fe17
There is no reason to really review this too deeply. There are 3 games in this collection and all are pretty much identical 45 minute "detective" adventure games. They all have that very low budget modern indie game charm. The games are not meant to be taken seriously and the mysteries surrounding these games are similarly silly, and whether you will enjoy these games or not will depend on two things.
The Frog Detective games live and die by their humor and their vibe. The vibe the games go for is the chill, turn your brain off and just have a cozy, comfortable little adventure type. If you really dig that vibe, you probably will like the humor as well. For me personally, the games weren't funny, but needless to say that is a very subjective matter. But if the humor doesn't hit, these games become pretty boring. If it does hit, and you dig the vibe, well, you got a very cozy afternoon or two to look forward to playing Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery.
The reason why I say that the games live and die by their humor and vibe is because the gameplay is very basic. You go around a small area that the games play in and talk to every person there. Each person wants an item from you and will give you something else in return. You pick up an item that you can find in the game world to start, give it to the right person and start a chain reaction of giving Person A's item to B, B's item to C etc. It's the same for all three games and then the games end. I think even games that go for this style can offer a lot more, but clearly, a lot of people enjoyed what the first game was going for, so I don't blame the devs at all for sticking with it for the next two games.
The Frog Detective games live and die by their humor and their vibe. The vibe the games go for is the chill, turn your brain off and just have a cozy, comfortable little adventure type. If you really dig that vibe, you probably will like the humor as well. For me personally, the games weren't funny, but needless to say that is a very subjective matter. But if the humor doesn't hit, these games become pretty boring. If it does hit, and you dig the vibe, well, you got a very cozy afternoon or two to look forward to playing Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery.
The reason why I say that the games live and die by their humor and vibe is because the gameplay is very basic. You go around a small area that the games play in and talk to every person there. Each person wants an item from you and will give you something else in return. You pick up an item that you can find in the game world to start, give it to the right person and start a chain reaction of giving Person A's item to B, B's item to C etc. It's the same for all three games and then the games end. I think even games that go for this style can offer a lot more, but clearly, a lot of people enjoyed what the first game was going for, so I don't blame the devs at all for sticking with it for the next two games.
We are in March 26, 1990. The more popular Amazing-Spider Man game of the same year was still four months away, but developer Oxford Digital Enterprises pounced and released their version first for the Commodore 64 and Amiga, before porting it to most notably the Atari ST later. Considering that the other game released for a handheld device only (the Game Boy), there wasn't really any competition between both games, so this narrative I just created is probably incorrect.
But here it is, The Amazing Spider-Man, published by Paragon Software (NA, Empire Software for EU) and being so far inferior to the Game Boy game that even the description of it on Grouvee reads "Not to be confused with the Game Boy title released in the same year". Or how about the Marvel Fandom Wiki having a page for the Game Boy game, but no mention of this one.
To keep it short, the plot in this game revolves around Mysterio, who kidnaps Mary Jane. That's it. There is a comic book style presentation of the story and then there is one happy ending image at the end, but that's it. You didn't play these platformers for their stories though, so what was gameplay like? Well you were controlling fat Spider-Man.
With that, let's dive into each aspect of my reviewing system one by one, starting with, very briefly, the story.
STORYTELLING: Again, you didn't play these games for their story, even though games like Ninja Gaiden obviously did at least make an effort in that regard during this time (the sequel released only two weeks after this Spider-Man game). We do rate story(telling) though, so let's see. As mentioned, the beginning of the game, at least in some versions (the Atari version didn't even have these from what I've seen), shows us three slides of images designed like in a comic book, where we see Mysterio kidnapping Mary Jane and Peter Parker being angry. That's pretty much it. Environmental storytelling is pretty much non existent throughout, there is little sense to be made with the sheer randomness with which assets were used, most even being unassociated with Spider-Man (there are a lot of R2D2s running around in this game).
GAMEPLAY: When I say "fat" Spider-Man, I mean it. The first image of gameplay you see is Spider-Man hunched forward like he's either been playing too many video games and ruined his posture or gained a ton of weight or he has significant back problems. Moving forward reveals even worse truths. Spider-Man walks as if he is carrying a bag filled with 200kg of sand and when he jumps, he does levitate for a good 3 seconds, but only jumps up a few inches overall. When he falls down, he often lands flat on his face and walks around sniffing the floor for a good few feet before you can manage to make him stand upright again. When he climbs walls, he doesn't climb up or down like a spider, but more like a cat, using both arms simultaneously first, followed by both of his legs to push himself forward.
Long story short, the animations are very bad, funnily so. The slow movement just makes it worse, because funny bad is always manageable, but boring bad is just a slow death to the players enjoyment. I often look at gameplay online after I finish playing and pretty much always do I find hundreds of nostalgic comments that range from "this was my childhood game" to "this is one of the greatest games ever made", and while some of the former was present with this game as well, most did acknowledge that this game is actually just not good. Doesn't mean the memories weren't precious of course.
Progressing in this game is done by climbing in a very slow pace, by using your web to fly over enemies and by activating buttons that allow you to progress forward. If you position yourself correctly, you can even shoot your web to access buttons that are otherwise inaccessible. Enemies in this game are skeletons, rats, R2D2s and basic humans, among others. Rats for example follow you around, while most of the others have a set route which they follow. Most enemies don't bump into you, but they rather just walk past you, and every second that you are in contact drains your health. Your health bar is displayed as a standing giant Spider-Man to the right of the screen. His body starts turning into a skeleton with each percent of health that you lose, starting from his feet all the way to to the top of his head. Once he is a full skeleton, the game ends.
There are some OK ideas here, but overall it is just not fun.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE: There is no voice acting, but in the Amiga version, there is the oddest remix of a male and female voice saying Spider-Man, making me feel glad that no actual voice acting is in the game. Well, there is the "ugh ugh ugh" sound when you or enemies take damage, which just sounds unsettling.
I didn't figure out a way to turn off the music and only display sound effects, but I have seen plenty of videos with that kind of alignment. For me, the music played nonstop and it was just one track being put on repeat. Music in this generation of video games was pretty catchy most of the time and this was certainly OK, but not something I would want to listen to outside of this game. Plus some variation would have been nice.
Sound in this game is abysmal. The sound of the web, the sound when you step onto a platform and the annoying click it makes at the end, the aforementioned damage noise, the awful sound of doors opening and no actual sound for a lot of the moving platforms, enemies and effects (which I guess I should be glad for) mean that the overall sound design is just very poor.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN: There are just a bunch of random assets used and placed to create levels that make sense from a level design standpoint, but little sense from an artistic standpoint, let alone from a Spider-Man universe standpoint. Not much to like here either.
ATMOSPHERE: The incoherent art design and world building, an average singular track vs. poor sound design (if you use music, you can't really hear the sounds, so pick your poison, though I'd choose the music) and a game that is not a looker even for its time and you got a game that is bereft of atmosphere.
CONTENT: Once you get past the slow animations, the poor controls and everything else, the puzzles in this game are actually interesting enough and the game does offer a challenge to those looking for one. There isn't that much variety in what this game offers though, it's a lot of buttons pressing to unlock other buttons to press, which open up new locations or make your enemies fall to their deaths.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN: This isn't actually that bad. The game misses some variety, there isn't really anything to unlock, but there are puzzles present and some that require some brain power to solve. There is also some good interconnectivity here and there, meaning a previously inaccessible area can be unlocked as you progress, leading you back to a previous room, where a previously "non-pressable" button can now be pressed to progress elsewhere. It's not always intuitive, it's repetitive but it's probably the best part about this game.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION: Apart from the web swinging, which is 'unique' but in a bad way, there is nothing here that stands out.
REPLAYABILITY: If you do enjoy this game, there is of course the added incentive of beating your high scores and your times. There isn't much leeway in how you can complete this game, there isn't that much creative space for that, but you can always try to be quicker and receive less damage I guess.
PLAYABILITY: The game works well, the only issue I had was that sometimes I would clip into a level below the one I was on and the game would glitch out for a second. There is even a clip of someone glitching his way from the early stages all the way to the final level, if you want to check that out.
OVERALL: Definitely the worst game of this challenge so far and will probably find its way into the Top 5 Worst Games of the Year by the time I finish 1990. Or I've been relatively lucky with the first 4 games and this is what a good chunk of 1990 will look like. I doubt that though. Don't play this game if you're looking for a fun platformer, there are hundreds of better options out there in this time frame.
WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME:
- Nothing. I couldn't find a single magazine that reviewed this game at the time. I did find the Game Boy in every single one though.
But here it is, The Amazing Spider-Man, published by Paragon Software (NA, Empire Software for EU) and being so far inferior to the Game Boy game that even the description of it on Grouvee reads "Not to be confused with the Game Boy title released in the same year". Or how about the Marvel Fandom Wiki having a page for the Game Boy game, but no mention of this one.
To keep it short, the plot in this game revolves around Mysterio, who kidnaps Mary Jane. That's it. There is a comic book style presentation of the story and then there is one happy ending image at the end, but that's it. You didn't play these platformers for their stories though, so what was gameplay like? Well you were controlling fat Spider-Man.
With that, let's dive into each aspect of my reviewing system one by one, starting with, very briefly, the story.
STORYTELLING: Again, you didn't play these games for their story, even though games like Ninja Gaiden obviously did at least make an effort in that regard during this time (the sequel released only two weeks after this Spider-Man game). We do rate story(telling) though, so let's see. As mentioned, the beginning of the game, at least in some versions (the Atari version didn't even have these from what I've seen), shows us three slides of images designed like in a comic book, where we see Mysterio kidnapping Mary Jane and Peter Parker being angry. That's pretty much it. Environmental storytelling is pretty much non existent throughout, there is little sense to be made with the sheer randomness with which assets were used, most even being unassociated with Spider-Man (there are a lot of R2D2s running around in this game).
GAMEPLAY: When I say "fat" Spider-Man, I mean it. The first image of gameplay you see is Spider-Man hunched forward like he's either been playing too many video games and ruined his posture or gained a ton of weight or he has significant back problems. Moving forward reveals even worse truths. Spider-Man walks as if he is carrying a bag filled with 200kg of sand and when he jumps, he does levitate for a good 3 seconds, but only jumps up a few inches overall. When he falls down, he often lands flat on his face and walks around sniffing the floor for a good few feet before you can manage to make him stand upright again. When he climbs walls, he doesn't climb up or down like a spider, but more like a cat, using both arms simultaneously first, followed by both of his legs to push himself forward.
Long story short, the animations are very bad, funnily so. The slow movement just makes it worse, because funny bad is always manageable, but boring bad is just a slow death to the players enjoyment. I often look at gameplay online after I finish playing and pretty much always do I find hundreds of nostalgic comments that range from "this was my childhood game" to "this is one of the greatest games ever made", and while some of the former was present with this game as well, most did acknowledge that this game is actually just not good. Doesn't mean the memories weren't precious of course.
Progressing in this game is done by climbing in a very slow pace, by using your web to fly over enemies and by activating buttons that allow you to progress forward. If you position yourself correctly, you can even shoot your web to access buttons that are otherwise inaccessible. Enemies in this game are skeletons, rats, R2D2s and basic humans, among others. Rats for example follow you around, while most of the others have a set route which they follow. Most enemies don't bump into you, but they rather just walk past you, and every second that you are in contact drains your health. Your health bar is displayed as a standing giant Spider-Man to the right of the screen. His body starts turning into a skeleton with each percent of health that you lose, starting from his feet all the way to to the top of his head. Once he is a full skeleton, the game ends.
There are some OK ideas here, but overall it is just not fun.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE: There is no voice acting, but in the Amiga version, there is the oddest remix of a male and female voice saying Spider-Man, making me feel glad that no actual voice acting is in the game. Well, there is the "ugh ugh ugh" sound when you or enemies take damage, which just sounds unsettling.
I didn't figure out a way to turn off the music and only display sound effects, but I have seen plenty of videos with that kind of alignment. For me, the music played nonstop and it was just one track being put on repeat. Music in this generation of video games was pretty catchy most of the time and this was certainly OK, but not something I would want to listen to outside of this game. Plus some variation would have been nice.
Sound in this game is abysmal. The sound of the web, the sound when you step onto a platform and the annoying click it makes at the end, the aforementioned damage noise, the awful sound of doors opening and no actual sound for a lot of the moving platforms, enemies and effects (which I guess I should be glad for) mean that the overall sound design is just very poor.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN: There are just a bunch of random assets used and placed to create levels that make sense from a level design standpoint, but little sense from an artistic standpoint, let alone from a Spider-Man universe standpoint. Not much to like here either.
ATMOSPHERE: The incoherent art design and world building, an average singular track vs. poor sound design (if you use music, you can't really hear the sounds, so pick your poison, though I'd choose the music) and a game that is not a looker even for its time and you got a game that is bereft of atmosphere.
CONTENT: Once you get past the slow animations, the poor controls and everything else, the puzzles in this game are actually interesting enough and the game does offer a challenge to those looking for one. There isn't that much variety in what this game offers though, it's a lot of buttons pressing to unlock other buttons to press, which open up new locations or make your enemies fall to their deaths.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN: This isn't actually that bad. The game misses some variety, there isn't really anything to unlock, but there are puzzles present and some that require some brain power to solve. There is also some good interconnectivity here and there, meaning a previously inaccessible area can be unlocked as you progress, leading you back to a previous room, where a previously "non-pressable" button can now be pressed to progress elsewhere. It's not always intuitive, it's repetitive but it's probably the best part about this game.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION: Apart from the web swinging, which is 'unique' but in a bad way, there is nothing here that stands out.
REPLAYABILITY: If you do enjoy this game, there is of course the added incentive of beating your high scores and your times. There isn't much leeway in how you can complete this game, there isn't that much creative space for that, but you can always try to be quicker and receive less damage I guess.
PLAYABILITY: The game works well, the only issue I had was that sometimes I would clip into a level below the one I was on and the game would glitch out for a second. There is even a clip of someone glitching his way from the early stages all the way to the final level, if you want to check that out.
OVERALL: Definitely the worst game of this challenge so far and will probably find its way into the Top 5 Worst Games of the Year by the time I finish 1990. Or I've been relatively lucky with the first 4 games and this is what a good chunk of 1990 will look like. I doubt that though. Don't play this game if you're looking for a fun platformer, there are hundreds of better options out there in this time frame.
WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME:
- Nothing. I couldn't find a single magazine that reviewed this game at the time. I did find the Game Boy in every single one though.
2011
To The Moon regularly gets praise online for its story and seemingly everyone I've seen talk about this game cried at the end. Interestingly enough, 3 games made me teary-eyed over my lifetime, and I consider those to be the three best games I've ever played, so To The Moon would be in elite territory if it accomplished as much.
In all seriousness, the reviews set expectations for a short, walking simulator like, 2D indie pixel adventure game made with RPG Maker really high, almost unfairly so. I'm happy to say though that those expectations were met. I didn't cry, but the twists and revelations of the story did have an impact on me either way. Unfortunately, revealing nearly anything would rob you of the experience, so I'm going to refrain from doing so. The gist of it is that an old man has a dying wish: He wants to experience going to the moon. A special agency can dive into memories of their clients to grant them this wish by altering their actual memories into artifical memories, and two employees of this agency, Dr. Eva Rosalene and Dr. Neil Watts, must uncover the clients (Johnny Wyles) backstory to be able to make the right changes to his memories.
It starts slow but gets going quickly and never really lets up from there. It's a very short and linear experience at pretty much exactly 4 hours, and that's perfect for what this game is. The story includes little to no filler and is told really well, with the two employees Watts and Rosalene making for a pretty funny combo to balance out the otherwise emotional ride the game's story is.
If you're looking for gameplay, you won't find much of it here. Gameplay doesn't go beyond walking to your target locations and doing a few very simple puzzles. I'm not the biggest fan of walking simulators or visual novels but I do enjoy the occasional one. If you feel similarly or stronger about these genres, you gotta play To The Moon.
In all seriousness, the reviews set expectations for a short, walking simulator like, 2D indie pixel adventure game made with RPG Maker really high, almost unfairly so. I'm happy to say though that those expectations were met. I didn't cry, but the twists and revelations of the story did have an impact on me either way. Unfortunately, revealing nearly anything would rob you of the experience, so I'm going to refrain from doing so. The gist of it is that an old man has a dying wish: He wants to experience going to the moon. A special agency can dive into memories of their clients to grant them this wish by altering their actual memories into artifical memories, and two employees of this agency, Dr. Eva Rosalene and Dr. Neil Watts, must uncover the clients (Johnny Wyles) backstory to be able to make the right changes to his memories.
It starts slow but gets going quickly and never really lets up from there. It's a very short and linear experience at pretty much exactly 4 hours, and that's perfect for what this game is. The story includes little to no filler and is told really well, with the two employees Watts and Rosalene making for a pretty funny combo to balance out the otherwise emotional ride the game's story is.
If you're looking for gameplay, you won't find much of it here. Gameplay doesn't go beyond walking to your target locations and doing a few very simple puzzles. I'm not the biggest fan of walking simulators or visual novels but I do enjoy the occasional one. If you feel similarly or stronger about these genres, you gotta play To The Moon.
Batman: The Video Game is a collection of platform games that are different in gameplay and story depending on the platform it released for, developed and published by Sunsoft.
The first version released for the NES in 1989 and is a side-scrolling platformer with features like the grappling hook, wall jumps and projectile weapons like the batarang and batdiscs.
The version I played, the Game Boy version, released on April 13, 1990 and is much less ambitious in both graphics and gameplay. It features Batman with a gun and is also a side scrolling platformer.
There are two other versions for the Sega Genesis, a game I will play as we move further along in 1990, and a PC Engine version which released in Japan-only and is an action-puzzle game.
Each game ties in to the movie from 1989 starring Jack Nicholson as the Joker to varying degrees, with the Game Boy version having the "least relation".
STORYTELLING
There is almost none present. Each "chapter" starts and ends with a very brief cutscene involving Joker and Batman. It would have been nice to have a bit more here or, as I will discuss later, more of a Batman feel in the level and/or graphic design, because while the game was fun, it could have been called anything but Batman and no one would have batted an eye.
GAMEPLAY
A lot of fun. If you are looking for platformers from this time and are looking for a game that is easier than usual for this period (1), that has more generous hit boxes (2), doesn't take too long (3) and has some variation (4), you'll find a pretty good game in the GameBoy version of Batman: The Video Game.
This is a side scrolling platformer with your usual dangers. There are enemies that simply follow a pre-determined route and will damage you if you touch them. Later on, they start shooting at you as well. Plus you can of course fall down to your death as well. You control Batman who is pointing a gun forward at all times. Batman using a gun already doesn't seem quite like Batman, but so be it. You can find a bunch of power-ups as you go through levels which alter your damage output and the way your gun shoots. Some give you more power but reduce your range, some make the bullet fly in half circles up and down. Stages are different enough that specific bullets (each different bullet variation is marked with a letter like "N" or "S) will be required to go through them without taking any damage, or perhaps even go through them period. One stage for example has enemies covering a whole platform and can't be shot at with the low-range bullet, so you have to jump on top of it and sacrifice some of your health. If your health is too low at that point, you're basically guaranteed to die. But each level allows you the opportunity to switch to a more usable bullet.
Shooting and platforming becomes more and more tricky as the game goes on, but it doesn't really become hard until about Chapter/Stage 3. I immediately noticed how hit boxes were really the opposite of what I came to expect out of games from 1990. Bullets could touch your sprite and you sometimes would take no damage. Especially when crouching down, bullets would touch your head but it wouldn't register as a hit. Conversely, bullets that barely scrape the enemy still hit them. Pretty much all the other games need you to be way more specific and give you way less leeway there, so this was a welcome surprise. As you will find out over the course of this game, that does make the game simpler, but it's hardly easy throughout. It's simply actually beatable without spending dozens of hours perfecting later stages. If you are a side-scrolling platform veteran however, this game will not scratch that hardcore challenge itch that you might have.
There is also a bat mobile shmup type level which offers some nice variety and is pretty challenging as more and more enemies and bullets start flying around you.
Boss fights are not that plentiful and end up being bullet-sponge fests more than anything, so they were a bit of a let down.
But overall, gameplay wise I had a lot of fun with this, even if the last stage and boss fight did my head in.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE
No voice acting. Sound design was average, which is good for the time, but the firing sound could have done with a little bit more 'oomph'. This gun holding animation-starved Batman could have definitely used it to give him at least some sort of badass vibes.
I liked the music but only because it pretty much sounds like any other soundtrack of its time, and most 8 bit soundtracks were bangers, but as with most of this game, it didn't give off any Batman vibes.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN
The Game Boy games of this time weren't particularly nice to look at, and that is no different here. Many magazines and reviews of the time I found call this game one of the better looking Game Boy games of the time, so I'm going to believe them here. Still, there isn't much here, you could have put any character in here instead of Batman and it would have done the same, minus the presence of Joker in cutscenes (his in-game character also looks like a random detective-like NPC though).
ATMOSPHERE
It has a typical Game Boy platformer atmosphere and that is totally fine, but again, it doesn't feel at all like Batman. I find this to be a good platformer first rather than a bad Batman game, so it depends on what you value more here.
CONTENT
There isn't much here, but what is here is fun. It took me roughly 4 hours to beat it.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN
It's an odd choice to turn this into a generic platformer because Sunsoft's other Batman games in this 'package of platformers' include a lot more of Batman's typical gear, in addition to wall climbing. Here, they just gave BATMAN a gun and said enjoy.
There are four chapters with 3 or 4 stages in each and apart from the final one, which was so long, I enjoyed going through them all. Boss fights also took too long even though they didn't take long to figure out.
But the game gets an additional bonus for putting each level in different locations. For a 1990 Gameboy game, that is commendable.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION
From the reactions of 1990 it's clear that this game was one of the better Game Boy games at the time, both graphically and in terms of gameplay, which is good, but not innovative.
REPLAYABILITY
You can play games with about a handful of different 'bullet effects' and of course try to beat your high score, or try to go from start to finish without any continues. The boring and long boss fights and not many gameplay elements overall to take away some from the game's replayability.
PLAYABILITY
The game worked fine at all times.
OVERALL
This is a game that is not notable as a package because it pretty much only does one thing really well or even above-average, but what it does well is be an enjoyable, fair platformer that is atypical for this time where games were supposed to be punishing to artificially increase playing time of otherwise short games. This one does that in its final chapter as well, but even then it is more than beatable and flows well overall, if it weren't for those long and boring boss fight interruptions.
WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME
- Steve Harris for Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 14 (Sep 90): "The graphics, by GameBoy standards, are superlative"
- Sushi-X for Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 14 (Sep 90): "Gee Batman, better lose a few pounds and put that gun away and slug it out like you're supposed to" Glad this was addressed back in the day as well. Fyi, he gave the game a 7/10 anyway because this really is a fun game.
- ?? for Mean Machines Issue 3 (Dec 90): "if you're a Nintendo owner, miss this game at your peril."
The first version released for the NES in 1989 and is a side-scrolling platformer with features like the grappling hook, wall jumps and projectile weapons like the batarang and batdiscs.
The version I played, the Game Boy version, released on April 13, 1990 and is much less ambitious in both graphics and gameplay. It features Batman with a gun and is also a side scrolling platformer.
There are two other versions for the Sega Genesis, a game I will play as we move further along in 1990, and a PC Engine version which released in Japan-only and is an action-puzzle game.
Each game ties in to the movie from 1989 starring Jack Nicholson as the Joker to varying degrees, with the Game Boy version having the "least relation".
STORYTELLING
There is almost none present. Each "chapter" starts and ends with a very brief cutscene involving Joker and Batman. It would have been nice to have a bit more here or, as I will discuss later, more of a Batman feel in the level and/or graphic design, because while the game was fun, it could have been called anything but Batman and no one would have batted an eye.
GAMEPLAY
A lot of fun. If you are looking for platformers from this time and are looking for a game that is easier than usual for this period (1), that has more generous hit boxes (2), doesn't take too long (3) and has some variation (4), you'll find a pretty good game in the GameBoy version of Batman: The Video Game.
This is a side scrolling platformer with your usual dangers. There are enemies that simply follow a pre-determined route and will damage you if you touch them. Later on, they start shooting at you as well. Plus you can of course fall down to your death as well. You control Batman who is pointing a gun forward at all times. Batman using a gun already doesn't seem quite like Batman, but so be it. You can find a bunch of power-ups as you go through levels which alter your damage output and the way your gun shoots. Some give you more power but reduce your range, some make the bullet fly in half circles up and down. Stages are different enough that specific bullets (each different bullet variation is marked with a letter like "N" or "S) will be required to go through them without taking any damage, or perhaps even go through them period. One stage for example has enemies covering a whole platform and can't be shot at with the low-range bullet, so you have to jump on top of it and sacrifice some of your health. If your health is too low at that point, you're basically guaranteed to die. But each level allows you the opportunity to switch to a more usable bullet.
Shooting and platforming becomes more and more tricky as the game goes on, but it doesn't really become hard until about Chapter/Stage 3. I immediately noticed how hit boxes were really the opposite of what I came to expect out of games from 1990. Bullets could touch your sprite and you sometimes would take no damage. Especially when crouching down, bullets would touch your head but it wouldn't register as a hit. Conversely, bullets that barely scrape the enemy still hit them. Pretty much all the other games need you to be way more specific and give you way less leeway there, so this was a welcome surprise. As you will find out over the course of this game, that does make the game simpler, but it's hardly easy throughout. It's simply actually beatable without spending dozens of hours perfecting later stages. If you are a side-scrolling platform veteran however, this game will not scratch that hardcore challenge itch that you might have.
There is also a bat mobile shmup type level which offers some nice variety and is pretty challenging as more and more enemies and bullets start flying around you.
Boss fights are not that plentiful and end up being bullet-sponge fests more than anything, so they were a bit of a let down.
But overall, gameplay wise I had a lot of fun with this, even if the last stage and boss fight did my head in.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE
No voice acting. Sound design was average, which is good for the time, but the firing sound could have done with a little bit more 'oomph'. This gun holding animation-starved Batman could have definitely used it to give him at least some sort of badass vibes.
I liked the music but only because it pretty much sounds like any other soundtrack of its time, and most 8 bit soundtracks were bangers, but as with most of this game, it didn't give off any Batman vibes.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN
The Game Boy games of this time weren't particularly nice to look at, and that is no different here. Many magazines and reviews of the time I found call this game one of the better looking Game Boy games of the time, so I'm going to believe them here. Still, there isn't much here, you could have put any character in here instead of Batman and it would have done the same, minus the presence of Joker in cutscenes (his in-game character also looks like a random detective-like NPC though).
ATMOSPHERE
It has a typical Game Boy platformer atmosphere and that is totally fine, but again, it doesn't feel at all like Batman. I find this to be a good platformer first rather than a bad Batman game, so it depends on what you value more here.
CONTENT
There isn't much here, but what is here is fun. It took me roughly 4 hours to beat it.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN
It's an odd choice to turn this into a generic platformer because Sunsoft's other Batman games in this 'package of platformers' include a lot more of Batman's typical gear, in addition to wall climbing. Here, they just gave BATMAN a gun and said enjoy.
There are four chapters with 3 or 4 stages in each and apart from the final one, which was so long, I enjoyed going through them all. Boss fights also took too long even though they didn't take long to figure out.
But the game gets an additional bonus for putting each level in different locations. For a 1990 Gameboy game, that is commendable.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION
From the reactions of 1990 it's clear that this game was one of the better Game Boy games at the time, both graphically and in terms of gameplay, which is good, but not innovative.
REPLAYABILITY
You can play games with about a handful of different 'bullet effects' and of course try to beat your high score, or try to go from start to finish without any continues. The boring and long boss fights and not many gameplay elements overall to take away some from the game's replayability.
PLAYABILITY
The game worked fine at all times.
OVERALL
This is a game that is not notable as a package because it pretty much only does one thing really well or even above-average, but what it does well is be an enjoyable, fair platformer that is atypical for this time where games were supposed to be punishing to artificially increase playing time of otherwise short games. This one does that in its final chapter as well, but even then it is more than beatable and flows well overall, if it weren't for those long and boring boss fight interruptions.
WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME
- Steve Harris for Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 14 (Sep 90): "The graphics, by GameBoy standards, are superlative"
- Sushi-X for Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 14 (Sep 90): "Gee Batman, better lose a few pounds and put that gun away and slug it out like you're supposed to" Glad this was addressed back in the day as well. Fyi, he gave the game a 7/10 anyway because this really is a fun game.
- ?? for Mean Machines Issue 3 (Dec 90): "if you're a Nintendo owner, miss this game at your peril."
Based on the movie by the same name from 1988, Michael Jackson's Moonwalker is a beat 'em up game released initially on August 24, 1990 for the Sega Genesis and Master System. An Arcade version was released a month earlier, which is an isometric run and gun game.
The game is better than I expected for a game around a celebrity, and the good parts go beyond the soundtrack. More on my thoughts in detail below.
____________
STORYTELLING
The setup for the story is explained in the manual, while the game itself only has any explanation shortly before the boss fight. What your goal is, is self-explanatory as you play though.
You control Michael Jackson, duh, and go into hostile territory to free a bunch of kidnapped children. All children look like Katie from the movie and say "Michael!" when you free them whilst giving you a boost to your magic/health bar.
At the end of each stage, Mr. Big - the boss - shows up and tells you that "you will never catch me" before he sends a bunch of his goons at you.
The manual tells you that Mr. Big is kidnapping every kid in the world to turn them into his slaves and the text in-game only tells you that you can now face him, so there isn't much here. I'm probably the guy who dived the deepest into the storytelling of this game ever right now because it's barely existent and not the point of this game.
GAMEPLAY
Michael Jackson shows up in a club and flips a coin into a jukebox to flip on a banging soundtrack that provides the backdrop for a gaming experience that is fun despite its limitations, but is held back tremendously by the game's level design.
In this 2D beat 'em up game, you do two things. First, you beat up a bunch of bad guys using your feet (or your arms when you jump), which releases magical sparkles that apparently damage bad people. Second, you have to rescue children.
The Fighting Part: This was fun but had plenty of issues. You see, you have only ONE bar in this game, which represents both your health AND your magical spark tank. And once you drop below a certain amount, you can only do weak punches, not shoot magic anymore. There is a special attack that you can do by spinning, which however drains your bar very fast. If you spin for a little bit, you throw your hat and it creates an explosion. If you spin for half of your health bar, every enemy on screen stands next to Michael Jackson and they do a little dance, which kills every enemy afterwards. It's a great little gimmick for this game but it's unfortunate that it drains your health bar to do it, instead of getting its individual bar. This made me ignore this feature apart from a few small instances throughout the game.
Another issue I got was that you couldn't both turn and shoot magic. Especially in the final two "chapters", enemies would be thrown at you in bunches from both sides, and it felt like it was pretty much impossible to get through the levels unless you knew where to find the kids and therefore skipped most of the level.
The Finding Children Part: And so, let's talk about this part. Depending on the level you find yourself in, you have to check windows, doors, in car trunks, in caves, behind bushes or even behind tombstones to find children. There are dozens of these per level and there is a set number of children hiding in pre-determined hiding spots. As mentioned, I'm glad, because this is probably the only way to beat the game (which I didn't), but imagine missing ONE spot and having to go through the entire level again trying to find it, whilst enemies keep respawning and draining your health bar.
Some hiding spots you won't even find because you won't know where to look. For example you will have to look behind manhole cover that seem to be there as part of the scenery, but no, you actually have to do a spin on top of it to essentially screw it open.
Overall, the core gameplay loop was fun enough, but it all went to shizzles starting in around Chapter 4, where so many enemies would appear that it would make looking for kids tedious. The boss fight only triggers once you find them all, and even the boss fights become a pain, because all of a sudden, 10, nope 20, nope 30 enemies appear one after the other, if not even more than that, and in the graveyard level in particular, those damn zombies appear that can just detach from their legs and fly at you to deal a lot of damage. Meanwhile you can't use any special attacks because it would drain your health too much and you'd die shortly after. These zombies are beatable, I managed it, but it only gets worse from there and that's where I said I've played this enough.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE
Not fair to call it voice acting, but the children do say "Michael" every time you rescue one, which I imagine will be instantly memorable for those who have played this a lot when they were young. I have mixed thoughts about the sound design. Some actions sound good, like the sparkle of the magic or Michael saying "wooo" when you jump-punch, but then you got the bad swooshing sound that plays whenever you check windows, doors, bushes and so on. Overall it's not too bad, not that great either.
What is great however is the soundtrack. It's a 16 bit remix of some of Michael Jackson's most popular songs and whether you like the beats or not will make or break this for you. I think his most popular songs are timeless classics, so naturally I enjoyed this quite a lot. My only issue was that there was no Thriller during the graveyard level (zombies and Michael even did the dance) but apparently there were licensing issues there.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN
The design of Michael Jackson and enemies is great and the game has plenty of differently and nicely designed levels from a graphical standpoint.
ATMOSPHERE
Mixing beats from Michael Jackson songs alongside a graveyard level with zombies and Michael doing the Thriller dance is great and puts you in a great mood, even if the song Thriller itself is not licensed. Levels also have unique themes which I enjoyed, even if they didn't always feel like they suit Michael Jackson.
CONTENT
The overall package here is fun but there isn't a lot of variety. You don't gain any new abilities, there are no power up items, special moves are discouraged due to draining your health, mission objectives are always the same and most of the playing time you accrue comes from trial and error. As I said, the content overall is fun though, so I'll assume that most of you will enjoy a couple hours with it.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN
This just gets progressively worse as more and more and more and more enemies are thrown at you, but your abilities never improve to properly tackle them on. Instead you just wildly shoot left and right and hope you get them all before your health runs out. Don't even think about using special items because that's basically suicide.
On a smaller scale, making it extremely hard to even figure out where to look for the children, making you go all the way to the boss fight whenever you die during one and making you run around the entire level if you miss a single child are some more annoyances with how this game is designed. Not good.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION
The way they've added a bunch of Michael Jackson animation and dance moves, the dance he does with the enemies, the remix of his songs and designing the game to his likeness overall is pretty well done, however it doesn't really translate to other games.
REPLAYABILITY
No abilities to collect/find, no secrets apart from one if you somehow manage to catch a shooting star (check it out on YT if you don't want to play this game, it's pretty nice), no randomizing of hiding spots for children (though some of you might prefer this) and terrible level design in later chapters means a replay is only advisable if you really want to try and beat your high score.
PLAYABILITY
It works well from start to finish.
OVERALL
I liked the core gameplay here, even if its is feature-limited. Playing this to that great soundtrack was great fun for the first few hours but once I got into the latter stages of the graveyard chapter, it just got more and more annoying to play. Ultimately that makes it an average game for its time overall.
WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME
This game was a big topic back in the day, with multiple magazines putting Michael Jackson on their covers.
- Andy Eddy for VGCE, Issue 19 (Aug 90): "Updated cartridges were constantly provided to Jackson, and his suggestions were then passed on to the programmers" | Not an 'opinion' but certainly awesome to hear Jackson being so involved in the creation of this game
- Andromeda for GamePro, Issue 13 (Aug 90): "The animation is smooth, realistic and eye-popping."
The game is better than I expected for a game around a celebrity, and the good parts go beyond the soundtrack. More on my thoughts in detail below.
____________
STORYTELLING
The setup for the story is explained in the manual, while the game itself only has any explanation shortly before the boss fight. What your goal is, is self-explanatory as you play though.
You control Michael Jackson, duh, and go into hostile territory to free a bunch of kidnapped children. All children look like Katie from the movie and say "Michael!" when you free them whilst giving you a boost to your magic/health bar.
At the end of each stage, Mr. Big - the boss - shows up and tells you that "you will never catch me" before he sends a bunch of his goons at you.
The manual tells you that Mr. Big is kidnapping every kid in the world to turn them into his slaves and the text in-game only tells you that you can now face him, so there isn't much here. I'm probably the guy who dived the deepest into the storytelling of this game ever right now because it's barely existent and not the point of this game.
GAMEPLAY
Michael Jackson shows up in a club and flips a coin into a jukebox to flip on a banging soundtrack that provides the backdrop for a gaming experience that is fun despite its limitations, but is held back tremendously by the game's level design.
In this 2D beat 'em up game, you do two things. First, you beat up a bunch of bad guys using your feet (or your arms when you jump), which releases magical sparkles that apparently damage bad people. Second, you have to rescue children.
The Fighting Part: This was fun but had plenty of issues. You see, you have only ONE bar in this game, which represents both your health AND your magical spark tank. And once you drop below a certain amount, you can only do weak punches, not shoot magic anymore. There is a special attack that you can do by spinning, which however drains your bar very fast. If you spin for a little bit, you throw your hat and it creates an explosion. If you spin for half of your health bar, every enemy on screen stands next to Michael Jackson and they do a little dance, which kills every enemy afterwards. It's a great little gimmick for this game but it's unfortunate that it drains your health bar to do it, instead of getting its individual bar. This made me ignore this feature apart from a few small instances throughout the game.
Another issue I got was that you couldn't both turn and shoot magic. Especially in the final two "chapters", enemies would be thrown at you in bunches from both sides, and it felt like it was pretty much impossible to get through the levels unless you knew where to find the kids and therefore skipped most of the level.
The Finding Children Part: And so, let's talk about this part. Depending on the level you find yourself in, you have to check windows, doors, in car trunks, in caves, behind bushes or even behind tombstones to find children. There are dozens of these per level and there is a set number of children hiding in pre-determined hiding spots. As mentioned, I'm glad, because this is probably the only way to beat the game (which I didn't), but imagine missing ONE spot and having to go through the entire level again trying to find it, whilst enemies keep respawning and draining your health bar.
Some hiding spots you won't even find because you won't know where to look. For example you will have to look behind manhole cover that seem to be there as part of the scenery, but no, you actually have to do a spin on top of it to essentially screw it open.
Overall, the core gameplay loop was fun enough, but it all went to shizzles starting in around Chapter 4, where so many enemies would appear that it would make looking for kids tedious. The boss fight only triggers once you find them all, and even the boss fights become a pain, because all of a sudden, 10, nope 20, nope 30 enemies appear one after the other, if not even more than that, and in the graveyard level in particular, those damn zombies appear that can just detach from their legs and fly at you to deal a lot of damage. Meanwhile you can't use any special attacks because it would drain your health too much and you'd die shortly after. These zombies are beatable, I managed it, but it only gets worse from there and that's where I said I've played this enough.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE
Not fair to call it voice acting, but the children do say "Michael" every time you rescue one, which I imagine will be instantly memorable for those who have played this a lot when they were young. I have mixed thoughts about the sound design. Some actions sound good, like the sparkle of the magic or Michael saying "wooo" when you jump-punch, but then you got the bad swooshing sound that plays whenever you check windows, doors, bushes and so on. Overall it's not too bad, not that great either.
What is great however is the soundtrack. It's a 16 bit remix of some of Michael Jackson's most popular songs and whether you like the beats or not will make or break this for you. I think his most popular songs are timeless classics, so naturally I enjoyed this quite a lot. My only issue was that there was no Thriller during the graveyard level (zombies and Michael even did the dance) but apparently there were licensing issues there.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN
The design of Michael Jackson and enemies is great and the game has plenty of differently and nicely designed levels from a graphical standpoint.
ATMOSPHERE
Mixing beats from Michael Jackson songs alongside a graveyard level with zombies and Michael doing the Thriller dance is great and puts you in a great mood, even if the song Thriller itself is not licensed. Levels also have unique themes which I enjoyed, even if they didn't always feel like they suit Michael Jackson.
CONTENT
The overall package here is fun but there isn't a lot of variety. You don't gain any new abilities, there are no power up items, special moves are discouraged due to draining your health, mission objectives are always the same and most of the playing time you accrue comes from trial and error. As I said, the content overall is fun though, so I'll assume that most of you will enjoy a couple hours with it.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN
This just gets progressively worse as more and more and more and more enemies are thrown at you, but your abilities never improve to properly tackle them on. Instead you just wildly shoot left and right and hope you get them all before your health runs out. Don't even think about using special items because that's basically suicide.
On a smaller scale, making it extremely hard to even figure out where to look for the children, making you go all the way to the boss fight whenever you die during one and making you run around the entire level if you miss a single child are some more annoyances with how this game is designed. Not good.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION
The way they've added a bunch of Michael Jackson animation and dance moves, the dance he does with the enemies, the remix of his songs and designing the game to his likeness overall is pretty well done, however it doesn't really translate to other games.
REPLAYABILITY
No abilities to collect/find, no secrets apart from one if you somehow manage to catch a shooting star (check it out on YT if you don't want to play this game, it's pretty nice), no randomizing of hiding spots for children (though some of you might prefer this) and terrible level design in later chapters means a replay is only advisable if you really want to try and beat your high score.
PLAYABILITY
It works well from start to finish.
OVERALL
I liked the core gameplay here, even if its is feature-limited. Playing this to that great soundtrack was great fun for the first few hours but once I got into the latter stages of the graveyard chapter, it just got more and more annoying to play. Ultimately that makes it an average game for its time overall.
WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME
This game was a big topic back in the day, with multiple magazines putting Michael Jackson on their covers.
- Andy Eddy for VGCE, Issue 19 (Aug 90): "Updated cartridges were constantly provided to Jackson, and his suggestions were then passed on to the programmers" | Not an 'opinion' but certainly awesome to hear Jackson being so involved in the creation of this game
- Andromeda for GamePro, Issue 13 (Aug 90): "The animation is smooth, realistic and eye-popping."
This is the 6th Spider-Man game I've played in chronological order as part of a challenge I'm doing. Let me quickly recap: I've played 80 games between 1990 and 1992 before playing this game. 5 of those 80 were Spider-Man games. Three of those Spider-Man games make for the Top 3 Worst Games I've played as part of this challenge. None of the 5 games I'd consider giving anything above 1.5 stars.
Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge, developed by Software Creations and published by 'I'll get the Spider-Man license just to absolutely shit on it' Acclaim Entertainment, released in November 1992 and calls itself an Action-Platformer. While doing so, it's playing fast and loose with the term 'Action', as from the get-go, you realize two things.
First, as per usual, the controls are horrible. That said, the game has the best controls out of all 6 Spider-Man games I've played in this time period, which says more about the state of Spider-Man games than it does about this game. Using the web is possible here, but most of the time you'll have a lower body part touch a platform and fall to your death, as while airborne, you can't activate the web. It's the same handicap that Spider-Man has, as everyone knows.
Second, after a little while, you realize what the actual goal of the first level. Collect some collectable items in some random order that your "Spider senses" direct you towards. This means you just end up awkwardly climbing up and down walls waiting for the Spider sense to trigger once you're close enough, then you run up to the collectable, collect it and go to the next one until the exit opens. Wow.
Perhaps this helps to distract you from the graphics, which, for an SNES (!) game, look horrendous, though again, probably make it the 2nd best looking Spider-Man just behind Spider-Man vs the Kingpin on the Genesis.
The awful controls will dawn on you once you get to the second stage. As per usual, I'm saddened by the state of the license, as continuously releasing god-awful games sounds harder than Acclaim Entertainment and their development studios make it look.
Luckily, there is another Spider-Man game releasing pretty soon in 1993.
(This is the 81st game in my challenge to go through many known games in chronological order starting in 1990. The spreadsheet is in my bio.)
Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge, developed by Software Creations and published by 'I'll get the Spider-Man license just to absolutely shit on it' Acclaim Entertainment, released in November 1992 and calls itself an Action-Platformer. While doing so, it's playing fast and loose with the term 'Action', as from the get-go, you realize two things.
First, as per usual, the controls are horrible. That said, the game has the best controls out of all 6 Spider-Man games I've played in this time period, which says more about the state of Spider-Man games than it does about this game. Using the web is possible here, but most of the time you'll have a lower body part touch a platform and fall to your death, as while airborne, you can't activate the web. It's the same handicap that Spider-Man has, as everyone knows.
Second, after a little while, you realize what the actual goal of the first level. Collect some collectable items in some random order that your "Spider senses" direct you towards. This means you just end up awkwardly climbing up and down walls waiting for the Spider sense to trigger once you're close enough, then you run up to the collectable, collect it and go to the next one until the exit opens. Wow.
Perhaps this helps to distract you from the graphics, which, for an SNES (!) game, look horrendous, though again, probably make it the 2nd best looking Spider-Man just behind Spider-Man vs the Kingpin on the Genesis.
The awful controls will dawn on you once you get to the second stage. As per usual, I'm saddened by the state of the license, as continuously releasing god-awful games sounds harder than Acclaim Entertainment and their development studios make it look.
Luckily, there is another Spider-Man game releasing pretty soon in 1993.
(This is the 81st game in my challenge to go through many known games in chronological order starting in 1990. The spreadsheet is in my bio.)
(This is the 24th game in my challenge to go through many known games in chronological order starting in 1990. The spreadsheet is in my bio.)
I've never been a skater, which I think is pretty important as a disclaimer before I review Skate or Die 2: The Search for Double Trouble, which released in September 1990 in the US only (according to Google results) and was developed/published by Electronic Arts for the NES.
This is a sequel, obviously, and I did not play the first game before playing this, which would introduce you to some of the characters here. It tells its own story though, so playing the first is by no means necessary.
In this game, you ride a skateboard from side to side and can also shoot with a paintball gun. That will be necessary as there are plenty of enemies who shoot you back or simply run into you.
While I dive into a bit more detail below, let me tell you that I would have probably been less forgiving of the game's rougher parts, of which there are plenty. As it stands, some potentially more low key presentation of skater-life has definitely flown over my head and I will simply judge how I experienced it. If you're all about the skater lifestyle, I'd keep this in mind when reading the review.
____________
STORYTELLING
The part that positively surprised me the most, the storytelling in this game - or at least the attempt - is definitely above average compared to all other games of this year I've played so far. The game starts by introducing you to the cast with pictures and lines of text. There is you (the hero), CJ (your girlfriend), Rodney (who sells skateboards) and Lester (who teaches you tricks), among others. There is also an antagonist, Icepick, who even has a catchphrase (he calls you a Poseur a lot).
But even more admirable is that there are several cutscenes in the game, one playing at the start and end of the game and one after each level is complete. They actually tell a full story with ups and downs, there is a little bit of character development present and there is the antagonist, Icepick, who gets in your way a few times and practically asks for a beating. Some of the scenes I did find to be humorous and I learned a new insult in "Poseur". Granted, the game never got me to laugh out loud and it never even was "exhale out of my nose" like funny, but it helped set the tone. And having a story unfold definitely provided some extra motivation. I have to say though that I wouldn't have beat this game if it weren't for the short length of the game overall and the fact that I used a guide. The story itself definitely wasn't nearly enough motivation for that, but it helped a little bit.
GAMEPLAY
There are 4 levels in this game. In the first, you skate on a street and can finish it by finding and killing an old woman. Yes, really. During this level, you can collect food items like tacos, but also CDs, which you use as currency. The currency is useful for whenever you find Rodney and Lester during the levels, as they give you new skateboards or teach you new skills. During this level, you go into a bunch of areas, where you either find enemies or items, until you find the old woman somewhere and kill her to finish the level. Enemies run into you (like dogs) or shoot at you. You can dodge them by placing yourself above or below the projectile (still am not used to that) and you can defeat dogs and such by jumping on top of them.
In the next level, you are in a shopping mall and have to go to a bunch of stores and deliver something, as you get a job as a delivery person to collect some money as part of the story. This is literally the same thing over and over again until you lose your mind or the level ends, whichever comes first. During your run, you are attacked of course and this is where I started using a guide because I was losing my mind.
This is also where I should mention that the game controls like ass. The worst part about it is that once you stand still. Turning around and starting up your skateboard again literally takes 5 seconds every time. This makes the game an incredible slog. It doesn't help that it's really hard to figure out where exactly you are supposed to stand to dodge stuff, because it's projected so poorly (check graphics/art design for my thoughts).
The third level then has you collect 16 (?) blueprint parts on a beach, which, again, is very repetitive. Oh and by the way, both this level and the last have timers, which makes it worse.
The final level is probably the worst level I have played out of all games in 1990. You have to find the building permit somewhere and fight the final boss, but you have to go through a maze of about 7 billion screens that you can easily get lost in. Plus there are enemies everywhere. Again, I used a guide to get through it and just have another "YES" under "Beaten?" on my spreadsheet, but I otherwise recommend to not even force yourself through this. It's so bad and not fun at all.
Finally, let me mention that you use a paintball gun to shoot, but can also throw firecrackers and eggs at enemies.
Overall, gameplay sucks and the awful controls are only the second worst part behind the mission objectives.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE
There actually are some digitized lines in this game, which, hey, fair enough. I've only played three other games with voice acting so far and one of them was Loom, and the version of the game with voice acting wasn't even available in 1990 (the others: Michael Jackson's Moonwalker where the single line that was said was "Michael", and Elivra: Mistress of the Dark, where Elvira just said some gibberish that didn't align with the dialogue). So props to EA for including a few lines like "Major Bummer, dude" in this game.
Sound design was meh but turned into horrifying after the final level with all those elevators. Music was alright but can't say I liked the soundtrack that much.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN
While it doesn't look to bad graphically, I do have a few complaints. Namely it's the issues I've had with the perception of depth in this game. It's a 2D game, sure, but platforms that are supposed to be higher don't really feel that way, it just seems like you're moving wider rather than higher up. Also, to avoid crashing into others, you can't stand right in front of them, you have to move aside. Unfortunately, it is incredibly hard to tell when you actually are in collision course with someone. And sometimes others will walk/skate below your position and your entire sprite will still show up on top of them as if you were the one in a lower position.
Finally, as mentioned plenty of times, it's just important to understand that over half of the story will take place in that god awful warehouse, so it matters much less to me if the beach level actually looks pretty good, since that part is over relatively quickly.
ATMOSPHERE
For the most part the game sets fitting atmosphere but it's hard for me to praise it anymore than that when over half the game takes place in a warehouse with the same rooms over and over and over again, just with a different color filter plastered on top.
CONTENT
Again, over half the story mode takes place in the same place and is incredibly boring. Overall, the story takes about 2-3 hours (longer if you don't use any guide, but not in a good way). There also is a freestyle mode where you can do some tricks, which is a welcome addition but not that much fun.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN
The first level is actually well designed all things considered. You have no time limit, you can get acquainted with the controls, collect some stuff, go into garages and manholes to do things, find a couple guys who give you items/upgrades and then finish the level whenever you are ready to. Then you get a bunch of levels that have time limits and are incredibly repetitive, before you find yourself in the worst level of all, the warehouse level, which is simply there to push the playing time of this game.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION
Skate around a level and do a bunch of optional stuff and stumble upon a few guys who are willing to trade you skateboards and tricks. You almost think that you're playing a sandbox game in those levels, though on a much, much smaller scale than you're accustomed to when hearing "sandbox". Still, that's probably what I enjoyed the most about the game. Other than that, the game certainly is unique in that it's a skateboarding game, but mostly in a negative way.
REPLAYABILITY
I didn't get all moves and skateboards, which is something you can try to achieve in a subsequent playthrough. Other than that, there is no reason to replay this, and after that final level, it's unlikely that you will want to.
PLAYABILITY
The game works well at all times.
OVERALL
In general, this is not a good game. If you play this today, you will probably not even care enough to finish it as a non-skater. If you are part of the skater-life, you'll probably at least appreciate the game, but it will still take a lot of determination to finish this without using a guide. It just has too many holes in gameplay and level design.
WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME
- Slo Mo for GamePro, Issue 13 (Aug 90): "You don't have to be a die-hard side-walk surfer to get into S or D 2" | I respectfully disagree
- Howard H. Wen for VGCE, Issue 20 (Sep 90): "Skate or Die 2 doesn't take itself too seriously but rather does what's fun. And after all, that's what video gaming is all about, right?"
I've never been a skater, which I think is pretty important as a disclaimer before I review Skate or Die 2: The Search for Double Trouble, which released in September 1990 in the US only (according to Google results) and was developed/published by Electronic Arts for the NES.
This is a sequel, obviously, and I did not play the first game before playing this, which would introduce you to some of the characters here. It tells its own story though, so playing the first is by no means necessary.
In this game, you ride a skateboard from side to side and can also shoot with a paintball gun. That will be necessary as there are plenty of enemies who shoot you back or simply run into you.
While I dive into a bit more detail below, let me tell you that I would have probably been less forgiving of the game's rougher parts, of which there are plenty. As it stands, some potentially more low key presentation of skater-life has definitely flown over my head and I will simply judge how I experienced it. If you're all about the skater lifestyle, I'd keep this in mind when reading the review.
____________
STORYTELLING
The part that positively surprised me the most, the storytelling in this game - or at least the attempt - is definitely above average compared to all other games of this year I've played so far. The game starts by introducing you to the cast with pictures and lines of text. There is you (the hero), CJ (your girlfriend), Rodney (who sells skateboards) and Lester (who teaches you tricks), among others. There is also an antagonist, Icepick, who even has a catchphrase (he calls you a Poseur a lot).
But even more admirable is that there are several cutscenes in the game, one playing at the start and end of the game and one after each level is complete. They actually tell a full story with ups and downs, there is a little bit of character development present and there is the antagonist, Icepick, who gets in your way a few times and practically asks for a beating. Some of the scenes I did find to be humorous and I learned a new insult in "Poseur". Granted, the game never got me to laugh out loud and it never even was "exhale out of my nose" like funny, but it helped set the tone. And having a story unfold definitely provided some extra motivation. I have to say though that I wouldn't have beat this game if it weren't for the short length of the game overall and the fact that I used a guide. The story itself definitely wasn't nearly enough motivation for that, but it helped a little bit.
GAMEPLAY
There are 4 levels in this game. In the first, you skate on a street and can finish it by finding and killing an old woman. Yes, really. During this level, you can collect food items like tacos, but also CDs, which you use as currency. The currency is useful for whenever you find Rodney and Lester during the levels, as they give you new skateboards or teach you new skills. During this level, you go into a bunch of areas, where you either find enemies or items, until you find the old woman somewhere and kill her to finish the level. Enemies run into you (like dogs) or shoot at you. You can dodge them by placing yourself above or below the projectile (still am not used to that) and you can defeat dogs and such by jumping on top of them.
In the next level, you are in a shopping mall and have to go to a bunch of stores and deliver something, as you get a job as a delivery person to collect some money as part of the story. This is literally the same thing over and over again until you lose your mind or the level ends, whichever comes first. During your run, you are attacked of course and this is where I started using a guide because I was losing my mind.
This is also where I should mention that the game controls like ass. The worst part about it is that once you stand still. Turning around and starting up your skateboard again literally takes 5 seconds every time. This makes the game an incredible slog. It doesn't help that it's really hard to figure out where exactly you are supposed to stand to dodge stuff, because it's projected so poorly (check graphics/art design for my thoughts).
The third level then has you collect 16 (?) blueprint parts on a beach, which, again, is very repetitive. Oh and by the way, both this level and the last have timers, which makes it worse.
The final level is probably the worst level I have played out of all games in 1990. You have to find the building permit somewhere and fight the final boss, but you have to go through a maze of about 7 billion screens that you can easily get lost in. Plus there are enemies everywhere. Again, I used a guide to get through it and just have another "YES" under "Beaten?" on my spreadsheet, but I otherwise recommend to not even force yourself through this. It's so bad and not fun at all.
Finally, let me mention that you use a paintball gun to shoot, but can also throw firecrackers and eggs at enemies.
Overall, gameplay sucks and the awful controls are only the second worst part behind the mission objectives.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE
There actually are some digitized lines in this game, which, hey, fair enough. I've only played three other games with voice acting so far and one of them was Loom, and the version of the game with voice acting wasn't even available in 1990 (the others: Michael Jackson's Moonwalker where the single line that was said was "Michael", and Elivra: Mistress of the Dark, where Elvira just said some gibberish that didn't align with the dialogue). So props to EA for including a few lines like "Major Bummer, dude" in this game.
Sound design was meh but turned into horrifying after the final level with all those elevators. Music was alright but can't say I liked the soundtrack that much.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN
While it doesn't look to bad graphically, I do have a few complaints. Namely it's the issues I've had with the perception of depth in this game. It's a 2D game, sure, but platforms that are supposed to be higher don't really feel that way, it just seems like you're moving wider rather than higher up. Also, to avoid crashing into others, you can't stand right in front of them, you have to move aside. Unfortunately, it is incredibly hard to tell when you actually are in collision course with someone. And sometimes others will walk/skate below your position and your entire sprite will still show up on top of them as if you were the one in a lower position.
Finally, as mentioned plenty of times, it's just important to understand that over half of the story will take place in that god awful warehouse, so it matters much less to me if the beach level actually looks pretty good, since that part is over relatively quickly.
ATMOSPHERE
For the most part the game sets fitting atmosphere but it's hard for me to praise it anymore than that when over half the game takes place in a warehouse with the same rooms over and over and over again, just with a different color filter plastered on top.
CONTENT
Again, over half the story mode takes place in the same place and is incredibly boring. Overall, the story takes about 2-3 hours (longer if you don't use any guide, but not in a good way). There also is a freestyle mode where you can do some tricks, which is a welcome addition but not that much fun.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN
The first level is actually well designed all things considered. You have no time limit, you can get acquainted with the controls, collect some stuff, go into garages and manholes to do things, find a couple guys who give you items/upgrades and then finish the level whenever you are ready to. Then you get a bunch of levels that have time limits and are incredibly repetitive, before you find yourself in the worst level of all, the warehouse level, which is simply there to push the playing time of this game.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION
Skate around a level and do a bunch of optional stuff and stumble upon a few guys who are willing to trade you skateboards and tricks. You almost think that you're playing a sandbox game in those levels, though on a much, much smaller scale than you're accustomed to when hearing "sandbox". Still, that's probably what I enjoyed the most about the game. Other than that, the game certainly is unique in that it's a skateboarding game, but mostly in a negative way.
REPLAYABILITY
I didn't get all moves and skateboards, which is something you can try to achieve in a subsequent playthrough. Other than that, there is no reason to replay this, and after that final level, it's unlikely that you will want to.
PLAYABILITY
The game works well at all times.
OVERALL
In general, this is not a good game. If you play this today, you will probably not even care enough to finish it as a non-skater. If you are part of the skater-life, you'll probably at least appreciate the game, but it will still take a lot of determination to finish this without using a guide. It just has too many holes in gameplay and level design.
WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME
- Slo Mo for GamePro, Issue 13 (Aug 90): "You don't have to be a die-hard side-walk surfer to get into S or D 2" | I respectfully disagree
- Howard H. Wen for VGCE, Issue 20 (Sep 90): "Skate or Die 2 doesn't take itself too seriously but rather does what's fun. And after all, that's what video gaming is all about, right?"
1990
Yo! Noid released in March 1990 in Japan and November of the same year in NA, is a side scrolling platformer developed by Now Production and published by Capcom for the NES. Well, that's a lie. The game that was actually developed was called "Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru". Pretty much the same game then simply got a visual overhaul in "The Noid" style, The Noid being a Domino's Pizza mascot at the time.
So instead of the game being about a Ninja, it's actually about a Mascot stopping his evil twin to get some pizza as reward.
With that, let's talk about what Yo! Noid is about.
As established, you play as the Noid, a long-eared red rabbit-like creature that likes pizza a lot. He is equipped with a yo-yo and has to fight two obstacles. The first? Platforming through a variety of different levels like the icy and slippery second stage. Or how about the first stage, which takes place along a wharf. The land moves up and down and the water rises and falls, so the Noid has to avoid falling into the water when this happens. The second obstacle? A large variety of random enemies. In the first stage for example, you have to worry about flying birds, random humans and also fishes that jump out of the water. In later stages, there are bats, wasps, flying bullets, falling icicles and more.
The re-skinning of the Ninja game to fit the Noids "universe" falls awfully flat and while it may be a minor complaint, the stages just feel incosistent and random. In the first level, the humans that attack you are just random pink men with a harpune in hand. There is no meaning to the color they wear and their attack is simply walking into your character. In addition, it's a water level but you got both fish and bird attacking you. Why are the birds flying so low? I guess I'm looking for logic unnecessarily here and it probably is a weird complaint, but there isn't much else this game offers apart from world & level design, gameplay and its soundtrack.
The music in this game is typical 8 bit music, but it doesn't sound as catchy as I'm used to from other games. Plus, music is reused for two consecutive levels, even if they are thematically very different from each other, so there doesn't appear to be much thought given there.
Gameplay in this game I would describe with one word: Frustrating. The hit box of both the Noid and enemies is very inconsistent and simply stretches many inches away from the character models. Even though you jump above and past an enemy, the game sometimes still says you hit the enemy. You only have one life before a stage resets, so this exacerbates the frustration there. Sometimes, hit detection is really just completely random, especially in a skateboard level where you are meant to hit pigeons with the back of the wheel. The same hit two times can result in a kill or death seemingly at will of the game.
In stage 2, the ice level, the footing of the ice was also frustratingly inconsistent. You have to jump on a small, icy and slippery platform and most of the time, you would slip one way or the other and would have to try and adjust your footing before slipping off and falling to your death. However, sometimes you wouldn't slip at all and stand still. It really wasn't possible to tell which roll of the dice you would get. Not to mention that sometimes it would look like your character was slipping off, but it was actually a graphical glitch making it appear that way, and trying to adjust against the "phantom slip" would result in falling to one's death as well.
But later stages do kind of make up for the frustration of the earlier levels with the use of pogo sticks and even some levels where you are flying and have to avoid spikes in a level that is designed in a way that reminds be of Floppy Bird. But getting to these stages takes a high frustration tolerance for many hours and also is mired with what I have to call the "worst boss fights in video game history".
Or at least as far as I have experienced so far, the experience through 1990 and beyond should lead me to valleys far darker than what Yo! Noid has to offer. But this game will undoubtedly be a first ballet worst boss fights Hall of Famer if for nothing else. Because the boss fights in this game are ... PIZZA EATING CONTESTS.
After every odd numbered stage, you face your evil twin in a pizza eating contest. What does this entail? Both you and him have a deck of cards with numbers from 1-5. The evil twin, Mr. Green, makes the first selection at random, let's say 2. Then you can choose one of your cards. If you select 3, which is your highest numbered card in the earlier stages, then you win the round and get 1 point to your total. You need to get a specific amount of points before your opponent does to win the boss fight. There are also power up cards, so you can double your 3 to 6 and get 5 points to your total. That's literally it. These fights can take up to 2 minutes and throw you out of the action completely. They are boring and it's only a matter of time before you win, not a matter of skill, unless you think 2 is higher than 3, in which case you will lose. In Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru, you have to prove that your "Ninjutsu" is higher in what is essentially the same game, simply thematically different. But in both instances, boss fights suck.
I checked the Internet Archives to find reviews of this game in Magazines way back when and I found it listed in the "Video Games & Computer Entertainment issue of December 23rd, 1990". It's very positive about the game, maybe too positive, but even it denotes the boss fights as "the only area that's not fun for gamers of all ages". If you didn't play this back in the day and aren't wrapped in a nostalgia bubble for it, you likely will find that most areas of this game are not fun for gamers of all ages.
P.S.: Did you know that this game sold for $49.95 USD at release? No, seriously. We give gaming companies shit for their business practices these days, and rightfully so, but selling a re-skin of a game that you already made and one that has so little content for 50 bucks would surely cause a shit storm or two if a similar thing happened in the age of social media. I loved seeing this price because it made me appreciate how spoiled we are with incredible indie games going for barely half the price at release and offering a hundred times more. Is it weird to compare this random game from 1990 to indie games in 2022? Maybe. But maybe not.
To top it off: According to the VG&CE magazine, "the hilariously exaggerated look of concentration that replaces his buck-toothed grin" when The Noid whips out his yo-yo "is worth the price of admission". How liberating it must have been to have such low expectations that an animation is worth $50. I'll definitely take this positivity over "Starfield is unplayable if faces don't show 2% more emotion" any day though.
So instead of the game being about a Ninja, it's actually about a Mascot stopping his evil twin to get some pizza as reward.
With that, let's talk about what Yo! Noid is about.
As established, you play as the Noid, a long-eared red rabbit-like creature that likes pizza a lot. He is equipped with a yo-yo and has to fight two obstacles. The first? Platforming through a variety of different levels like the icy and slippery second stage. Or how about the first stage, which takes place along a wharf. The land moves up and down and the water rises and falls, so the Noid has to avoid falling into the water when this happens. The second obstacle? A large variety of random enemies. In the first stage for example, you have to worry about flying birds, random humans and also fishes that jump out of the water. In later stages, there are bats, wasps, flying bullets, falling icicles and more.
The re-skinning of the Ninja game to fit the Noids "universe" falls awfully flat and while it may be a minor complaint, the stages just feel incosistent and random. In the first level, the humans that attack you are just random pink men with a harpune in hand. There is no meaning to the color they wear and their attack is simply walking into your character. In addition, it's a water level but you got both fish and bird attacking you. Why are the birds flying so low? I guess I'm looking for logic unnecessarily here and it probably is a weird complaint, but there isn't much else this game offers apart from world & level design, gameplay and its soundtrack.
The music in this game is typical 8 bit music, but it doesn't sound as catchy as I'm used to from other games. Plus, music is reused for two consecutive levels, even if they are thematically very different from each other, so there doesn't appear to be much thought given there.
Gameplay in this game I would describe with one word: Frustrating. The hit box of both the Noid and enemies is very inconsistent and simply stretches many inches away from the character models. Even though you jump above and past an enemy, the game sometimes still says you hit the enemy. You only have one life before a stage resets, so this exacerbates the frustration there. Sometimes, hit detection is really just completely random, especially in a skateboard level where you are meant to hit pigeons with the back of the wheel. The same hit two times can result in a kill or death seemingly at will of the game.
In stage 2, the ice level, the footing of the ice was also frustratingly inconsistent. You have to jump on a small, icy and slippery platform and most of the time, you would slip one way or the other and would have to try and adjust your footing before slipping off and falling to your death. However, sometimes you wouldn't slip at all and stand still. It really wasn't possible to tell which roll of the dice you would get. Not to mention that sometimes it would look like your character was slipping off, but it was actually a graphical glitch making it appear that way, and trying to adjust against the "phantom slip" would result in falling to one's death as well.
But later stages do kind of make up for the frustration of the earlier levels with the use of pogo sticks and even some levels where you are flying and have to avoid spikes in a level that is designed in a way that reminds be of Floppy Bird. But getting to these stages takes a high frustration tolerance for many hours and also is mired with what I have to call the "worst boss fights in video game history".
Or at least as far as I have experienced so far, the experience through 1990 and beyond should lead me to valleys far darker than what Yo! Noid has to offer. But this game will undoubtedly be a first ballet worst boss fights Hall of Famer if for nothing else. Because the boss fights in this game are ... PIZZA EATING CONTESTS.
After every odd numbered stage, you face your evil twin in a pizza eating contest. What does this entail? Both you and him have a deck of cards with numbers from 1-5. The evil twin, Mr. Green, makes the first selection at random, let's say 2. Then you can choose one of your cards. If you select 3, which is your highest numbered card in the earlier stages, then you win the round and get 1 point to your total. You need to get a specific amount of points before your opponent does to win the boss fight. There are also power up cards, so you can double your 3 to 6 and get 5 points to your total. That's literally it. These fights can take up to 2 minutes and throw you out of the action completely. They are boring and it's only a matter of time before you win, not a matter of skill, unless you think 2 is higher than 3, in which case you will lose. In Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru, you have to prove that your "Ninjutsu" is higher in what is essentially the same game, simply thematically different. But in both instances, boss fights suck.
I checked the Internet Archives to find reviews of this game in Magazines way back when and I found it listed in the "Video Games & Computer Entertainment issue of December 23rd, 1990". It's very positive about the game, maybe too positive, but even it denotes the boss fights as "the only area that's not fun for gamers of all ages". If you didn't play this back in the day and aren't wrapped in a nostalgia bubble for it, you likely will find that most areas of this game are not fun for gamers of all ages.
P.S.: Did you know that this game sold for $49.95 USD at release? No, seriously. We give gaming companies shit for their business practices these days, and rightfully so, but selling a re-skin of a game that you already made and one that has so little content for 50 bucks would surely cause a shit storm or two if a similar thing happened in the age of social media. I loved seeing this price because it made me appreciate how spoiled we are with incredible indie games going for barely half the price at release and offering a hundred times more. Is it weird to compare this random game from 1990 to indie games in 2022? Maybe. But maybe not.
To top it off: According to the VG&CE magazine, "the hilariously exaggerated look of concentration that replaces his buck-toothed grin" when The Noid whips out his yo-yo "is worth the price of admission". How liberating it must have been to have such low expectations that an animation is worth $50. I'll definitely take this positivity over "Starfield is unplayable if faces don't show 2% more emotion" any day though.
(This is the 26th game in my challenge to go through many known games in chronological order starting in 1990. The spreadsheet is in my bio.)
Quick word on the challenge I'm doing. This will be needless for those of you who are looking for a review of the game, but it's still something I'd like to mention quickly for those following along (those +-0 of you).
The Sega Genesis obviously launched in Aug 1989 in NA already, so it's not like Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse is the first 16 bit game to come out since I started this, nor is it even the first Sega Genesis game I've played. So far I've played Batman and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker for the system.
But we're now in November 1990, and this game actually released on the same date as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, which would be November 21st, 1990. That console, as is well-known, is the best-selling 16-bit home console, so that's why we're starting to really get into 16-bit territory here, and I am incredibly excited to try out a bunch of classics for the first time from an era many still call the best for console games - if not games in general.
Is this game, developed and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis, the highlight of the era already? Some say it's right up there with Super Mario World as one of the best platformers of this time (SMW also released on November 21, 1990) but to spoiler my conclusion a little bit, I don't really think it's close. This game is fun but has plenty of flaws, so let's get into it.
____________
STORYTELLING
The story is explained at the beginning and in the manual. Minnie is kidnapped by the evil witch Mizrabel (great name btw), because she is jealous of Minnie's beauty. So Mickie makes his way to the Castle of Illusion to save Minnie. An old man there tells him that he needs seven gems of the rainbow to rescue her. Why? Who knows.
There will be an epilogue as well but no other form of storytelling in between from what I can tell, so nothing worth talking about here.
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay is very simple and basic. You move from side to side in this 2D platformer and can either jump on enemies or shoot projectiles (often fruit) at them. If you jump on them, it catapults you up and enables you to reach otherwise unreachable platforms. That's definitely the most unique part about this game's gameplay.
Levels are heavy on platforming and the likelihood that you will fall to your death increases with each level you pass. One cave level where the next platform was so easily miss able if you jump a milli-second too early was especially frustrating.
The game starts you off with three health, 3 lives per continue and 2 continues. Your i-frames after taking a hit only last a second or so, so it's very easy to die within seconds. Since hit frames are sometimes too big, enemies sometimes just pop out of the ground with almost no forewarning and a jump on the enemy's head doesn't get recognized properly (you get damage for missing it), you often lose health unfairly. This is precisely where any comparison to a game like Super Mario World is just not reasonable. I'm playing Super Mario World as we speak and the difference in quality is so high that it actually surprised me quite a lot to see people actually comparing the two.
I've also encountered a bug where I somehow jumped over a tree during a boss fight and couldn't go back to the other direction, meaning that I was stuck.
Gems are acquired by beating bosses after the end of each level, which aren't too difficult, but I failed the second one twice because my jumps on his head just didn't register for some reason. I decided to abandon the game some time after the third boss because while I was doing platforming on tiny tiny platforms, I realized the game didn't immediately register that you let go of the forward button, which made me slip off the platform and fall to my demise.
Apart from these issues it's not a very difficult game, but there is also nothing really exciting about it. There is plenty of stuff you can argue for here apart from its gameplay, and I'll likely agree with you, but I must say that this was not that fun to play.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE
No voice acting. Sound design was mostly pretty good and I liked how a lot of actions actually got a sound to accompany them, like even jumping or throwing stuff, which doesn't happen in a lot of platformers I've played recently. The music was fine overall but I can't say I liked it that much. My favorite track definitely was the one used for the boss fights but the soundtrack just didn't get me into a playful/whimsical kinda mood like I would have expected.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN
Lots and lots of colorful, bright worlds are present in this game, with plenty of variety between them. To mention something a little more lowkey, I liked how the clouds outside kept moving even if you were standing still and how much detail was put into the horizon, even if it's not something a player will really focus on a lot.
But simply graphically, this is definitely one of the best one's you will find from this entire year.
ATMOSPHERE
I didn't always feel like the music used for a particular level necessarily fit the mood, but overall the colorful levels and their overall designs managed to do a solid enough job of putting me in the mood of playing a Mickey Mouse platform adventure. If someone is reading this: Sometimes I feel silly seriously critiquing a game like this, at the end of the day it's a game for children that isn't meant to be taken apart this way. Right? I don't know, I'm definitely going to be glad when a lot more mature games start coming up on the playlist.
CONTENT
There is some fine content here for platformer enthusiasts. This game should take about 3 hours for your average gamer and lead you through a variety of different worlds. But the game overall has pretty basic gameplay and plenty of frustration to come with it, even if there certainly is much worse out there in that regard.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN
Mostly the levels are designed pretty much as you would expect. The difficulty is definitely lower than for many comparable platformers. Most of the time you just go into a specific direction and are offered with very little choice in how to deal with the dangers. Move, kill or avoid, beware of gravity, find the exit at the end of the screen.
Some levels also include underwater sections, and these just frankly sucked. A piranha would usually wait for you in there and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to move past it without taking damage.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION
The worlds are definitely lookers here, and there even is one part where you have to trigger a button to flip the level over. Your character can then still walk upside down, while all others fall down. Nothing major but a nice changeup. Other than that, this is a pretty basic licensed platformer, though it does look pretty good graphically for its time.
REPLAYABILITY
Apart from trying to beat your high score, there also are some secrets to discover, which might warrant a second playthrough for you.
PLAYABILITY
The game works well at pretty much all times, but I did encounter one bug and I disliked how letting go of the forward button would only register like a second later.
OVERALL
The game looks great for a 1990 game, and certainly it was a big deal when it released. You'll be hard-pressed to find a review below 9/10 back in the day. But in today's day and age, we have a game that simply shows its flaws and can't wow in the same way with its strengths. And turns out, its flaws, at least to me, are worse than in many other games I've played from this year recently. And if we just compare to Super Mario World, we can also see that a big difference in quality exists on pretty much every level. Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse is fine and should probably be played if you're looking to go through gaming history like I am, even if in a much more condensed way. Why? Because the ratings tell me you shouldn't look into my thoughts too deeply. But at the same time, I've played too many comparable games to really feel bad about standing where I do on this game.
WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME
- J. M. for VGCE, Issue 24 (Jan 91): "Castle of Illusion is, quite plainly, one of the most fabulous run-and-jump games ever created."
- Sushi-X, Issue 17 (Dec 90): "Music... a 10+!"
Quick word on the challenge I'm doing. This will be needless for those of you who are looking for a review of the game, but it's still something I'd like to mention quickly for those following along (those +-0 of you).
The Sega Genesis obviously launched in Aug 1989 in NA already, so it's not like Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse is the first 16 bit game to come out since I started this, nor is it even the first Sega Genesis game I've played. So far I've played Batman and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker for the system.
But we're now in November 1990, and this game actually released on the same date as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, which would be November 21st, 1990. That console, as is well-known, is the best-selling 16-bit home console, so that's why we're starting to really get into 16-bit territory here, and I am incredibly excited to try out a bunch of classics for the first time from an era many still call the best for console games - if not games in general.
Is this game, developed and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis, the highlight of the era already? Some say it's right up there with Super Mario World as one of the best platformers of this time (SMW also released on November 21, 1990) but to spoiler my conclusion a little bit, I don't really think it's close. This game is fun but has plenty of flaws, so let's get into it.
____________
STORYTELLING
The story is explained at the beginning and in the manual. Minnie is kidnapped by the evil witch Mizrabel (great name btw), because she is jealous of Minnie's beauty. So Mickie makes his way to the Castle of Illusion to save Minnie. An old man there tells him that he needs seven gems of the rainbow to rescue her. Why? Who knows.
There will be an epilogue as well but no other form of storytelling in between from what I can tell, so nothing worth talking about here.
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay is very simple and basic. You move from side to side in this 2D platformer and can either jump on enemies or shoot projectiles (often fruit) at them. If you jump on them, it catapults you up and enables you to reach otherwise unreachable platforms. That's definitely the most unique part about this game's gameplay.
Levels are heavy on platforming and the likelihood that you will fall to your death increases with each level you pass. One cave level where the next platform was so easily miss able if you jump a milli-second too early was especially frustrating.
The game starts you off with three health, 3 lives per continue and 2 continues. Your i-frames after taking a hit only last a second or so, so it's very easy to die within seconds. Since hit frames are sometimes too big, enemies sometimes just pop out of the ground with almost no forewarning and a jump on the enemy's head doesn't get recognized properly (you get damage for missing it), you often lose health unfairly. This is precisely where any comparison to a game like Super Mario World is just not reasonable. I'm playing Super Mario World as we speak and the difference in quality is so high that it actually surprised me quite a lot to see people actually comparing the two.
I've also encountered a bug where I somehow jumped over a tree during a boss fight and couldn't go back to the other direction, meaning that I was stuck.
Gems are acquired by beating bosses after the end of each level, which aren't too difficult, but I failed the second one twice because my jumps on his head just didn't register for some reason. I decided to abandon the game some time after the third boss because while I was doing platforming on tiny tiny platforms, I realized the game didn't immediately register that you let go of the forward button, which made me slip off the platform and fall to my demise.
Apart from these issues it's not a very difficult game, but there is also nothing really exciting about it. There is plenty of stuff you can argue for here apart from its gameplay, and I'll likely agree with you, but I must say that this was not that fun to play.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE
No voice acting. Sound design was mostly pretty good and I liked how a lot of actions actually got a sound to accompany them, like even jumping or throwing stuff, which doesn't happen in a lot of platformers I've played recently. The music was fine overall but I can't say I liked it that much. My favorite track definitely was the one used for the boss fights but the soundtrack just didn't get me into a playful/whimsical kinda mood like I would have expected.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN
Lots and lots of colorful, bright worlds are present in this game, with plenty of variety between them. To mention something a little more lowkey, I liked how the clouds outside kept moving even if you were standing still and how much detail was put into the horizon, even if it's not something a player will really focus on a lot.
But simply graphically, this is definitely one of the best one's you will find from this entire year.
ATMOSPHERE
I didn't always feel like the music used for a particular level necessarily fit the mood, but overall the colorful levels and their overall designs managed to do a solid enough job of putting me in the mood of playing a Mickey Mouse platform adventure. If someone is reading this: Sometimes I feel silly seriously critiquing a game like this, at the end of the day it's a game for children that isn't meant to be taken apart this way. Right? I don't know, I'm definitely going to be glad when a lot more mature games start coming up on the playlist.
CONTENT
There is some fine content here for platformer enthusiasts. This game should take about 3 hours for your average gamer and lead you through a variety of different worlds. But the game overall has pretty basic gameplay and plenty of frustration to come with it, even if there certainly is much worse out there in that regard.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN
Mostly the levels are designed pretty much as you would expect. The difficulty is definitely lower than for many comparable platformers. Most of the time you just go into a specific direction and are offered with very little choice in how to deal with the dangers. Move, kill or avoid, beware of gravity, find the exit at the end of the screen.
Some levels also include underwater sections, and these just frankly sucked. A piranha would usually wait for you in there and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to move past it without taking damage.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION
The worlds are definitely lookers here, and there even is one part where you have to trigger a button to flip the level over. Your character can then still walk upside down, while all others fall down. Nothing major but a nice changeup. Other than that, this is a pretty basic licensed platformer, though it does look pretty good graphically for its time.
REPLAYABILITY
Apart from trying to beat your high score, there also are some secrets to discover, which might warrant a second playthrough for you.
PLAYABILITY
The game works well at pretty much all times, but I did encounter one bug and I disliked how letting go of the forward button would only register like a second later.
OVERALL
The game looks great for a 1990 game, and certainly it was a big deal when it released. You'll be hard-pressed to find a review below 9/10 back in the day. But in today's day and age, we have a game that simply shows its flaws and can't wow in the same way with its strengths. And turns out, its flaws, at least to me, are worse than in many other games I've played from this year recently. And if we just compare to Super Mario World, we can also see that a big difference in quality exists on pretty much every level. Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse is fine and should probably be played if you're looking to go through gaming history like I am, even if in a much more condensed way. Why? Because the ratings tell me you shouldn't look into my thoughts too deeply. But at the same time, I've played too many comparable games to really feel bad about standing where I do on this game.
WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME
- J. M. for VGCE, Issue 24 (Jan 91): "Castle of Illusion is, quite plainly, one of the most fabulous run-and-jump games ever created."
- Sushi-X, Issue 17 (Dec 90): "Music... a 10+!"
1990
This is the type of game I would have spent hours of time and lots of money on in the arcades as a kid. A game similar to Code Name: Viper, called Rolling Thunder, was actually an arcade game, but Code Name: Viper itself was released for the NES.
This is a side scrolling action game where you control "Mr. Smith", a special forces operative who is tasked by "Commander Jones" to take down seven hideouts of a drug syndicate. There is a mystery here to uncover and it reveals itself bit by bit after each stage you complete.
There are two weapons in this game, a pistol and a machine gun. Enemies are mostly syndicate members who are differentiated by color of their outfits. A blue member needs two shots to be killed and can only hit you by running into you, while a pink member can be killed with just one shot, but has a pistol of his own. You only have two lives, at least in the first three levels I've played, so this game can become very tricky real fast.
Not only are just two lives a problem, but you can accidentally run into an enemy that just gets into frame, you can enter a wall (to free hostages) and run into enemies or a bullet right as you exit the wall etc. Expecting a smooth experience I did not, so I'm not surprised that there were some annoyances here.
However, the gameplay loop got me trapped for a few hours anyway and if it weren't for the fact that I will likely play dozens of games like this in the coming days, weeks and months, I wouldn't have minded trying a bit longer to finish. But the game only gets harder from here and looking at a Longplay of it on YT, I doubt I'll get close to the level necessary to play through this.
But definitely worth checking out and would have been a favorite of mine back in the day.
This is a side scrolling action game where you control "Mr. Smith", a special forces operative who is tasked by "Commander Jones" to take down seven hideouts of a drug syndicate. There is a mystery here to uncover and it reveals itself bit by bit after each stage you complete.
There are two weapons in this game, a pistol and a machine gun. Enemies are mostly syndicate members who are differentiated by color of their outfits. A blue member needs two shots to be killed and can only hit you by running into you, while a pink member can be killed with just one shot, but has a pistol of his own. You only have two lives, at least in the first three levels I've played, so this game can become very tricky real fast.
Not only are just two lives a problem, but you can accidentally run into an enemy that just gets into frame, you can enter a wall (to free hostages) and run into enemies or a bullet right as you exit the wall etc. Expecting a smooth experience I did not, so I'm not surprised that there were some annoyances here.
However, the gameplay loop got me trapped for a few hours anyway and if it weren't for the fact that I will likely play dozens of games like this in the coming days, weeks and months, I wouldn't have minded trying a bit longer to finish. But the game only gets harder from here and looking at a Longplay of it on YT, I doubt I'll get close to the level necessary to play through this.
But definitely worth checking out and would have been a favorite of mine back in the day.
1990
Today I've played and beaten Gargoyle's Quest: Ghosts 'n Goblins, which is a spinoff to the arcade hit Ghosts 'n Goblins from 1985. Gargoyle's Quest itself released on May 2, 1990 in Japan for the Game Boy. This game focuses on the character Firebrand, a gargoyle known from the arcade game for being the most annoying enemy of all.
This game is mostly a platformer but can also be put into the Action Adventure category. It's even called an RPG, though if it classifies as that is questionable. There are two gameplay elements in this game. The first is a top down view of Firebrand as he moves around the overworld, a la Final Fantasy, Crystalis and all the other JRPGs of the time. Similarly to those, there are towns and dungeons you can enter, where you can talk to a few people and buy items, and you can even be put into random battles whilst traveling the overworld.
The other element is the platforming / random battles. Platforming is pretty simple and the amount of different obstacles aren't that many. You can jump, levitate/fly for a few seconds, hang on to walls and shoot projectiles. There are wasps, flying spiders and several ground enemies to fight whilst platforming past obstacles like spikes that try to spike you, water that tries to drag you down, fire bursting from the ground vertically and more.
Whilst random battles usually take a very short amount of time, dungeons have pretty long platforming sections and a boss at the end of them.
The game took me 5 hours to beat using save states but would take more than twice that without any I would assume due to the lack of health that is available and the game throwing you back pretty far whenever you get a GAME OVER screen. It's a solid platformer. I wouldn't say it was very hard, I mean I beat it (!), but that's because I used save states. I used save states in the other games I've played as well but those still were too tough to beat. The issue here isn't the platforming that makes this very hard to beat, but rather that you don't have much health and therefore have to do a whole lot of travelling and random-battling before you can attempt a dungeon again.
____________
STORYTELLING
The game starts by telling us that the "Great Realm" was attacked by Destroyers several hundred years ago and won, however at the start of this game, a threat looms once again. This time, it's Firebrand who has to save the day against the Destroyers' king, who is called "Breager".
On your journey, Firebrand has to get stronger and stronger to face him. Many allies aid him in that regard and there are many powerful members of the Destroyers that he has to face before he can get his hands on King Breager.
That's pretty much it. You can talk to a bunch of NPCs, mostly in towns, and you have to talk to a lot of barons of a lot of towns you visit, who tell you to go to Point A to get Item B. To get Item B, you need Item A, which the barons give you. You get Item B, return it to the baron, get Item C and move on. Slowly but surely, you learn a bit more about the world and your identity and ultimately try to save the Realm by defeating King Breager.
You can say "Yes" or "No" a bunch of times when you talk to Barons and others who give you tasks. King Breager even asks you to join him, to which I said "No". I always said the one you are expected to say to make progress, but unfortunately didn't try to say "Yes" to Breager or "No" to the others to see what happens. I can't imagine that much does happen since it would make you unable to progress. If that's true, there are no decisions you can make in this game. There really isn't anything that would make me call it an RPG.
Overall, the story is there and it's OK, it fleshes out the Ghosts 'n Goblins lore a tiny bit.
GAMEPLAY
The overworld gameplay is OK but not where the fun in this game is in my opinion. When you make your way to a town to receive your quest, you are thrown into random battles after every few steps. These take place in very small areas and are not all too varied. There are 6-10 different one's I encountered over 50+ random battles. In one you have to kill 3 enemies, jump to the next platform and somehow find a way to land on the platform below to kill the final 2 enemies, since it's a tight platform and they walk around constantly. You do that until you realize that you have individual health for each battle, so you just say screw it and let them hit you once to be able to kill them quickly and win the battle.
Each battle gives you 1-4 vials, which is currency in this game and is used exclusively to purchase "Talismans of the Cyclone", which are extra continues.
You can collect vials and talismans from vases as well, plus some items are hidden in the game world, which you can figure out by talking to the correct townspeople. One for example tells you that "wings" that let you hover above ground for a longer duration are hidden in a tree near the palace. Go there and you'll find them.
Apart from that, you receive pretty much all other items from quest-givers before and/or after you complete their quests. They give you new weapons (there are 4 total and some bosses are resistant to a few), they boost your wing ability and that's pretty much about it.
In the second gameplay section, the dungeon/platforming section, you do what you do in a lot of other platformers. There are rarely points where you are overwhelmed by too many enemies or environmental obstacles, but sometimes the controls don't feel tight enough, especially when you have to try to stick to a wall that is between two water sprites, both of which hurt you if you touch them and give you 2 damage. At the start of the game, that is enough for an insta-kill. Plus, sometimes you have to stick to walls and jump up to try and destroy a wall that blocks your path. If the ceiling is right there as well, you can be stuck in this weird loop of trying to shoot your projectiles in the split-second you got to aim at the wall before you drop down again.
Controls are still tighter than in most games I've played from this year up to this point, so those are mostly minor annoyances.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE
No voice acting. The sound design was mostly average, but sometimes a bit too in your face, especially when opening up the combat menu to change weapons. The music in this game was mostly average but there were some good tracks in here, however unlikely that I'll remember it as much as I will with other games I've played of this year so far.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN
Looks better than a lot of other Game Boy titles out there, but it's still a Game Boy game. There are no colors, which is OK, but worst of all assets are just reused all the time and the overworld / towns look almost identical throughout. I appreciate that the game has tried to mix some genres together during a time where releasing unfairly difficult, grab-the-players-coin arcade game type platformers seems to have been the norm, but it doesn't enhance the experience, rather the opposite I'd almost have to say.
ATMOSPHERE
Overall, the lore and world building, the soundtrack and the locations differing based on appearance and simply their placement in this world (Floating Continent, Flooded World etc.) made for a pretty atmospheric game.
CONTENT
Without save states, it'll take you closer to ten hours to finish this, but it can get annoying pretty fast. For a playthrough where you use save states, you are looking at closer to 4-5 and overall, I did appreciate the lack of filler in this game apart from random battles becoming repetitive at some point. Apart from the main missions and those battles however, there isn't much else here.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN
The game works the same pretty much throughout. You make your way to a town in the overworld. On your way there, a few random battles take place in small areas and they end when you kill the enemies.
Once you make it to a town, you are given a quest and go to the dungeon, where you have to do some platforming. You kill a boss, return to the quest-giver, go to a new town and so it goes. It's a fun little loop but the game doesn't try to mix it up.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION
As I mentioned before, I did appreciate the mix of genres, but those features typically found in RPGs (overworld with towns and dungeons to enter, leveling systems) are the opposite of fleshed out and didn't quite work. With a bit better execution and more technological possibilities this could work though.
REPLAYABILITY
There isn't much incentive to replay this game after a first playthrough.
PLAYABILITY
The game worked well overall but specific sections had very low FPS for some reason. I didn't have problems with the emulator with any other game and the FPS drops happened at the same few areas, which was noticeable, so I think it's worth mentioning, but I had no issues other than that.
OVERALL
An above-average platformer as an overall product, but I would put that on the platforming sections being fairer than others that I have played rather than the game having RPG / Action Adventure elements mixed in. Most of you will probably enjoy your time with this one, but I'd suggest the use of save states when playing. You won't need to use any guides however, and it won't take you too many afternoons to go through it either.
WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME
- Charlie T. Aslan for GamePro Issue 13 (Aug 90): "Every once in a while, a game comes along that is so original and enjoyable it becomes an instant hit and remains a top-seller for years to come. Gargoyle's Quest [...] falls into this category." | Based on this review, the mix of genres was seen as a good thing, a reminder that MY reviews represent MY opinion and yours may vary
- ? for Nintendo Power Issue 12 (May-June 90): "The excitement of an action game and the depth of a [RPG] are combined in Gargoyle's Quest from Capcom."
This game is mostly a platformer but can also be put into the Action Adventure category. It's even called an RPG, though if it classifies as that is questionable. There are two gameplay elements in this game. The first is a top down view of Firebrand as he moves around the overworld, a la Final Fantasy, Crystalis and all the other JRPGs of the time. Similarly to those, there are towns and dungeons you can enter, where you can talk to a few people and buy items, and you can even be put into random battles whilst traveling the overworld.
The other element is the platforming / random battles. Platforming is pretty simple and the amount of different obstacles aren't that many. You can jump, levitate/fly for a few seconds, hang on to walls and shoot projectiles. There are wasps, flying spiders and several ground enemies to fight whilst platforming past obstacles like spikes that try to spike you, water that tries to drag you down, fire bursting from the ground vertically and more.
Whilst random battles usually take a very short amount of time, dungeons have pretty long platforming sections and a boss at the end of them.
The game took me 5 hours to beat using save states but would take more than twice that without any I would assume due to the lack of health that is available and the game throwing you back pretty far whenever you get a GAME OVER screen. It's a solid platformer. I wouldn't say it was very hard, I mean I beat it (!), but that's because I used save states. I used save states in the other games I've played as well but those still were too tough to beat. The issue here isn't the platforming that makes this very hard to beat, but rather that you don't have much health and therefore have to do a whole lot of travelling and random-battling before you can attempt a dungeon again.
____________
STORYTELLING
The game starts by telling us that the "Great Realm" was attacked by Destroyers several hundred years ago and won, however at the start of this game, a threat looms once again. This time, it's Firebrand who has to save the day against the Destroyers' king, who is called "Breager".
On your journey, Firebrand has to get stronger and stronger to face him. Many allies aid him in that regard and there are many powerful members of the Destroyers that he has to face before he can get his hands on King Breager.
That's pretty much it. You can talk to a bunch of NPCs, mostly in towns, and you have to talk to a lot of barons of a lot of towns you visit, who tell you to go to Point A to get Item B. To get Item B, you need Item A, which the barons give you. You get Item B, return it to the baron, get Item C and move on. Slowly but surely, you learn a bit more about the world and your identity and ultimately try to save the Realm by defeating King Breager.
You can say "Yes" or "No" a bunch of times when you talk to Barons and others who give you tasks. King Breager even asks you to join him, to which I said "No". I always said the one you are expected to say to make progress, but unfortunately didn't try to say "Yes" to Breager or "No" to the others to see what happens. I can't imagine that much does happen since it would make you unable to progress. If that's true, there are no decisions you can make in this game. There really isn't anything that would make me call it an RPG.
Overall, the story is there and it's OK, it fleshes out the Ghosts 'n Goblins lore a tiny bit.
GAMEPLAY
The overworld gameplay is OK but not where the fun in this game is in my opinion. When you make your way to a town to receive your quest, you are thrown into random battles after every few steps. These take place in very small areas and are not all too varied. There are 6-10 different one's I encountered over 50+ random battles. In one you have to kill 3 enemies, jump to the next platform and somehow find a way to land on the platform below to kill the final 2 enemies, since it's a tight platform and they walk around constantly. You do that until you realize that you have individual health for each battle, so you just say screw it and let them hit you once to be able to kill them quickly and win the battle.
Each battle gives you 1-4 vials, which is currency in this game and is used exclusively to purchase "Talismans of the Cyclone", which are extra continues.
You can collect vials and talismans from vases as well, plus some items are hidden in the game world, which you can figure out by talking to the correct townspeople. One for example tells you that "wings" that let you hover above ground for a longer duration are hidden in a tree near the palace. Go there and you'll find them.
Apart from that, you receive pretty much all other items from quest-givers before and/or after you complete their quests. They give you new weapons (there are 4 total and some bosses are resistant to a few), they boost your wing ability and that's pretty much about it.
In the second gameplay section, the dungeon/platforming section, you do what you do in a lot of other platformers. There are rarely points where you are overwhelmed by too many enemies or environmental obstacles, but sometimes the controls don't feel tight enough, especially when you have to try to stick to a wall that is between two water sprites, both of which hurt you if you touch them and give you 2 damage. At the start of the game, that is enough for an insta-kill. Plus, sometimes you have to stick to walls and jump up to try and destroy a wall that blocks your path. If the ceiling is right there as well, you can be stuck in this weird loop of trying to shoot your projectiles in the split-second you got to aim at the wall before you drop down again.
Controls are still tighter than in most games I've played from this year up to this point, so those are mostly minor annoyances.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE
No voice acting. The sound design was mostly average, but sometimes a bit too in your face, especially when opening up the combat menu to change weapons. The music in this game was mostly average but there were some good tracks in here, however unlikely that I'll remember it as much as I will with other games I've played of this year so far.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN
Looks better than a lot of other Game Boy titles out there, but it's still a Game Boy game. There are no colors, which is OK, but worst of all assets are just reused all the time and the overworld / towns look almost identical throughout. I appreciate that the game has tried to mix some genres together during a time where releasing unfairly difficult, grab-the-players-coin arcade game type platformers seems to have been the norm, but it doesn't enhance the experience, rather the opposite I'd almost have to say.
ATMOSPHERE
Overall, the lore and world building, the soundtrack and the locations differing based on appearance and simply their placement in this world (Floating Continent, Flooded World etc.) made for a pretty atmospheric game.
CONTENT
Without save states, it'll take you closer to ten hours to finish this, but it can get annoying pretty fast. For a playthrough where you use save states, you are looking at closer to 4-5 and overall, I did appreciate the lack of filler in this game apart from random battles becoming repetitive at some point. Apart from the main missions and those battles however, there isn't much else here.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN
The game works the same pretty much throughout. You make your way to a town in the overworld. On your way there, a few random battles take place in small areas and they end when you kill the enemies.
Once you make it to a town, you are given a quest and go to the dungeon, where you have to do some platforming. You kill a boss, return to the quest-giver, go to a new town and so it goes. It's a fun little loop but the game doesn't try to mix it up.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION
As I mentioned before, I did appreciate the mix of genres, but those features typically found in RPGs (overworld with towns and dungeons to enter, leveling systems) are the opposite of fleshed out and didn't quite work. With a bit better execution and more technological possibilities this could work though.
REPLAYABILITY
There isn't much incentive to replay this game after a first playthrough.
PLAYABILITY
The game worked well overall but specific sections had very low FPS for some reason. I didn't have problems with the emulator with any other game and the FPS drops happened at the same few areas, which was noticeable, so I think it's worth mentioning, but I had no issues other than that.
OVERALL
An above-average platformer as an overall product, but I would put that on the platforming sections being fairer than others that I have played rather than the game having RPG / Action Adventure elements mixed in. Most of you will probably enjoy your time with this one, but I'd suggest the use of save states when playing. You won't need to use any guides however, and it won't take you too many afternoons to go through it either.
WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME
- Charlie T. Aslan for GamePro Issue 13 (Aug 90): "Every once in a while, a game comes along that is so original and enjoyable it becomes an instant hit and remains a top-seller for years to come. Gargoyle's Quest [...] falls into this category." | Based on this review, the mix of genres was seen as a good thing, a reminder that MY reviews represent MY opinion and yours may vary
- ? for Nintendo Power Issue 12 (May-June 90): "The excitement of an action game and the depth of a [RPG] are combined in Gargoyle's Quest from Capcom."
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos came out in March/April 1990 for the Famicom and as an arcade game. As a sequel to the much beloved Ninja Gaiden, it had a lot to prove and based on the review scores of 35/40 (EGM), 8.5/10 (IGN) and 4/5 Stars (AllGame), it appears the reception was generally positive. It's also a game that was influential and progressive in multiple ways, a game that according to the Video Games & Computer Entertainment Magazine is "proof that video games are learning how to evoke players' emotions and entertain just like a movie or TV show can".
In this series you play a Ninja called Ryu Hayabusa. And as that snippet of the VG&CE review shows, this series did something few, if any, platformers did back in those days, which was putting more focus into the storytelling. The antagonist in this game is Ashtar, an evil lord who is looking to open the Gate of Darkness. Even at the time this was cliché but these games went beyond simply introducing a villain to give slight back story for why the character we are controlling goes against a barrage of dangerous enemies and hazards in each level.
There are other innovations present in this game but let's talk through the game one by one by looking at the 10 criteria by which I rate games.
STORYTELLING: Let's stick with the story for now. The first cutscene you see is Ashtar declaring his evil ambitions, followed by Ryu meeting a stranger who tells him that his love interest from the first game, Irene, was captured. Most of these scenes are presented in a pretty simple way. Most of the time, you see the still face of a character in front of mostly blank background. For Ryu, the background is often simply purple and the only movement you see is the character being pulled from left to right and vice versa. Sometimes you see a little more detail like a brick wall or the full body of a character, and in the rarest, yet prettiest of instances, the camera zooms out to show us how Ryu is observing an enemy fortress in shots that I'd call ahead of its time.
The story is advanced after finishing stages and there is quite a lot more to it than I would have thought, with a whole bunch of twists and turns throughout pertaining to characters first introduced in this sequel and one's from the original. However, twists and turns and surprises await us after seemingly every stage, so after Ryu's seventeenth "What the....?!" it starts to get stale.
Undoubtedly though, having a character humanized as much as Ryu Hayabusa surely added a lot to the experience back in the day, or at least it would have for me.
GAMEPLAY: I didn't play the first game, but I did watch a playthrough of it and also read some reviews to see what advancements had been made. In Ninja Gaiden, a side-scrolling platformer, you are equipped with a sword and slash your way through a horde enemies like those damn birds, soldiers who fire weapons, weird goblins that turn into a ball and roll into you, lizards that spit bullets and of course a bunch of bosses that appear at the end of a level.
You can jump, you can hold onto a wall and climb it (couldn't climb in the original), you can get a bunch of power ups like ninja stars, fire projectiles and duplicates of your self that stay a few feet behind your controlled character and repeat what you do (also new for this game). This feature in particular is worth pointing out. You can have up to two duplicates and you can position them in ways that can give you major advantages in battle. Since they don't take damage and disappear after a set amount of time (to my knowledge), you can, if you are skilled and persistent enough to figure it out, position the duplicates in a way that they face the enemy, while you face the other way and stand many feet away from danger. Even if you then slash in the wrong direction yourself, your duplicate attacks the enemy without any danger of repercussion. So it adds a new element that is actually very clever and can be incredibly useful.
Unfortunately, while the controls were lauded at the time, they haven't aged well. Slashing with your sword is unsatisfyingly inaccurate, especially when swinging at flying enemies or when jumping yourself. Since the main thing in this game is slashing, you can imagine how it impacts enjoyment. The inaccuracy can also probably be assigned to poor hitboxes. Often, the hit box of enemies is smaller than it should be, while for you, it's larger than it should be. This I have found has been an issue often back in the day and was of course more tolerable than then it is today.
Bosses are mostly actually pretty fun, but I noticed that at least one boss fight was entirely re-used from the first and the final boss battle was just so bananas that I said "fuck it" after reaching Phase 2.
Finally, it's worth pointing out that enemy placement is another annoying part to this game. At times, there is just so much going on that being hit is pretty much unavoidable, and I wish at times the game would flow better to make for a smoother experience, even if at the expense of making the game slightly less challenging.
ATMOSPHERE: This is above average for a game of its time for sure. As far as levels go, the dark area comes to mind that illuminates whenever lightning hits. Some distant shots in cut scenes, as described earlier, are actually beautiful and for the graphical limitations that were present at the time, atmospherically this definitely drew me in.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE: No voice acting. Music is catchy and memorable and also adds a lot to the cinematics, while the sound of your sword slashing through enemies and power up items is satisfying.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN: From what I've noticed, graphics are a step up from the original. The game is colorful, there is animation in wind, lightning and even beating hearts on the wall on one level, plus moving clouds during boss fights, that make the game stand out graphically. It still has a grainy look though, even for its time, more noticeably than in a different game I played in 1990 already, Code Name: Viper.
CONTENT: Playing it without save states like me and actually beating the final boss proper will take quite a while I imagine and it's fun enough if one wanted to push through. There are also more levels here than in the original from what I've read. So it's an average affair for arcade games in 1990 but what is also an average affair from that time is that the game is not bloated in any regard.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN: Levels are varied bring unique challenges. There is a level where wind blows left or right, making timing important to be able to progress. One level is dark and you will fall to your death if you don't wait for that lightning that illuminates the stage for a second to show you when to jump. Levels are interrupted with cutscenes, which are mostly short enough to not become tiresome and were also unique at the time. The "Game Over" screen sends you to the start of the stage you are in with 3 lives again, instead of to the first stage, which I appreciated. However, in some levels, enemy placement was wild and made for a hectic affair. Enemy spawning was odd at times as well. If an enemy spawned at the edge of the screen and you killed it without moving forward, the enemy would keep on spawning ad infinitum. So being driven backwards at any time would get annoying quickly because you would have to face the same enemies again. Overall though, level design is solid in this game.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION: As mentioned before, the duplicated Ryu's add a different element to combat and the cinematics were progressive, making this a notable game in terms of innovation.
REPLAYABILITY: You can mix it up slightly with power ups in subsequent playthroughs and of course try to beat your high score, but there isn't much replayability beyond that.
PLAYABILITY: The game worked fine throughout.
OVERALL: I enjoyed this game and it's definitely a solid candidate for the 1990 Top 5/10. I can see why it's beloved even today, but it's unlikely to attract many mega fans if someone tries these games for the first time in this day and age. In any case, it's a classic for sure.
In this series you play a Ninja called Ryu Hayabusa. And as that snippet of the VG&CE review shows, this series did something few, if any, platformers did back in those days, which was putting more focus into the storytelling. The antagonist in this game is Ashtar, an evil lord who is looking to open the Gate of Darkness. Even at the time this was cliché but these games went beyond simply introducing a villain to give slight back story for why the character we are controlling goes against a barrage of dangerous enemies and hazards in each level.
There are other innovations present in this game but let's talk through the game one by one by looking at the 10 criteria by which I rate games.
STORYTELLING: Let's stick with the story for now. The first cutscene you see is Ashtar declaring his evil ambitions, followed by Ryu meeting a stranger who tells him that his love interest from the first game, Irene, was captured. Most of these scenes are presented in a pretty simple way. Most of the time, you see the still face of a character in front of mostly blank background. For Ryu, the background is often simply purple and the only movement you see is the character being pulled from left to right and vice versa. Sometimes you see a little more detail like a brick wall or the full body of a character, and in the rarest, yet prettiest of instances, the camera zooms out to show us how Ryu is observing an enemy fortress in shots that I'd call ahead of its time.
The story is advanced after finishing stages and there is quite a lot more to it than I would have thought, with a whole bunch of twists and turns throughout pertaining to characters first introduced in this sequel and one's from the original. However, twists and turns and surprises await us after seemingly every stage, so after Ryu's seventeenth "What the....?!" it starts to get stale.
Undoubtedly though, having a character humanized as much as Ryu Hayabusa surely added a lot to the experience back in the day, or at least it would have for me.
GAMEPLAY: I didn't play the first game, but I did watch a playthrough of it and also read some reviews to see what advancements had been made. In Ninja Gaiden, a side-scrolling platformer, you are equipped with a sword and slash your way through a horde enemies like those damn birds, soldiers who fire weapons, weird goblins that turn into a ball and roll into you, lizards that spit bullets and of course a bunch of bosses that appear at the end of a level.
You can jump, you can hold onto a wall and climb it (couldn't climb in the original), you can get a bunch of power ups like ninja stars, fire projectiles and duplicates of your self that stay a few feet behind your controlled character and repeat what you do (also new for this game). This feature in particular is worth pointing out. You can have up to two duplicates and you can position them in ways that can give you major advantages in battle. Since they don't take damage and disappear after a set amount of time (to my knowledge), you can, if you are skilled and persistent enough to figure it out, position the duplicates in a way that they face the enemy, while you face the other way and stand many feet away from danger. Even if you then slash in the wrong direction yourself, your duplicate attacks the enemy without any danger of repercussion. So it adds a new element that is actually very clever and can be incredibly useful.
Unfortunately, while the controls were lauded at the time, they haven't aged well. Slashing with your sword is unsatisfyingly inaccurate, especially when swinging at flying enemies or when jumping yourself. Since the main thing in this game is slashing, you can imagine how it impacts enjoyment. The inaccuracy can also probably be assigned to poor hitboxes. Often, the hit box of enemies is smaller than it should be, while for you, it's larger than it should be. This I have found has been an issue often back in the day and was of course more tolerable than then it is today.
Bosses are mostly actually pretty fun, but I noticed that at least one boss fight was entirely re-used from the first and the final boss battle was just so bananas that I said "fuck it" after reaching Phase 2.
Finally, it's worth pointing out that enemy placement is another annoying part to this game. At times, there is just so much going on that being hit is pretty much unavoidable, and I wish at times the game would flow better to make for a smoother experience, even if at the expense of making the game slightly less challenging.
ATMOSPHERE: This is above average for a game of its time for sure. As far as levels go, the dark area comes to mind that illuminates whenever lightning hits. Some distant shots in cut scenes, as described earlier, are actually beautiful and for the graphical limitations that were present at the time, atmospherically this definitely drew me in.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE: No voice acting. Music is catchy and memorable and also adds a lot to the cinematics, while the sound of your sword slashing through enemies and power up items is satisfying.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN: From what I've noticed, graphics are a step up from the original. The game is colorful, there is animation in wind, lightning and even beating hearts on the wall on one level, plus moving clouds during boss fights, that make the game stand out graphically. It still has a grainy look though, even for its time, more noticeably than in a different game I played in 1990 already, Code Name: Viper.
CONTENT: Playing it without save states like me and actually beating the final boss proper will take quite a while I imagine and it's fun enough if one wanted to push through. There are also more levels here than in the original from what I've read. So it's an average affair for arcade games in 1990 but what is also an average affair from that time is that the game is not bloated in any regard.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN: Levels are varied bring unique challenges. There is a level where wind blows left or right, making timing important to be able to progress. One level is dark and you will fall to your death if you don't wait for that lightning that illuminates the stage for a second to show you when to jump. Levels are interrupted with cutscenes, which are mostly short enough to not become tiresome and were also unique at the time. The "Game Over" screen sends you to the start of the stage you are in with 3 lives again, instead of to the first stage, which I appreciated. However, in some levels, enemy placement was wild and made for a hectic affair. Enemy spawning was odd at times as well. If an enemy spawned at the edge of the screen and you killed it without moving forward, the enemy would keep on spawning ad infinitum. So being driven backwards at any time would get annoying quickly because you would have to face the same enemies again. Overall though, level design is solid in this game.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION: As mentioned before, the duplicated Ryu's add a different element to combat and the cinematics were progressive, making this a notable game in terms of innovation.
REPLAYABILITY: You can mix it up slightly with power ups in subsequent playthroughs and of course try to beat your high score, but there isn't much replayability beyond that.
PLAYABILITY: The game worked fine throughout.
OVERALL: I enjoyed this game and it's definitely a solid candidate for the 1990 Top 5/10. I can see why it's beloved even today, but it's unlikely to attract many mega fans if someone tries these games for the first time in this day and age. In any case, it's a classic for sure.
1989
Bonk's Adventure is a platformer released for the TurboGrafx-16 and developed by Red Company and Atlus. Actually it apparently got initially released in December 15, 1989 in Japan, and released in April 1990 in NA (so it's technically not a 1990 game, but I played it anyway). It later was ported to NES and Amiga.
In Bonk's Adventure, you play as Bonk, who fittingly is equipped with a strong head that he can bonk his enemies with. He is a young, bald, strong caveboy and to go through levels, you have to hit enemies with your head, avoid running into them and ... well, that about covers it.
STORYTELLING
If you're looking for a platformer with a story, you got a little bit of story here. If you're looking for a bit more than about a dozen or so lines, you should look elsewhere.
In this game, there are 5 levels, which all have multiple different stages. At the end of each level is a boss, who thank you after you beat them and it appears as if they're being mind controlled by something. They all look kinda unique and most like dinosaurs, with one wearing boxing gloves and another glasses. And there is also a princess to rescue, Princess Za, but that's not something I learned from playing the game, since that goal only becomes known if you reach the final boss or read the manual.
There is a small little epilogue that is something cute to reward the player with, and while the story and characters will add to making the experience a bit more memorable, there isn't much here overall, not that there needs to be, since platformers live and die by their gameplay, especially in these times.
GAMEPLAY
This is a 2D-platformer and sees you fight a bunch of different enemies, some that fit the "10000 BC" theme of this game, some that don't necessarily feel as tied to it. There are dinosaurs, mosquitos, eagles that throw axes, erupting volcanoes, cacti and more. Some actively attack you, some simply follow a specific route. All pretty typical stuff.
The attack button leads to Bonk smashing his big slab of a head to the ground in front of him, so most ground-based enemies can be easily taken care of this way. Some enemies attack from the air, so a well timed jump can lead to Bonk smashing his head to the enemy from below, which does the trick just as well.
There is also an invincibility mode that you can trigger by eating some meat, similar to Mario collecting a star. This lets you rush through enemies, which is pretty neat thanks to the meat.
The gameplay mostly is the same throughout, but there are some water levels added to the mix as well. Plus, as mentioned, each level ends with a boss fight. The dinosaur with gloves is called "Punchy Pedro", the one with glasses called "Gladdis" and a big one with a cap that you fight first is called "Huey". Mostly, you try to avoid the stuff they are throwing while "bonking" the top of their heads until they die and are broken free from the claws of the ulitmate boss, King Drool.
The final boss fight is a pretty big mess and even playthroughs by skilled players will just not look all too pretty because it was just designed that poorly. Overall however, enemy design is mostly charming, though it does lack in variety over time.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE
No voice acting. Average sound design for the time with sounds that you have heard in many other games. The sound quality is good overall.
As with many games from this time, Bonk's Adventure has a really solid soundtrack overall. It ranges from OK to really catchy, and while it's not a soundtrack I'd listen to outside of the game, it does enhance the experience in a positive way.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN
Very good. Levels are mostly in tune with the theme of the game, sprites are clean, the game has a very good use of the available color palette and most importantly, the animations in this game are great. From Bonk's angry demeanor when smashing his head to his outburst when he eats meat to turn invincible for a bit, to holding on to a ledge by using just his teeth, to holding his breath underwater and even foaming at the mouth when he dies - which did look a bit gross though - the animation here is really well done for the time.
ATMOSPHERE
From music to art design to sound, the devs created a pretty atmospheric game that is in tune with its theme.
CONTENT
There are 5 levels and a few bonus levels, plus all the boss fights. The levels are separated into multiple stages, so there is a good 5-10 hours of content here before you probably are good enough to beat the game. At times the sections do get repetitive and the game could have done with more power ups to mix things up, but there is good content here if you are looking for an old platformer to master or just beat.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN
Especially early on, there is good variety in levels. There is your basic ground floor level, then there is the under water level and then there even is a level where you have the ability to swing from a liana. From there, levels start to feel a bit similar, probably due to the use of a few similar enemy types a lot. But there still are enough different levels here where I thought it was a plus overall.
The two big minuses come from the bad boss fight design at the end (which I didn't manage to get to myself but watched others play) and the cramming of enemies into tight spaces a lot. Even skilled players wouldn't be able to get out of those situations without taking damage, which is a sign of suboptimal level design to me usually. Sometimes you'd have two ground enemies coming at you with two monsters flying above and ready to fly down, so sometimes I would just have to be OK with eating the hit and use my invincibility seconds after that to get out fast. Due to that it didn't often flow well, which was annoying.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION
Different combat ability than other games based on looks and animation, but not too different in terms of mechanics. This was a fun little platformer but it didn't really bring anything new to the table.
REPLAYABILITY
Not much replayability here once you complete a playthrough, apart from trying to beat your high score of course.
PLAYABILITY
The game worked fine at all times.
OVERALL
I've played platformers mostly since starting this challenge and I'd say out of all of them, this is an above average one overall thanks to it's solid presentation in pretty much every category you can think of from its animation work to the soundtrack to the color use. As an overall package, you're looking at a platformer that works well, that should provide a fun challenge for the couple hours you would spend with it, but probably will have controls that don't feel tight enough and levels that don't feel fair enough to make you wish to see it through until the annoying boss fight at the end, which is followed by a nice epilogue to be fair. Bonk's Adventure is a solid platformer for its time but not a must-play at this point.
WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME
- Clayton Walnum for VG&CE, Issue 15 (Apr 90): "Bonk's Adventure is a terrific game, the best I've seen on the TurboGrafx-16 yet." | The TG-16 released in NA 8 months prior to this game
- The Eliminator for GamePro, Issue 10 (May 90): "The graphics and animation are great."
- Noreen Lovoi for Game Players Issue 9 (March 90): "a clever and thoroughly addictive game with cartoonlike graphics"
In Bonk's Adventure, you play as Bonk, who fittingly is equipped with a strong head that he can bonk his enemies with. He is a young, bald, strong caveboy and to go through levels, you have to hit enemies with your head, avoid running into them and ... well, that about covers it.
STORYTELLING
If you're looking for a platformer with a story, you got a little bit of story here. If you're looking for a bit more than about a dozen or so lines, you should look elsewhere.
In this game, there are 5 levels, which all have multiple different stages. At the end of each level is a boss, who thank you after you beat them and it appears as if they're being mind controlled by something. They all look kinda unique and most like dinosaurs, with one wearing boxing gloves and another glasses. And there is also a princess to rescue, Princess Za, but that's not something I learned from playing the game, since that goal only becomes known if you reach the final boss or read the manual.
There is a small little epilogue that is something cute to reward the player with, and while the story and characters will add to making the experience a bit more memorable, there isn't much here overall, not that there needs to be, since platformers live and die by their gameplay, especially in these times.
GAMEPLAY
This is a 2D-platformer and sees you fight a bunch of different enemies, some that fit the "10000 BC" theme of this game, some that don't necessarily feel as tied to it. There are dinosaurs, mosquitos, eagles that throw axes, erupting volcanoes, cacti and more. Some actively attack you, some simply follow a specific route. All pretty typical stuff.
The attack button leads to Bonk smashing his big slab of a head to the ground in front of him, so most ground-based enemies can be easily taken care of this way. Some enemies attack from the air, so a well timed jump can lead to Bonk smashing his head to the enemy from below, which does the trick just as well.
There is also an invincibility mode that you can trigger by eating some meat, similar to Mario collecting a star. This lets you rush through enemies, which is pretty neat thanks to the meat.
The gameplay mostly is the same throughout, but there are some water levels added to the mix as well. Plus, as mentioned, each level ends with a boss fight. The dinosaur with gloves is called "Punchy Pedro", the one with glasses called "Gladdis" and a big one with a cap that you fight first is called "Huey". Mostly, you try to avoid the stuff they are throwing while "bonking" the top of their heads until they die and are broken free from the claws of the ulitmate boss, King Drool.
The final boss fight is a pretty big mess and even playthroughs by skilled players will just not look all too pretty because it was just designed that poorly. Overall however, enemy design is mostly charming, though it does lack in variety over time.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE
No voice acting. Average sound design for the time with sounds that you have heard in many other games. The sound quality is good overall.
As with many games from this time, Bonk's Adventure has a really solid soundtrack overall. It ranges from OK to really catchy, and while it's not a soundtrack I'd listen to outside of the game, it does enhance the experience in a positive way.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN
Very good. Levels are mostly in tune with the theme of the game, sprites are clean, the game has a very good use of the available color palette and most importantly, the animations in this game are great. From Bonk's angry demeanor when smashing his head to his outburst when he eats meat to turn invincible for a bit, to holding on to a ledge by using just his teeth, to holding his breath underwater and even foaming at the mouth when he dies - which did look a bit gross though - the animation here is really well done for the time.
ATMOSPHERE
From music to art design to sound, the devs created a pretty atmospheric game that is in tune with its theme.
CONTENT
There are 5 levels and a few bonus levels, plus all the boss fights. The levels are separated into multiple stages, so there is a good 5-10 hours of content here before you probably are good enough to beat the game. At times the sections do get repetitive and the game could have done with more power ups to mix things up, but there is good content here if you are looking for an old platformer to master or just beat.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN
Especially early on, there is good variety in levels. There is your basic ground floor level, then there is the under water level and then there even is a level where you have the ability to swing from a liana. From there, levels start to feel a bit similar, probably due to the use of a few similar enemy types a lot. But there still are enough different levels here where I thought it was a plus overall.
The two big minuses come from the bad boss fight design at the end (which I didn't manage to get to myself but watched others play) and the cramming of enemies into tight spaces a lot. Even skilled players wouldn't be able to get out of those situations without taking damage, which is a sign of suboptimal level design to me usually. Sometimes you'd have two ground enemies coming at you with two monsters flying above and ready to fly down, so sometimes I would just have to be OK with eating the hit and use my invincibility seconds after that to get out fast. Due to that it didn't often flow well, which was annoying.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION
Different combat ability than other games based on looks and animation, but not too different in terms of mechanics. This was a fun little platformer but it didn't really bring anything new to the table.
REPLAYABILITY
Not much replayability here once you complete a playthrough, apart from trying to beat your high score of course.
PLAYABILITY
The game worked fine at all times.
OVERALL
I've played platformers mostly since starting this challenge and I'd say out of all of them, this is an above average one overall thanks to it's solid presentation in pretty much every category you can think of from its animation work to the soundtrack to the color use. As an overall package, you're looking at a platformer that works well, that should provide a fun challenge for the couple hours you would spend with it, but probably will have controls that don't feel tight enough and levels that don't feel fair enough to make you wish to see it through until the annoying boss fight at the end, which is followed by a nice epilogue to be fair. Bonk's Adventure is a solid platformer for its time but not a must-play at this point.
WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME
- Clayton Walnum for VG&CE, Issue 15 (Apr 90): "Bonk's Adventure is a terrific game, the best I've seen on the TurboGrafx-16 yet." | The TG-16 released in NA 8 months prior to this game
- The Eliminator for GamePro, Issue 10 (May 90): "The graphics and animation are great."
- Noreen Lovoi for Game Players Issue 9 (March 90): "a clever and thoroughly addictive game with cartoonlike graphics"
I've just beaten Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, a platformer for the NES developed and published by Capcom. Its producer was Tokuro Fujiwara, who was also the producer for the Mega Man series and the Gargoyle's Quest games. It released on June 8, 1990 in Japan and in NA the following day.
The game is based on the kids TV show with the same name, and one that I used to watch a lot as a child myself. It was a nice flash of nostalgia whilst looking up info on this game and I was surprised to recognize some of the characters despite me not having watched the show for at least 15 years.
The game starts with an image of Chip, Dale and their friends and a little text of Chip talking, who says that a neighbor's kitten was lost and needs to be found by them. From there, the 2D platforming gameplay begins. From my count, there are about 10 levels if you decide to do them all, but at least 2 can be skipped. Levels have multiple stages and conclude with a boss fight.
You get 3 hearts and 3 continues, after which you have to restart the game. The game is very short, I beat it in roughly 2 hours, and I'd say it's the best introductory platformer to late 80s / early 90s gaming that I have played so far. To put it simple: It can be beaten relatively quickly and it has pretty basic features.
More on that down below.
____________
STORYTELLING
The game revolves around the cast of the TV show with the same name. There are Chip and Dale of course, but also their friends, namely Gadget, who in this game scouts ahead and gives players clue on upcoming levels once they finish the previous one, Monterey Jack, who finds "secret doors and pathways" for Chip and Dale (manual) and Zipper, who can be found as a special item and flies around you for a short while to kill every enemy in sight.
The intro dialogue between the friends reveals that the Rescue Rangers have a new job: Find the neighbor's lost kitten. During your search, the shows main antagonist, Fat Cat, introduces himself as well and will have to be bested to win the game later on.
Characters don't show up or talk apart from this intro until the end of the game. In between, only Gadget shows up to leave tips on upcoming levels, and Fat Cat has one little speech as well, but that's it. There is no storytelling beyond that. So it was pretty basic, which was more than fine for a game of this year of course.
GAMEPLAY
You can choose to control either Chip or Dale or even play with someone else. In each level you play, you must walk and jump for most of the game and either avoid enemies or kill them by throwing crates at them. There are cacti, electric wires and of course gravity that you can die to, but all of these deaths can be avoided by simply timing your jumps. There is nothing creative that you need to do to make it through this game. There is no jumping and slashing in mid air, climbing walls or stacking power ups that you need to worry about, especially since none of the latter are even available in this game.
All collectables are there for you to get "1 Ups". Collect 50 nuts, get a 1 up. Collect 10 stars, get a 1 up. Collect a 1 up item, get a 1 up. The only additional gameplay element that is provided in the game world are metal crates, which you can use to stack them up and access higher platforms.
Other than that, what I describes is pretty much it. There are 4 or 5 boss fights where you need to collect a red ball and throw it at the enemy whilst dodging their projectiles. This was very easy for most of the game, only the final boss gave me some trouble there.
After every level, an overworld opens up where you choose the next stage to go to. You can sometimes go one of two directions and pick different levels, but I haven't really tried going back and doing the level that I had missed, so I don't know if you are stuck with the direction you go in. Anyway, this offers tiny bit of replayability in a game that otherwise doesn't offer much depth.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE
No voice acting. The music was good as per usual for games of this time period, there is a remix of the theme song of the TV show here too and the sound design was solid as well, or at least in line with how most games of this time made everything sound.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN
I liked the graphics here. Good use of colors and despite the technical limitations at the time, the devs did a good job of creating detailed environments that all had an interesting theme. There aren't many enemies here, but they look unique and have clean sprites. There are few animations here and no special effects, so the game did well on the artistic front outside of those two areas.
ATMOSPHERE
Does it feel like a Chip 'n Dale game? I can't really say, it's been a while since I watched the show. I assume the enemies have some relation to the show, maybe, and all the characters do of course, and there definitely is relation to the show in the soundtrack but I can't judge it too much beyond that. As its own thing, I liked how the levels mixed up its themes, had bright colors, detailed environments and multiple unique assets included.
CONTENT
There are about 10 levels with bosses at the end of multiple of them. Almost every level adds new enemies, however there are a total of 10 enemy types overall, so variety is pretty limited there. The game is also very short at 2 hours or so based on someone with my ability, which I would call average. There is little filler, so I'll take 2 hours of this over 10 hours of some of the other, more unfair platformers, but at the end of the day 2 hours are pretty short and apart from themes and some new enemies, levels don't really mix it up in any other noticeable way.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN
Artistically pleasing as levels are, they are not different enough in terms of gameplay challenge. I'd put this on lack of gameplay variety rather than the lack of puzzles, lack of environmental hazards and low enemy variety, but overall it's a combination of all those things.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION
There isn't really anything the game does that stands out over the rest or moves the needle. Graphically I thought this game was above average, but if you just look at gameplay, you'll notice that it is pretty simple. There are no power ups in this game. You can't climb. You can't run faster, you can't double jump and you can't fly, you pretty much can't do anything apart from three things. Walk, jump and throw. Throwing is limited to apples, bombs and mostly, crates, which one hit enemies and clear your way forward. It's not a bad gameplay hook and the game doesn't need all of the things I mentioned before, but a bit of mixing up or one more feature or two would have served the game well. As it stands, it feels like a solid entry into the genre if for nothing else.
REPLAYABILITY
There isn't really any variety here, so the only reason for replaying this after winning would be to beat your high score AND to choose a different path in the overworld when you select stages.
PLAYABILITY
The game worked well at all times.
OVERALL
Here is a game that uses a license and the platforming experience of its developers to be an enjoyable, albeit extremely average platformer. Due to its basic features, yet good soundtrack, solid graphics and short game length, it combines to make for a solid game to introduce newcomers to late 80s / early 90s platforming games. But unless you're the biggest Chip 'N Dale fan or have played this when you were young, it is unlikely that this makes for a game you will remember for long, which may be fine depending on your expectations.
WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME
- Gary Barth for GamePro Issue 9 (Apr 90): "Chip 'N' Dale Rescue Rangers boasts the same fast action and detailed Disney graphics as [...] Mickey Mousecapades and Duck Tales."
The game is based on the kids TV show with the same name, and one that I used to watch a lot as a child myself. It was a nice flash of nostalgia whilst looking up info on this game and I was surprised to recognize some of the characters despite me not having watched the show for at least 15 years.
The game starts with an image of Chip, Dale and their friends and a little text of Chip talking, who says that a neighbor's kitten was lost and needs to be found by them. From there, the 2D platforming gameplay begins. From my count, there are about 10 levels if you decide to do them all, but at least 2 can be skipped. Levels have multiple stages and conclude with a boss fight.
You get 3 hearts and 3 continues, after which you have to restart the game. The game is very short, I beat it in roughly 2 hours, and I'd say it's the best introductory platformer to late 80s / early 90s gaming that I have played so far. To put it simple: It can be beaten relatively quickly and it has pretty basic features.
More on that down below.
____________
STORYTELLING
The game revolves around the cast of the TV show with the same name. There are Chip and Dale of course, but also their friends, namely Gadget, who in this game scouts ahead and gives players clue on upcoming levels once they finish the previous one, Monterey Jack, who finds "secret doors and pathways" for Chip and Dale (manual) and Zipper, who can be found as a special item and flies around you for a short while to kill every enemy in sight.
The intro dialogue between the friends reveals that the Rescue Rangers have a new job: Find the neighbor's lost kitten. During your search, the shows main antagonist, Fat Cat, introduces himself as well and will have to be bested to win the game later on.
Characters don't show up or talk apart from this intro until the end of the game. In between, only Gadget shows up to leave tips on upcoming levels, and Fat Cat has one little speech as well, but that's it. There is no storytelling beyond that. So it was pretty basic, which was more than fine for a game of this year of course.
GAMEPLAY
You can choose to control either Chip or Dale or even play with someone else. In each level you play, you must walk and jump for most of the game and either avoid enemies or kill them by throwing crates at them. There are cacti, electric wires and of course gravity that you can die to, but all of these deaths can be avoided by simply timing your jumps. There is nothing creative that you need to do to make it through this game. There is no jumping and slashing in mid air, climbing walls or stacking power ups that you need to worry about, especially since none of the latter are even available in this game.
All collectables are there for you to get "1 Ups". Collect 50 nuts, get a 1 up. Collect 10 stars, get a 1 up. Collect a 1 up item, get a 1 up. The only additional gameplay element that is provided in the game world are metal crates, which you can use to stack them up and access higher platforms.
Other than that, what I describes is pretty much it. There are 4 or 5 boss fights where you need to collect a red ball and throw it at the enemy whilst dodging their projectiles. This was very easy for most of the game, only the final boss gave me some trouble there.
After every level, an overworld opens up where you choose the next stage to go to. You can sometimes go one of two directions and pick different levels, but I haven't really tried going back and doing the level that I had missed, so I don't know if you are stuck with the direction you go in. Anyway, this offers tiny bit of replayability in a game that otherwise doesn't offer much depth.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE
No voice acting. The music was good as per usual for games of this time period, there is a remix of the theme song of the TV show here too and the sound design was solid as well, or at least in line with how most games of this time made everything sound.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN
I liked the graphics here. Good use of colors and despite the technical limitations at the time, the devs did a good job of creating detailed environments that all had an interesting theme. There aren't many enemies here, but they look unique and have clean sprites. There are few animations here and no special effects, so the game did well on the artistic front outside of those two areas.
ATMOSPHERE
Does it feel like a Chip 'n Dale game? I can't really say, it's been a while since I watched the show. I assume the enemies have some relation to the show, maybe, and all the characters do of course, and there definitely is relation to the show in the soundtrack but I can't judge it too much beyond that. As its own thing, I liked how the levels mixed up its themes, had bright colors, detailed environments and multiple unique assets included.
CONTENT
There are about 10 levels with bosses at the end of multiple of them. Almost every level adds new enemies, however there are a total of 10 enemy types overall, so variety is pretty limited there. The game is also very short at 2 hours or so based on someone with my ability, which I would call average. There is little filler, so I'll take 2 hours of this over 10 hours of some of the other, more unfair platformers, but at the end of the day 2 hours are pretty short and apart from themes and some new enemies, levels don't really mix it up in any other noticeable way.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN
Artistically pleasing as levels are, they are not different enough in terms of gameplay challenge. I'd put this on lack of gameplay variety rather than the lack of puzzles, lack of environmental hazards and low enemy variety, but overall it's a combination of all those things.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION
There isn't really anything the game does that stands out over the rest or moves the needle. Graphically I thought this game was above average, but if you just look at gameplay, you'll notice that it is pretty simple. There are no power ups in this game. You can't climb. You can't run faster, you can't double jump and you can't fly, you pretty much can't do anything apart from three things. Walk, jump and throw. Throwing is limited to apples, bombs and mostly, crates, which one hit enemies and clear your way forward. It's not a bad gameplay hook and the game doesn't need all of the things I mentioned before, but a bit of mixing up or one more feature or two would have served the game well. As it stands, it feels like a solid entry into the genre if for nothing else.
REPLAYABILITY
There isn't really any variety here, so the only reason for replaying this after winning would be to beat your high score AND to choose a different path in the overworld when you select stages.
PLAYABILITY
The game worked well at all times.
OVERALL
Here is a game that uses a license and the platforming experience of its developers to be an enjoyable, albeit extremely average platformer. Due to its basic features, yet good soundtrack, solid graphics and short game length, it combines to make for a solid game to introduce newcomers to late 80s / early 90s platforming games. But unless you're the biggest Chip 'N Dale fan or have played this when you were young, it is unlikely that this makes for a game you will remember for long, which may be fine depending on your expectations.
WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME
- Gary Barth for GamePro Issue 9 (Apr 90): "Chip 'N' Dale Rescue Rangers boasts the same fast action and detailed Disney graphics as [...] Mickey Mousecapades and Duck Tales."
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light is a tactical RPG and the first game in the Fire Emblem series, developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems and released for the NES on April 20, 1990 in Japan only. The first official Western release happened on December 4, 2020 for the Nintendo Switch, however for whatever reason Nintendo made it a timed exclusive, meaning it is not available for purchase anymore since March 2021.
That baffling decision aside and disregarding the fact that the newest Fire Emblem game was just recently announced, this series was not an instant hit. The initial reception by some critics was poor due to "poor graphics" and the game being "difficult to understand". This resulted in poor initial sales, a situation that would improve over time through positive word-of-mouth (especially a positive Famitsu column on the game about half a year after release) and led Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light to sell well over 300.000 units up until 2002.
Since the Switch version is no longer for sale, I wasn't able to play with the official translation. The translation I got, as I noticed after playing for many hours, did not really fit with the official names for items, characters and locations. The main protagonist / the prince is called Marth, not Mars.
STORYTELLING
The translation differences on seemingly everything notwithstanding, it was still "easy" to follow since the different translation was used consistently. Unfortunately, the game throws around a bunch of names of people and kingdoms all the time so it takes a while to get a grasp on what is going on. At first, many names simply end up sounding the same, so I had to find my way out of that web of confusion.
There are 25 chapters/missions in this game, and before and after each, there is some text or dialogue progressing the story, plus a small monologue during missions when you would get near the more notable chapter bosses.
You play as the Prince of Altea, Marth, who was able to escape when Altea was under attack by the Dolhr Empire. Marth's sister Elice sacrificed herself so that Marth could escape. During this time, their dad had left an ally, Gra, to watch over his kingdom, but Gra betrayed them to the Dolhr Empire. Meanwhile their dad had left to fight the leader of the Dolhr Empire, the Shadow Dragon, but failed and died. He used a Falchion in battle, a divine weapon that had stopped the Shadow Dragon 100 years earlier and it was taken from Marth's dad when he lost the battle. It is needed to fight the Shadow Dragon.
At the start of this game you stop an invasion of the new home of Marth, Talys, and then move out with your allies to fight the Dolhr Empire. Before that, you visit and free many other kingdoms and find more allies to aid you in your quest. All characters that aid you are named and have their own little back story (once the game ends, there is a brief summary on what each character is doing after the story conclusion, provided they survive).
And this is where the game gets its uniqueness from. The dev team decided to build on their experience from war games such as Famicom Wars, and add "RPG elements" to them. I think this game pushes the definition of an RPG, but that's a different discussion.
Each character is assigned a class and can level up to increase their stats. While this has gameplay implications only at first glance, it goes way beyond that. Characters barely have any dialogue apart from when your first recruit them, so building a connection to them is only possible on a limited scale. However, it still happens as you find characters that increase in level over time and improve in their abilities. You're excited when they then get criticial hits at the right time to get you out of tricky situations or you love them for simply being consistent throughout. And ultimately, this means it can hurt for a short while when you lose them to the perma-death system. It's a feeling I only know from XCOM games, but in those characters don't even have that backstory like they do here.
It's a system that is very limited here but is effective in general, and I can only imagine how much later entries built on it.
The main plot itself is convoluted for a first time player because you get a lot of lore dropped with no way to read it again or look up any info on anything. In general, the game lacks a tutorial or codex.
Once you get to grips with it, it is a solid plot but basic storytelling due to the technical limitations of the time. In addition, it was pretty typical for the time. I have just played 9 games in 1990 through this challenge so far and more than a few included the concept of "divine weapon is the only way to kill final boss". It works for a game to give the player needed motivation, so I can see why this seems to have been a popular choice for the overall theme. You'll be content with the storytelling for a game this old and with this much content outside of it, it'll the do the job, but nothing beyond that.
GAMEPLAY
Lots to discuss here. The game is a tactical RPG. Back in 1990, you would have found a lot of strategy games and a lot of RPGs, but few, if any, that combined the two.
The tactical part looks like this: You control a battle unit out of a set number of characters based on the level. Often, you would have about 15 units on the battlefield at once. If you had more characters available than the maximum possible amount - through recruiting them - a level would start by making you select the specific units that you want to deploy.
Once you do that, battle commences on a grid-based map. Maps changed for each level and would add strategical challenges, but wouldn't really change anything graphically or of their tone. The game has a turn-based battle system. You select a unit, move it up a specific number of grids based on the unit's Movement stat, and then attack an enemy if it is in range.
There are 21 classes in this game that mostly are specialized in something. There are your typical Fighters and Mercenaries who wield swords and axes and have average Movement range. Then there are your Archers who can only use bows, Clerics who cannot fight but only use a staff to for example heal or warp units (send them to anywhere else on the map, very useful) and Mages who can use powerful Magic and have high resistances. There are also "Pegasus Knights" that are on horseback and can fly over obstacles on the ground like buildings or trees, which usually take an additional step to move past for ground units.
Weapons usually have multiple different qualities. The lowest is the "Iron quality" and the best quality that is usually accessible is the "Silver quality". As you make more progress in this game, you come across many enemies that can resist Iron quality weapons, making the upgrade necessary. Luckily, money is literally no issue in this game, so all you need to do is buy new items. Unluckily, there is no "safe hub" or anything like that to stock up. Instead, shops are somewhere on the map in levels and usually guarded by enemies. Often, there would only be one store as well, so you could only send one unit to buy something per round. So I would spend multiple rounds after a map was cleared to just get everyone new items. This is a typical QoL issue that is surely handled differently in newer entries. I haven't played any Fire Emblem game up to this point, so I don't know.
Another QoL issue is how slow progression in this game is. When you control 15 units, you have to move all 15 units at a time, of course, but that takes a lot of time. This is probably a thing in current Fire Emblem games as well, and not the worst thing to do, but it does take a while and gets kinda boring once you are 10+ chapters in. I prefer the XCOM games here, where you only have 6 characters to control.
But again, this isn't the worst thing in the world. What is much worse is the individual battles themselves. The animation for one attack takes seemingly ages and when you enter over a handful of fights in a single round, it will take minutes to go through them all. Luckily, my emulator had a fast forward function, so I could skip through these much quicker. I didn't finish this game (I made it to Chapter 22/25) but I think it's worth pointing out that I got there in just 17 hours compared to the 26-40 hours it takes on a normal playthrough according to HLTB.
Strategically, there are a lot of ways to play this game thanks to the different classes and their specialties. If you want to bring a Cleric, Thief and Archer for example, they will not be - or you don't want them to be in the Thief's case - in close combat. A big system in this game is the "counter", which means if an enemy character attacks you, your character can counter and vice versa. If the Archer is attacked in melee combat, he will not be able to counter, which can make a big difference. Clerics don't attack at all. Thieves barely have any strength and limited health, so they usually will only be part of your squad to unlock doors and/or open chests. Clerics heal and warp and Archers can be devastating in long range combat, so they all do provide arguments for why they should be included in the squad.
But bring a few more Mercenaries, Fighters and Paladins and you'll have a lot more strength in Melee Combat. So do you go for more of them, or for a more mixed approach? All strategies have their advantages and disadvantages and more than a few will work, so it's nice to see these options being available.
Bringing the right squad to do the job becomes more important however when different Chapters are filled more with specific enemies that can only be significantly damaged with specific weapons. Some need to be fought with Magic, some with Arrows and some with Melee weapons. Plus, maps have enough strategical differences that having Pirates or Pegasus Knights that can go over water or having Mages and Archers who can shoot over walls becomes more important.
On the flipside, you can quickly find yourself in a bad situation when the most useful units for a particular level are the most under leveled. The only way to level up units is by having them battle. Especially later on, bringing those low level characters with you can be pretty bad since you will need all the fire power you got when the game starts throwing infinite reinforcements in your face until you finally defeat the boss and send Prince Marth to the Castle, which is a location he must visit to finish the level.
There is a balance that must be struck here, but I would have liked to get more additional ways to train my units outside of battle (probably expecting too much in a 1990 game). Especially when my strong units started dying late into game and enemy units just started being filled with strong Dragons that would show up in the dozens, the game pretty much had me in an impossible situation. You can't now level your low-level guys, nor can you even get them weapons since you need to do that within levels. When never ending groups of enemies come at you, when are you supposed to find the opportunity?
Due to this, I didn't get to finish the game, but there is a lot to like here.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE
No voice acting. There is nothing noteworthy to discuss regarding the sound design, it sounded average for the time.
The music was definitely one of the highlights for me. 3 or 4 tracks were playing for most of the game, so it didn't necessarily have variety, but some tracks just were bangers, especially the start of chapter track. Look for "Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light- Chapter Start" on YouTube.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN
Even back then the game wasn't considered graphically pretty. I'd say it has some strong colors and the varied character design is pretty good, but there isn't much else to it besides that. You see the same few assets on every level, maps are mostly green spots of grass and even battles take place in a black background with nothing else on it.
ATMOSPHERE
Once I got firmly into the gameplay loop, playing this game was rather comfortable thanks to the mix of a solid soundtrack, uninspiring but not-ugly graphics and simply being around a cast of characters that have a place in this world and start to grow into trusted allies. It is nothing special but to me the atmosphere was rather positive than negative.
CONTENT
25 chapters, each take about 30-60 minutes on average. Lots of repetition here but also a satisfying strategical challenge throughout.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN
There is a good mix in the design of the maps, especially considering what technical limitations the devs had to battle. Map design and enemy placement means that challenges that players have to fight through are varied, but sometimes the enemy placement and especially reinforcements get so ridiculous that you have no way of progressing through them with the units you have on hand. And this was clear hours ago, you just weren't aware. Infinite reinforcements also mean that the amount of opportunity is limited to level up underleveled units and to stock up on weapons and other items in the lead up to chapters 20+, which was frustrating.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION
One of, if not THE first tactical RPG that started a whole genre. Due to that, this game already gets iconic status, and it's a mix of genres that works pretty well too (as evidenced by the series status even today).
REPLAYABILITY
This game can be played in different ways, but the hours and hours of watching animations and moving your units make this a hard sell for people looking for replayability. Apart from improved stats, there also is no incentive to play through the game and try to keep different units alive compared to previous runs.
PLAYABILITY
The game worked fine at all times.
OVERALL
Definitely worth checking out if you're a Fire Emblem fan and want to see its origins. There is also some fun to be had and mostly the game offers a fair strategic challenge. If you're a veteran of the series, you might also do much better than me in the first half of the game and go into the second half more prepared, which will make or break your chance of completing this game.
WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME
Japan-only release, nothing to find in Western magazines
That baffling decision aside and disregarding the fact that the newest Fire Emblem game was just recently announced, this series was not an instant hit. The initial reception by some critics was poor due to "poor graphics" and the game being "difficult to understand". This resulted in poor initial sales, a situation that would improve over time through positive word-of-mouth (especially a positive Famitsu column on the game about half a year after release) and led Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light to sell well over 300.000 units up until 2002.
Since the Switch version is no longer for sale, I wasn't able to play with the official translation. The translation I got, as I noticed after playing for many hours, did not really fit with the official names for items, characters and locations. The main protagonist / the prince is called Marth, not Mars.
STORYTELLING
The translation differences on seemingly everything notwithstanding, it was still "easy" to follow since the different translation was used consistently. Unfortunately, the game throws around a bunch of names of people and kingdoms all the time so it takes a while to get a grasp on what is going on. At first, many names simply end up sounding the same, so I had to find my way out of that web of confusion.
There are 25 chapters/missions in this game, and before and after each, there is some text or dialogue progressing the story, plus a small monologue during missions when you would get near the more notable chapter bosses.
You play as the Prince of Altea, Marth, who was able to escape when Altea was under attack by the Dolhr Empire. Marth's sister Elice sacrificed herself so that Marth could escape. During this time, their dad had left an ally, Gra, to watch over his kingdom, but Gra betrayed them to the Dolhr Empire. Meanwhile their dad had left to fight the leader of the Dolhr Empire, the Shadow Dragon, but failed and died. He used a Falchion in battle, a divine weapon that had stopped the Shadow Dragon 100 years earlier and it was taken from Marth's dad when he lost the battle. It is needed to fight the Shadow Dragon.
At the start of this game you stop an invasion of the new home of Marth, Talys, and then move out with your allies to fight the Dolhr Empire. Before that, you visit and free many other kingdoms and find more allies to aid you in your quest. All characters that aid you are named and have their own little back story (once the game ends, there is a brief summary on what each character is doing after the story conclusion, provided they survive).
And this is where the game gets its uniqueness from. The dev team decided to build on their experience from war games such as Famicom Wars, and add "RPG elements" to them. I think this game pushes the definition of an RPG, but that's a different discussion.
Each character is assigned a class and can level up to increase their stats. While this has gameplay implications only at first glance, it goes way beyond that. Characters barely have any dialogue apart from when your first recruit them, so building a connection to them is only possible on a limited scale. However, it still happens as you find characters that increase in level over time and improve in their abilities. You're excited when they then get criticial hits at the right time to get you out of tricky situations or you love them for simply being consistent throughout. And ultimately, this means it can hurt for a short while when you lose them to the perma-death system. It's a feeling I only know from XCOM games, but in those characters don't even have that backstory like they do here.
It's a system that is very limited here but is effective in general, and I can only imagine how much later entries built on it.
The main plot itself is convoluted for a first time player because you get a lot of lore dropped with no way to read it again or look up any info on anything. In general, the game lacks a tutorial or codex.
Once you get to grips with it, it is a solid plot but basic storytelling due to the technical limitations of the time. In addition, it was pretty typical for the time. I have just played 9 games in 1990 through this challenge so far and more than a few included the concept of "divine weapon is the only way to kill final boss". It works for a game to give the player needed motivation, so I can see why this seems to have been a popular choice for the overall theme. You'll be content with the storytelling for a game this old and with this much content outside of it, it'll the do the job, but nothing beyond that.
GAMEPLAY
Lots to discuss here. The game is a tactical RPG. Back in 1990, you would have found a lot of strategy games and a lot of RPGs, but few, if any, that combined the two.
The tactical part looks like this: You control a battle unit out of a set number of characters based on the level. Often, you would have about 15 units on the battlefield at once. If you had more characters available than the maximum possible amount - through recruiting them - a level would start by making you select the specific units that you want to deploy.
Once you do that, battle commences on a grid-based map. Maps changed for each level and would add strategical challenges, but wouldn't really change anything graphically or of their tone. The game has a turn-based battle system. You select a unit, move it up a specific number of grids based on the unit's Movement stat, and then attack an enemy if it is in range.
There are 21 classes in this game that mostly are specialized in something. There are your typical Fighters and Mercenaries who wield swords and axes and have average Movement range. Then there are your Archers who can only use bows, Clerics who cannot fight but only use a staff to for example heal or warp units (send them to anywhere else on the map, very useful) and Mages who can use powerful Magic and have high resistances. There are also "Pegasus Knights" that are on horseback and can fly over obstacles on the ground like buildings or trees, which usually take an additional step to move past for ground units.
Weapons usually have multiple different qualities. The lowest is the "Iron quality" and the best quality that is usually accessible is the "Silver quality". As you make more progress in this game, you come across many enemies that can resist Iron quality weapons, making the upgrade necessary. Luckily, money is literally no issue in this game, so all you need to do is buy new items. Unluckily, there is no "safe hub" or anything like that to stock up. Instead, shops are somewhere on the map in levels and usually guarded by enemies. Often, there would only be one store as well, so you could only send one unit to buy something per round. So I would spend multiple rounds after a map was cleared to just get everyone new items. This is a typical QoL issue that is surely handled differently in newer entries. I haven't played any Fire Emblem game up to this point, so I don't know.
Another QoL issue is how slow progression in this game is. When you control 15 units, you have to move all 15 units at a time, of course, but that takes a lot of time. This is probably a thing in current Fire Emblem games as well, and not the worst thing to do, but it does take a while and gets kinda boring once you are 10+ chapters in. I prefer the XCOM games here, where you only have 6 characters to control.
But again, this isn't the worst thing in the world. What is much worse is the individual battles themselves. The animation for one attack takes seemingly ages and when you enter over a handful of fights in a single round, it will take minutes to go through them all. Luckily, my emulator had a fast forward function, so I could skip through these much quicker. I didn't finish this game (I made it to Chapter 22/25) but I think it's worth pointing out that I got there in just 17 hours compared to the 26-40 hours it takes on a normal playthrough according to HLTB.
Strategically, there are a lot of ways to play this game thanks to the different classes and their specialties. If you want to bring a Cleric, Thief and Archer for example, they will not be - or you don't want them to be in the Thief's case - in close combat. A big system in this game is the "counter", which means if an enemy character attacks you, your character can counter and vice versa. If the Archer is attacked in melee combat, he will not be able to counter, which can make a big difference. Clerics don't attack at all. Thieves barely have any strength and limited health, so they usually will only be part of your squad to unlock doors and/or open chests. Clerics heal and warp and Archers can be devastating in long range combat, so they all do provide arguments for why they should be included in the squad.
But bring a few more Mercenaries, Fighters and Paladins and you'll have a lot more strength in Melee Combat. So do you go for more of them, or for a more mixed approach? All strategies have their advantages and disadvantages and more than a few will work, so it's nice to see these options being available.
Bringing the right squad to do the job becomes more important however when different Chapters are filled more with specific enemies that can only be significantly damaged with specific weapons. Some need to be fought with Magic, some with Arrows and some with Melee weapons. Plus, maps have enough strategical differences that having Pirates or Pegasus Knights that can go over water or having Mages and Archers who can shoot over walls becomes more important.
On the flipside, you can quickly find yourself in a bad situation when the most useful units for a particular level are the most under leveled. The only way to level up units is by having them battle. Especially later on, bringing those low level characters with you can be pretty bad since you will need all the fire power you got when the game starts throwing infinite reinforcements in your face until you finally defeat the boss and send Prince Marth to the Castle, which is a location he must visit to finish the level.
There is a balance that must be struck here, but I would have liked to get more additional ways to train my units outside of battle (probably expecting too much in a 1990 game). Especially when my strong units started dying late into game and enemy units just started being filled with strong Dragons that would show up in the dozens, the game pretty much had me in an impossible situation. You can't now level your low-level guys, nor can you even get them weapons since you need to do that within levels. When never ending groups of enemies come at you, when are you supposed to find the opportunity?
Due to this, I didn't get to finish the game, but there is a lot to like here.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE
No voice acting. There is nothing noteworthy to discuss regarding the sound design, it sounded average for the time.
The music was definitely one of the highlights for me. 3 or 4 tracks were playing for most of the game, so it didn't necessarily have variety, but some tracks just were bangers, especially the start of chapter track. Look for "Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light- Chapter Start" on YouTube.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN
Even back then the game wasn't considered graphically pretty. I'd say it has some strong colors and the varied character design is pretty good, but there isn't much else to it besides that. You see the same few assets on every level, maps are mostly green spots of grass and even battles take place in a black background with nothing else on it.
ATMOSPHERE
Once I got firmly into the gameplay loop, playing this game was rather comfortable thanks to the mix of a solid soundtrack, uninspiring but not-ugly graphics and simply being around a cast of characters that have a place in this world and start to grow into trusted allies. It is nothing special but to me the atmosphere was rather positive than negative.
CONTENT
25 chapters, each take about 30-60 minutes on average. Lots of repetition here but also a satisfying strategical challenge throughout.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN
There is a good mix in the design of the maps, especially considering what technical limitations the devs had to battle. Map design and enemy placement means that challenges that players have to fight through are varied, but sometimes the enemy placement and especially reinforcements get so ridiculous that you have no way of progressing through them with the units you have on hand. And this was clear hours ago, you just weren't aware. Infinite reinforcements also mean that the amount of opportunity is limited to level up underleveled units and to stock up on weapons and other items in the lead up to chapters 20+, which was frustrating.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION
One of, if not THE first tactical RPG that started a whole genre. Due to that, this game already gets iconic status, and it's a mix of genres that works pretty well too (as evidenced by the series status even today).
REPLAYABILITY
This game can be played in different ways, but the hours and hours of watching animations and moving your units make this a hard sell for people looking for replayability. Apart from improved stats, there also is no incentive to play through the game and try to keep different units alive compared to previous runs.
PLAYABILITY
The game worked fine at all times.
OVERALL
Definitely worth checking out if you're a Fire Emblem fan and want to see its origins. There is also some fun to be had and mostly the game offers a fair strategic challenge. If you're a veteran of the series, you might also do much better than me in the first half of the game and go into the second half more prepared, which will make or break your chance of completing this game.
WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME
Japan-only release, nothing to find in Western magazines