drummarts
1990
This review contains spoilers
Really sharply designed game with pretty unique progression. It's basically structured like Zelda 2 with top down exploration elements and random encounters before having more dedicated dungeons with traditional level design. They don't do much with the overworld in all honestly tho and it's basically just a glorified map like in the Mario games. There was basically only 2 parts where talking to NPCs led to you backtracking or have to use your head to find out where to go next
As for the design and gameplay I think that's really sharp. You can basically hover for a temporary amount of time and shoot. As you go along your moveset changes, getting more attacks, the ability to fly longer, and the ability to jump higher. The challenge scales as you go along too so it's always about the same difficulty but you feel more powerful as the gameplay gives you more freedom. There's an interesting shift in challenge as stuff goes along too. The fun of the early limitations is different to the fun of the later freedom.
Each batch of levels is basically built around your increasing arsenal. First limited attack and flight where you fire 1 bullet at a time and the challenge mostly surrounds carefully aiming and dodging as there's a huge risk to missing. This core gameplay loop is retained and iterated on but severely shifted with each upgrade. At first it's simple, just increasing your hover and giving you two attacks that can also break certain blocks. The design becomes a bit more open and aim is slightly less of a concern. Have a few levels where you have to strategically glide down too. Then you get a weapon that changes up how the spikes work, temporarily nullifying and letting you cling onto them. There's a great of mount of fun with the level design here now as there's a sense of verticality as you can now use the nullified spikes to climb upward but with complete freedom as to where you start and land. Spikes often line the ceiling too so you have to be very careful not to overshoot. Gliding can help in some forms of platforming challenges but they make sure they put stuff like that so there's a struggle constantly. In some ways it reminds me of Celeste as that plays around with wall climbing too tho I feel that approaches the same concept differently. This projectile also adds reintroduces the prior challenge of aim as you are limited to two shots, but if one gets stuck to a spike you only have 1, and if two are, you're helpless. So if you're being attacked while surrounded by spikes there's a lot of juggling. And that's not including when they start to introduce walls that only the previous attack can break forcing you to switch often. There's this great moment I noticed for this one boss where only that attack can hurt it is said attack and it forces you to switch to it before entering his room through the level design which I thought was a clever trick. The final upgrade to the attack is effectively the same as the original attack but stronger. Makes the original completely useless, but it was like that ever since you had another option so it's cool they somewhat find a way to bring it back by making it 1 shot but by far the strongest shot. Now there's a strength vs speed/aim risk to take into account and I think it's a fun challenge, although a type of challenge they could've had from the start. I don't really see why the starter shot couldn't be stronger and the existence of the strong shot doesn't really negate any of the benefits of the other attacks. The final levels also have a cool element of giving you unlimited flight instead of the temporary flight of earlier levels. Allows you to feel like you now have complete freedom but the design is also tweaked to give a new layer of challenge. Makes it feel fresh while still being an extension of everything before, especially with you having to juggle attacks and use all the skills you've gained.
My only real complaint is that it's so short. I kind of wish there were twice as many levels as there were. The shifts happen pretty fast and I wish I had a bit more time to dwell on each gameplay mode. There's a beautiful sense of progression but it also feels so rapid that I feel I'm missing out on some potential. But I guess that's what the sequels are for.
7.5/10
As for the design and gameplay I think that's really sharp. You can basically hover for a temporary amount of time and shoot. As you go along your moveset changes, getting more attacks, the ability to fly longer, and the ability to jump higher. The challenge scales as you go along too so it's always about the same difficulty but you feel more powerful as the gameplay gives you more freedom. There's an interesting shift in challenge as stuff goes along too. The fun of the early limitations is different to the fun of the later freedom.
Each batch of levels is basically built around your increasing arsenal. First limited attack and flight where you fire 1 bullet at a time and the challenge mostly surrounds carefully aiming and dodging as there's a huge risk to missing. This core gameplay loop is retained and iterated on but severely shifted with each upgrade. At first it's simple, just increasing your hover and giving you two attacks that can also break certain blocks. The design becomes a bit more open and aim is slightly less of a concern. Have a few levels where you have to strategically glide down too. Then you get a weapon that changes up how the spikes work, temporarily nullifying and letting you cling onto them. There's a great of mount of fun with the level design here now as there's a sense of verticality as you can now use the nullified spikes to climb upward but with complete freedom as to where you start and land. Spikes often line the ceiling too so you have to be very careful not to overshoot. Gliding can help in some forms of platforming challenges but they make sure they put stuff like that so there's a struggle constantly. In some ways it reminds me of Celeste as that plays around with wall climbing too tho I feel that approaches the same concept differently. This projectile also adds reintroduces the prior challenge of aim as you are limited to two shots, but if one gets stuck to a spike you only have 1, and if two are, you're helpless. So if you're being attacked while surrounded by spikes there's a lot of juggling. And that's not including when they start to introduce walls that only the previous attack can break forcing you to switch often. There's this great moment I noticed for this one boss where only that attack can hurt it is said attack and it forces you to switch to it before entering his room through the level design which I thought was a clever trick. The final upgrade to the attack is effectively the same as the original attack but stronger. Makes the original completely useless, but it was like that ever since you had another option so it's cool they somewhat find a way to bring it back by making it 1 shot but by far the strongest shot. Now there's a strength vs speed/aim risk to take into account and I think it's a fun challenge, although a type of challenge they could've had from the start. I don't really see why the starter shot couldn't be stronger and the existence of the strong shot doesn't really negate any of the benefits of the other attacks. The final levels also have a cool element of giving you unlimited flight instead of the temporary flight of earlier levels. Allows you to feel like you now have complete freedom but the design is also tweaked to give a new layer of challenge. Makes it feel fresh while still being an extension of everything before, especially with you having to juggle attacks and use all the skills you've gained.
My only real complaint is that it's so short. I kind of wish there were twice as many levels as there were. The shifts happen pretty fast and I wish I had a bit more time to dwell on each gameplay mode. There's a beautiful sense of progression but it also feels so rapid that I feel I'm missing out on some potential. But I guess that's what the sequels are for.
7.5/10
1994
Some of the best controls I've ever felt in a Mario game. Completely blows the NSMB's moveset out of the water and even some of the 3D games. Amazing how it was all done in only 2 buttons.
Level design was very sharp with it being bite sized but always throwing in a lot of different new elements to keep things fresh and more and more challenging. Perfect difficulty curve. Felt like a puzzle just as much as it felt like a platforming challenge.
Lot of fun cartoony animation as well, in both the gameplay and the cutscenes. Smart idea to show off gameplay features in the cutscenes as well.
Level design was very sharp with it being bite sized but always throwing in a lot of different new elements to keep things fresh and more and more challenging. Perfect difficulty curve. Felt like a puzzle just as much as it felt like a platforming challenge.
Lot of fun cartoony animation as well, in both the gameplay and the cutscenes. Smart idea to show off gameplay features in the cutscenes as well.
2018
I couldn't beat the C-Sides. I'm not strong enough
1991
If we're being perfectly honest this is the best of the NES era. It has great level design, very little bullshit while still being hard, and the weapons, music and visuals are all really good. Also has two castles instead of one which makes the game longer but not repetitive like Mega Man 3. Also the Mega Buster isn't broken like in 5 though I don't like to it use it personally
1988
It's like Castlevania but with good controls. Honestly out of most hard NES platformers this is one of the best so if you're looking for a challenge but without too much bullshit look here. Tho I recommend you use save states on the final boss cause he sends you back 3 levels if you lose all your lives and that honestly is bullshit. But since I'm reviewing the version with save states it gets a 9
1985
Wasn't worth it
1988
Honestly I think it's incredibly fun but the slippery controls makes it hard as fuck. If the controls were a bit tighter I'd like it a whole lot more but it felt like everything's covered in butter
Perfect for fans of the Genesis era of games cause it really feels like they slapped stuff like Rocket Knight and Gunstar Heroes onto Sonic. The controls of this game are magic. Definitely my favorite part of it and the large amount of powerups add a lot of variety to the game. The music and visuals are also incredibly good. The main issue comes with the levels. Now they look good and they're fun to traverse, but they're just not memorable in any specifics. Yeah I can tell they're different levels but I can't tell you anything about it. Plus, they're super big and labyrinth like but with no setpieces or few new mechanic to make it stick out. The early levels just lack variety. Now this improves as the game goes along as the aesthetics get more distinct and they add new mechanics. I still think there's issue with the labyrinth like design but the variety to gameplay helps make them stand out a bit more. That's what Sonic levels were really great at. Making each level memorable and giving them a distinct look and new mechanic.