Angel_Arle
Not too long ago I played and reviewed Madou Monogatari II and while I find the game good, it has some frustrations and left me a little sad that I didn’t like it as much as I wanted to. I’d recommend reading my review if you want more of my opinion on it. Close to the end of it I had said I hope Madou Monogatari III would fix some of the issues I had. Though I knew in my head I was going in with low standards as one of my closer oomfs had beaten this game a year or two ago and told me they hated the game. Surely this was not going to go well, so why was this my favorite of the trilogy?
Before I talk about the actual gameplay I wanna discuss the game’s artstyle. It was done by a different artist due to the other one working on the Mega Drive entry and it shows. This can be a good or bad thing depending on how you view the game as a whole. I’ll start with bad. This game looks inconsistent compared to the past two titles which is a shame as it was originally just a game with all three entries in the box with a consistent style. The game looks a lot more silly which came at the cost of less detailed sprites and not as good looking cutscenes, with the biggest example being the intro. It’s especially obvious if you compare it to the MSX/PC-98 versions. Though if that doesn’t bother you, then that’s fine because here’s the good. Because of it being silly, there’s a lot of good shots here that can be a bit funny and they really compliment the game as it’s the funniest of the trilogy by a longshot. It’s so funny that I don’t even want to spoil the moments for you. Oddly in the manual for the game, you can find screenshots that aren’t used in the game and look more in line with the previous games. Were these from an earlier build? Who knows.
The game has not changed much from before but you’ll be exploring four different areas with Arle and even Carbuncle by your side. You actually have all of your magic available at the start though some spells from II are gone as they would be pointless here. The game still does have some visible improvements like random encounters are now given warnings. The game has text that’ll let you know when the next step is an enemy. This is cool but it’s not always consistent and might come off as annoying for some. I found it sometimes gave the text for multiple steps or just no enemy showed up at all. Still, the navigation is the same, and a lot of the mechanics are the same.
I found the design of each location to be for the most part good and enjoyable but it does have some issues. While they can be fun to navigate, this game has an obsession with invisible walls and random buttons. If you’re stuck and don’t know what to do, odds are it’s some stupid invisible wall or a button you didn’t realize was in a specific wall tile. The Dark Zone area can also be a pain to navigate as the walls are invisible meaning you’ll have to check the map a ton. Though with all that said, the rest of it is enjoyable and even some fun moments like getting to enjoy the hot springs, or dancing with frogs in the dark zone, breaking down the pillars in Rulue’s place. You even get a new Magic cannon though I’m calling it a gun because it’s funny. The gun is used for a lot of plot moments and you can use it in battles as well. It’s a shame it was never in any other entries or even the Puyo Puyo series.
Another new mechanic is Carbuncle himself. Every step you take makes him hungrier and hungrier. Once you take enough steps his mood changes and once he’s at his breaking point, he will say “Goo.” and you’ll be forced to feed him. He will eat Veggies but will also eat a single item of anything you have if you lack them. Don’t worry, it’s not too annoying especially if you remember he needs them so you should never come to a time where he will be eating your stuff if you prepare. Though be warned if you somehow have zero items in your bag he can eat, you’re forced to hear him talk every single step you take. I’m also pretty sure his mood resets if you use the gun.
Battles themselves are a lot easier this time around and the game actually doesn’t have a single moment of grinding. This is really nice as it feels more in line with the first game. Though this does come at the cost of the game feeling a bit mindless but I would rather take that then it be an annoying grindfest with some battles feeling like RNG. It also feels like you never miss in this game which confuses me why there are focus herbs still. I only died once and it was only because I forgot to prepare.The game actually gives you a lot of Golden Apples this time around but at least they sometimes try to hide them to reward players looking everywhere on a floor. There’s also an EXP exploit involved with the new dancing mechanic. This was taken from another Compile game but in the magic section outside of battles, you can dance. There’s a chance however you can get EXP so you can use this for easy level ups if you’re about to get one. If you want to make it easier, save state and load state before clicking it to get it faster as the rng roll isn’t until you click the option. It’s unknown if they wanted you to get EXP this way or was just meant to be funny is up to the person to decide.
With the game being funnier and just not having the issues Madou II had for me, it was just a joy for me to experience. I kept thinking when it would get bad but it just never did. Sure I have my nitpicks like all the shopkeepers are frogs which is lame, Rulue is an incredibly easy final boss, Choppun is in this game and that sucks and worst of all, they got rid of the voice clip for the donpa-unpa item!! Why would you remove that Compile?! But with the fun design and just easy going feel this one had for me, I can forgive it. There’s just so many moments in this game that make it so memorable. I even like some of the small things like the magic attacks having actual animations and even the new voice clips for Arle.
I think that’s what makes Madou III so good is just that I never felt like the experience was going downhill or I was being disappointed. It’s just overall a very good game and while your mileage may vary, for me I had a good time and of the three it has to be my favorite and I’m still shocked I’m even saying that. The game has a very well made fan translation so give it a play after you finish the first two. There is still one more Madou Monogatari game on the Game Gear so you’ll probably see me review that next month and hopefully that one keeps the good consistency going. Glad to see the trilogy end on a good note, good job Compile!
Before I go, here’s some fun trivia. If you beat the Minotaur fight, go up one space and warp up. You’ll find a Puyoman that shills the product at a place in Japan in 1995. I’m honestly wondering if anyone went there to get a Puyoman because of this but it’s not like I can ask Japanese people…Well here is another thing I have. There is a secret sound test in this game and it even features a song not used in the actual game. The problem is, I don’t remember how to get it. You see it’s very poorly documented, not even GameFAQs has it listed. I remember seeing it in either a very late issue of Beep! MegaDrive or one of the early issues when rebranded as Sega Saturn Magazine. So if you really wanna look for it, try to find a scan of those and you’ll eventually find the code in there. Sorry I couldn’t tell you exactly how to do it. Anyway, that’s the end of the review, see you idk maybe in May for the last Madou GG game.
Before I talk about the actual gameplay I wanna discuss the game’s artstyle. It was done by a different artist due to the other one working on the Mega Drive entry and it shows. This can be a good or bad thing depending on how you view the game as a whole. I’ll start with bad. This game looks inconsistent compared to the past two titles which is a shame as it was originally just a game with all three entries in the box with a consistent style. The game looks a lot more silly which came at the cost of less detailed sprites and not as good looking cutscenes, with the biggest example being the intro. It’s especially obvious if you compare it to the MSX/PC-98 versions. Though if that doesn’t bother you, then that’s fine because here’s the good. Because of it being silly, there’s a lot of good shots here that can be a bit funny and they really compliment the game as it’s the funniest of the trilogy by a longshot. It’s so funny that I don’t even want to spoil the moments for you. Oddly in the manual for the game, you can find screenshots that aren’t used in the game and look more in line with the previous games. Were these from an earlier build? Who knows.
The game has not changed much from before but you’ll be exploring four different areas with Arle and even Carbuncle by your side. You actually have all of your magic available at the start though some spells from II are gone as they would be pointless here. The game still does have some visible improvements like random encounters are now given warnings. The game has text that’ll let you know when the next step is an enemy. This is cool but it’s not always consistent and might come off as annoying for some. I found it sometimes gave the text for multiple steps or just no enemy showed up at all. Still, the navigation is the same, and a lot of the mechanics are the same.
I found the design of each location to be for the most part good and enjoyable but it does have some issues. While they can be fun to navigate, this game has an obsession with invisible walls and random buttons. If you’re stuck and don’t know what to do, odds are it’s some stupid invisible wall or a button you didn’t realize was in a specific wall tile. The Dark Zone area can also be a pain to navigate as the walls are invisible meaning you’ll have to check the map a ton. Though with all that said, the rest of it is enjoyable and even some fun moments like getting to enjoy the hot springs, or dancing with frogs in the dark zone, breaking down the pillars in Rulue’s place. You even get a new Magic cannon though I’m calling it a gun because it’s funny. The gun is used for a lot of plot moments and you can use it in battles as well. It’s a shame it was never in any other entries or even the Puyo Puyo series.
Another new mechanic is Carbuncle himself. Every step you take makes him hungrier and hungrier. Once you take enough steps his mood changes and once he’s at his breaking point, he will say “Goo.” and you’ll be forced to feed him. He will eat Veggies but will also eat a single item of anything you have if you lack them. Don’t worry, it’s not too annoying especially if you remember he needs them so you should never come to a time where he will be eating your stuff if you prepare. Though be warned if you somehow have zero items in your bag he can eat, you’re forced to hear him talk every single step you take. I’m also pretty sure his mood resets if you use the gun.
Battles themselves are a lot easier this time around and the game actually doesn’t have a single moment of grinding. This is really nice as it feels more in line with the first game. Though this does come at the cost of the game feeling a bit mindless but I would rather take that then it be an annoying grindfest with some battles feeling like RNG. It also feels like you never miss in this game which confuses me why there are focus herbs still. I only died once and it was only because I forgot to prepare.The game actually gives you a lot of Golden Apples this time around but at least they sometimes try to hide them to reward players looking everywhere on a floor. There’s also an EXP exploit involved with the new dancing mechanic. This was taken from another Compile game but in the magic section outside of battles, you can dance. There’s a chance however you can get EXP so you can use this for easy level ups if you’re about to get one. If you want to make it easier, save state and load state before clicking it to get it faster as the rng roll isn’t until you click the option. It’s unknown if they wanted you to get EXP this way or was just meant to be funny is up to the person to decide.
With the game being funnier and just not having the issues Madou II had for me, it was just a joy for me to experience. I kept thinking when it would get bad but it just never did. Sure I have my nitpicks like all the shopkeepers are frogs which is lame, Rulue is an incredibly easy final boss, Choppun is in this game and that sucks and worst of all, they got rid of the voice clip for the donpa-unpa item!! Why would you remove that Compile?! But with the fun design and just easy going feel this one had for me, I can forgive it. There’s just so many moments in this game that make it so memorable. I even like some of the small things like the magic attacks having actual animations and even the new voice clips for Arle.
I think that’s what makes Madou III so good is just that I never felt like the experience was going downhill or I was being disappointed. It’s just overall a very good game and while your mileage may vary, for me I had a good time and of the three it has to be my favorite and I’m still shocked I’m even saying that. The game has a very well made fan translation so give it a play after you finish the first two. There is still one more Madou Monogatari game on the Game Gear so you’ll probably see me review that next month and hopefully that one keeps the good consistency going. Glad to see the trilogy end on a good note, good job Compile!
Before I go, here’s some fun trivia. If you beat the Minotaur fight, go up one space and warp up. You’ll find a Puyoman that shills the product at a place in Japan in 1995. I’m honestly wondering if anyone went there to get a Puyoman because of this but it’s not like I can ask Japanese people…Well here is another thing I have. There is a secret sound test in this game and it even features a song not used in the actual game. The problem is, I don’t remember how to get it. You see it’s very poorly documented, not even GameFAQs has it listed. I remember seeing it in either a very late issue of Beep! MegaDrive or one of the early issues when rebranded as Sega Saturn Magazine. So if you really wanna look for it, try to find a scan of those and you’ll eventually find the code in there. Sorry I couldn’t tell you exactly how to do it. Anyway, that’s the end of the review, see you idk maybe in May for the last Madou GG game.
1987
Oh great, I’m reviewing Final Fantasy. A game that has been talked about for decades. While I do sometimes talk about popular games, it’s stuff like this I’m inexperienced with that makes me feel I shouldn’t really be one talking about the subject. I want to someday talk about a lot of the entries in this series. Besides the spinoff Seiken Densetsu, I’ve never beaten a Final Fantasy game. After all of these years I’ve finally done it and here is my story…
It all started with that blue screen that gives a small amount of story with a nice song to accompany it. I guess to start weirdly would be the music as I wanna get upfront and say the OST as a whole is amazing for the Famicom. It was composed by Nobuo Uematsu and it’s some amazing stuff, probably some of the best of the 1987 catalog of the Famicom. Once you start a new save I got to pick my party. If you’re wondering who I chose and will probably determine if you’ll keep reading or not. I picked a Fighter, Red Mage, White Mage, and Black Mage. Really wish the letter limit wasn’t four letters so I just ended up using the closest canon names they had. So began the journey of Zest, Puff, Floe, and Teol!
Surprisingly it starts off pretty basic, saving a Princess from a guy named Garland. First I had to get ready and it can feel pretty daunting for me as I’m not really told what’s helpful for my team. Even weirder is you have to buy magic and not get it from level ups so it’s off to grind. Battles seem pretty simple but wow you can fight a lot of them at once, it feels like it can be daunting at times but with enough skill, It’s not too bad. The one nice thing about having mages is I can rely on both offensive and defensive magic. Though this weird spell charges mechanic is something I’m not a fan of and I’ll go over why later.
The first dungeon is short and you can’t even get every treasure in here at first and even the first boss Garland is a joke. So I beat him and save the Princess but obviously that’s just the beginning. A new bridge is constructed and when you cross it, one of the best things happens in the game. You’re given a bit of text as the title of the game and credits are shown, really giving me the feeling of “Yes, I feel so ready to save the day!”
Now I’m off doing things following the plot, going into dungeons, and even getting multiple vehicles to ride in. You get one pretty early which is the ship which is pretty cool. The world isn’t too big but it still feels like a big world especially once you get more into it. Then I eventually found what would be the first main dungeon that wasn’t a floor only dungeon and wow I wasn’t having the most fun. I kept having to leave the place to heal and I began to realize having spell charges really limits what I can do in fights. Though later on you’ll learn Cottages can heal spell charges which is nice. Since I wanted to preserve spells for bosses, I ended up just running away most of the time which isn’t the most fun thing to do in an RPG. It also doesn’t help that the Black and White mages are as frail as a piece of glass. It can be a bit frustrating at times.
Still going through the world, there’s some cool things here and there and beating bosses with relative ease, even ones like the Kraken. I gotta praise the design of monsters too, they really look nice and there’s a nice variety of them and while there are recolors, it’s understandable. The art for stuff like the box is also legendarily great as well and they are unforgettable. Even the player sprites are good looking too. The world also looks pretty nice too and I like how some parts like the Town of Melmond show the decay of the Earth thanks to one of the Chaos Four. I got a little sidetrack there, my bad.
The more I went through the game, I did start to really appreciate all of the magic I could use and even grinding wasn’t too awful as I didn’t do too much of it even for getting Gil. There’s also a cool airship you can ride late into the game and it’s so fast and fun but landing with it can suck sometimes. You even get to upgrade your characters with brand new sprites and abilities and it feels so good to see this happen! There are still some issues that pissed me off. The worst thing in the game has to be the poison status. It’s not even poison being annoying but it screws with your team placement, I hate rearranging it every single time! This is also one of those early RPGs where you can miss if you direct a character to hit an enemy that dies to someone else which can lead to strategy and thought but can be annoying when you feel it’s too RNG at times who dies at what. I wish it was easier to view stats for weapons and armor as it ends up being easier to use a guide for comparisons. I also struggled with inventory management and ended up throwing a lot of weapons and armor away. The game is also known for being buggy but I didn’t really have any issue with this regard.
By the time I got to the end of the game, I was ready but nervous. I was at level 34 and ended at 35. This dungeon isn’t too long but enemies can be dangerous so more running but you have to rematch all of the Chaos 4 again and they’re harder. Oh that reminds me, some might wonder did I fight the Warmech? No, I didn’t. Sorry. Oh yeah I forgot that place also took place in space? That’s really cool. This final place also takes place 2,000 years in the past which is something I would have never expected to see in a FF game. Finally I got to the final boss and wow it’s actually that easy first boss from the beginning but now he’s Chaos. This fight is rough and worse of all he can heal all of his health. I thankfully had a lot of buffs on so I was eventually able to defeat him and the game ends with the world saved. It was weird to see the game end on the characters getting amnesia? Like should I not feel happy it didn’t all end well? Maybe I didn’t read it right, oh well the world is saved!
I feel on and off about this game. I want to think I enjoyed it, regardless of the issues. I could have talked about more moments and I know this feels a little too small of a review but I just don’t want to bore people. In the end, I think it’s a good game. I find it such an interesting game for 1987 especially since it could have failed had Dragon Quest III not receive a delay. FF would become one of Square’s biggest IPs. Two sequels would get made on the Famicom and I’ll play through II sometime this year. FFI also got some remakes which first started on the WonderSwan Color. It also has a MSX2 version with a fan translation. Though I’m sure nowadays the Pixel Remaster is the go-to version for people looking to play the game. It was a good start but I’m wondering how the sequel will fare. Guess I’ll have to wait and see. Thanks for reading!
It all started with that blue screen that gives a small amount of story with a nice song to accompany it. I guess to start weirdly would be the music as I wanna get upfront and say the OST as a whole is amazing for the Famicom. It was composed by Nobuo Uematsu and it’s some amazing stuff, probably some of the best of the 1987 catalog of the Famicom. Once you start a new save I got to pick my party. If you’re wondering who I chose and will probably determine if you’ll keep reading or not. I picked a Fighter, Red Mage, White Mage, and Black Mage. Really wish the letter limit wasn’t four letters so I just ended up using the closest canon names they had. So began the journey of Zest, Puff, Floe, and Teol!
Surprisingly it starts off pretty basic, saving a Princess from a guy named Garland. First I had to get ready and it can feel pretty daunting for me as I’m not really told what’s helpful for my team. Even weirder is you have to buy magic and not get it from level ups so it’s off to grind. Battles seem pretty simple but wow you can fight a lot of them at once, it feels like it can be daunting at times but with enough skill, It’s not too bad. The one nice thing about having mages is I can rely on both offensive and defensive magic. Though this weird spell charges mechanic is something I’m not a fan of and I’ll go over why later.
The first dungeon is short and you can’t even get every treasure in here at first and even the first boss Garland is a joke. So I beat him and save the Princess but obviously that’s just the beginning. A new bridge is constructed and when you cross it, one of the best things happens in the game. You’re given a bit of text as the title of the game and credits are shown, really giving me the feeling of “Yes, I feel so ready to save the day!”
Now I’m off doing things following the plot, going into dungeons, and even getting multiple vehicles to ride in. You get one pretty early which is the ship which is pretty cool. The world isn’t too big but it still feels like a big world especially once you get more into it. Then I eventually found what would be the first main dungeon that wasn’t a floor only dungeon and wow I wasn’t having the most fun. I kept having to leave the place to heal and I began to realize having spell charges really limits what I can do in fights. Though later on you’ll learn Cottages can heal spell charges which is nice. Since I wanted to preserve spells for bosses, I ended up just running away most of the time which isn’t the most fun thing to do in an RPG. It also doesn’t help that the Black and White mages are as frail as a piece of glass. It can be a bit frustrating at times.
Still going through the world, there’s some cool things here and there and beating bosses with relative ease, even ones like the Kraken. I gotta praise the design of monsters too, they really look nice and there’s a nice variety of them and while there are recolors, it’s understandable. The art for stuff like the box is also legendarily great as well and they are unforgettable. Even the player sprites are good looking too. The world also looks pretty nice too and I like how some parts like the Town of Melmond show the decay of the Earth thanks to one of the Chaos Four. I got a little sidetrack there, my bad.
The more I went through the game, I did start to really appreciate all of the magic I could use and even grinding wasn’t too awful as I didn’t do too much of it even for getting Gil. There’s also a cool airship you can ride late into the game and it’s so fast and fun but landing with it can suck sometimes. You even get to upgrade your characters with brand new sprites and abilities and it feels so good to see this happen! There are still some issues that pissed me off. The worst thing in the game has to be the poison status. It’s not even poison being annoying but it screws with your team placement, I hate rearranging it every single time! This is also one of those early RPGs where you can miss if you direct a character to hit an enemy that dies to someone else which can lead to strategy and thought but can be annoying when you feel it’s too RNG at times who dies at what. I wish it was easier to view stats for weapons and armor as it ends up being easier to use a guide for comparisons. I also struggled with inventory management and ended up throwing a lot of weapons and armor away. The game is also known for being buggy but I didn’t really have any issue with this regard.
By the time I got to the end of the game, I was ready but nervous. I was at level 34 and ended at 35. This dungeon isn’t too long but enemies can be dangerous so more running but you have to rematch all of the Chaos 4 again and they’re harder. Oh that reminds me, some might wonder did I fight the Warmech? No, I didn’t. Sorry. Oh yeah I forgot that place also took place in space? That’s really cool. This final place also takes place 2,000 years in the past which is something I would have never expected to see in a FF game. Finally I got to the final boss and wow it’s actually that easy first boss from the beginning but now he’s Chaos. This fight is rough and worse of all he can heal all of his health. I thankfully had a lot of buffs on so I was eventually able to defeat him and the game ends with the world saved. It was weird to see the game end on the characters getting amnesia? Like should I not feel happy it didn’t all end well? Maybe I didn’t read it right, oh well the world is saved!
I feel on and off about this game. I want to think I enjoyed it, regardless of the issues. I could have talked about more moments and I know this feels a little too small of a review but I just don’t want to bore people. In the end, I think it’s a good game. I find it such an interesting game for 1987 especially since it could have failed had Dragon Quest III not receive a delay. FF would become one of Square’s biggest IPs. Two sequels would get made on the Famicom and I’ll play through II sometime this year. FFI also got some remakes which first started on the WonderSwan Color. It also has a MSX2 version with a fan translation. Though I’m sure nowadays the Pixel Remaster is the go-to version for people looking to play the game. It was a good start but I’m wondering how the sequel will fare. Guess I’ll have to wait and see. Thanks for reading!
1987
Couldn't stand this one long enough to play this much into it. The scrolling sucks, the limited colors make it hard to notice bullets at times and it's way harder than any version of the game I played.
I struggled even beating the 2nd boss and I've never died to that one before. This port also has a problem with enemies just spawning in from nowhere very cheaply. The music isn't even all that great either. I guess I shouldn't be too mad considering the hardware but this should be avoided nowadays, you have much better offerings nowadays.
I struggled even beating the 2nd boss and I've never died to that one before. This port also has a problem with enemies just spawning in from nowhere very cheaply. The music isn't even all that great either. I guess I shouldn't be too mad considering the hardware but this should be avoided nowadays, you have much better offerings nowadays.
1999
I doubt many have played the original Ninja JaJaMaru-kun for the Famicom in the US. It was an Arcade-like game that has a rather odd history involving Jaleco basically stealing from UPL. I haven’t played much of it but it’s well received in Japan and has seen many ports over the decades. It oddly got a remake on the Wonderswan of all things. It’s more than just a standard port too.
Sadly the remake fails to really reinvent the gameplay in a meaningful way. This game tries to give it an actual adventure rather than being endless and going for the score. There’s five worlds with five levels each. The end of each world has a platforming auto scroller section that leads to a boss. You’ll need to get the sakura petal from Princess Sakura in each level to get access to the fifth level and she’ll always throw it when the timer hits 90 seconds. The goal is the same as the original where you have to defeat all eight enemies with it getting harder each world.
The normal gameplay is sadly not all that interesting with the difficulty being pretty easy for 80% of the adventure. I found getting powerups a pain as they rarely show up and when they do, it was mostly just more time and that delays Sakura throwing the petal. If you collect four items, you can summon your frog to eat every enemy which sounds great but if you didn’t get the petal yet, it’s now impossible and you’ll have to redo the level. It’s stuff like this that makes me wonder if they thought every idea out.
The auto scrollers are pretty okay, I do like the many hazards presented but they can feel slow and samey. The last one kind of has a moment of move or die going on when it begins but otherwise I can’t be too negative of these. The bosses are also simple but fairly enjoyable and feel like the highlight of the adventure. You don’t even have to restart the auto scroller if you die to the boss. The final boss is also similar to how fighting the bad guy in the bonus game worked in the original which is a nice callback.
The game visually is a mixed bag as a lot of it is just the Famicom game but it’s mixed with a lot of new art and portraits and the portraits are very inconsistent in quality. I’m confused why JaJaMaru-kun and the frog have different sprites everywhere besides the actual gameplay. There are voice clips but only for the intro sadly. The game doesn’t even take advantage of the Wonderswan’s gimmick. Nothing was resized either so all four floors aren’t visible at once. The music is about the same as before and barely any new tracks are here and what is here is eh.
I can’t really say much positive for this remake, it just doesn’t really do what it wants all that well. It needs some better ideas and fleshing out to be a better remake. I want to like it but I can’t even recommend it for being one of the easier games to play on the handheld. You’re better off just skipping this one. JaJaMaru-kun would get a couple more games in the future but this just isn’t it Jaleco, I know you could have done better.
Before I go, I thought I would bring up that the Game Over sequence is hilarious. If you happen to lose all of your continues and then Game Over once more, you’re treated to a bad ending. It’s similar to the real ending but the boss of stage 3 (he looks like JaJaMaru but in a different shade of grey) ends up defeating the villain and saving the Princess. You then walk back sad as the guy and Sakura head back on horse. Then JaJaMaru-Kun trips, cries, and then walks sad again with broken hearts coming out with the game saying Game Over. I don’t know why but I found this really hilarious. It's like come on guys why not just drop an anvil at that rate, he’s suffered so much already. So wait, was the third boss not even working for the villain?? Also you don’t get to see this if you choose to not continue and that’s lame.
Sadly the remake fails to really reinvent the gameplay in a meaningful way. This game tries to give it an actual adventure rather than being endless and going for the score. There’s five worlds with five levels each. The end of each world has a platforming auto scroller section that leads to a boss. You’ll need to get the sakura petal from Princess Sakura in each level to get access to the fifth level and she’ll always throw it when the timer hits 90 seconds. The goal is the same as the original where you have to defeat all eight enemies with it getting harder each world.
The normal gameplay is sadly not all that interesting with the difficulty being pretty easy for 80% of the adventure. I found getting powerups a pain as they rarely show up and when they do, it was mostly just more time and that delays Sakura throwing the petal. If you collect four items, you can summon your frog to eat every enemy which sounds great but if you didn’t get the petal yet, it’s now impossible and you’ll have to redo the level. It’s stuff like this that makes me wonder if they thought every idea out.
The auto scrollers are pretty okay, I do like the many hazards presented but they can feel slow and samey. The last one kind of has a moment of move or die going on when it begins but otherwise I can’t be too negative of these. The bosses are also simple but fairly enjoyable and feel like the highlight of the adventure. You don’t even have to restart the auto scroller if you die to the boss. The final boss is also similar to how fighting the bad guy in the bonus game worked in the original which is a nice callback.
The game visually is a mixed bag as a lot of it is just the Famicom game but it’s mixed with a lot of new art and portraits and the portraits are very inconsistent in quality. I’m confused why JaJaMaru-kun and the frog have different sprites everywhere besides the actual gameplay. There are voice clips but only for the intro sadly. The game doesn’t even take advantage of the Wonderswan’s gimmick. Nothing was resized either so all four floors aren’t visible at once. The music is about the same as before and barely any new tracks are here and what is here is eh.
I can’t really say much positive for this remake, it just doesn’t really do what it wants all that well. It needs some better ideas and fleshing out to be a better remake. I want to like it but I can’t even recommend it for being one of the easier games to play on the handheld. You’re better off just skipping this one. JaJaMaru-kun would get a couple more games in the future but this just isn’t it Jaleco, I know you could have done better.
Before I go, I thought I would bring up that the Game Over sequence is hilarious. If you happen to lose all of your continues and then Game Over once more, you’re treated to a bad ending. It’s similar to the real ending but the boss of stage 3 (he looks like JaJaMaru but in a different shade of grey) ends up defeating the villain and saving the Princess. You then walk back sad as the guy and Sakura head back on horse. Then JaJaMaru-Kun trips, cries, and then walks sad again with broken hearts coming out with the game saying Game Over. I don’t know why but I found this really hilarious. It's like come on guys why not just drop an anvil at that rate, he’s suffered so much already. So wait, was the third boss not even working for the villain?? Also you don’t get to see this if you choose to not continue and that’s lame.
1995
I’m not even gonna give a long length paragraph here, the GBA version of this game is atrocious. I played the SNES version a couple of years ago and it was good even if it has some crappy levels but this port is just something. If you thought the port of the first EWJ is bad then you need to play this.
First off the controls are similar to the console versions. You can jump and shoot with the face buttons which is simple enough. Select switches weapons which is good because I think the MD version lacked swapping. The whip attack is on R and then there’s this shield that protects you from hits if you hold L, though it’s inconsistent. Was this in the SNES version? I’ve never seen it before but I forgot it was there anyway. I’m gonna make it clear that I will probably get some stuff wrong about comparisons. So let’s talk about the actual issues.
The controls are terrible. The jump just feels so fast and you move fast doing it too. The whip feels terrible too, you have to not only hold it but you lose any movement in the air doing it. I swear I don’t remember that being the case in the SNES version. The collision for things is also inconsistent and doesn’t feel matched up a lot of the time. In the 2nd level, the collision felt so buggy that I grabbed onto the soil and I went to the top of that section immediately. At least the gunplay is fine but that is the only playable feeling thing this has.
The levels aren’t fun either because of the issues. The Villi People level was surprisingly terrible in this version. The collision on the walls is just broken like they don’t even sometimes come close to matching what the graphics show. The bumpers also just have inconsistent physics to them. They don’t even play the game show music in this version. You will be sick of hearing Moonlight Sonata because every song in this version sounds really bad. If you thought Puppy Love was the worst part of the game before, well prepare to hate it here. The screen crunch actually screwed me over once and I swear it’s impossible to rescue them all. The Flyin’ King level is also so painful with the screen crunch and it’s so easy to screw up and the final part of this level pisses me off.
Then, tragedy struck. After beating The Flyin’ King, the well done screen showed up and after that…black screen. It just never loaded anything. Even after using rewind to try again, black screen. I’m sorry for doing this but that’s where it ends for me. I can’t tell you why it happened. Should I feel thankful I didn’t have to suffer more? I don’t know. There are passwords but I felt kind of demotivated by then and plus they’re buggy. One of the passwords on Gamefaqs takes you to level 2 but you instantly die because it starts you with 0% health. How does that even happen? In fact almost all of the passwords start you with like 1 or 2 percent health. I’ve read the passwords can also take you to a null level that instantly kills you but I couldn’t figure out how to see it. I don’t even know how you get passwords in general and that goes for any version.
I could go on about issues like the brightness of this port or how one of Jim’s voice samples is pitched down for no reason or even the wrong timing on some sound effects like the according in the opening scene. It’s all just terrible, how did this happen? I guess it’s still beatable unless it crashes for you too but I don’t know why anyone would want to play this outside of massive curiosity. It’s fascinating that it even got released or even approved. I’m not sure if it’s the worst port on the system but it is down there. Avoid this version like you probably have been doing to begin with. No one should have to deal with a game like this. The worst sin of them all though is the cow in the back of the level complete scene doesn't smile anymore, shame on you. Still wish I could have beaten it though…
First off the controls are similar to the console versions. You can jump and shoot with the face buttons which is simple enough. Select switches weapons which is good because I think the MD version lacked swapping. The whip attack is on R and then there’s this shield that protects you from hits if you hold L, though it’s inconsistent. Was this in the SNES version? I’ve never seen it before but I forgot it was there anyway. I’m gonna make it clear that I will probably get some stuff wrong about comparisons. So let’s talk about the actual issues.
The controls are terrible. The jump just feels so fast and you move fast doing it too. The whip feels terrible too, you have to not only hold it but you lose any movement in the air doing it. I swear I don’t remember that being the case in the SNES version. The collision for things is also inconsistent and doesn’t feel matched up a lot of the time. In the 2nd level, the collision felt so buggy that I grabbed onto the soil and I went to the top of that section immediately. At least the gunplay is fine but that is the only playable feeling thing this has.
The levels aren’t fun either because of the issues. The Villi People level was surprisingly terrible in this version. The collision on the walls is just broken like they don’t even sometimes come close to matching what the graphics show. The bumpers also just have inconsistent physics to them. They don’t even play the game show music in this version. You will be sick of hearing Moonlight Sonata because every song in this version sounds really bad. If you thought Puppy Love was the worst part of the game before, well prepare to hate it here. The screen crunch actually screwed me over once and I swear it’s impossible to rescue them all. The Flyin’ King level is also so painful with the screen crunch and it’s so easy to screw up and the final part of this level pisses me off.
Then, tragedy struck. After beating The Flyin’ King, the well done screen showed up and after that…black screen. It just never loaded anything. Even after using rewind to try again, black screen. I’m sorry for doing this but that’s where it ends for me. I can’t tell you why it happened. Should I feel thankful I didn’t have to suffer more? I don’t know. There are passwords but I felt kind of demotivated by then and plus they’re buggy. One of the passwords on Gamefaqs takes you to level 2 but you instantly die because it starts you with 0% health. How does that even happen? In fact almost all of the passwords start you with like 1 or 2 percent health. I’ve read the passwords can also take you to a null level that instantly kills you but I couldn’t figure out how to see it. I don’t even know how you get passwords in general and that goes for any version.
I could go on about issues like the brightness of this port or how one of Jim’s voice samples is pitched down for no reason or even the wrong timing on some sound effects like the according in the opening scene. It’s all just terrible, how did this happen? I guess it’s still beatable unless it crashes for you too but I don’t know why anyone would want to play this outside of massive curiosity. It’s fascinating that it even got released or even approved. I’m not sure if it’s the worst port on the system but it is down there. Avoid this version like you probably have been doing to begin with. No one should have to deal with a game like this. The worst sin of them all though is the cow in the back of the level complete scene doesn't smile anymore, shame on you. Still wish I could have beaten it though…
1984
“Save Fairyland in this Special port!”
I don’t think anyone has wanted to see another person review Hydlide. I even reviewed it already this year on the PC-88 thanks to the release on Switch. Despite the “age” and infamy of Hydlide over here, I enjoyed it for what it was even if it was far from perfect. What’s different about the version I’m reviewing is that it tried to be more than just a port of the computer game. While US players would know this game as just Hydlide, in Japan it was given the name Hydlide Special. (NOTE: there is no Disk System version, I just couldn't label this as just Famicom as of writing this.) This is because it adds some elements from Hydlide II making this in a way a unique game. I’m not going to go into the same depth as I did for the PC-88 release so I’d recommend reading the review I left for the Eggconsole release if you want my full thoughts on the actual game as a whole.
Well first thing to note right off the bat is the story is a lot more vague then the text screen of the computer versions. You’ll see the main bad guy Varalys shoot fire at Ann and she becomes three fairies and that’s about it. You can also put in your password here which brings up a new thing about this version, the saving. Okay it’s really weird but made sense for the time. So if you press Select, you can open up this menu. You’ll see Save as an option which does Save where you’re at and if you hit Load, you’ll go at that spot with everything Saved. What will trip people up though is this Save dies when the game is powered off, Famicom games still didn’t have batteries in the cart to allow saving so that’s why you’re supposed to pick Password to write it down and use when powering the system back on. While some reviews do mention this, the famous AVGN episode actually didn’t and assumes you have to use the Password every single time you die.
When you actually begin the game, it starts just like the original where you’ll be grinding on the first screen two times from Slimes. A lot of the adventure will feel familiar to you if you have played the computer versions. The biggest change you’ll notice right off the bat is the Magic system. Jim can use five different spells and he’ll unlock one for the first five levels. The sad part is all of it is basically worthless as magic can’t be used to gain EXP. The only one worth using is Turn which can turn the enemy around which helps as enemies are best hit from behind. Though even this isn’t good enough because sometimes the enemy can turn around immediately and possibly kill you. There are three special ways you can get infinite magic for a short amount of time but again magic just isn’t helpful so don’t go for it. It also causes the music to go really fast for some reason. I also was only able to get the one where you kill thirty Worms in the same area which makes a big purple sandworm appear to activate the infinite magic.
Going inside dungeons feels less punishing then they did originally. You still do lose HP in areas like this one but I swear it’s a lot slower in this version of the game making the strategy of it a lot less interesting. The only other thing I noticed different about them is I think getting the ring is different? I know it was always RNG if it showed up but I think they changed it by having to kill enemies first? You’ll begin to notice one of the bigger problems with this port in these areas as well which is the stupidity of the enemies. It’s actually a lot harder to grind in these areas if you wanted to as the enemies love to just not find you most of the time and constantly like to spawn in only to leave the area. It’s weird because when you’re grinding off the Worms it feels like the opposite problem where you’ll constantly get unlucky and get one shot as turned to you right as you started attacking. At least getting the last two levels with the Hyper enemy isn’t too annoying.
The third fairy got a very interesting change as there are now two Wizards and you must use the magic spell Wave. This is the only time you need it in the game. The problem with using it though is the space you’re in is very tight horizontally and you can only shoot the spell left or right. The best tip I can give you is just distract one and hope the other one gets behind it and then immediately use Wave and they should be both dead. You’ll then be taken to the dragon but with a new change once again. The Dragon can’t die and you’ll have to use the Fire spell to burn a tree that reveals the way in. You then must go in there and destroy the grave and then fight the Dragon like you would in the computer version. Once you finish that and get the Luby, you’re off to fight Varalys. Good god this fight sucks in this one. It’s still the same strategy of hitting him a few times and then retreating to heal but I now have to do it in the room before it as the place near the grave is way harder to heal in as it was in the PC-88 version. I also just kept getting bad luck but eventually I did it and you’re given the same ending as it normally is though at least you won’t get a potential seizure this time.
While Hydlide Special is an inferior version of the game, it’s not the worst thing ever. I think 1986 was probably the last year it could have been released and been seen as acceptable. This is why the US version is so hated. It came out in 1989 with a pretty generic looking cover especially compared to the nice looking cover Japan got. Stuff like The Legend of Zelda had already come out and even stuff like cartridge batteries existed in games. This release is so baffling, I guess FCI was just desperate to get anything out for the US market? It kind of reminds me of how Dragon Quest and Bomber Man both had late releases on the NES as well and yet Hydlide suffers the most from it. It’s not that US players had context for any of this back then, especially children. It’s hard to really blame anyone for being hateful towards the game, it might be one of the worst ideas a company had made for a localization. It’s barely even different from the Japanese version too with only the name being changed to just being Hydlide and the Luby item being renamed to Ruby. Look, I’m not trying to weave a new narrative like everyone would have appreciated this old game had it not came out here in 1989 because Super Hydlide exists and a lot of people hate that one too. I just think it’s sad it never stood a chance.
The graphics are nothing too special and I’d argue they look worse than the other version I played. The one graphic I noticed the biggest downgrade for was just the poison as it just looks like soiled ground in this version. Then you have the audio, my god the audio. If you know anything about Hydlide, it’s this stupid short loop that sounds like a rip off of the Indiana Jones theme. It actually comes from Hydlide II because the “Music” that played in the original was…certainly noise. Even with this music being added, it gets old fast. Having to hear it too while writing this review doesn’t help. Also they made that amazing sound when you get an item in this version way worse! I always loved hearing those beeps when getting an item, how could you do this to me T&E Soft?!
Some might say this was a waste of time. I felt compelled to review this but probably didn’t add much to the conversation. That’s fine, I still enjoyed writing this and just seeing what this version was like after all of these years. It’s at least very short once you know what to do in it. I still wouldn’t advise you play Hydlide Special, just play it on the computer if possible. Hydlide won’t appeal to most nowadays but it’s a game I think should be worth playing just for how innovative it was for the genre. It’s just a shame the NES version gave it the legacy it has nowadays. Am I overreacting to all of this? Probably, but I don’t have much more to say and I kind of want this music to stop playing so I think I’ll end here. Thanks for reading if you somehow read this whole thing.
I don’t think anyone has wanted to see another person review Hydlide. I even reviewed it already this year on the PC-88 thanks to the release on Switch. Despite the “age” and infamy of Hydlide over here, I enjoyed it for what it was even if it was far from perfect. What’s different about the version I’m reviewing is that it tried to be more than just a port of the computer game. While US players would know this game as just Hydlide, in Japan it was given the name Hydlide Special. (NOTE: there is no Disk System version, I just couldn't label this as just Famicom as of writing this.) This is because it adds some elements from Hydlide II making this in a way a unique game. I’m not going to go into the same depth as I did for the PC-88 release so I’d recommend reading the review I left for the Eggconsole release if you want my full thoughts on the actual game as a whole.
Well first thing to note right off the bat is the story is a lot more vague then the text screen of the computer versions. You’ll see the main bad guy Varalys shoot fire at Ann and she becomes three fairies and that’s about it. You can also put in your password here which brings up a new thing about this version, the saving. Okay it’s really weird but made sense for the time. So if you press Select, you can open up this menu. You’ll see Save as an option which does Save where you’re at and if you hit Load, you’ll go at that spot with everything Saved. What will trip people up though is this Save dies when the game is powered off, Famicom games still didn’t have batteries in the cart to allow saving so that’s why you’re supposed to pick Password to write it down and use when powering the system back on. While some reviews do mention this, the famous AVGN episode actually didn’t and assumes you have to use the Password every single time you die.
When you actually begin the game, it starts just like the original where you’ll be grinding on the first screen two times from Slimes. A lot of the adventure will feel familiar to you if you have played the computer versions. The biggest change you’ll notice right off the bat is the Magic system. Jim can use five different spells and he’ll unlock one for the first five levels. The sad part is all of it is basically worthless as magic can’t be used to gain EXP. The only one worth using is Turn which can turn the enemy around which helps as enemies are best hit from behind. Though even this isn’t good enough because sometimes the enemy can turn around immediately and possibly kill you. There are three special ways you can get infinite magic for a short amount of time but again magic just isn’t helpful so don’t go for it. It also causes the music to go really fast for some reason. I also was only able to get the one where you kill thirty Worms in the same area which makes a big purple sandworm appear to activate the infinite magic.
Going inside dungeons feels less punishing then they did originally. You still do lose HP in areas like this one but I swear it’s a lot slower in this version of the game making the strategy of it a lot less interesting. The only other thing I noticed different about them is I think getting the ring is different? I know it was always RNG if it showed up but I think they changed it by having to kill enemies first? You’ll begin to notice one of the bigger problems with this port in these areas as well which is the stupidity of the enemies. It’s actually a lot harder to grind in these areas if you wanted to as the enemies love to just not find you most of the time and constantly like to spawn in only to leave the area. It’s weird because when you’re grinding off the Worms it feels like the opposite problem where you’ll constantly get unlucky and get one shot as turned to you right as you started attacking. At least getting the last two levels with the Hyper enemy isn’t too annoying.
The third fairy got a very interesting change as there are now two Wizards and you must use the magic spell Wave. This is the only time you need it in the game. The problem with using it though is the space you’re in is very tight horizontally and you can only shoot the spell left or right. The best tip I can give you is just distract one and hope the other one gets behind it and then immediately use Wave and they should be both dead. You’ll then be taken to the dragon but with a new change once again. The Dragon can’t die and you’ll have to use the Fire spell to burn a tree that reveals the way in. You then must go in there and destroy the grave and then fight the Dragon like you would in the computer version. Once you finish that and get the Luby, you’re off to fight Varalys. Good god this fight sucks in this one. It’s still the same strategy of hitting him a few times and then retreating to heal but I now have to do it in the room before it as the place near the grave is way harder to heal in as it was in the PC-88 version. I also just kept getting bad luck but eventually I did it and you’re given the same ending as it normally is though at least you won’t get a potential seizure this time.
While Hydlide Special is an inferior version of the game, it’s not the worst thing ever. I think 1986 was probably the last year it could have been released and been seen as acceptable. This is why the US version is so hated. It came out in 1989 with a pretty generic looking cover especially compared to the nice looking cover Japan got. Stuff like The Legend of Zelda had already come out and even stuff like cartridge batteries existed in games. This release is so baffling, I guess FCI was just desperate to get anything out for the US market? It kind of reminds me of how Dragon Quest and Bomber Man both had late releases on the NES as well and yet Hydlide suffers the most from it. It’s not that US players had context for any of this back then, especially children. It’s hard to really blame anyone for being hateful towards the game, it might be one of the worst ideas a company had made for a localization. It’s barely even different from the Japanese version too with only the name being changed to just being Hydlide and the Luby item being renamed to Ruby. Look, I’m not trying to weave a new narrative like everyone would have appreciated this old game had it not came out here in 1989 because Super Hydlide exists and a lot of people hate that one too. I just think it’s sad it never stood a chance.
The graphics are nothing too special and I’d argue they look worse than the other version I played. The one graphic I noticed the biggest downgrade for was just the poison as it just looks like soiled ground in this version. Then you have the audio, my god the audio. If you know anything about Hydlide, it’s this stupid short loop that sounds like a rip off of the Indiana Jones theme. It actually comes from Hydlide II because the “Music” that played in the original was…certainly noise. Even with this music being added, it gets old fast. Having to hear it too while writing this review doesn’t help. Also they made that amazing sound when you get an item in this version way worse! I always loved hearing those beeps when getting an item, how could you do this to me T&E Soft?!
Some might say this was a waste of time. I felt compelled to review this but probably didn’t add much to the conversation. That’s fine, I still enjoyed writing this and just seeing what this version was like after all of these years. It’s at least very short once you know what to do in it. I still wouldn’t advise you play Hydlide Special, just play it on the computer if possible. Hydlide won’t appeal to most nowadays but it’s a game I think should be worth playing just for how innovative it was for the genre. It’s just a shame the NES version gave it the legacy it has nowadays. Am I overreacting to all of this? Probably, but I don’t have much more to say and I kind of want this music to stop playing so I think I’ll end here. Thanks for reading if you somehow read this whole thing.
1988
Psycho World (not Psychic like the ports) is a pretty impressive MSX2 game for 1988. If you’re familiar with the Game Gear or Master System ports then you’ll know what you’re in store for in this adventure. It has more worlds than the other versions. I can’t tell if the GG and SMS versions just combined the last few levels into one. There’s also a jungle level I don’t even remember from the other versions.
I always really loved how by the end of this game you feel so strong that nothing can stop you. Psycho World is a pretty easy game though there’s no checkpoints for levels. I think there’s a lot about the game that just feels interesting for a computer game. I love all of the platforming you have to do and all the cool abilities you have. Getting to upgrade all of your attacks is also cool, again adding to the strong factor of it. Even the music and graphics are nice and this probably has the best cutscenes of the three versions.
It’s a must play if you’re looking for MSX2 games to play and it even has a fan translation for the few cutscenes it has though it sadly doesn’t translate the text for two moments. If the awesome cover art didn’t convince you to try it then I hope my review will at least convince you to give it a go. I’m still not sure if this is my favorite version but I still really enjoy it regardless.
I always really loved how by the end of this game you feel so strong that nothing can stop you. Psycho World is a pretty easy game though there’s no checkpoints for levels. I think there’s a lot about the game that just feels interesting for a computer game. I love all of the platforming you have to do and all the cool abilities you have. Getting to upgrade all of your attacks is also cool, again adding to the strong factor of it. Even the music and graphics are nice and this probably has the best cutscenes of the three versions.
It’s a must play if you’re looking for MSX2 games to play and it even has a fan translation for the few cutscenes it has though it sadly doesn’t translate the text for two moments. If the awesome cover art didn’t convince you to try it then I hope my review will at least convince you to give it a go. I’m still not sure if this is my favorite version but I still really enjoy it regardless.
A couple of years ago, they announced a rerelease of Hebereke/Ufouria and I played the original on an emulator to prepare for the official release and to promote it saying it would come out soon. Turns out it took way longer than expected. It’s weird as the Gimmick one came out a long while ago and we also got Trip World DX. It then just randomly got announced right as Hebereke 2 was going to release. What made this rerelease interesting was we were even getting the Japanese version and not the PAL version that was shown years ago. Now that it’s finally out, should you get this Enjoy Edition? It’s hard to say really.
Let’s get this out of the way now, this is a pretty similar release to the one Gimmick got so any opinions you had on that rerelease will probably be true here. Not much was added outside of the usual borders, scans of the boxes and cartridges and manuals, achievements, and a speedrun mode that you can post to the leaderboards. There’s no challenges, no hard achievements to earn, no interviews, no scans of just the artwork, not even a sound test. I think the reason it lacks a sound test is because you can pay additional money for the OST to listen to on Steam which is kind of stupid if you ask me. I’m not really sure about input lag or the sorts as I’m not one to notice that stuff, I heard Gimmick had some little issues with that so it might be the same here? Though this is a much easier and more relaxed game, you’ll never really cry foul for any input lag shenanigans.
Actually I guess there is one important feature that is the Special Snaps. You see, the original has always been Japan only, you needed a fan translation to ever read the dialogue in English. This release sort of adds English support but it’s kind of weird. Once you see a dialogue box, the game will let you view it there and translate the scene in English. You can even compare it to the PAL version called Ufouria the Saga. While these are cool, it might hurt the experience for some as you have to go to the menu and then look at the Special Snap to even read what the dialogue said. The translation can feel a bit iffy at times but it's not unreadable. There’s also a before and after scene that’s incorrectly placed for the Ufouria images. How this got past testing is beyond me and hopefully a patch can fix it. They also hilariously made an error where pressing the A button does “ChengeTitle” according to the bottom of the screen. Speaking of Ufouria, I wanna talk about something related to it.
Look, I don’t like Ufouria at all. I always hated the replacement sprites, especially Bop Louie. The dialogue has also lost a lot of the charm it once had and it’s why I always recommend the Japanese original. That said, I can understand why someone would prefer Ufouria even if I don't agree. Which is why I find it very disappointing that you just can’t play it here at all. It makes no sense to not have it here as it has scans, the comparisons in Special Snaps, and even a border. It’s even more of a shame as every release of Ufouria that was on Virtual Console in the past has been delisted meaning there’s still no easy way to play it outside of emulation. I don’t get why there’s no toggle to play that version. This makes me even more confused why they even bothered localizing the sequel under the PAL name if they were just not gonna do that here for this rerelease. It’s something I hope they can patch in but I don’t expect it to happen.
Should you buy Hebereke Enjoy Edition? Honestly, it’s hard to say. It doesn’t add too much to warrant playing it over emulation unless you just don’t feel morally okay with doing something like that and the release just isn’t perfect in general. They did make this one cheaper than the Gimmick rerelease with this being $9.99 and it’s a dollar off currently but this still could have been better. Hebereke is an expensive Famicom game unfortunately and the rerelease on PS1 has poor sound emulation so this is your best bet for an official release. It also might be a nice buy if you wanna compare it to Hebereke 2. Hebereke is still a wonderful game and I enjoyed my time replaying it here and got every achievement as well (even though it’s super easy to do). Stick with emulation if you think the price isn’t worth it but this is still a playable release of one of Sunsoft’s greatest games.
Let’s get this out of the way now, this is a pretty similar release to the one Gimmick got so any opinions you had on that rerelease will probably be true here. Not much was added outside of the usual borders, scans of the boxes and cartridges and manuals, achievements, and a speedrun mode that you can post to the leaderboards. There’s no challenges, no hard achievements to earn, no interviews, no scans of just the artwork, not even a sound test. I think the reason it lacks a sound test is because you can pay additional money for the OST to listen to on Steam which is kind of stupid if you ask me. I’m not really sure about input lag or the sorts as I’m not one to notice that stuff, I heard Gimmick had some little issues with that so it might be the same here? Though this is a much easier and more relaxed game, you’ll never really cry foul for any input lag shenanigans.
Actually I guess there is one important feature that is the Special Snaps. You see, the original has always been Japan only, you needed a fan translation to ever read the dialogue in English. This release sort of adds English support but it’s kind of weird. Once you see a dialogue box, the game will let you view it there and translate the scene in English. You can even compare it to the PAL version called Ufouria the Saga. While these are cool, it might hurt the experience for some as you have to go to the menu and then look at the Special Snap to even read what the dialogue said. The translation can feel a bit iffy at times but it's not unreadable. There’s also a before and after scene that’s incorrectly placed for the Ufouria images. How this got past testing is beyond me and hopefully a patch can fix it. They also hilariously made an error where pressing the A button does “ChengeTitle” according to the bottom of the screen. Speaking of Ufouria, I wanna talk about something related to it.
Look, I don’t like Ufouria at all. I always hated the replacement sprites, especially Bop Louie. The dialogue has also lost a lot of the charm it once had and it’s why I always recommend the Japanese original. That said, I can understand why someone would prefer Ufouria even if I don't agree. Which is why I find it very disappointing that you just can’t play it here at all. It makes no sense to not have it here as it has scans, the comparisons in Special Snaps, and even a border. It’s even more of a shame as every release of Ufouria that was on Virtual Console in the past has been delisted meaning there’s still no easy way to play it outside of emulation. I don’t get why there’s no toggle to play that version. This makes me even more confused why they even bothered localizing the sequel under the PAL name if they were just not gonna do that here for this rerelease. It’s something I hope they can patch in but I don’t expect it to happen.
Should you buy Hebereke Enjoy Edition? Honestly, it’s hard to say. It doesn’t add too much to warrant playing it over emulation unless you just don’t feel morally okay with doing something like that and the release just isn’t perfect in general. They did make this one cheaper than the Gimmick rerelease with this being $9.99 and it’s a dollar off currently but this still could have been better. Hebereke is an expensive Famicom game unfortunately and the rerelease on PS1 has poor sound emulation so this is your best bet for an official release. It also might be a nice buy if you wanna compare it to Hebereke 2. Hebereke is still a wonderful game and I enjoyed my time replaying it here and got every achievement as well (even though it’s super easy to do). Stick with emulation if you think the price isn’t worth it but this is still a playable release of one of Sunsoft’s greatest games.
1987
I think I should have been told not to play Telenet games again when I started this one. I’ve played the other Final Zone games and they range from OK to Good. When I remembered the first one was on MSX, I wanted to try it. Telenet games are usually interesting despite their quality. This one presents a ton of dialogue that I couldn’t read not because it lacked a fan translation, though it does lack one but the japanese text was bugged on the ROM I used. So if I can’t enjoy the story, is the gameplay any good? Sadly no it is not.
The game is a top down run n gun like the sequel if you’re familiar with that on the PCECD. You first can choose from two of the four characters that work with the main one to be by your side and then you select the main guy and you’re off. You can choose to bring just one or none but don’t worry if they die in a level as there’s no punishment after the level is over. Be warned though you only have one life and it’s game over, you even have to watch the credits if this happens. Though you won’t have to worry cause the game is so flawed and easy once you learn some things.
Alright let’s go over the fact that just rushing towards the end is better than actually shooting enemies. I can’t comprehend how you make a game like this and just have that be optimal. Your helpers just shoot automatically and be warned that they kind of move in a formation and can even get stuck which means you can’t move either but don’t worry just hold up and the game will push them out eventually. Nothing about the game is that satisfying and it’s only six levels long. The bosses aren’t too challenging either especially when four of them just have blind spots meaning they can’t hit you. Even the final boss is like this. The enemy AI also just feels like they don’t even know you exist and blindly shoot forward. There just isn’t really anything fun about the game which is a shame.
At least it graphically isn’t too bad and the music sounds nice too but there isn’t much of it. It also does that thing I think Valis 1 did where being at low health plays this you’re about to die tune. The cutscenes look nice but are pretty still looking though shoutout to this hilarious moment from the bios given on the title screen. Honestly there just isn’t much else to say. It’s disappointing that I can’t really find much good here as again the sequel is a good game. Now it’s not fair for me to say seeing as I can’t read it but it feels like a game that probably was more impressive for the story than the gameplay and when I can’t read it, it wasn’t the best use of my 20-30 minutes playing through this game. Oh well at least you can skip them fast but all you have now is a badly designed game.
The game is a top down run n gun like the sequel if you’re familiar with that on the PCECD. You first can choose from two of the four characters that work with the main one to be by your side and then you select the main guy and you’re off. You can choose to bring just one or none but don’t worry if they die in a level as there’s no punishment after the level is over. Be warned though you only have one life and it’s game over, you even have to watch the credits if this happens. Though you won’t have to worry cause the game is so flawed and easy once you learn some things.
Alright let’s go over the fact that just rushing towards the end is better than actually shooting enemies. I can’t comprehend how you make a game like this and just have that be optimal. Your helpers just shoot automatically and be warned that they kind of move in a formation and can even get stuck which means you can’t move either but don’t worry just hold up and the game will push them out eventually. Nothing about the game is that satisfying and it’s only six levels long. The bosses aren’t too challenging either especially when four of them just have blind spots meaning they can’t hit you. Even the final boss is like this. The enemy AI also just feels like they don’t even know you exist and blindly shoot forward. There just isn’t really anything fun about the game which is a shame.
At least it graphically isn’t too bad and the music sounds nice too but there isn’t much of it. It also does that thing I think Valis 1 did where being at low health plays this you’re about to die tune. The cutscenes look nice but are pretty still looking though shoutout to this hilarious moment from the bios given on the title screen. Honestly there just isn’t much else to say. It’s disappointing that I can’t really find much good here as again the sequel is a good game. Now it’s not fair for me to say seeing as I can’t read it but it feels like a game that probably was more impressive for the story than the gameplay and when I can’t read it, it wasn’t the best use of my 20-30 minutes playing through this game. Oh well at least you can skip them fast but all you have now is a badly designed game.
1986
Guess I’m now playing MSX games and I decided to play a game that’s a port of an Arcade game. It’s oddly given the name Nemesis just like the Game Boy game. Honestly the description for the game on this page does a good job of explaining what this version is like as it’s similar to the Famicom version but has some new features like a completely new level which feels like it could have been in the original Arcade game. It even has warp zones but I never saw those.
Sadly there are compromises like the choppy scrolling but it’s not the biggest loss. There’s not much for me to say as again it’s the same shmup gameplay you enjoy or maybe you don’t enjoy. The game still looks nice even if it’s downgraded and the music is pretty good and reminds me of the Famicom version. The new content does add some reason to try this one out and if you have a copy of Twinbee for MSX, you can have the Vic Viper become Twinbee. (Wish I knew this before I finished the game).
The game was rereleased on Wii U but sadly that is gone nowadays so emulation is your best bet unless I’m forgetting some other rerelease. There are more shmups Konami did and there’s even two other Gradius games on the system so maybe those will be even better? Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Sadly there are compromises like the choppy scrolling but it’s not the biggest loss. There’s not much for me to say as again it’s the same shmup gameplay you enjoy or maybe you don’t enjoy. The game still looks nice even if it’s downgraded and the music is pretty good and reminds me of the Famicom version. The new content does add some reason to try this one out and if you have a copy of Twinbee for MSX, you can have the Vic Viper become Twinbee. (Wish I knew this before I finished the game).
The game was rereleased on Wii U but sadly that is gone nowadays so emulation is your best bet unless I’m forgetting some other rerelease. There are more shmups Konami did and there’s even two other Gradius games on the system so maybe those will be even better? Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
1991
In 1985, Bomber Man was released on the Famicom and then got a sequel called Bomber King and then the series remained dormant for a couple of years. In 1990, the series got back on its feet and Hudson would keep it going strong. The notable one was the first PC Engine game which featured a lot of levels and even bosses. Bomberman II is basically a watered down port to the Famicom. It does have differences like the story but it does use that PC Engine game for a lot of things.
The game has 6 areas with 8 stages in each as you’ll once again be facing every enemy and then having to find the door along with other power ups to help. Getting stronger and not dying is the key to winning as this game will lay the smackdown on you if you lose them. It doesn’t help that powerups feel a lot rarer in this game and I never once saw the speed up which I know exist. It doesn’t help that later stages can have really strict time limits. Stages now vary from one screen affairs to ones resembling how the first Famicom game did them. There are bonus stages if you can find the Bomberman icon in stage 6 of each area and these will get you points and if you’re lucky, you’ll catch a running Bomberman to get an extra life. The game is a lot less generous with them this time.
If you’ve played Bomberman before you know what to expect and sadly this one is in a weird spot. It’s fun to play and does stuff like have even better music, keeping the awesome bomb sound effect, and even has neat little cutscenes at the beginning of each area, it has issues. Like I said, the game can feel impossible if you lose your stuff which feels pretty bad here. While there are passwords, it might not be enough. Also doesn’t help when you really want a new powerup and the game decides to give you invincibility when everything is dead or something lame like just points. Where the original Bomber Man was pretty good for the time, Bomberman II just feels like a confident game, it knows what it can do well but doesn't strive to do more unfortunately.
The game does have a battle mode but like the PC Engine game, it’s real humans only. Sadly I’m still a pathetic loser who can’t play with others so no multiplayer for me. It’s nothing special anyway as it’s one map and can only go up to three players. You have better battle modes available to you.
Not sure how to fully set in stone my thoughts here. I like the game but part of me wonders if I’m overlooking some issues. I think Bomberman II struggles more in the future sense. There really isn’t a good reason to play this game nowadays which is a shame as it’s a pretty well made game and besides some small issues and the difficulty thing, it’s worth putting in your collection. It’s just not something I could see someone going through a list of Bomberman games and wanting to come back to this one ever. Really I just have no ending words here that really make sense. At least we get to see christianity is canon in the Bomberman universe, that’s something.
The game has 6 areas with 8 stages in each as you’ll once again be facing every enemy and then having to find the door along with other power ups to help. Getting stronger and not dying is the key to winning as this game will lay the smackdown on you if you lose them. It doesn’t help that powerups feel a lot rarer in this game and I never once saw the speed up which I know exist. It doesn’t help that later stages can have really strict time limits. Stages now vary from one screen affairs to ones resembling how the first Famicom game did them. There are bonus stages if you can find the Bomberman icon in stage 6 of each area and these will get you points and if you’re lucky, you’ll catch a running Bomberman to get an extra life. The game is a lot less generous with them this time.
If you’ve played Bomberman before you know what to expect and sadly this one is in a weird spot. It’s fun to play and does stuff like have even better music, keeping the awesome bomb sound effect, and even has neat little cutscenes at the beginning of each area, it has issues. Like I said, the game can feel impossible if you lose your stuff which feels pretty bad here. While there are passwords, it might not be enough. Also doesn’t help when you really want a new powerup and the game decides to give you invincibility when everything is dead or something lame like just points. Where the original Bomber Man was pretty good for the time, Bomberman II just feels like a confident game, it knows what it can do well but doesn't strive to do more unfortunately.
The game does have a battle mode but like the PC Engine game, it’s real humans only. Sadly I’m still a pathetic loser who can’t play with others so no multiplayer for me. It’s nothing special anyway as it’s one map and can only go up to three players. You have better battle modes available to you.
Not sure how to fully set in stone my thoughts here. I like the game but part of me wonders if I’m overlooking some issues. I think Bomberman II struggles more in the future sense. There really isn’t a good reason to play this game nowadays which is a shame as it’s a pretty well made game and besides some small issues and the difficulty thing, it’s worth putting in your collection. It’s just not something I could see someone going through a list of Bomberman games and wanting to come back to this one ever. Really I just have no ending words here that really make sense. At least we get to see christianity is canon in the Bomberman universe, that’s something.
After playing Super Mario USA (Super Mario Bros. 2) for so many years, I wondered why I have never played the original FDS game that starred non-Mario characters. I always heard people call it inferior but was curious if it truly was.
Dream Factory Doki Doki Panic in many ways is impressive that a team could take a platformer formula and make it more expansive with more emphasis on verticality. It’s not about jumping on enemies but picking up various items and enemies. The game sacrifices level count for this only having 20 levels. Not only that but it has four different characters with different stats really making each level feel different for the benefits and disbenefits a character can have. There’s also a boss in many stages with a lot of them being Catherine (Birdo) which can feel a bit repetitive. They also make you fight three Mousers in a playthrough and it never gets challenging. The game is pretty easy too, especially once you learn the ins and outs of it.
It should be discussed right now that I think the hate of there being no run button is a bit exaggerated. Yes it is nice to have a run button that was later added in the Mario version but the game is really well paced and designed without it. Outside of a shortcut or two being impossible without the run button, I never really felt like I needed one. I think a lot of the vertical level design helps with the notion of not needing it. Now this will always be a preference and me saying that is not gonna convince most or even all people but I just wanted to express that the game is completely enjoyable without one.
In the end it’s just what you expect if you have already played the Mario version, so it’s a pretty fun game and you’ll find lots of differences here like the music being more limited and even some new songs, Phantos not activating in the room you get the key, unlimited continues, and loading times cause it ain’t an FDS game without those. Though there is one other thing that does kind of suck. You see, you can’t see the ending without beating it with every character. Every character is on their own path to the end so once you do one playthrough, it’s back to the beginning with someone else. While Dream Factory is fun, trying to do four playthroughs just to see a small ending feels like a very poor way to extend the runtime. The most positive thing I can say about it is it’ll help you master every character but this is something I’m glad stayed with this entry.
Is Dream Factory a footnote in the history of Nintendo that will probably stay as just a footnote and nothing else? Ehh kind of? It’s such a weird feeling because it is still a very good game but the multiple playthroughs kind of hurts the curiosity and idk if doing just one playthrough would satisfy a player enough to warrant doing it. Mario USA is just easier to play nowadays as well due to that not having licensing issues. It’s even gotten remakes on the SFC and GBA. There’s better ways to play the game now so while I have my defenses, it’s hard to recommend you all to see this game till the end. It feels bittersweet writing this but that’s just how it is sometimes. This is still a must play if you’re looking for FDS games or wanting to see all of the history regarding the game but otherwise, it’s a footnote in gaming and sometimes that's not a fully bad thing to witness.
Dream Factory Doki Doki Panic in many ways is impressive that a team could take a platformer formula and make it more expansive with more emphasis on verticality. It’s not about jumping on enemies but picking up various items and enemies. The game sacrifices level count for this only having 20 levels. Not only that but it has four different characters with different stats really making each level feel different for the benefits and disbenefits a character can have. There’s also a boss in many stages with a lot of them being Catherine (Birdo) which can feel a bit repetitive. They also make you fight three Mousers in a playthrough and it never gets challenging. The game is pretty easy too, especially once you learn the ins and outs of it.
It should be discussed right now that I think the hate of there being no run button is a bit exaggerated. Yes it is nice to have a run button that was later added in the Mario version but the game is really well paced and designed without it. Outside of a shortcut or two being impossible without the run button, I never really felt like I needed one. I think a lot of the vertical level design helps with the notion of not needing it. Now this will always be a preference and me saying that is not gonna convince most or even all people but I just wanted to express that the game is completely enjoyable without one.
In the end it’s just what you expect if you have already played the Mario version, so it’s a pretty fun game and you’ll find lots of differences here like the music being more limited and even some new songs, Phantos not activating in the room you get the key, unlimited continues, and loading times cause it ain’t an FDS game without those. Though there is one other thing that does kind of suck. You see, you can’t see the ending without beating it with every character. Every character is on their own path to the end so once you do one playthrough, it’s back to the beginning with someone else. While Dream Factory is fun, trying to do four playthroughs just to see a small ending feels like a very poor way to extend the runtime. The most positive thing I can say about it is it’ll help you master every character but this is something I’m glad stayed with this entry.
Is Dream Factory a footnote in the history of Nintendo that will probably stay as just a footnote and nothing else? Ehh kind of? It’s such a weird feeling because it is still a very good game but the multiple playthroughs kind of hurts the curiosity and idk if doing just one playthrough would satisfy a player enough to warrant doing it. Mario USA is just easier to play nowadays as well due to that not having licensing issues. It’s even gotten remakes on the SFC and GBA. There’s better ways to play the game now so while I have my defenses, it’s hard to recommend you all to see this game till the end. It feels bittersweet writing this but that’s just how it is sometimes. This is still a must play if you’re looking for FDS games or wanting to see all of the history regarding the game but otherwise, it’s a footnote in gaming and sometimes that's not a fully bad thing to witness.
I'm only putting this one so I can continue to say how much I love Female Byleth. I am very gay for her. Probably the only reason I ever still bother with this mid game cause she's perfect. Could make pages about why I love her. Put her in the next game! (and remove male byleth cause he's boring)
1985
Bomber Man is a game that doesn’t really have much to explain. You play as the Runner from Lode Runner in a robot body as you dispatch bombs to destroy enemies and walls. Grab powerups and make it to the goal through 50 levels. As you all know, this game would be a good success for Hudson Soft and while it wouldn’t be till the PC Engine where he would shine more, Bomber Man is a good game despite the simplicity.
You have to remember that by this point, we were still in the Famicom era of games being somewhat simple and more arcadey. While not every Hudson Soft game was like this, there were some examples like Nuts & Milk and Binary Land which happened to release the same day as Bomber Man. I think if you look at it from that POV, it’s easy to understand what makes the game shine. There’s something about the simplicity of it all to the basic but charming sprites, the catchy minimalistic music that adds more to the melody if you grab the powerup of the stage, and who could forget that amazing bomb explosion sound.
That’s not to say Bomber Man is perfect because it can feel repetitive and once you get fully powered up and find the ability to be resistant to flames, you basically erase any challenge. The game lets you become powerful but can hurt all of your precious dreams if you make one mistake, you better be careful regardless. There’s also just a lot of depth like learning all of the enemies movement, being careful not to blow up the powerup or doors which respawns enemies, and some super obscure point items that you’ll probably never find without a guide though two of them did spawn for me which confused me. Another small issue I have regarding the enemies is that I wish the block placement didn’t lead their pathing to glitch out and basically be easy to defeat, making the game seem a little sloppy at times.
That isn’t even all I have to say but you probably all know but I wanted to write the review to let people know that despite some imperfections, Bomber Man is one of the better Famicom games of 1985. For a game that was (allegedly) made in about 3 days, it’s impressive it never really feels dull in my eyes. It would get a cheap rerelease on the Disk System in 1990 and it would also show up on the GBA twice, first in 2004 on it’s own and then in 2005 along with Bomberman II for their Hudson Best Collection series. It would also get a US release but sadly it came out in 1989 which feels a little too late for a game like it and oddly it uses art from the MSX version of Bomber King. While there will be later games that will obviously improve the experience, sometimes it doesn’t hurt to go back to a classic.
You have to remember that by this point, we were still in the Famicom era of games being somewhat simple and more arcadey. While not every Hudson Soft game was like this, there were some examples like Nuts & Milk and Binary Land which happened to release the same day as Bomber Man. I think if you look at it from that POV, it’s easy to understand what makes the game shine. There’s something about the simplicity of it all to the basic but charming sprites, the catchy minimalistic music that adds more to the melody if you grab the powerup of the stage, and who could forget that amazing bomb explosion sound.
That’s not to say Bomber Man is perfect because it can feel repetitive and once you get fully powered up and find the ability to be resistant to flames, you basically erase any challenge. The game lets you become powerful but can hurt all of your precious dreams if you make one mistake, you better be careful regardless. There’s also just a lot of depth like learning all of the enemies movement, being careful not to blow up the powerup or doors which respawns enemies, and some super obscure point items that you’ll probably never find without a guide though two of them did spawn for me which confused me. Another small issue I have regarding the enemies is that I wish the block placement didn’t lead their pathing to glitch out and basically be easy to defeat, making the game seem a little sloppy at times.
That isn’t even all I have to say but you probably all know but I wanted to write the review to let people know that despite some imperfections, Bomber Man is one of the better Famicom games of 1985. For a game that was (allegedly) made in about 3 days, it’s impressive it never really feels dull in my eyes. It would get a cheap rerelease on the Disk System in 1990 and it would also show up on the GBA twice, first in 2004 on it’s own and then in 2005 along with Bomberman II for their Hudson Best Collection series. It would also get a US release but sadly it came out in 1989 which feels a little too late for a game like it and oddly it uses art from the MSX version of Bomber King. While there will be later games that will obviously improve the experience, sometimes it doesn’t hurt to go back to a classic.
1991
I gotta say, I don't really give Sunsoft the highest praise and I kind of feel bad. Outside of Rough World and Waku Waku 7, all their other games to me are like a 7/10 or lower. I don't hate them or anything but I guess maybe I'm strict on scores sometimes? I'm not sure. I finally got a pack of translations and Hebereke was one of them, I've always wanted to try it so I gave it a go and I'm gonna say it early, this is my favorite Sunsoft game.
This is an early take on a game style like Metroid where you recruit new characters and get items and upgrades to go through each part of the world. It's pretty fun though it can get a little tiring if you go the wrong way, I got lost at one point like an idiot. While Hebereke isn't perfect, what makes me love it is just how much fun and relaxing it can be. It helps it's one of their easier games they've made.
I really love the presentation, this was when Sunsoft was really at their A game with the hardware though it does come at a cost of the framerate being a little poor at times. All the characters are just really fun to look at, especially Hebe. Which they sadly replaced in the PAL released with a way less cute design. Same with O-Chan who went from a human in a cat onesie to a lizard. The music is also phenomenal, some of the best on the Famicom.
I could go on but I probably shouldn't drag out the review, give it a chance if you're curious, it's sadly expensive to get a Famicom copy of this nowadays so you might need to emulate it. Though this game is apparently getting ported to Switch and PS4 so maybe wait and see if the emulation on those are good. (update, it's coming out next week. Kind of crazy just how long they took compared to when the review came out when it was on a different page).
This is an early take on a game style like Metroid where you recruit new characters and get items and upgrades to go through each part of the world. It's pretty fun though it can get a little tiring if you go the wrong way, I got lost at one point like an idiot. While Hebereke isn't perfect, what makes me love it is just how much fun and relaxing it can be. It helps it's one of their easier games they've made.
I really love the presentation, this was when Sunsoft was really at their A game with the hardware though it does come at a cost of the framerate being a little poor at times. All the characters are just really fun to look at, especially Hebe. Which they sadly replaced in the PAL released with a way less cute design. Same with O-Chan who went from a human in a cat onesie to a lizard. The music is also phenomenal, some of the best on the Famicom.
I could go on but I probably shouldn't drag out the review, give it a chance if you're curious, it's sadly expensive to get a Famicom copy of this nowadays so you might need to emulate it. Though this game is apparently getting ported to Switch and PS4 so maybe wait and see if the emulation on those are good. (update, it's coming out next week. Kind of crazy just how long they took compared to when the review came out when it was on a different page).