achieve 30+ bosses as well as 12 levels. None of which I recall having the quality that Sonic Hellfire has. When I think about it, Sonic Hellfire might have a chance to dethrone Alien Soldier as my favorite Sega Genesis game. The amount of time and effort put into Sonic Hellfire really overflows, and if nothing else, it may just be my favorite 2D Sonic game whether it'd be official or not.

Cleared on March 14th, 2024 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 57/160)

I've known this game for a very long time via the Sonic Mega Collection for the Gamecube. It was an unlockable that you get from having Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on your memory card with the alternative method being that you have to boot up Mean Bean Machine 30 times... these unlockables were weird. I have played it, mistakening it for a Sonic game since it had a Flicky. I thought of it as hard, but nothing really special. So, when I decided to play through the game, I found that it is hard, but nothing really special.

The game has you play as a Flicky while you to collect baby chicks across the level, but watch out for those pesky cats that wants to pounce on you and sever your connections with the baby chicks and force you to recollect them. You venture through levels that loop back around when you move left or right across the screen with 48 different level layouts.

The idea is easy enough to grasp, but being a port of an arcade game from 1984, there is a catch. When you get to get later levels, you will find that the layouts are specifically engineered to really ensure you never win. It's beatable, but it requires near perfect precision and a great deal of understanding of the layout in question. For example, there was a level where the only way through is a tight corridor. The good news is that each of them have an object that you can fling at incoming enemies, but the bad news is that if you show up too late, you will not be able to jump over them. Also by that point in the game, there are these green lizards that crawl through walls and leap across walls. And some of the levels will actively work the game's finicky physics against you by making you bounce against the walls, specifically placing the exit in the most inconvenient spots, or just making ammunition harder to come by.

Honestly, the biggest problem I have with the game is that it's just really boring. The same music plays across each of the levels aside from the bonus levels which I think livens up the game a bit, and the gameplay doesn't really excite me all that much. It's not a bad game, and it must have been great for its time. Heck, I did have a bit of fun with it growing up, but I would've rather stuck to the Sonic the Hedgehog games.

(SEGA Genesis Challenge: 56/160)

Oh look at that, this is the first review of this game on this website. Well, that doesn't make me a little pressured.

The game is just pinball, but with Motley Crue's name on it. It has a few songs in 16 bit form which include Dr. Feelgood, Live Wire, and Home Sweet Home. I will say the physics feel really close to actual pinball with its weight and momentum, but it does mean it's easy enough to end up getting gimped in-between the flippers, and that is just so unfortunate. As for the sides, you can actually reshoot yourself up as long as it is blinking green which does at least give you that chance to not get screwed over. However, once you crank up the volume the first time, it will make it so that the side that blinks is based on which side you pressed, so you need to be careful which button you pressed at this time to avoid getting screwed.

The game has progression where you can perform tasks to progress along with the board and change how it operates. You can also try to try to perform specific conditions to start up a ramp which will put you through a bonus sequence where you play a game of pong. There is an end, but given that it is pinball, it's going to be really difficult, so just think of the end as a bonus for persistence.

Seeing the end screen makes me think if whoever owns the house takes a shit, then whoever is near the bottom of the dirt pillar that is holding the house up is really going to get it.

Cleared on March 14th, 2024 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 55/160)

Developed by Traveler's Tale, the game takes on the ambitious task of translating the 1995 CGi phenomenon onto the 16 bit consoles, and it really managed to deliver. Not so much that it's that amazing of a game. In fact, it's got a lot of problems that I have with it, but when you look at the game from a presentation perspective, it's not a game like any other on the system. The graphics are really well-detailed to the point where it practically looks reminiscent of the actual movie. It's still 16 bit and pixelated, sure enough, but if you were to put it on a 32 bit system and say that the game can only run on that system, I would've believed you. And I have to give the game props for having absolutely no slowdown in the process. And on top of that, the music in this game sounds really good that it practically defies what the system is capable of delivering a "four channel PCM music". If you want more details on how they did it, here's a video from Gamehut, who is involved in the game's development.

As for everything else, the plot follows the movie although it has some odd skips and even a weird addition where there's an entire level dedicated to helping Rex across the room because he's afraid of conflict and then decides to help you leave the room. It's been a long time since I've watched this movie and before yesterday, I haven't watched it in 10 years or so, but even I would know that never happened. The plot skips make it feel weirdly paced, but whatever, it's a retro licensed game from the 90s, I shouldn't expect much.

The gameplay is interesting as it takes on different styles. The game's core is that it is a 2D platformer where you play as Woody. You can jump around and whip your enemies which does not kill them, but it merely stuns them for a few seconds allowing you to pass them. You can also swing at hooks using the whip to cross larger gaps. One thing that I don't like about the mechanics is that the game has a delay before you can duck and whip which makes hitting smaller enemies difficult. And the game as a whole is really hard especially when you get to Sid's room. Side note: Props to him for putting out explosives that shoot fireballs. Surely that won't set his house on fire.

The game also shifts between different gameplay styles often across different levels, and this could be seen as bothersome to some people, but I'm usually adaptive enough that I don't really mind. You have an auto-scroller 2D racer, an over-head racer, a 3D racer at one point, a level where sneak around Pizza Planet with a cup, and even a first person search level. There are also a few boss battles in the game which are rather difficult. The claw was really annoying because you have to fling those squeaky aliens onto the claw as it is picking up Buzz. If you do it too late, it will miss. If you do it too early, it will hit the claw but it won't drop Buzz. You also have to do it 5 consecutive times without fail.

But the thing that really makes this game brutal in its difficulty is that you do not heal in-between levels. If you have 1 health left when you complete one level, you will still have 1 health left when you go to the next level, and you have a limited amount of lives. It's already a difficult enough game as is in classic Sega Genesis fashion, but talk about overkill.

The game does capture the movie's ambition and it ended up being alright, but the movie is still a lot better.

(SEGA Genesis Challenge: 54/160)

For what it's worth, it's just a more stylized pinball game with probably the most radical opening theme for any Sega Genesis game that I've played. You have four courses with their own aesthetic and layout. One being a circus, one being halloween themed, one being in the west, and one taking place undersea. Along the way, you may also play minigames if you meet the right conditions which may include stuff like simon says, cup shuffle, and blackjack to name a few.

Do be warned that the game focuses on the ball and where it is going which makes it much harder to plan your shots effectively, and may even cause motion sickness for some people. That said, I did play the DOS version as well to confirm that the courses are wider in perspective and while it still focuses on the ball, the camera has a much greater view of the board itself which may give you an easier time. Plus, the music is just so much better.

Just be sure to disable the pop-up for shift keys if you are playing with DOS. You'd be amazed as to how many times I got screwed because I had no idea you could turn it off.

Cleared on March 12th, 2024 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 53/160)

I'm not gonna lie, Moonwalker is unironically one of my favorite Sega Genesis games that I've played so far. Playing a fantastical rendition of Michael Jackson while he beats up thugs, futuristic soldiers, and even zombies while saving kids that all look alike all while 16 bit renditions of his songs are playing in the background sounds like some glorified power fantasy at best, but hey, if the power fantasy is as fun as this, I'm not complaining.

There are five levels in the game with each of them having 3 rounds. In each round you have to save a set amount of kids which amounts up to searching which can get confusing and even worse-so in 4-3 in particular where the area is so large like a labyrinth that you feel like you need to triple check even if it takes awhile. Only to realize there is a waterfall you have no idea you can check.

Every time you clear a round, you are met with Mr. Big who taunts you that you can't catch him... saying the same thing every... single... time. Then he leaves and throws a gauntlet of enemies which can easily be taken care of by spamming attack while crouched. At Round 3 of each level (with the exception of Level 4) and sometimes Round 2, however, they will throw a boss fight which range from rather easy to actually really annoying. Heck, if you're so careless to step in front of Mr. Big while he's on screen, you will actually take a lot of damage overtime and you can't even damage him, so be sure to step aside when he shows up. Easily the worst fight in the game are the duo zombies at Round 2 at Level 3 because they send their torsos flying at the direction they face and you have little time to react to whether they are about to strike above or below, and sometimes they'll strike both at once which is actually impossible to dodge, and somehow the boss that followed using a similar idea is much easier on the condition that you can actually stunlock one of the zombies and take it down, so you can divert your attention to the other. Also, Round 2 of Level 5 is a really dreadful level because you have these laser turrets that deal a ton of damage. Once you're on the higher floor it's not as much of an issue, but the lower floors are more cramped combined with enemies that infinitely respawn which isn't unusual for the game since enemies infinitely respawn in this game until you've rescued all the kids.

Some other mechanics to keep in mind is that if your health is red, your magic is gone and your attack range becomes scuffed. Until then, your attack is really powerful. You can sacrifice your health to spin around and if you hold it long enough, you can follow with a hat throw that deals a high amount of damage. If that sounds like a liability, the kids can heal you a good amount when you save them. I think my favorite thing about the game are just those odd interactions that you get. Kicking chairs and stones which can slide towards the enemy, sliding down the stairs and knocking out enemies in your way, being able to moonwalk even though that does almost nothing, all those weird sounds that he makes which is reminiscent of those weird flash animations that I've seen featuring Michael Jackson, and him transforming into a robot to pulverize Mr. Big's forces and his base which is then followed up with a plane chase sequence. It is insane.

One more thing is that if you hold your special attack long enough, you can actually perform a screen nuke by forcing all the enemies to dance. Too bad I didn't get a chance to do that on my first playthrough, but on the bright side, I'll surely be coming back for another round of this game someday.

Cleared on March 11th, 2024 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 52/160)

Another really long game, but I still thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. Shining Force is a Tactical RPG where you control multiple hero units as if you are playing Chess to clear out all enemies on the field or at least until you cleared out their leader. I've never really played any games of that genre, not even Fire Emblem, but I have tapped into Shining Force several years ago and never seen a game quite like it. It felt bizarre, but I found it captivating.

The premise is a classic light vs darkness where you must stop Darksol, who if you recall, is the main villain of Shining in the Darkness... well, at least that's what localizers made you believe. The thing is, the Darksol of this game is the original Darksol and the one in Shining in the Darkness, Dark Sol, was actually his son named Mephisto. The game's premise is very similar to Shining in the Darkness, but unlike that game where much of its story is just... there, there is actually more effort into making the story engaging as there is much more dialogue across the game with many towns to visit and villains to confront. I would at least say that out of the stories in the Sega Genesis line-up from the 52 games that I've played so far, it's probably my favorite although that bar has been very low.

The cast of characters are quite vast although many of them are pretty one-note as they don't really contribute much else to the game's plot. The villains do stand out with their corruption, evil, and just being a menace like how Mishaela burned your boat and forced you to go find another. However, I think my annoyance with them is that they have a habit of confronting you on the battlefield and rather than ensure your demise they are just... "I'll let the minions deal with you!" and run off. I understand we're not strong enough to beat them at the early stage of the game, but it just feels oddly convenient. Of course, there are supposedly an array of other problems that come with the story, some of which you'll have to come up with your own explanation, and others feel rather convenient. The most bizarre of which is the Prompt plotline where the civilians start out as complete morons which is presumably an act they put on, the king throws you in prison because he thinks you're a spy, then some random breaks you out, and now all of a sudden he and the entire civilization grows a brain probably bigger than all of Rune. Even the children there are schooling the teachers, and even though the game acknowledges it, I don't know what the fuck happened. To be fair, the game does take a more comedic approach when visiting towns and talking to civilians. I think one of the highlights was when you can turn yourself into a chicken and everyone just reacts to you differently. It's not even required to progress the plot, and it's incredibly pointless, but it's just so comical that I can't help love it. Another one of my favorite moments is at Shade Abbey where it's not as funny as it is bizarre and downright creepy. Like I genuinely thought the game was bugged when I was wandering around.

As far as the playable characters go, there are 30 of them in the game and it's very unlikely you'll use them all on your first playthrough. In fact, I didn't even get a chance to use Domingo, Lyle, Torasu, Jogurt, or Adam throughout the game. But who are they all and what do they do?

Starting with the Hero, Max. He is the protagonist of the game and mandatory for all teams because he is the character you control in the overworld. On the surface, he might just seem another lowly knight compared to the centaurs that mock him in the beginning of the game. However, he does have his own tricks up his sleeves. Other than being one of the strongest characters in the game as far as stats go, he has the power to use Egress which is a spell that can allow you to retreat battle when needed. If you find yourself in a bad situation or just need to grind levels by forcing the foes to reset, this is what you should cast and since your mana and health fully recovers in the overworld, it's practically free to use as long as it's his turn. But here's another interesting quirk that he has. The enemies are all going to want him dead no matter what. Since Max is the leader of the Shining Force, if he dies, then you'll be forced to retreat to the overworld and restart the battle all over again. This can make it rather intimidating to try to use him in fights. However, you can actually work this to your advantage as you can force the enemies to bend over backwards trying to kill Max and put yourself at a huge advantage, and if you got some healers on your side, you can just have them spam heals on him while he takes damage.

The healers of the game include Lowe, Gong, Khris, and Torasu. Lowe is your starter healer who's main advantage is learning stronger healing spells earlier with more mana which makes him more consistent as well as a stronger Quick and Slow, but trying to level him up is a major pain and he does not have any AoE healing. Gong's advantage is that he hits the hardest and takes the most damage, but should probably be treated as more of an off-healer since his mana is lower than the others. Khris has the advantage of using Aura before you get Torusu, but trying to level her up is really challenging and her Quick and Slow is not as strong as Lowe's although she learns hers earlier than he does. Torusu's advantage is being able to use Aura 4 which is a heal that applies to everyone on the board, but as far as I can tell, his single-target healing is the worst in the game.

The knights in this game are quite a lot and they are all centaurs. There's Ken, Mae, Arthur, Pelle, Vankar, and Earnest. Ken and Vankar have the advantage of being high in HP which makes them more suited to taking on magic foes since the damage they deal is set. Mae, Earnest, and Pelle have the advantage of being high in defense which makes them ideal in the face of more physical foes. Then there's Arthur who is statistically the weakest of all the knights, but he has the ability to use magic which does sound promising until you realize it's all Level 1 which sounds like it falls off even late-game. Probably one of the worst characters in the game.

The wizards consist of Tao, Anri, Alef, and Domingo. Each of which are categorized by their strongest elemental. Tao has the strongest Blaze in the game which is not as strong as Freeze or Bolt, and this could mean she falls off late game. However, she does have the advantage of being able to boost an allies physical attack which would make her the premiere mage choice in a more physical orientated team. She also has Dispel which I had no idea what that did until I looked it up and it says it mitigates spells which might've been more useful than I would've thought. Anri has the advantage of being able to use both Level 2 Bolt and Level 2 Flame as well as Level 4 Freeze, and even though Bolt 4 is stronger, it still holds up really well even at the final boss and since you get Anri much earlier, she is way more accessible. Unforunately, her Muddle spell never really works for me. From what I read, it confuses the foe which may cause them to miss or hit themselves, but I can never get it to land. Alef is a hard one since she comes late game, but the reward is having the strongest spell in the game in the form of Bolt 4. She also gets Desoul which is a OHKO attack, but it has very low accuracy and just not worth trying your luck. There's also Domingo who I ended up missing because I had no idea you were supposed to get his egg where you recruit both Anri and Arthur. However, he is arguably the strongest mage in the game as he learns Freeze 4, and he can actually fly.

The archers in the game include Hans, Diane, and Lyle. As far as I'm aware, the only distinction is their level curve. Hans starts out weak, but can outmatch Diane who has a more stable learning curve that lets her outmatch Hans, but does fall off. Lyle, from what I've heard, has more attack compared to the two, but lower agility which means the turn order. Also, because he is a centaur, he moves remarkably slow in forest battles compared to Hans and Diane who could freely move about.

The dwarves are similar to the centaurs being melee fighters as they are Warriors, but they have the advantage of not having movement hindered in mountain battles. Those two include Luke and Gort. Luke apparently starts out stronger than Gort, but because Gort comes in earlier, there's a good chance that he won't be on your team much longer.

A unit that can ignore all terrian and be able to bypass even walls that can normally not be crossed are fliers. Other than Domingo, there's also Balbaroy and Amon which are both Birdman as well as Kokichi who is easy to miss. These three are very valuable for their ability to fly although once you get Bleu, one of the top three best units in the game, they really fall off.

Other than Bleu, who can fly and deal impressive damage. We have Zylo and Guntz who don't fall under any traditional classes, but they are ground units that can take impressive amount of damage, deal damage right back, and even ignore terrain. Zylo is undeniably powerful and arguably a must-have, but Guntz is rather odd because he starts out really slow and at first, you might think there's no reason to be leveling him because his fat ass takes too many turns to get to where everyone else can get in just 1 turn. Well, just wait until you give him a promotion, the movement ring, and the Valkyre and he suddenly becomes a powerful force of nature overnight.

So this leaves us with Adam, Musashi, and Hanzou (Also Jogurt, but he's literally designed to be a troll pick). Musashi is really strong, but he's very secretive and unavailable for promotion. If you know where to look, you could have a powerful samurai on your hands that grows strong in the late-game. Both Adam and Hanzou come really late into the game, and while they can be strong under the right circumstances, given how slow the battle system is (unless you decide to use fast forward feature), grinding them out is a serious pain. In Hanzou's case, in particular, the units actually get a lot more difficult because the chimera and the dragon units keep dodging which makes it harder to grind out experience, so I decided it wasn't worth trying.

In case you want to know what my final team was. It was Maximus, Tao, Gong, Gort, Khris, Anri, Diane, Zylo, Guntz, Bleu, Alef, and Musashi.

Each unit has their own set of classes and progression, and can grow in power via promotion. It is recommended to level them to Level 20 before giving them a promotion since they gain a better base stat total since their level resets to 1, and even allow them to grow stronger faster because the game will think there's a huge level difference between you and the foe, and you will just level up like crazy.

And I say you'll need it because the foes do get really difficult, especially during the final five battles where they bring out the chimeras and the dragons, and because flying enemies tend to dodge attacks better, they will just be a pain to hit unless you are using magic which will never miss. Also, they will use magic and even have a chance to double strike using magic which will chunk your HP. It's a massive difficultly spike, and you'll need to brace yourself. On the bright side, the final boss was a highlight and a visual spectacle.

Overall, I had a good time with the game. It's a long game that you will be using fast forward and rewind just to help you with grinding and getting through with slower parts of the game, so don't expect another playthrough from me for a long time. Maybe when I next play the game in 8 or 10 years from now, I'll use the romhack that nerfs the battlefield size.

Cleared on March 6th, 2024 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 51/160)

When it comes to side-scroller shooters on the SEGA Genesis, I've played worse, but I've played so much better. It would seem that for every positive I have about the game, something negative comes in to mitigate it which is why it's rather disappointing since I was thinking it would be a 6/10.

The game does look really cool. From the boxart, I thought B.O.B. was an anthropomorphic insect, but turned out to be a robot. But I do suppose the eyes give it that dynamic cartoonish expressions you would expect from a 90s game, and B.O.B. has that attitude who makes quips during world intermission cutscenes and makes a comment before going into a level. The issue I have is that it comes in one of maybe 4 or 5 comments which repeat multiple times like he's some kind of broken record or something. "Get a load of this place!". Maybe I just really hate catchphrases and people saying the same things over and over and over and over... and anyway, the ending did get a chuckle out of me.

The gameplay is a run and gun shooter where you venture through tight corridors and shoot enemies your way. You start out with a standard blaster and a fist which you can switch between in the pause menu. However, as you progress, you can also get a spread shot, a flamethrower, a homing missile, a shock blaster, and a shock wave. Each of which can be useful since ammo is limited here. The standard blaster is the worst in the game which is fair since it is the starter weapon to encourage you to find stronger weapons, but I'm not a fan of the homing missile since while it can be good if positioned correctly, because it only move in six directions, it may not even correctly hit the target you want to hit. Also, I don't really like how you can only aim forward and not diagonal or even down while jumping. You can aim upwards, but you have to be standing still to do that. The controls are also clunky which, to be fair, B.O.B. is a robot which might have been a design choice, but it does make precise platforming very difficult.

Another thing I want to address are the gadgets which include things like Springs which you start out with, and as you go along the level, you can get a helicopter hat, umbrella, and shield. Some of them are required to progress throughout the levels, but the problem is that some of them are finite in their ammunition, so if you screw up, you're actually stuck, and you got to start the whole level all over again. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad if the helicopter and spring in particular wasn't so difficult to work with when paired with the controls. But you're probably thinking that maybe I should've been patient and take it slow and steady, and yeah, you're right, I could have... if the levels didn't have a timer!

This is another major flaw with the game. You have a set amount of time to actually get to the end which ranges from 3-5 minutes. Sometimes higher or lower than that, and if you reach 0 on the timer, your health drains to 0 and then you die. If the controls were smooth and built with fast movement in mind, I would've thought of it as a good thing to add to the challenge, but the fact that I'm working with robot controls is absurd.

But easily the worst thing about this game is the screen crunch. If you look at game footage, you'll notice the sprites are really big which creates more detail in it along with the environment. It should've worked to its advantage given the art direction, but it ends up zooming in perhaps too close and as a result, you have trouble seeing enemies when they're coming and also obstacles which has led to several cheap deaths from traps that drain your health and also, when you fall, you not only take a small fraction of damage, you're also stunned and you can get stunned in traps, and that can take a very massive chunk of your health if it somehow doesn't kill you. A bit of a tip, though, is that you can break out of the stun if you have a gadget on hand as using it can cancel the stun. While I wouldn't mind that as a decision to encourage gadget use, the screen crunch really hinders the game and I strongly suspect that it has to do with the game being graphically intensive that it causes slowdown at points in my playthrough. I heard it's worse on the SNES version, though.

Ironically, the best part of the game are the boss fights and while they aren't exactly remarkable and even frustrating at points, they are way better than the majority of the Sega Genesis boss fight line-ups that I've seen so far. Each of them have a sense of challenge, patterns, and strategies that you can pick up on. It's too bad the final boss didn't get its own music, and in fact, the soundtrack for the game as a whole is kinda mediocre especially because you're hearing the same set of music... over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and...

To me, the game feels like a prelude to Ratchet and Clank. Both of them have that sharp and witty sense of humor in a sci-fi setting where you use a bunch of weapons to battle your enemies and gadgets to progress. It could've been just a coincidence since I don't think anyone would have such an average shooter on their minds, but at least the game's potential had long since been realized.

Played on March 3rd, 2024 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 49/160)

Nothing really much to remark in regards to what this game is about. It's a game where you stack blocks, but instead of it being in different shapes, you stack them in columns and try to match the same color in a straight line or a diagonal, and this is made possible by rotating the gems before they land on the board.

I will say that the game does get really hard even when you set it to easy which can make it seem rather inaccessible, but the unique angle it takes the block stacking genre of puzzle games does make it worth a look.