Cleared on July 9th, 2023 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 24/160)

Now this is a great shoot em up game. No difficulty spikes, no questionable decisions designed to extend playtime; just a reasonable challenge that never once did I feel like I was being screwed over. Mind you, I still had to use save states since I got a list of games to go through, but I feel confident this is one of the ones I'll be returning to.

So what makes this game so fun? Well, at first it seems to be nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to shoot em ups. You dodge, you shoot, and you collect power-ups to empower your weapons. However, what makes the game more intriguing (and this is what I embarrassingly didn't realize until the final level) is that you have the ability to shift between mech form and plane form. While both are similar, they do have a few differences. Mech form brings the drones you collected (which are the assistants that add firepower) to your side no matter where you are while the Plane form has the drones position themselves where you were. So like if you were up at one point and you go down, the drone will go up if that makes any sense. They also have their own special moves which include Mech being able to briefly turn invincible which adds a mercy aspect to the game and may even save you from what's otherwise unfair like the final level where there is a tight corridor with a few enemies waiting for you. Meanwhile the plane will fire a wave of powerful lasers that clears most projectiles, making it a powerful tool as a surefire way of avoiding damage.

The music in this game is fantastic, and I could see myself listening to the soundtrack of the game on my free time. And it has a cool visual appeal to make it stand out from other games of the genre though I think it's mainly because of the mech design and some of the boss enemies look cool as well.

However, I still have a few gripes with the game. Even though the game is much more fair compared to other shoot em ups, you will still lose all of your power ups when you get hit which could make coming back difficult, but the good news is that you start out with 3 special attacks which means you could potentially buy some time to get some of your powers back if you play your hand at the right time. The frame rate at few segments are really bad, namely a few of the boss battles in the game although at least you can kinda control it by not shooting so rapidly and for the 4th boss in particular, it might've worked to my advantage to avoid attacks. Lastly, the final boss is really lame. You can stay in one place, occasionally move out of the fireballs, and then just shoot the center until it dies. That's it.

But all that aside, I really enjoyed this game, and I didn't even feel like I wanted to hurry to the end with this one because my mind was numbing or I was getting aggravated. It's a great time, a great game, and I would definitely recommend this as someone's first 2D Air Shoot Em Up.

Cleared on July 9th, 2023 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 23/160)

How in the hell do you make a game that feels exciting to play and then decide to shoot yourself in the wings at the second half? If you've played other shoot em up 2D side scrollers, you know how the game plays. You dodge projectiles, you strike back, and here, you collect power-ups and new weapons to empower yourself. What all do they do?

You have the Glowing P which empowers your primary shot and it's very valuable as it improves your damage output immensely. You have the Striker which adds additional firepower which is not too bad for that extra damage, the Reverse shot which fires two shots backwards and it's very situational at best so you should probably avoid, the Six-Way Shot which fires an automatic shot that rotates around and it's ok, it covers a bit more ground, but rather situational. The green homing missiles which have excellent steering while the red homing missiles can lock on close to enemies with impressive damage making it the best weapon in the game. You also get a massive AoE explosion that you can charge up and use periodically that clears out most projectiles and deals damage to all enemies, sometimes even clearing them out.

The problem is that this game willing takes away all the power you worked towards if you get hit, and if I'm not mistaken, I don't think even Sol-Deace pulls that on you and only loses your power-ups when you get a game over and Wings of Wor only gradually decreases your power as you lose lives, so this feels very punishing compared to those games, but that's not the worst part.

The first three levels have about the control feel that I expected from a game of the genre. It's fairly precise and I can see myself getting good at the game enough to not warrant save states... but then, the game does something inhumanely stupid, something that if this problem was there the whole game, it would've got a 2/10 in my score because it's that bad. When you go to space, the controls become so scuffed because of "gravity", but I mean, if Sol-Deace can take place in space and control just fine, then what kind of absurd excuse does this game have to make the controls that slippery? It's like working with slippery ice physics and in a game that demands precision, that's really bad.

It's like the developers either thought they were being clever by having gravity scuff the controls. or they were genuinely trying to make this as anti-fun and unfair as possible because the game itself would take less than 30 minutes to complete if one were to play the game perfectly. The game does let you regain the normal controls during the penultimate boss and the final level, but it feels jarring that they demand you to get better at dodging as is, scuff the controls, and then give it back. Like if the game wasn't that scuffed during the 4th and 5th level, then maybe it would've better helped the player to be able to dodge the super precise block sequence that came in the final level. It's just straight up bad game design.

The music is at least a highlight, though. It's upbeat and nice to listen to, but I would not go out of my way to play this game again.

Cleared on July 9th, 2023 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 22/160)

This Puyo-Puyo clone may seem pretty quirky featuring characters from the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog TV show with simple gameplay where you take these "beans" as they call it and match four of the same color at minimum to make them disappear, chaining together combos to clear the board much easier and get a higher score. While a quick round of single player Puyo-Puyo in Exercise Mode may seem pretty relaxed, it's Scenario Mode that brings out the chaos and stress of the game because it is very hard.

It plays like normal Puyo-Puyo, but the catch is that you are dueling against Robotnik's minions and they get much harder and harder while devising their own strategies. They are able to keep up with fast speeds at a perfect pace and in order to beat them, you need to sabotage them with combos, but they too can sabotage you and make it even more difficult for you. And for the record, I was only playing Normal difficulty.

If "Normal" difficulty feels like playing against a Super Computer, then "Hard" must be playing against God and "Hardest" is playing against someone who uses Rewind and Save States against you. All while being given a smug and douchey look from some of these characters like they just knew they won and you're hopeless to do anything about it, further adding to the frustration you may face.

But it is beatable although it may take a great deal of luck to find opportunities to pull off the best combos, and it's not like Pokemon Puzzle League where the difficulty can feel so rubber banded that the enemy will somehow lose to itself just because the game suspects you are not very good at the game. Even still, it does take a good deal of practice, knowledge of Puyo-Puyo, and excellent reaction and focus in order to stand off against your foes.

Supposedly from what I hear, the difficulty of the game is just way off compared to other Puyo-Puyo titles although I have yet to confirm this as it is deemed too brutal and yeah, I can definitely get it. I've experienced this first hand and even after completing the game, the game dared me to do "Hard mode" and I was just like "lol, nope".

But despite this, it's still just Puyo-Puyo. It functions as it should. You move the pieces, you rotate them, and you place and match ones of the same color. It's simple and it's fun. If you're wanting to experience the game somehow, it's not a bad option. There's a pretty good chance you own this game if you have any Sega Genesis Collection.

Cleared on July 8th, 2023 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 21/160)

This game is... whatever. There's nothing really out of ordinary, but the presentation is nice. The graphics in the 2D segments are detailed enough for a Sega Genesis game with a variety of locations like a town under siege, temples infested with aberrations, and forests swarming with deadly bugs. The soundtrack is also quite good too. It's not something I'll go out of my way to listen to, but I did vibe with the overworld desert theme so that counts for something.

The story is... there. I suspect I'll end up forgetting about it in a few days or so. The majority of the events amount up to mundane fetch quests to save someone that got kidnapped although there are some highlights and attempts to make things engaging with some philosophy and lore. The Turbografx CD version has Voice Acting during key cutscenes, and for a 90s video game that translated from Japan, it sounds... actually not that bad. I mean, it's not what I would say is professional, but I did like Yuug's VA at the least.
Edit (March 10th, 2024): I haven't quite forgotten about the game's ending at the least, but you know what else I didn't forget about? Off-screen deaths of important characters, lol.

However, what really hinders the game is its gameplay. On the surface it looks pretty fun with a 2D action RPG where you swing your sword, use magic, and explore to get to the objective. But I take some issues with the game. For one thing, the jumping and platforming feels really clunky as sometimes I'll jump up to another platform and find myself bumping into collision which makes me unable to get higher until I get it right. Jumping forward from one platform to another didn't really feel that great either. The enemy placement can be quite unfair as some of them will even attack you the moment you enter a room which gives you no time to react, and yet somehow the game ends up being piss easy because of one thing I don't think the developers really factored in.

An issue that I hear some people with some video games are infinitely respawning enemies. Just when you thought you got them out of the way, another one comes in and gimps you. This could be an issue here since you have to deal with a a barrage of enemies which are almost sure to hit you except being an RPG where you can level up, it actually works to your advantage. As early as Level 2, you can walk towards a building, take out 2 guards, walk out, walk in, take out 2 guards, walk out, walk in, and repeat again and again until you get a comfortable enough level to take on the rest of the level and even with all the crap the game throws at you, you'll just come out perfectly fine and find yourself taking down bosses in very few hits. So depending on what you do, the game is either really frustrating or just really easy and there's no in-between.

At the very least, though, it has the courteousy to be short enough to knock out in a few hours which is more that can be said for the last Sega Genesis RPG I played, so it doesn't overstay its welcome and feel like I'm torturing myself just so I can say that I finally got it done, and it's not like I got that bored. The music is well varied enough to not drive me insane. But nevertheless, it's a game that I wouldn't go out of my way to play again.

Reviewed on July 6th, 2023
Puzzle Mode Cleared on July 7th, 2023 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 20/160)

Pac-Attack is a game that I recalled playing through Pac Man World 2 a long time ago, but I never really understood how the game worked. I kinda get the basics. I knew that Pac-Man ate the ghosts, but lining them up was confusing and I didn't last longer than maybe 2 minutes. But now that I revisited the game and was able to better pick up on the mechanic, I honestly like this just as much as I do Tetris.

Obviously you have blocks you need to line up as you traditionally do in Tetris, but the twist is that there are these ghosts that will obstruct you as you line them up. However, you can position where they will go so that when you get a Pac-Man piece, you can have him take the ghosts down. This creates more complexity compared to Tetris and really gets you thinking.

There are two modes you can do which include Normal and Puzzle mode. Normal is about what you'd expect from Tetris. Survive long enough to get the high score and don't let the blocks stack too high, but Puzzle is a little more interesting. So you have a limited number of Pac-Mans to use in a preset level. When all the ghosts are cleared, you move on to the next level. There are 100 levels in the game and they get really tricky. Just know that unlike in Normal mode, you can switch whatever direction Pac-Man is facing.

July 7th Update: I managed to finish Puzzle Mode clearing all 100 levels, and I can say that while it may be seem easy enough once you learn a few techniques, it really does get hard once you reach the second half and sometimes it feels like they're deliberately giving you the worst puzzle piece you could ask for to screw over whatever plan you might have. Nevertheless, it makes for a really good challenge.

Another thing I want to call attention to is the Presentation which includes graphics, sound, and music. Now there are two versions of the game being the Genesis and the Super Nintendo. I decided to play both and the Super Nintendo version is better. The Genesis version isn't bad, but I feel as if its inferior given its capabilities. But it still functions all the same.

Anyway you put it, Pac-Attack is really fun. If you own any Namco compilations, there's a chance you might have it. Heck, if you have Pac-Man World 2, you can access the Namco Anthology remake which plays about the same.

Cleared on July 5th, 2023 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 19/160)

Good god, out of all the games that I played for this challenge, this has to be the longest and most patience trying of them all. Even with the Fast Forward feature to speed along the movement, the Rewind to prevent wasting time over trivial mistakes, and looking up walkthroughs and guides for the most optimal gear, it still felt so damn long. I want to say at least 20+ hours.

And perhaps this length wouldn't be such a problem if the game didn't feel so monotonous. The music is the biggest offender to me because you hear the same song while you're in the labyrinth for hours on end. Even when you get into the Trials, the music doesn't change and it's only when you get to the 2nd floor of the labyrinth where the music does change, but the encounter theme remains exactly the same, and the game expects you to be comfortable hearing it for hours of your playtime. Like sure RPG encounter themes are a thing, but at the very least the majority of them shake things up with boss themes, but guess what? Even for the majority of bosses in the game (with the exception of 2), they still play that song. It's like it's "whatever" the first few times, but play it more and more, and it drives you nuts. Eventually, I was at my limit and decided to just mute the game and play my own music.

Music aside, everything else ranges from good to ok. I really admire the visuals of the game. It has that colorful traditional fantasy artstyle with expressive characters. You have guys with shifty eyebrows, some guy that makes such a weird face when you to try to sell your items, and a shopkeeper elf that occasionally gives you bedroom eyes. The mobs are well drawn although perhaps a little too expressive that it makes it seem like they're making them look as smug or douchey as they can so that you'll want to beat them up. The environment in the castle and village are nice, but the labyrinth is rather simple with stone walls and floors with maybe a few occasional sights.

The gameplay is just your traditional turn-based RPG. You make your move and then your enemies go next, though sometimes it can go the other way around. There's nothing much to it, and even if the kind of gameplay is boring to some, I don't really have much of a problem with it. What I do have a problem with is the constant amount of enemies that bombard you and sometimes they'll be one tile away after you already had an encounter. The encounter rate is merciless in this game and although you can remedy this via a spell you get through one of the characters, it doesn't really last that long. So what about the characters?

When you are sent into the Kingdom of Thornwood, you take the role of Hiro, named to your preference (I named him James since I didn't know what his canon name was). He is a Knight who swings his sword and wears tough armor. That remains true throughout the entire game as he never uses magic at all. That said, he is quite valuable for the whole party as he generally has the highest attack stat which makes his burst valuable for taking out a target in one hit, but in turn, he is the slowest, very often going last in the face of a mob of creatures unless he is overleveled. Despite being a knight, he has the lowest base defense and has to wear powerful armor to make up for his shortcomings, but he does have the highest health in the game.
When you venture into the labyrinth, you start out going in alone and all you do is just auto attack which is fair to get you used to the very simple mechanics of the game, but they introduce your comrades being Pyra the witch and Milo the priest each of which are especially valuable for survivability and overall damage output.
Milo is the healer and support of the game and has reasonably balanced stats. His main appeal is to keep the party in shape although when that's not necessary, he can dish out some decent damage and a few particular weapons that he exclusively gets can be quite potent. Other than Healing, he can provide inquiry on an item you're holding, cure Poison and Paralysis, deal Wind Damage, grant a speed and defense boost which may come in handy for Hiro in particular, silence enemies, burst enemies with fire, and even revive your allies. He also gets access to DeSoul which is potential one-shot, but the accuracy is so low that you probably wouldn't go out of your way to use it.
Pyra, meanwhile, provides damage and debuffs against enemies. While you probably won't find yourself using her spells early on, once you acquire more mana and deal with tougher mobs, you will really see its value pick up. She can Slow her enemies to lower their speed and defense, she can set them alight with Blaze, she can put them to Sleep, she can deal Ice damage, she can deal Lightning damage, and she can screw with the enemies head and confuse them which turns comical when you get Muddle to Level 2. However, she does have a few buffs. She can heal her allies much like Milo, but it never goes above Level 2 which means its best to use her as a back-up healer or just to allow Milo to conserve mana for whatever reason. She can also Boost allies physical attack which is especially valuable for Hiro since his damage is already high and would be valuable for enemies with high amounts of HP. She is also very valuable for utility outside of combat like being able to peer into your surroundings to better determine where you are and when you feel lost or need to get back to town, you can have her teleport you out of the labyrinth.

I really like the game's progression. While there are some new spells that make me feel indifferent such as Desoul and Screen (silence) which I never used (though Screen could be useful in hindsight), the other spells you get are very good and you'll want to use them for a specific circumstance. But the weapons and gear that you get are also really cool. When having to fight multiple enemies, you only target one at a time and this remains true for Hiro throughout the whole game. It does get better with the addition of Pyra and Milo, but as soon as these two join, the max number of enemies that fight you increases and sometimes they come in different groups. Let's put it this way. You have 1 Cave Slug and 2 Slime. You have the choice to target the 1 Cave Slug or target the 2 Slime, but when targeting the slime, you can't determine who will get hit. The good news is that your character will always go for the one that they can take down so it doesn't matter although once you get the Flail for Milo, it gets a bit shaky as being able to hit two times means that you won't always hit the same foe twice even when hitting them two times would actually defeat them.

The game is fairly easy although it could theoretically get cheap under bad circumstances. I remember there was a group mob that ambushed my party and got a free turn to paralyze both Hiro and Pyra. If Milo got paralyzed, it would've been a party wipe. There are also enemies that could cast DeSoul on you and do that first thing when they ambush you and if they cast it on the only person that can actually revive and you don't have the item that lets you do that, you're gonna have to warp back to town to revive him.

As for the story... it's there, but it doesn't really seem all that special to me. There are points where it does get interesting towards the second half, but as a whole, it's a very standard "save the princess, defeat the darkness" story. To be fair, this was made in 1991 so I'm pretty sure story-telling in video games was in its early stage. While the main story events are rather sparse, you can get some dialogue from going out of your way to talk to NPCs who will give you clues on what to do next.

Honestly, though, I'm shocked that I got to see this game to the end. I've thought about just dropping the game altogether because the tedious and repetitive nature of the game just numbed my mind. I'm sure it was a fine RPG for its time, but to me, it's just really average. There were some things that I like about it, not enough to say I dislike it or think it's a bad game, but I didn't have enough reasons to justify calling it decent or good. I would not recommend this game to anyone outside of die-hard RPG fans who do not go to work or school even if you're willing to use Rewind, Fast Forward, and Save States. But if you're willing to shine the light in the darkness, then here are some tips fresh out of the oven to make your experience probably better than mine.

Tip #1: If the game's music begins to annoy you, just mute the game and play your own. It gave me a better time playing Outlanders and it did that for me here.
Tip #2: Never discount or ignore the utility that your allies provide once you get them. You can have Pyra use View to find out where you are, and if you're willing to use Rewind, you can have her cast the spell, pinpoint where you are, and then Rewind to get that one mana back. That way you pretty much get unlimited Views.
Tip #3: Always have at least one Angel Feather on you at all times. If Pyra goes down and you don't have Revive available because Milo doesn't have it yet, is too low on mana or dead, you'll have to walk all the way back to town. Also good luck finding your way out without Pyra's View, lol.
Tip #4: Cursed items in this game are mostly trash. While the values they give are very high, they come with awful side-effects that make them unbearable to try to use. While this seems like a no-brainer, there is one exception to the rule being the Hexwhip which is Pyra's most powerful Whip, but it entangles her and renders her incapable of moving. The thing is, it doesn't always activate (though it does the majority of the time) and when it does it activates after the damage is dealt. On top of that, if she's just casting spells, it doesn't activate which makes it more manageable. If you manage to find a Dark Block, get the Hexwhip and sell the rest of the materials you find.
Tip #5: The game can be quite grindy as many RPGs are susceptible of being, but there is a hotspot as soon as you get the Mystic Rope. Upon using it, you will have a chance to find Necromancers which cannot attack you and only spawn Zombies. Ideally by encountering 7 Necromancers, you can empower Hiro with Quick and Boost, then have Pyra and Milo perform defensive stance while Hiro takes down one necromancer which will prompt one of the necromancers to summon a zombie in its place. Keep attacking the Zombie and you'll be racking up experience points which might get you leveled up reasonably enough to take on later challenges and especially the final boss.
Tip #6: Once you get Muddle 2 and get to the point where you encounter a Gollum (no, not that kind), use it on them until they give you a Super Flail which is best in slot for Milo as it lets you hit foes three times in one turn.
Tip #7: Be sure to stop by the castle every once and a while since there's a chance they may give you useful tips or even an item of importance. As soon as you go up the Third Floor of the Labyrinth, return to the castle to get a Medallion which will let you set a checkpoint and save you a lot of time and let you use Egress (teleport out of maze) much more often and with more confidence.
Tip #8: You can actually sell your key items and be able to rebuy them when you might need them, but do not discard them because I suspect that it would softlock your progress.
Tip #9: Save very often. Unless you plan on using Rewind to save yourself of any unfair scenarios like a full paralysis, you don't want your progress to go completely undone. The game is very long and if hours of time is lost, you will not be happy about it.
Tip #10: Make sure everyone is max health and max mana when you get to the final boss because it's no pushover. You're going to need your emergency max heals, your strongest spells and maybe even a revive. Preferably make sure everyone is best in slot and at least Level 50.

Good luck.

You know that one game that you just know is not all that good, a game that you would never recommend to anyone because of how tedious and repetitive it can be, yet you yourself just can't bring yourself to hate for some unexplained reason beyond nostalgia and the aesthetic? Well, I have a few of those games, and if I were to make a list of favorite "outdated" games, Toontown would definitely be on the list.

Toontown is a game created by Disney as their first attempt to get into the MMO market using their iconic properties of Mickey Mouse and his friends. The appeal of the game is to be able to create your own character, a "toon" as they call it, and interact with the iconic characters although the truth is that they don't really add up all that much and is mostly there for aesthetic. They get a few lines, but don't really contribute to the premise of the game, and as Toontown Rewritten has proven, you can take them out and nothing would change.

The real core of the game is an ongoing war between toons and machinations known as cogs. These machines seek to take out all the fun from Toontown and its civilians, rendering them unhappy and under their servitude. But they have one major flaw, they cannot take a joke. That's where you come equipped with gags and unleash them to make them explode from all the frustration and annoyance of it. But what are your gags?

Being a turn based RPG, you select your attack amongst what's in your inventory. You start out with Throw and Squirt. Throw consists of pies and cakes that you can hurl at your foes to deal pretty respectable damage although the accuracy won't always be reliable. Squirt consists of spraying your enemies with water which doesn't deal as much damage, but the accuracy is much more reliable, making it a great sure-fire way to finish off low-health cogs.
Along the way, you are able to acquire 5 other gags which include Toon-Up, Trap, Lure, Sound, and Drop each of which having their strengths and weaknesses.
Toon-Up is a very valuable gag as it heals your allies for a respectable amount which can be useful in long lasting battles and especially in Cog Buildings, but it cannot target yourself and sometimes it'll dud which means healing for far less than it should. The Megaphone (the level 2 gag), for example, lets you create a joke which is supposed to clever and get a good chuckle that it would heal for around 15-18 (depending on where you are in the experience points), but sometimes it'll just heal for 2 because the punchline made no sense what so ever. Regardless, it is still very valuable and you should have at least one person who has it readily available for any long battles.
Trap lets you place down a very powerful preemptive attack that activates upon using Lure, and while this sounds great. In solo play it's a risk because you need to take one turn to set it up which will leave up susceptible to attacks, and even then, you have to count on Lure to actually land because unless you have the "organic" variant (more on that later), it is very inaccurate. I'm talking like Zap Cannon and Dynamic Punch in Pokemon levels of inaccuracy (50%) for the first two gags.
Lure does have another benefit beyond being a Trap trigger which is to stun your foes for a few turns and if you can get it to land, you can lock them in place for a few turns perhaps while you flail at another foe or alternatively, hurl pies or spray water for bonus damage. Be wary that Sound does not benefit from this and snaps them back to reality, and Drop will always miss. Note that Throw and Squirt will cause the stun to expire.
Sound is the AoE gag that deals damage to all Cogs, but the damage is even lower than Squirt. In Group Play, this is a great gag to weaken your foes to let your allies potentially finish off multiple cogs at once.
Drop has very high damage and unlike Trap doesn't need assistance from another gag, but it's very inaccurate although landing one is both satisfying and hilarious.

The organic variant of these gags improve the overall potency which may include a boost in damage or even sometimes accuracy boosts, but they are much more difficult to obtain since you need to plant them in a garden at your estate, but it could be very useful to keep in mind if you want to optimize for certain scenarios.

You can level them up by landing a successful hit and as you level up your gags, you get better versions of those gags. So you start out with a Cupcake and a Squirt Flower, but after hitting enemies 10 times with each of those gags you get access to a slice of berry pie and a glass of water which deal more damage although you only carry five of them until you get to the next level. Another thing? The experience rate gets higher and it gets exponentially higher.

Like I said for Throw and Squirt, you need to hit cogs ten times with your first set of gags. Ok. At level 2 you gain 2 points for using level 2 gags and 1 point for using level 1 gags. You get where this is going?
Ok, at level 2, the exp that it takes to get from 2 to 3 increases to 50 which means you need to hit cogs 25 times with your level 2 gags, bearing in mind you can only carry 5 while at this level. If you used up 10 of your Cupcakes and 5 of your Berry Pies, you would gain 20 exp points without having to restock at the gag shop.
This doesn't seem too bad. But once you get to Level 3, the exp to get to Level 4 becomes 400 which means now you need to hit 116 Cogs with your Level 3 gags alone although now you can hold 10 Berry Pies which means that 3 x 5 is 15 and 2 x 10 is 20. Add them up and its a 35 and 400 divided by 35 means you'll need to make an estimated 11 full trips to the Gag Shop after expending all of your gags.
If that's somehow not tedious enough keep in mind that you won't always get a chance to expend all of your gags in one session in lane as you may need to go back and heal which requires you to scour for and pick up health packs, and also the battles can be kinda slow as it's not like a real time action MMO like World of Warcraft where you take down a mob and quickly move on to the next. You and your opponent has to take turns attacking which plays an animation for both you and the cogs and it can get longer the more cogs you have facing against you as well as if your allies are using different gags with the turn order. Side note, if you are trying to level up Squirt, and if your ally uses Throw to finish off a cog, you won't get a chance to attack and gain experience. The turn order, for the record is Toon-Up, Trap, Lure, Sound, Throw, Squirt, and Drop which will then give Cogs a turn to strike if you haven't taken them down.
Oh and not only do you have to watch you and your allies make their moves, not only do you have to watch the cogs make their moves, not only do you have to watch them explode, you have to watch you and your allies dance while displaying their results including exp gain, the quests they achieve, and it's not just your quest, but the allies quest as well. And in case you didn't think it could get any worse, once you get to Level 4, the exp it takes to get to Level 5 is 2000! That pretty much means having to use your Level 4 gag 450 times! And just know that it gets much worse from here and just remember, that's just one gag out of six gags you need to level up and they don't fare much better and are even more tedious than Throw and Squirt are.

So you're probably wondering why in toon's name would they make something this tedious. Well, the answer lies in what the game used to be. It's a subscription based game that wants the parents of the kids to pay around 10 dollars a month to access the full game. Beforehand you are only given access to Toontown Central which if you know what you're doing, you can knock it out in a few hours flat. For a kid it's more tedious given how they don't have as much game time given school, parental regulations, and just living their normal lives playing other games, playing with friends or siblings, and other interests and kids won't always know the most optimal route.

Of course, they need to drag out the game for all that it's worth, so once you got to Donald's Dock, the game starts to exponentially pick up on its grind and tedious aspect. Like there are points where they'll have you run back and forward to clear a task, then they'll have you clear out a few cogs usually of a specific kind, and then you'll get your reward. This isn't such a big deal since I believe Toontown Rewritten adds a sprint feature to make navigation just a little faster. But once you get to Daisy's Garden, that's where they will do what I call "cop-outs". What I mean is that you think you'll have completed a quest to get your reward, but it turns out, "nah, now you need to do this again or do this again but even harder".
Like for example, I thought I finally got a key from a Mingler which I went through the trouble of hunting because you can only find them in buildings, factories, and invasions. I got one during an invasion, but the invasion ended last minute. I thought "Ok, I got what I need, now to turn it in". Guess what?! They told me that I got the "wrong key" and need to get the "right key" by taking down the Mingler, and when I went through the trouble of hunting another Mingler in a Sellbot building which won't always have them available, they won't have the courteousy to always drop them as I've learned when I finally encountered one again and it didn't drop. It is so bizarre and frustrating. But this isn't just a one time thing. When I went through the trouble of finding a group to do two cog buildings with, I was told to do two more cog buildings, but now they have to be 2+ story. You can really tell the game was trying to drag on the length because of the subscription model that it ran on.

So if the battle system is so unfun, why do I consider the overall game so enjoyable? Well, there is a lot of fun to have through other aspects like the community, the mini-games, and the comedy.

While I haven't quite made any real friends in Toontown, I really enjoy the community of the game. It's really friendly although you may run into the occasional political meme discussions, but that's pretty much to be expected for all online communities really. It even compliments the battle system quite well as there are times where you might be in a bad situation because more cogs came to you when you don't want them to, but a random passerby comes in and helps save the day with a Toon-Up or maybe just contribute to the damage. Now that feels really good, particularly when you're the one doing the saving.

The mini-games are pretty enjoyable too. You have fishing which is a simple aiming game which could be useful for farming jelly beans. You have trolley mini-games which can have a variety of minigames as well as difficulties depending on where you ride the Trolley. You can race which is not that fluid compared to Mario Kart or other racing games even from the 90s, but hey, for 2003 it must have been cool to just race it out online. Lastly, you have mini-golf which works pretty well and definitely a favorite for me.

And really, the game is just really funny. Even if the battle system is just not that exciting, just something about flinging pies, telling jokes whether they're clever or nonsensical, and dropping weights is just so amusing. Even the community can make up their own comedy like that one dude who wanted to run a campaign for mayor while having a bunch of multiboxers (or just really well-coordinated people) and briefly for one second mentioning he was going to eat your soul. It was so wild.

At the end of the day, it's the nostalgia that keeps me coming back. Not necessarily reminiscing the "good ol days", but the desire to get back online and finish what I started all those years ago. I still haven't cleared a Sellbot Tower attack at the time of writing this and I'm still not even in a position to do the Factory, but I figured I write this review now because spirits knows how long it'll be before I get to the end and do everything. I may go on a few hiatus from the game just to focus on the multitude of other games and even books and TV shows I have on my backlog, but as my mantra goes, I don't always finish things on time, but I'll always eventually finish it.

Played on June 20th, 2023 (Sega Genesis Challenge: 18/160)

This is a game that was designed with multiplayer in mind, and I might appreciate it more if I had someone else on the same skill level as I am, by that, I mean being just as confused with how it works as I am, but until then, this game isn't really for me.

It's not to say I dislike the RTS genre, Starcraft and Warcraft are games I really enjoy, but mainly, I enjoy them less for the gameplay and more for their campaign, and this game doesn't really have that going for it. That is to be expected since, believe it or not, this is the first dedicated RTS game ever made.

But being the first, it's going to be rough and the learning curve feels even steeper than all of the RTS games that I've played even Warcraft I. In other games, you oversee units through an omniscience point of view that can change focus on a whim, but here, you are focused exclusively on your robot responsible for deploying the units. So the game is quite odd although you can get some idea on what your enemy is up to based on the indicators that a control point had been captured and where your opponent is, but you'll never be able to tell if its in the process of being captured until you approach the outpost yourself. So even for a seasoned RTS veteran, this game can feel very complicated and even frustrating, but how does the game work?

At the start of a match, you become a jet. From there, you have the options of moving around, shooting, or going to the menu to spawn units and when they are ready, you fly over one of your control points or home base to press a button and then release them where you want them to be.

Oftentimes, you will want to spawn Infantry units and command them to capture an outpost, but you'll want to fortify the defenses of your control points to at least buy some time for you to react to the attacks and drive the enemy off as they cannot stay in the enemy base for too long given they have fuel to worry about, and of course, you need to worry about it as well while you are on the offense.

The units themselves include Infantry, a weak unit that can capture the control points. 4 of them are needed to accomplish this. Supply Truck replenishes resources from units that have a ! indicator. FWA are motorcycle units with high speed and moderate power. Armored Cars which are basically just discount tanks that isn't quite as powerful, but could be useful for stalling time. Tanks are powerful units that cost more, but are more effective in defense and offense. The rest I've never got a chance to use or see in battle since I can never find any opportunities, but we have a boat that's "Slow with a long firing range" which I guess is akin to the siege tank from Starcraft. Mobile SAM is capable of damaging even the flying enemy players. I'd imagine that if there's a base the enemy AI is dead set on acquiring because they'll do that due to how close it is to your home base, then you can just stall enough time. And then there's the Cannon which is the most powerful unit in the game, but the most expensive and they cannot move. They can deal high damage to both ground and air units.

It's not just the units you have to be wary of, but the orders which options vary by the units themselves. The majority of them have Base Defense which just lets them be stationary and attack nearby enemies. Circular Defense is the game's rendition of Patrol, but they circle around the area. Attack when Approached lets them move towards nearby enemies and shoot them down, and then return to their position when they succeed. Secure Minor Base lets enemy units secure the base while Infantry units will enter the outpost to control or contend with it. And Home Base attack lets the unit go directly for the enemies base. There are a few exclusive commands like Enter Minor Base which is basically the same as Secure Minor Base, but the Infantry unit can now just ignore enemies to get in. Supply which is what the Supply Car will do and the only command they get.

So, if you are on RTS player, this might not sound too complicated, but remember, you're playing on the Sega Genesis, of all things. This means that you don't have a keyboard and mouse to manage everything and this could lead to some disjointed gameplay. Oh and without the instructions, you will have no idea what the units will do let alone the orders you give them. You see an icon and some names, you might get an idea based on their image, but that's it.

This is a game that is in some ways really ahead of its time, but outdated at the same time. It's a game that came from a time when the internet didn't exist and expects you to have the Instruction Manual on hand to even grasp the mechanics. It's quite a huge risk and at first it didn't pay off given it wasn't a marketing success given its circumstances surrounding it, but as time goes on, it would be acknowledged by several RTS producers for games like Dune II, Warcraft, Starcraft, and Command and Conquerer as a huge inspiration. Heck, you can say it that it even created the domino effect that led to the MOBA genre which would create games like DOTA, DOTA 2, Heroes of the Storm, Smite, and League of Legends. That is an achievement that deserves my respect.

But, the games it went on to inspire would obsolete it. Even in the way that it operates where you control a singular unit while deploying and managing other units, Brutal Legends which is one of my favorite video games, has RTS segments where you do just that, but it's much more refined and easier to grasp.

It's an impressive take-off for the RTS genre, but it's a game that when I do try to play it, I find myself stressed out and overwhelmed even though I have a basic understanding of the mechanics.

Played on June 19th, 2023
Cleared on July 7th, 2023 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 17/160)

Revolution X is an Arcade On-Rail shooter where you go on a mission to lead the Revolution against the New Order and rescue... The Aerosmith band...

Honestly, I'm not really sure what Aerosmith and On-Rail Shooter have to do with each other. Is there some kind of in-joke that I'm not getting? I've heard a few Aerosmith songs; I'm sure you have without even realizing it, but I haven't actively looked into the band itself.

The game is good pick for an arcade round. As an on-rail shooter, there's nothing particularly out of the ordinary here. You just shoot what you can. Shoot glass to collect CDs, shoot enemies, fling CDs at enemies for an extra projectile, and shoot hostages to free them somehow.

What makes this game really stand out is the aesthetic. The game takes place in a dystopian future where this tyrannical school teacher has taken over the world and had kidnapped Aerosmith, and it's up to you to save them. And this game has you doing wild things like shooting a slime monster to prevent mind control, shooting a school bus to save kids from being reprogrammed, and just shooting a bunch of roller skate weirdos in masks. It's bizarre.

If I have to guess why it's the way it is, it's because of the time period it came from. The 90s, from what I hear, is the era where the kid/teen rebellion was a major trend, so the idea of making a shooter game that paints the teacher as the bad guy while saving a band they most likely listen to, as ridiculous as it may sound, did appeal to that trend and from what I've researched, it was a critical and commercial success... well, the Arcade version is, anyway.

Now I don't have access to the Arcade version and have only played the Genesis version so far, but I'll just say that if you can access the Arcade version, it would be the ideal version because of the visuals and music, and with the emulator, you can have as many chances as you need compared to the console versions forcing only 20 chances. But the Genesis isn't terrible. Granted, the d-pad/joystick aiming can be seen as detrimental, but given the game released at all on the system, it is possible to beat the game.

July 7th Update: Well, even for somebody like me, it actually is do-able. Once you realize what's at stake, start actively shooting glass to find shields and health pick-ups, and spam CDs at the enemy, you can play a lot better and be able to conserve your continues to be able to take on the final boss. Even though you would still die on occasions, the fact that it doesn't feel impossible is enough to bump it up in score from 3 stars to 3.5.

Cleared on June 19th, 2023 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 16/160)

What in Bald Mountain did I get myself into? When I looked at the game in a compilation of Sega Genesis games, I thought "hey, a video game based one of the most visually stunning movies of all time." A compilation of animation that synchronizes with orchestrated classical music and for the 40s, they were legendary and it still is to this very day. With all of the visual set pieces, making a video game based on the movie is a no-brainer. Hell, it would a total home run, a masterpiece. But oh my god, this game actually manages to be worse than it looks

I'll give this game credit for one thing, it actually looks like a 16 bit adaptation of the movie itself. Obviously it's never going to top the masterpiece, but it was serviceable and even made me want to play the game without any regards to how bad it truly is.

Some of the music is... ok I guess. Sorcerer's Apprentice would've been fine if the looping didn't sound as forced as it was. Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor (The Opening Theme and one of The Final Level themes) is not that unbearable, but it feels like it belongs in an 8-bit game. But everything else is... uhh... not that good and that's probably putting it generously. Some of the songs has this grating pitch that sounds even worse than an 8-bit game. Try suffering through the Greek Temple or Prehistoric Jungle. Night on Bald Mountain, more like Night on Fart Mountain! I know the Sega Genesis sound chip is worse than what the Super Nintendo would offer, but like, I've seen some amazing songs on the system including Sonic the Hedgehog games, Contra Hard Corps, and even in Mickey Mouse's case, Castle of Illusion sounded really good. And believe it or not, Earthworm Jim did their own take on Night on Bald Mountain and it sounds even better even if it was for only 28 seconds, so what the heck happened here?

Well, I'll fill you in on the details later, but right now, let's address how the game actually plays. The controls are wonky. At points it might not seem so bad when you are making proactive decisions, but reactive decisions, however, it will not always register on time. What's even more questionable is how the jump is handled. At first I thought you can't hurt the enemies by jumping on them like you could in Castle of Illusions and the only way to do so is through spells which are rather limited. It turns out you could hit them by jumping on them, but you need to press down while doing so. I might not have liked how Castle of Illusions did it where you press the jump button again while in the air to hit them, but to give it credit, they show you how to do it in the opening cutscene. I couldn't even figure out Fantasia's jump attack until I looked at one of the reviews down below.

So even if you manage to get used to the controls, you have to deal with a multitude of enemies and poor level design with jumps that can be very difficult to pull off and enemies positioned to almost ensure that they will hit you, and the ones that move can sometimes have unpredictable patterns. I had to use Save States in order to actually stand a chance.

So why give it a 1.5 stars out of 5? Referring to my ranking system, this should go in the garbage. Well, it came close, but actually, there was some fun that I had with this game and it's not in the way the developer may have intended. See, once you get past the first level, there is a fairy underneath the cave where a dinosaur foot is stomping the ground. It leads to an optional area where you can go through it to collect three notes with each of them giving you three health points, and 2 spellbooks which give you 3 spell ammo each. The developers may have intended for it to be an optional area that you visit once and even if you could visit it multiple times, the spellbook and the notes wouldn't respawn... except they do. The thing is, to proceed with the game, you need enough notes (20000 points) with the number varying by the difficulty you choose. If you complete the level and you don't have enough notes, you are sent back to the beginning of the level. If that sounds messed up, then just endure the first level and spam the caverns. It's bad level design, some of the worst in the game, but once you get it down, you can just farm spells and lives. That way, with a barrage of spells, the rest of the game becomes less frustrating.

I think the most interesting thing about this game is the lore behind the game's creation process. So Castle of Illusion was a success for Sega, and reportedly, they wanted to make another game before their license expired, but for some dumb reason, they put six developers who are ill-equipped to tackle a property as big as Mickey Mouse. Apparently they accidentally allowed Sega to adapt the movie, and when Disney's nephew Roy found out, he was pissed since he did not want it adapted as a promise to his uncle, and to find out that the game was this bad, he demanded a recall.

The fact that Sega had the Fantasia rights at one point, and instead of proving that a video game adaptation would've been amazing, decided to be lazy by assigning the wrong team, only to get royally screwed by the nephew of Walt Disney himself when the game hit the market is a combination of bizarre, tragic, and just hilarious. If there's a silver lining in this, Kingdom Hearts has represented Fantasia in incredible ways with Chernabog being the best boss fight in Kingdom Hearts 1 and Symphony of Sorcery being the best world in Dream Drop Distance.

Played on June 18th, 2023 and June 19th, 2023 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 15/160)

I should go ahead and note that even though I've never "finished" the game. By that, I mean not having seen the Senior or Expert course to the end, I have at least played enough of the overall game to form an opinion. I'm labelling as "Shelved" until I clear those courses.

I'm not really a racing game fan. I'll play them if prompted to, and I do like the genre, but sometimes I just get bored of it after awhile. My bias aside, Super Hang-On is a good game for both the genre and for it's time.

If you've played an Motorcycle Arcade game, you can come to grips on how it works. You press a button and you steer. But much like an Arcade game, this can be very difficult. In fact, I thought even the Beginner course was difficult until I realized the "Nitro" button which allows you to boost your speed when you get to 280km which could then boost you to 324km, but it would worsen your steering capabilities in the process. In fact, the faster you go, the more narrow your steering becomes and you'll need to know when to hit the brakes just a little to be able to steer. Not only because you'll slow down out of the road, but also because there are obstacles that will knock you off your bike which is almost an instant loss. You may be able to recover if you play well enough, I've managed to barely clutch Junior despite being knocked off once, but any more than that, I'd been done for.

But even with all of that, you have to worry about the bikers that are in your path and they don't move as fast as you do at max speed, so it's like playing a racing game where you are the fastest racer, but you're forced to start late to give everyone a chance. While they won't knock you off on their own, they will slow you down and knock you around, occasionally into the obstacles that knock you off. The issue comes in the further you get because there will be more and more, sometimes even three clumped together that you need to dodge all at once, and that can be really annoying. But I'll admit, when you're going fast, it could feel quite satisfying maneuvering against the bikers.

The visuals are fine, they change scenery every two laps which I think makes it feel less monotonous at the least and there's four songs you can choose from. My favorite of which is Winning Road because in Arcade mode, it syncs at the point where you are able to use your nitro boost which I think is a nice touch.

I didn't really like how you need to press buttons in order to move, but having the benefit of playing on emulator, I decided to remap the controls to use the trigger buttons for accelerate and nitro, and it made the experience a lot better. So if you want an easier time, you should try that. Just remember to remap the controls back when you're done.

Overall, it can be frustrating and take so many hours of your time trying to clear a course because some of them can take a while to beat, but it's not a bad option for a quick racing round.

Cleared on June 18th, 2023 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 14/160)

Looking at the reviews, I'm surprised the game has such a negative opinion. As far as arcade ports go, it's not... that bad. Obviously it can't top the original Thunder Blade visually and the frame rate, but compared to Galaxy Force II, it seems at least beatable without having to resort to save states and rewinds (maybe except for the 4th level), and compared to Viewpoint, the frame rate is manageable which is impressive given its 3D perspective. For an arcade game that went to console in the 80s with new software, I'd say it's about what I would've expected.

Of course, the game itself does suffer the faults of an arcade port such as the distorted obstacles which stutters as you move, making it very tricky to avoid as you need to brake in order to have a better chance at avoiding. This doesn't become a problem until the game's 2nd level where it throws disjointed obstacles at you, and on top of that, you need to deal with enemies positioned to barrage you with projectiles. It's also a problem in the game's 4th level too and may even seem almost unavoidable. It's quite a lot.

Perhaps this sort of unfairness is contributed to the fact that this game only has 4 levels... yeah, if you play perfectly without getting hit, you could beat this game in 20 minutes.

There are ways to help improve the experience. If you don't plan on using the rewind or save state feature, you can set the live count to 7 from the default 3 as well as set the difficulty to Easy which will lower the speed of the projectiles, giving you more time to evade them.

From there, just blast through. The game I would say is the most fun at Level 1 and 3 where you don't really have any obstacles to worry about. It's just good helicopter shooting fun. Level 2, however, is quite the difficulty spike and the fourth and final level isn't much better. Would've been much better if Level 2 and 3 switched places.

I will say I didn't really care for the overhead sequences. I get why it's there since you are playing a helicopter, but this is where the depth perception can kinda screw with you as the projectiles are firing up, and it's just slow compared to the third person sequences. I did, however, realize while fighting the final boss that pressing the brake button puts you in reverse which I can imagine would give you a better time during these segments.

A fine game for it's time, and there's no harm in giving it a try. If you bought any Sega Genesis collection, it's very likely the game is on there.

Cleared on June 17th, 2023 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 13/160)

This game took a damn while to actually beat. I actually started on the game as early as April 29th, but I was on and off with the game because the game itself takes approximately 3-4 hours to beat. Now this isn't a problem in its own right. I play video games that are this long all the time and in the context of the Sega Genesis, Beyond Oasis is one of my favorites so far, and I spent more hours trying to master Alien Soldier before realizing I could've had unlimited continues via Supereasy mode. My issue with the game is that it's rather repetitive.

The game is super fun for the first couple of minutes. You are driving in the desert roads of who knows where while shooting enemies and these segments are not 2D, but rather taking on a first person segment while driving in a 3D space. These segments are where the game is at its best. Just reveling in the sheer chaos that comes with shooting enemies from the front with a machine gun, shooting enemies from the side with your shotgun, and later on, shooting helicopters with homing missiles. It feels reminiscent of Mad Max.

However, there are a series of problems that come in when you get on the ground. The first thing you'll notice is that the spritework for the characters are... kinda dull compared to what the car segments would offer and the way the character moves makes me think he would be in a montage for the Angry Video Game Nerd's theme song. These segments work fine, but they are boring. You can punch your enemies, you can shoot them, but most important thing to do is to collect resources so you can proceed with your adventure. This includes health, fuel, ammo, armor, and nitro.

By picking up food, you regenerate health which is oddly connected to the oil which represents health... I don't get it.
Through fuel, you can last longer on the road without being forced to stop and when you do, you have to do those boring 2D segments except on the road and it's much harder with biker enemies, especially those bastards that throw flame cocktails at you.
You get ammo for all kinds of things like car guns, shotgun ammo, and anti-air missiles.
Armor reduces the damage you take.
Nitro lets you boost away.
You can also pick up a few additional things along the way like a detector that senses toxic foods so you know to not pick them up, a supercharger which boosts your overall speed, and a toy which is just cute, nothing much else.

But once you get far enough into the game, you find it being pretty much the same as it was in the first few minutes aside from maybe a few new techniques. It's fun gameplay, but you have to remember you're doing this for 3 hours at minimum, and on top of that, you have to do these 2D segments.

And maybe all of this wouldn't be so bad if there was other aspects that could've made up for it like the music or the visual effects. The environment is the exact same being a sandy desert. Maybe there was some limitation that prevented them from versifying their location, but it would've been cool if maybe the first 1/3rd of the game took place at day, the second 1/3rd of the game took place at sunset, and the last 1/3rd of the game took place at night.

The music is just the exact same that it was driving me nuts and it's not even that great. It's tolerable, but it played a hand in why I was planning on dropping the game. However, I had an obligation to fulfill, and if I'm to going to sit around repeatedly shooting bad guys for hours on end, then I'm just going to blast some Power Metal music to help me get through and somehow that made the experience more enjoyable.

This is a game that I would probably not recommend for very long, but if you have the guts and mental capacity to stick it out like I do, here are some tips fresh out of the oven.

#1: During the 2D segments, ducking is your best friend. You can avoid all projectiles this way and force the female rednecks to approach you, and I think ducking while punching makes it faster.
#2: If you feel you are running low on health, but the gas meter is also low, stop even though it's not completely out. You may have a chance to acquire food and not acquire gas. Then when you move again, you may be forced to stop and give you a chance to acquire food again and get some gas. This will improve your survivability.
#3: Also during the 2D segments when you are forced to stop on the road, to avoid the flame cocktail biker, move left and jump. They will always spawn a few feet close to the first biker that spawns. So if you were to keep moving, it would be the second biker that spawns.
#4: While driving, when you see a helicopter, if you don't have an anti-air missile or it refuses to connect (it actually does that sometimes). Stop and let it barrage the road before moving on. It will minimize the damage you take.
#5: There are points where you could get stuck when you collide with things like a pole or a sign and there is no reverse mode. While it is possible to get unstuck, you will take damage while doing moving. So drive carefully when you see signs or poles come in.
#6: The nitro button is a combination of A, B, and C button. There is no known info on the internet about this and I discovered it while fiddling around with the controls to find it.
#7: The anti-air missile won't always connect even when pressing the Weapon button + Up direction, so keep tapping it to ensure it does.
#8: Some food is toxic and before you get the detector, you cannot tell. When you do, it will warn you. Also related, do not kill an enemy near the toxic food or they will likely drop a useful item near or even on top of the toxic food and you're forced to pick up both at the same time.
#9: Listen to Bat Out of Hell at least once while playing this game. Some other cool songs you can listen to include Set the World on Fire by Symphony X, Play to Kill by Primal Fear, and Painkiller by Judas Priest to name a few.
#10: During the final boss, make sure all the bikers are cleared out and keep as much of your ammo as possible. You are going to need plenty to ensure it doesn't mercilessly beat you like a schoolyard bully.

Happy driving!

Cleared on June 17th, 2023 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 12/160)

This game is a very strong contender for my favorite Sega Genesis game. I won't say that it is until I've cleared my challenge, but I would be surprised if anything else could even top it.

You play as Epsilion and as you'd expect from a game like this, you run, you gun, you jump, and you maneuver against enemies. This game is brought to you by the same developers of Gunstar Heroes which is considered their own take on Contra. You might think they should've just made a Gunstar Heroes sequel, but Alien Soldier is a lot more different than just another Contra competitor, and dare I say, I don't think I've run into another game quite like it.

On top of the traditional abilities that you have, you can also dash across the screen which will give you a brief window of invincibility while letting you reposition against the enemies, and you will need it. The game was built with this mechanic in mind.
You can hover in the air which lets you get better precision against the enemies although you can't move unless you dash which then cancels the hover. Pressing the hover button again will let you double jump. You can move on ceilings, and when your health is full, you can dash to unleash a devastating Phoenix Force except it takes a small chunk of your health. It's really negligible and only applied so you can't use it repeatedly.
On top of that, you can use a "Counter" which lets you convert most projectiles into health orbs. While they also drop from enemies, they won't usually be present in bosses and thus learning this mechanic is crucial to survive.

And guess what? The Treasure developers actually corrected the issue Gunstar had that didn't let you switch between Free or Fixed mode on a whim, and here, they have a combination that lets you switch although it's more complicated than what Contra Hard Corps would simply have you do. In fact, the controls in this game are actually very complex for a Sega Genesis game.

Some things are simple enough to understand like Jump, Shoot, Run, Hover, and Weapon Switch. However, to switch between Free and Fixed mode, you need to press the Weapon Switch button + Down. To dash, you need to press Down + Jump at the same time. To counter, you need to tap the Shoot button twice.

Keep in mind that you need to factor all of this in, master the mechanics, all while managing the four weapons you have active at a time because they aren't unlimited, so switching between the weapons you got is mandatory, but what are the weapons?

Buster Force is the standard straight line shot that fires repeatedly. It's not a bad weapon to end up with although you may have trouble getting it to connect with some of the bosses in the game.
Ranger Force is the spread shot weapon that's damage is so lacking that you should definitely avoid using above all else, especially in the mid and late game.
Flame Force is the close ranged high damage dealing shot and pretty useful if you can afford to get up close.
Homing Force is a weapon that, as the name suggests, homes projectiles at nearby enemies making it quite possibly the most versatile weapon in the game and it's not bad at dealing with bosses as long as you aren't playing Superhard Difficulty.
Sword Force is a thin beam of light that is similar to the Flamethrower that getting up close deals more damage, but the difference is that it deals more damage up close while being weaker the farther you are. I never realized it in my playthrough.
Lancer Force is my favorite weapon as it just a beam of light that deals immense damage and a must have to be able to clear out bosses much easier although it has very low ammunition count, so it's more high risk high reward.

So there is a lot you need to understand and it's not just your character you need to understand, but the bosses as well because there are 25 stages and each of them has a boss at the end. Yes, there are 25 bosses in this game and that's what the game's primary focus is on since it doesn't usually take long for you to get from one boss to the next and during these intermission periods, you're just shooting up lesser enemies to collect health orbs and countering their projectiles for that same reason, all while finding these weapon capsules which can either let you swap weapons or, by shooting it, you can force rotate it to the weapon you shot with and upgrade the ammo count.

The bosses can range from fairly easy once you get it down, notably the earlier fights, to being really tough and in general, this game is just really hard. However, there is a mercy aspect to the game called "Supereasy mode". If you are put off with being forced back to the beginning after 3 game overs, I feel you. It can be quite tedious, but given this is developed by Treasure, they took a page from Gunstar Heroes unlimited continues and incorporate it here although they don't do so by default. In order to access Supereasy mode, you need to go into the settings. On top of that, they slightly nerfed the health of the bosses which is considered a boon given how bosses all have a time limit, yeah, I did not mention that part. Plus, you can even slow down the game to give you time to react to the boss mechanics or otherwise give some extra time to switch between weapons because it's not like Ratchet and Clank where the whole game pauses to let you switch weapons.

Backed up with amazing gameplay is the space anthropomorphic aesthetic that reminds me a lot of Star Fox, and many of the bosses have impressive and creative designs. There is one I really want to gush over, but it comes too late in the game, and I don't want to spoil it even though the game came out in 1995. But let's just say you'll want to look out for Level 23.

The music itself is also pretty good and really fits the badass feel of the overall game. Charging through the enemy lines and barraging aliens in your wake. There is also a Gunstar Heroes track that was used in this game which I thought was kinda cool.

And the thing that surprised me is that the majority of the game was done by one person. He eventually had to get help to meet the deadlines and they originally planned to have 100 bosses (if it did, then this would've really been the Dark Souls of the 90s), but for what they were able to get in the game, it's impressive. I'd say I'd recommend this game to anyone looking for something really exciting, but even with the unlimited continues, I understand that the complicated controls may be too much if you aren't familiar with the Contra style of games. My advice, in this case, is to play Gunstar Heroes first and then go into this game. Even if it seems too much still, just know that the game will let you get accustom to the controls as long as it takes before you even get to the first level.

Lilac's Story cleared on April 12th, 2023
Milla's Story cleared on April 17th, 2023
Carol's Story cleared on May 4th, 2023
Neera Li's Story cleared on June 7th, 2023

Freedom Planet 2 was a game I was fairly hyped for when it was announced. A continuation to one of my favorite games of all time, that sounds great. It looks better, the gameplay feels better from the demo I played, and from what I've kept up in development, there will be a lot more to do. The game came out in September of 2022, almost seven years after the game was announced in December of 2015. Admittedly, it did take me a good while to get around to even buying the game as you can see, and I did want to replay Freedom Planet 1 to get caught up with the story, and having played Freedom Planet 2, I can confidently say that gameplay wise and visual wise, it is even better than the original which makes it look very underwhelming in comparison.

Freedom Planet 2's visual style moves away from its Sonic the Hedgehog inspiration and moves more towards the Chinese aesthetic that it established in the original game, giving it a highly distinctive look with gorgeous scenery with a variety of locations.

The gameplay has been improved immensely with the three playable characters returning and with the new character... Neera Li. Honestly, with how I felt about Neera in the first game, I had to wonder why she was even picked to be a playable character in the first place and more insulting was the indefinite delay of Torque and Spade being playable in Freedom Planet 1, but I was willing to give her a chance. In fact, I almost planned to play as her first just to get her out of the way, but as I was tipped off, it would've been a terrible idea.

Lilac the Dragon returns with the same moveset that she has. Her high speed, her cyclone, her hard hitting physical attacks, and her dragon boost. But here are some differences. Her cyclone could now combo into Dragon Boost much easier since it no longer takes up energy to use Cyclone which means it is now exclusively for Dragon Boost. Her uppercut can be used in the air for extra vertical distance. Her Dragon Boost can be cancelled early for not only mobility control, but to unleash a blast of power that damages anyone caught in it. She also now gets a Guard which everyone gets, but after pressing guard again, she activates Blink Dash which lets her quickly surge a small gap which is very useful defensively.

Carol the Wildcat remains mostly the same with claws and her pounces, but now she's lost her Wild Kick and is replaced with Jump Disc which lets her hurl a projectile at the enemy which could then follow up homing in on the projectile for extra damage against enemies and for additional mobility. Rather unfortunate since Wild Kick was something I liked about Carol although I guess it was probably extremely busted given how it gives her a longer invincibility frame in a time window compared to Dragon Boost and is able to stand still while doing it. Plus, it may already overlap with the Guard mechanic, anyway. Even still, it could've been repurposed into a standard attack that Carol can do while standing still. She also retains her motorcycle except its more rare than in Freedom Planet 1, but is fortunately unable to be destroyed after a few hits. She can also throw her motorcycle at enemies too.

Milla the Hound returns to be more fluent than ever before, but her moveset does change in the process. She can now fight with physical attacks when she originally had to use a shield blast or a cube throw or a cube blast to damage them, but now she can kick and punch things as well as use her magic to blast enemies. She can fire ranged pellets now from her shield instead of being a small short ranged blast, and rather than charging up her cube and carrying it around, it just appears through the Guard button and follows her until she's ready to fire cube projectiles or use Cube Blast. While I enjoyed Milla's take here, her Cube Blast is such a powerful move that it almost obsoletes everything else in her kit making the rest of the moves, save for the shield, to be situational at best.

Neera Li is the new character, and originally I was expecting her to be the powerful, but "not as fast" kind of character and while she is quite powerful with long ranged attacks, a means of deflecting projectiles, and a damage booster, in a twist of fate, she can actually go fast by spamming the attack button while moving and I swear, she has the potential to go faster than pretty much all of the characters in this game, even Lilac. She's also quite strong that even though the final boss was pretty difficult, I managed to use Neera to beat her in very few tries although I think by that point I was getting it figured out.

As for the other key aspects including the story and music, they took some time to get used to. There was a different style of music compared to Freedom Planet 1, but it's not bad and once you go through the game a few times, you just kinda vibe with it. I will say there were a few instant bangers from the very start which include Zulon Jungle, Sky Bridge boss theme, Globe Opera 2, and Inversion Dynamo. I can definitely say that while not every song can be a winner, the overall soundtrack does match up to the original and some songs are even better than the majority of the songs of Freedom Planet 1.

The story, meanwhile, I had to think about it and I'll admit, I enjoyed it and from a technical standpoint, it's definitely a better story than its predecessor. It has a much better pace where cutscenes don't usually go on for a long time, and the ones that do, like the 12 minute series of cutscenes was placed in the beginning of the game's second half instead of being as early as after clearing the 2nd stage and by that point the game expects you to get invested enough in the characters to appreciate a moment to slow down and reflect. The humor is so much funnier too. I busted out laughing watching Carol zooming out of the magister halls, Serpentine and Aaa's argument in the Zulon Jungle, and Carol annoying her sister. And the story still retains its dramatic edge which I was initially concerned it would kinda lose in response to people's reaction to how dark the original game got. While there weren't any visually shocking events on that caliber which to be fair is because Brevon is not present, there were some notably dramatic themes that expand on the world and what we know about Avalice's lore. We're talking about dark truths that ancestors do not want the future to know. I think my concern with this is that we aren't really visually shown in any capacity what happened. I'm not saying to make a flashback and see it all explicitly happen, but I feel like carvings and drawings would at least go a bit of ways and I think they have a few opportunities on that front while the heroes were at Parusa. Instead it's mostly just text of what happened that I called into question if any of these "dark truths" even happened the way they did until I listened to the entry log recordings that explained the user's perspective of the events. I think I recall seeing a Youtube video where someone complained about Freedom Planet 1 breaking the "Show don't tell" rule, but going off that logic, Freedom Planet 2 breaks it even harder. I'm not going to go story elitist by saying that because I don't think it's binary and actually overrated, but in this context, some visual implications would've helped add to the impact of the story.

But like with the predecessor, the thing that makes the story for me is seeing the characters. 3 years had passed, so some things may have changed. Lilac and Carol haven't exactly changed much from how they were in Freedom Planet 1. Lilac is still as heroic and caring as she once was while Carol is the same humorous albeit still kinda annoying at times, but to the stories credit, they sometimes use her obnoxiousness to their advantage. Milla had got a lot more confident than she used to be and has even had some moments of being badass, especially when playing her side of the story. Neera Li has mellowed out compared to Freedom Planet 1, but I still don't really vibe with her character. At least her voice is not as pretentious, and she does have her moments at least.

I also really love a few of the side characters, my favorites are Serpentine, making a return from Freedom Planet 1, going from a henchman of Brevon to being a menace in his own right. He has this perfect mix of humorous, crazy, and genuinely menacing and hard to take on. It's reminiscent of Dr. Nefarious from the Ratchet and Clank series who stands as one of my favorite video game villains of all time.
Aaa is another favorite as he's just chaotic and hearing him scream never gets old.
Mayor Zao is the same as he's always been, just over-dramatic in a comical way.

And overall, I appreciate them expanding on what we know of the characters such as Lilac's origins, Milla's origins, and Carol's sister relations which interesting enough had been alluded to for a long time when she had a dialogue mentioning it in Freedom Planet 1 that was scrapped.

So once you're done with the game, what do you do? Well, you can go around talking to people across hubs to learn about the lore of Avalice, partake in Battlesphere challenges, get Rainbow S by not taking hits, and just explore for treasure and other collectibles.

To say this game did not waste its seven years of development would be an underestimate, they really gave their all to make an incredible 2D platformer not deserving anything but the best gameplay and visuals. That's a Rainbow S rank from me.