Donkey Kong Country turned out to be one of my favorite games on the SNES, and while I was excited to check out its first sequel, I wasn’t sure if it was going to be on the same level as its predecessor. Now that I’ve actually beaten it, though, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest took everything that made Donkey Kong Country good and made it even better. The levels are even more atmospheric and well designed than they were in the first game, and David Wise’s score is twice as terrific as the first one. Not only that, but giving Dixie Kong an advantage over Diddy Kong rather than just being a walking shield was a great idea, and it also led to some incredible levels designed around her hover ability.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest is also far more difficult than its predecessor, which was a hard game on its own, and although I found myself losing a lot more lives throughout this game, I also found myself having a lot more fun. Donkey Kong Country was challenging, but fair, and while that still kind of applies to Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest, I saw the game as the perfect balance between a fair challenge and a rage inducer, and that balance was what kept me going, in a way.

Although I still need to play more games on the SNES, especially more story driven ones, I have no problem calling Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest my favorite SNES game, and although I’m still very excited to play Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!, I’m not sure if it can get any better than this.

When I beat the first Castlevania game last year, I wasn't a big fan of it, as I thought that practically everything about its gameplay had aged poorly in some way, but I was still excited to check out the other games in the series. I had heard that Super Castlevania IV was a good entry in the franchise, but I honestly had no idea that it was a reimagining of the original game until recently, and so that made me much more intrigued to check out what was different about this version. Now that I've spent the last two days playing through it, I can definitely say that Super Castlevania IV was leagues ahead of that first NES game, and while it still missed some marks in a few areas, I still thought that it was a great game.

Pretty much all of my gripes with the original Castlevania can be found in its controls, as every one of the six things that you can do in that game was clunky in their own ways, but Super Castlevania IV completely remedied my issues with how the first game felt to play while still retaining the core of what made it unique. Not only can you swing your whip in way more directions than just left or right, but you can also flail your whip freely at the cost of it doing less damage, and that made combat feel more versatile and responsive. You also get to swing on hooks using your whip for different platforming sections, and I especially liked the use of that mechanic when it came to finding the occasional bonus item or secret. Giving items their own button was a godsend, as it made it so that you don't accidentally waste hearts every time you pressed the attack button whenever you climbed up some stairs while also just being more convenient. When it came to moving and jumping, Simon Belmont felt a lot less stiff to control here in Super Castlevania IV, and being able to actually change directions mid-jump rather than having to commit to every single movement was an especially nice touch.

In my review of Castlevania, I mentioned that the two best aspects of that game would be the atmosphere and the music, and both of these elements were vastly improved upon here in Super Castlevania IV. Although its visual style didn't take as much direct inspiration from the Universal horror movies of the 1930s and 1940s, the game still looked great in its detailed sprites, Gothic architecture, and imaginative enemy designs, and it also featured some pseudo-3D graphics that were especially impressive for an early SNES game. Pretty much all of the music here in Super Castlevania IV was great, as they all fit the macabre tone of the game while also being immensely catchy and memorable. For the most part, Super Castlevania IV was consistent and tightly constructed in terms of both its level design and its boss fights, but the latter element seemed to drop for me at the very end. While the fights against Gaibon and Death were manageable, Slogra requires a heaping spoonful of luck to beat thanks to his huge hitbox and attacks being nearly impossible to dodge, and while the climactic fight against Dracula gets brought down just a little by its heavy reliance on RNG. Despite its flaws, Super Castlevania IV was still a great game in my eyes, and aside from historical reasons, I don't really see any reason to go back to that first Castlevania game when this version managed to excel in places where the original one fell short.

As one could imagine, the original Dragon’s Lair was not only very influential and unique for the time that it came out, but it was also incredibly successful as well. So naturally, just like any greedy corporation when they hear opportunity knocking at the door, they decided to take advantage of it by making lots and lots of ports. However, given how the game was basically a playable Don Bluth film, it would be impossible to port the game onto the home consoles at the time, at least, in its original form. So, when somebody had the “brilliant” idea of “porting” the original Dragon’s Lair to the NES, not only did they get a completely different developer and publisher for the game (which is always a great sign), but they made it into a completely different game. And thus, we were then given the mangled corpse known as Dragon’s Lair for the NES.

Before trying this game out, I had known about this game, specifically from AVGN, and from what I had seen of it, it had looked pretty rough, while also looking to be a complete struggle to even attempt to try to play. Nevertheless, just like with every game I play, I tried to go in with an open mind, and what a surprise, I fucking hated it. Sure, I will give them a tiny morsel of credit for at least trying to make a new game in this series for the NES, but this is basically the textbook example of how not to bring your successful arcade game to a home system.

The story is the exact same as the original game, MOVING ON, the graphics are… definitely graphics, but I will give them this, they did put in a lot of effort to the animations, which look pretty good (but that creates a whole new slew of problems that I will get to later), the music is some of the most generic beeps and boops that I have ever heard come from a game on this system, the control is…………………….deep breath, we’ll get there, and the gameplay is unique compared to the original, but about as unique as an NES platformer can be, and the way you play makes it unbearable to trudge through… which I didn’t do, because I actually care about my mental health.

The game is a 2D side-scrolling cinematic platformer, where you traverse through the Dragon’s Lair, defeating plenty of enemies, avoiding dangerous obstacles, finding items and weapons to help you take out the many threats you will face, and take on several bosses along the way. It is all pretty standard stuff for an NES game, yes, and it is an understandable way of bringing a game like Dragon’s Lair to the NES, even though it doesn’t work out here in the slightest. Sure, there are all the gameplay issues that we will get to in a second, but one of the big reasons why a game like this just doesn’t work for the Dragon’s Lair series is because of its complete lack of identity.

When you went into an arcade and saw Dragon’s Lair, it looked completely unique compared to everything else that was there due to the animation and art style. Sure, it didn’t have that much gameplay, but the animation and art style was ultimately what drew you into it in the first place, and it undeniably kept the game’s legacy alive because of that. However, whenever this series was put onto the NES, it completely lost that aspect of its appeal, and thus, lost its soul. Now it is just yet another NES game to throw back into the bargain bin, having practically nothing to make it stand out amongst other games on the system, and thus, losing all semblance of quality. I know, it’s a little extreme to say that, but whenever you think of Dragon’s Lair, the animation is the first thing you think about, no question, so when that is removed, we kind of have a big problem here.

And speaking of having a big problem here, there is the matter of… sigh... the gameplay. Just like with the original Dragon’s Lair, this game is REALLY HARD, where it throws a lot at you to try to kill you, such as tough enemies, tiny enemies to chip away your health, traps a plenty, and instant kill obstacles. What doesn’t help matters is, just like with the original game, you mainly die in one hit (even though there is a health bar, so yeah, fuck all of the devs), and yes, they do give you plenty of lives to use so that you don’t immediately get a game over, but given how fast you can die even from just starting the level, the lives may as well not be there at all.

But undeniably, the biggest issue with this entire game, and the biggest issue with the gameplay, would be the control and movement of your character. You move UNBELIEVABLY slow, which could help with dealing with the challenges up ahead in theory, but your sprite is also ridiculously huge, making trying to move through tight corridors and obstacles almost impossible without dying, as well as making you a giant target for all of the projectiles that will be flying towards you. But not only do you move way too slowly, but you also do EVERYTHING ELSE way too slowly! Just the simple act of crouching, jumping, attacking, everything feels like it takes a billion years to execute, and by the time you even press the button to do one of these actions, you are already dead. It makes things much more difficult in the worst way possible.

Overall, this is without a doubt the worst way to bring an arcade series to a home console, and one of the worst NES games that I have ever played in my life. Just stick with the original games, don’t even think about trying this one out, because it is not worth it whatsoever. And what’s even worse is that this isn’t the only time they tried to not only bring Dragon’s Lair to a home system, but also tried to make it into a platformer. But hey, those other platformers can’t be as bad as this one was… right? Please?

Game #238

A surprisingly short, but fun platformer. You can really feel the love of a dev team wanting to craft their own world and characters on a relatively small budget, and I feel it comes through really well. Controlling Lucky is very rewarding and responsive. His burrowing move mixed with his slide ability is tons of fun to use and combo with to maintain a nice momentum. The game is also relatively easy to beat. It's simple and straightforward level design and execution aren't detractors however as these levels are still fun to play around in and complete. My only big issue is that most of the bosses are pretty absurdly easy with the final boss being incredibly underwhelming. What feels like a first phase is just the entire battle After Gigantosaur, I'd definitely recommend this game for younger kids looking for a bit more of a challenge, while still being pretty simple enough to get through, and for older kids the post game might give them a little bit more of a challenge to sink into. It's a shame the studio who made it is currently working on Web 3 garbage, otherwise I'd have loved to see what a sequel could do.