Honestly I really had no intention of doing a review because it's Zelda II. Even when originally wanting to play the FDS version. This wouldn't change my mind but I do wanna say that despite all the struggles the past decade never beating this game. I finally did it and I ended up playing the whole thing on the NES. Why? Well, honestly it's because I played a hack of the game that let's you play as Marisa from Touhou and for some reason that was enough for me.

This game still has flaws but it's fun and I'm glad I finally beat it. It's a shame the concept of a Zelda RPG has never happened. I'm on the boat of this is the only entry in the series that's actually an RPG but I'm sure that'll annoy some people, sorry. I hope one day the game gets a remake seeing as I've seen multiple people wanting to do so, I'd give it a try if they did.

So a fan translation for this game was released last week when currently writing this and I gotta say, I didn't know this existed till I saw it got one. I was very curious about it as the art looked really nice and I thought maybe the writing would be really fun.

Private Eye Dol is a text adventure where you play as a girl named May going through 3 "Scenes" as the game calls it trying to solve the conflict going on in the game. I won't really spoil anything for this review so you can enjoy the story blind but the game's story is really good though keep in mind I barely play this genre so this could be the worst take ever. The plot while at time's hard for me to fully understand due to my stupidity, has a lot of great moments.

This game is pretty interesting gameplay wise as the usual gameplay is presented in a top down sprite look similar to like an RPG of that era. The game likes to introduce new ways of going through the Scenes like having a menu style town similar to the likes of many text adventures, a map that you have to fill yourself, and a couple of more new ways to do the gameplay. It keeps the game from being too boring.

Private Eye Dol though isn't perfect as it has those moments where you feel like you have to try everything not knowing what's changed. It also had one moment I had to look up the answer to because the place they wanted me to stand on was exactly on one tile making me confused what the game wanted me to do. There are game overs in this game but they basically reset you where you were just at before the failure so you don't even have to reload an old save.

I have to say I love the touch of how a lot of times characters will move around the areas you're in to get to parts to advance the plot. It really adds more to the world making it feel more real to my immersion.

The game graphically looks amazing as there's many detailed shots of the characters even sometimes redrawn to match the situation or time. It's amazing to think this was on the PC Engine. Though make sure you have the Arcade Card for this as it's needed for this title. I also noticed the girl Ayaka reminds me of Fuu from Magic Knight Rayearth. I wonder if it's the same artist. The voice acting is pretty good if a bit compressed though I think that's normal for the console. I will say at times it seems quiet, not sure if that was a problem with my emulator though. The music has a couple of CD quality tunes but a lot of it as for usual with games with lots of voices has to deal with the normal PC Engine sound. Though it's not all bad, I just think it's unfortunate they have these limitations. At least nothing ever annoyed me.

This game is a must play for anyone into these kind of games. One of the best I've played so far for the console. Happy this got translated letting me enjoy something I didn't even know existed. Hope this one someday gets more attention as it's one of better late end titles for the console. Sure it has it's flaws but it doesn't stop such a charming well made game existing. Hope others enjoy it if they ever get the chance to play this.

Also warning for anyone using an emulator, if your thing uses rewind, I'd recommend turning it off. It will break the game and even delete your save if you try doing it. Save states seem fine though. You won't really need either though just thought I give that warning to any of you all.

Angel_Arle Rockman reviews
Part 2: Rockman 2: Dr. Wily no Nazo for Famicom
Part 3: Rockman 3: Dr. Wily no Saigo!? for Famicom
Part 4: Rockman World for GB
Part 5: Rockman 4: Aratanaru Yabou!! for Famicom
Part 6: Rockman World 2 for GB
Part 7: Rockman 5: Blues no Wana!? for Famicom
Part 8: Rockman World 3 for GB
Part 9: Wily & Right no RockBoard: That's Paradise for Famicom
Part 10: Rockman World 4 for GB
Part 11: Rockman 6: Shijō Saidai no Tatakai!! for Famicom
Part 12: Rockman's Soccer for Super Famicom
Part 13: Rockman World 5 for GB

I’ve actually been thinking for the past week about reviewing a lot of the Classic Rockman titles mostly because I enjoyed doing them for Valis and Sailor Moon games. When I say a lot, I do mean it like 1-11, Rockman & Forte, the GB games, some spinoffs possibly too. This was mostly for me to reevaluate my thoughts on the games in the series. Though I was hesitant about doing it for a few reasons. I will say this, if anyone actually wants to see me do this then give me a comment but if not then I’ll just stick to this one review. This will be a big commitment and I can’t even guarantee I’ll get every game done this year tbh but anyway onto the actual review.

Ahh Rockman, one of those classic IPs by Capcom. Believe it or not, Capcom wasn’t the 8 bit juggernaut of the Famicom at first. They did the thing a lot of 3rd parties did and outsource their games early on. Sadly games like 1942, Makaimura, and Sonson were handled by Micronics, an awful development team who made some of the worst games on the console. They would make some Arcade ports of their own and even a Famicom sequel to Pirate Ship Higemaru but the game that I’d argue got them to reach the height was the original Rockman.

Rockman is an action game with a twist on the formula by letting you choose any stage you want. Nowadays this is common knowledge but what’s also common knowledge was that this was innovative for the time. Unlike later games there are only 6 Robot Masters here which are Cut Man, Guts Man, Ice Man, Bomb Man, Fire Man, and Elec Man. You’ll jump and shoot and sometimes even climb your way through all the stages to finally reach Dr. Wily’s fortress. This game also lacks a plot that you’ll have to read the manual for unless you’re playing the US version named Mega Man where the localization of the back of the box and manual are horrible, mentioning areas that don’t exist like Monsteropolis.

The controls in Rockman are pretty simple. You can shoot and jump and with the shooting you can only shoot in front of you. Rockman uses his trusty Plasma Cannon for the job and while there are stronger weapons you can get, it can be used as much as you want and it can do the job good enough that you could probably get through most of the game using it. It’s also your only weapon starting the game. Rockman can also climb ladders though he climbs them rather slowly but at least he can shoot from the left or right side with relative ease. Rockman also isn’t too fast of a robot but it’s nothing that will annoy you. His physics in the air are rather odd. It seems Capcom didn’t program it 100% correctly as falling from certain platforms will have him drop at 100 mph speed. Rockman also has a weird problem with his movement. There’s like a second of startup before he actually starts moving and it’s kind of odd but it’s easy to get used to.

The stages in Rockman have you travel places that somewhat fit the themes of the robot masters but not really to the extent later games would strive to do. Same goes for the level design. While it can be fun, none of it is absolutely spectacular. This is probably moreso to do with the time it was made in but some gimmicks are quite flawed. Take Ice Man’s stage where you have these platforms that shoot but are pretty poorly designed mainly having you fall to your death if you get hit once. That said it's not too bad once you learn the levels. Levels can sometimes even have a good flow to them and never outstay their welcome. I wouldn’t call Rockman a hard game but more so one that can feel daunting on first impressions. While the platforming may be at its simplest here, the game isn’t hesitant to kill you on one mistake. Be aware of spikes by the way as they kill you instantly even if you have invincibility frames. Just remember you have unlimited continues so never give up unless you just aren’t enjoying the game anymore. There’s also no saves or passwords so you’ll have to do it all in one go. One thing that was introduced as early as the first game are the appearing blocks which will have blocks reappear and disappear and you’ll have to follow the pattern to get past the section. It’s something the franchise will continue to do each game so don’t pray for its end!

At the end of each stage you’ll have a small room with obstacles or enemies that will lead to the Robot Master of each stage. They all got their different tactics and abilities to make you explode to death. Though that said some are easier than others. If you chose Cut Man early on, you’ll notice he’s the only one who gets a reaction from the Plasma Cannon making him an easy target to hunt down first. Though with all that said they aren’t all too hard. With Guts Man, just make sure you jump right as he’s about to shake the ground and it’s pretty easy. Ice man can kill you in 3 hits but his pattern is super easy to memorize. Bomb Man jumps around a lot and lobs bombs but it’s nothing too difficult to survive.Fire Man is weird in that he likes to shoot when you do, making him tricky to fight if you don’t have his weakness. Elec Man however is a pain in the ass. He can kill you in 3 hits like Ice Man but also can move around a lot and I remember it took me 27 tries to beat him without his weakness. Overall they are mostly well made boss fights that are fun to go through.

Beating a Robot Master will let you take their weapon and use it for stages. Just keep in mind that unlike the plasma cannon, you have limited ammo for them though they can be refilled by beating a stage, collecting blue weird looking items that vary from small to big, or getting a game over. Now it’s time for Angel_Arle's way too long ratings for all of the weapons. Rolling Cutter from Cut Man is okay. Look it can be usable if you pick him early but otherwise it’s a nothing special weapon that you’ll probably only use in very specific situations. Super Arm from Guts Man is bad. It lets you grab specific square blocks to throw at enemies but not only is this very situational but the game doesn’t do a good job at all to encourage this ability. It would be so much better if you could just spawn blocks yourself but that would probably cause programming problems. Ice Slasher from Ice Man is one of the best in the game. It lets you freeze enemies letting you ignore them as you move on or make them an easy target for your plasma cannon. It has so many uses like freezing the fire pillars in Fire Man’s stage or even freezing enemies that normally respawn to prevent that strategy. It’s especially satisfying on the Big Eyes who do massive contact damage and the jump they do is RNG making it hard to time to go under it. Sadly it’s only issue is it lacks much use in the last few stages of the game. Hyper Bomb from Bomb Man is bad. I feel like this could be a good ability but sadly it never has any practical use due to having to wait for it to explode and it doesn’t even have any contact damage or anything. While one enemy is weak to it, the next one I’m talking about can too and is much better. Fire Storm from Fire Man is really good. You shoot a simple projectile but also give you a fire barrier for a second that kills any enemies on contact. The one problem it has is the fact the hitbox is inconsistent. Oddly I found a bug where you can make the barrier thing last like 8 seconds. I’m sure this was probably well known but I’ve somehow never seen it before. Thunder Beam from Elec Man is the best weapon in the game. It shoots three beams with one going forward, downward, and upward. It’s also strong like Fire Storm and has a lot of ammo. You’ll be using this one a lot once you get it so make sure to use it when you obtain it. Lastly there’s an item you can find in a stage called the Magnet Beam that lets you spawn a platform that you can make longer the more you hold the button. It’s great for making platforming easier and you’re not even forced to get it if you don’t want it…right?

Dr. Wily will be waiting for you once the final robot master is finished and you’ll go through 4 stages in a row to get to him. There’s no refills of weapon energy at the end of each stage so make sure you are careful. These stages can be challenging sporting many things you have experienced throughout the game. Though going through stage 1 will uncover an awful move, remember that magnet beam? Yeah they force it on you for one section which is such bad design. Oddly the difficulty kind of just goes away after stage 2 with the last two being pretty easy and the third one feels like an afterthought with no creativity here. There’s even a weird item called the Yashichi which is used in many Capcom games. It’ll restore everything to full, even your health. Just letting you know now that if you can beat the first 2 stages then you’ll be fine. In stage 2 you’ll also find out the robot masters aren’t ready to back out yet as you’ll have to rematch Cut Man and Elec Man again. You’ll fight the rest in stage 4.

Speaking of bosses, you got 4 of them here to deal with. The first and rather infamous is the Yellow Devil which goes to the left and right side of the room in a specific pattern that you have to learn. It’s easily the hardest fight in the game but once you learn it, you’ll have no issue whatsoever. You could also just use the pause trick if you don’t have faith in yourself but I won’t judge. The second is a Rockman clone who seems tough but just use Fire Storm and learn his AI quirks and he’s pretty easy. I will admit the idea of a clone also having your other weapons is pretty cool. If you want a good laugh, try using Super Arm or Magnet Beam during it. The next one is this bubble boss thing and he’s easy, just save the last 4 for your Super Arm and you’ll have no issue whatsoever. Finally there’s Wily himself who is also really easy wtf? Yeah just use Fire Storm on his first phase and then it’s second phase. The best tip I have is try to stay close but also stay still when he shoots the shot, it won’t hit you. Just don’t get too close that you’ll hit his ship obviously. Rolling Cutter or Thunder Beam can get the job done. Once you beat him congrats, Dr. Wily will do no harm anymore and Rockman returns home to relax until another threat rises.

Graphically the game is about what you’d expect for a Famicom game for 1987. At least they got the sprite art looking good as early as the first game. It’s got all the cool designs you’d expect to see. It’s just a shame stuff like backgrounds are mostly just a single color outside of like some inside areas. One thing I really love though is Rockman changes colors depending on the weapon he uses. Even his explosion when he dies changes colors which tbf is not surprising but I still love it! The music is also pretty good. I feel like a lot of people aren’t fans of it but I love a lot of the songs in this game. Favorites are Cut Man, Elec Man, and Bomb Man’s themes. The ending theme is also a wonderful piece to end the game on.

Rockman was a beginning that isn’t perfect but I won’t lie, I always enjoy playing it despite it’s flaws. A lot of people can be harsh on this game and I can’t really blame anyone for disliking it especially when the series would continue to get better but it’s still one I appreciate a lot. Maybe it’s because it’s my first Rockman game or it’s because I’ve played it a lot but regardless it hasn’t really aged too poorly. After this Capcom would make better games and show that they could be something that isn’t just porting Arcade games of mixed results. It was the beginning of a franchise and a new beginning for Capcom. Though despite all I’ve said, it may have not sold well? I’m actually not sure because it seems to have conflicting answers. I remember this one video saying it didn’t but he also didn’t give a source in the description or anything so I’m not really sure. Either way, regardless of whether it sold well or not, this game is worth playing. While the sequel would get way more praise, I’d still recommend trying this first to see where it all started. Rockman will fight once more very soon and his journey on the Famicom is not ending anytime soon.

I gotta be honest, this month has not been the best. It's not like IRL events or anything bringing me down but I don't know lately been kind of sad some games I've tried playing weren't fun me. I tried playing Wario Land 3, Earthbound, and Zelda Minish Cap this month and I just dropped them for reasons and I wish I could like them. The next game I had planned to play was Metroid Fusion and I was honestly about to just not bother thinking it be pointless because well I don't really care for the series.

I do enjoy Metroid II and Super Metroid but for some reason with everything else I've tried, I just don't enjoy them. I found the first game to be very not fun even with a guide and I thought Zero Mission was dull and I really didn't like the new stuff they added. There was also Dread which might be one of the biggest buyer's remorse that has happened to me in my life. Last one I had tried was the remake of 2 which I just found too boring to finish. After that I just didn't bother, I have zero interest in the Prime series and I no longer was interested in the franchise. The only reason I even played Fusion was due to it being added to NSO via their awful drip feeding nonsense. Now before I start talking about Fusion I want to get this out of the way. Despite all I just said in this paragraph, I get why people like these games and I'm not gonna act like my opinions are right because god no they aren't. I just wanted to put context for what it was like before I tried Fusion for the first time.

Metroid Fusion tries to do some interesting things for the series. For one this game handles progression a lot differently. It's done in more of a linear way with you being told exactly where to go and are usually following a path to go to. I personally didn't mind it though maybe it's because I don't mind this kind of progression in games like this. I didn't hate it in II either to let you know.

It was nice playing this game and being more used to how it's more like Super though some changes were made like the removal of the run button. The wall jump is also a lot worse now. You can't like wall kick off one wall anymore which sucks but then again I'm not an expert at this series so maybe it wouldn't be too useful even if it was here. The controls work well but I still have no clue how the shine spark move works, I'm doomed to be too stupid. The space jump was a bit finnicky but I got used to it eventually. I also love that you can grab onto ledges, something I'm surprised took this long to be added.

You now get most important upgrades through data rooms or just defeating bosses. This does make defeating bosses feel fun to do since this game likes to make you feel weak in a dangerous location so it's more satisfying to get more tools to use. I really like when you get more beams. I like how missiles also stack with upgrades so now normal and super missiles aren't separate. Also writing this I just realize the grapple beam isn't in this game, odd. I do wish power bombs were more useful because they give you so many to obtain but I could rarely find a use for them.

Now while the game can be fun it does have somethings that I wasn't too big on. This one is on me rather the game but there were like three times I was confused about how to progress only to look up a guide and see there was just one block I forgot to check and I feel like an idiot everytime especially with how dumb I look bombing every single thing for checking stuff. There are parts where you have to avoid being caught by a thing called SA-X which possibly hot take here. I felt like the way I saw youtubers describe this stuff like it's some horror game but I didn't feel that way. I swear there was only 3 or 4 times it ever showed up where it could get you and only one them has you actually running away. I do like how when you do eventually fight it, it's actually really easy to show how strong you've gotten. There was also a boss called the Nightmare and idk if I just suck or something but I struggled with it so badly. I must have not understood how to dodge it better because every other boss was pretty easy.

I was surprised there was a lot of story here, I wouldn't say I felt much from it but it did catch me off guard seeing past games being connected with stuff like the other Metroid types from II including the location of SR388. There were even those funny animals from Super and they even save the day which I won't lie was a cute way to end the game. Samus also likes mentioning this guy named Adam and all my mind was thinking "wait isn't he the guy everyone hates from Other M?" It's not a mindblowing story imo but I do enjoy that they tried adding some here. This was the last game in the timeline for over a decade which was always odd to me as someone who doesn't really look into all the lore and stuff.

The game graphically looks nice. I really like the areas at times especially when they go for more then just the typical tech building style. A lot of the sprites look pretty good and sometimes have cool effects on them like when an enemy dies. The bosses are also huge which is also neat. I will say that I was never a fan of Samus' suit design in this game, I'm sorry. The music is actually nice for the atmosphere. It does have some very GBA sounding music at times but I think it fits pretty well with the game. The game for the most part sounds good for voices and sound effects but when I got to Ridley I got freaking jumpscared by how loud his screams were like good lord why were they so loud. I seriously wonder if it would hurt to hear those screams while wearing headphones.

Metroid Fusion was a surprise and a welcome one at that. For a game that I wasn't really looking forward to, it was fun. I'm not the biggest fan or anything but it was nice to play through that whole thing and oh man I must have gotten a good score for items collected...oh I got 48%. Damn I must really be bad, IDK how I missed that many...but anyway it's a fun title and is one of the better GBA games out there. Maybe one day I'll try again and get a better time and %. Though I think for now I'm done with the franchise, at least it ended on a good note for me.

“Let’s go on...”

Well this was something I kind of just felt like doing. I remember playing this game emulated last year but ended up not finishing it, for some reason I don’t like emulating PS1 RPGs, but it won’t stop me from one day playing Wild Arms, I swear one day that’ll come. Now I’m playing the release on Switch which is basically the same version. I feel like I have a lot of things to say about this game so I’m gonna jump into this.

This RPG stars a girl named Cornet with her fairy puppet friend Kururu. You’ll be traveling throughout Marl’s Kingdom to do whatever the game asks you. There is no overworld here as leaving an area takes you to a map. The game starts out with a cute little song opening if you don’t press anything on the title screen and gives a good first impression. The game is pretty chill and relaxing and it nicely eases you in for the gameplay you’re gonna be doing. While the first two sessions were all fun and games with a well made story that’ll get into. There’s just something about the game I have to let out.

I don’t like the gameplay

Let’s start with the battles. They kind of feel like a mix between standard turn based and strategy gameplay. It’s isometric as you have to hit any enemy with your range available. Cornet controls puppets and even enemies to fight for her though she can fight as well with her horn. Just be careful as her dying means the game is over though that never happened because this battle system is a joke. I should note the playthrough was played on normal difficulty. Good god the combat is so easy. Just use your specials that have range and be powerful and almost nothing can hurt you. It ends up making the battles incredibly boring as I can barely come up with fun strategies when the optimal strategy is just way better and safer. You think with the MP cost for it being expensive would fix that but not only is MP refilled via level ups which you get very fast btw but you’re forced to get an item that halves MP cost for moves. It’s like the devs want you to break it. I can’t say how much hard difficulty fixes it but you better choose that just to be safe.

This also just hurts stuff like getting other puppets because you’re not going to experiment when you have an easy solution for any battle. I’m not even sure why the game has so many elements when it feels like it never matters. Where’s the strategy? Where’s the planning? Nothing is here. I also almost never used items so shops feel rather pointless. It’s not even worth getting gear as ones you’ll find in dungeons help way more. That’s another thing, there’s no gear that isn’t just small buffs, so no buying weapons or armor. Give me a reason to buy stuff! The only item I felt worth buying was the teleporter so I can leave dungeons early. Also why does the game very early on let you recruit enemies then never happened ever again after like the second one. Did I screw up?

Oh yeah, what about those dungeons? Some of the worst I’ve played in the genre. I mean are we being serious here? What happened with this aspect of the game? Do you like caves and temples? That’s all you’re getting. Most of them have the same color and the same 5-6 types of rooms made for both categories. It not only looks so dull and uninteresting but you’ll tire of these immediately once you’re on the quest for the stones. But it’s ok guys because on the very rare occasion, they’ll change the color! IT BROKE NEW GROUND!!! Seriously they all feel the same and are never enjoyable and they all play the same music too and the random encounter system is so inconsistent and half of the time it just feels like you’re walking into the same room over and over and over and OVER! The only reasons I can think of why the game is like this is because of budget or time or maybe just wanting to appeal to a younger audience. What’s even worse is usually the first screen for these areas is actually pretty nice and fitting so why can’t the actual inside be like this? I’m not gonna call the devs lazy or anything but this is easily the game’s low point and that’s saying a lot.

Does Rhapsody have anything that makes me smile? Well yeah, it’s gotta be the story. It’s surprisingly the best part of the game with a lot of great moments and even has some surprising moments too considering the writing made me think it was just silly and simple. I should address that the localization is rather odd. I’m not sure how accurate it is to the original JP version but it feels a lot like a Working Designs script except it’s only the very rare moment of ??? if you get what I mean. While it is the best part of the game, it has some issues too. I felt the pacing was too fast at times but that’s probably due to the game’s short length. The whole romance thing with Cornet and the Prince feels so cliche and lazy that it’s hard to really appreciate it when it has so little development. I’m also not a fan of many NPCs not replacing their dialogue at times. While it goes away once the quest to get the five stones, it’s a notable problem I noticed for the beginning quarter of the adventure. It’s probably not as bad as I’m making it sound, it just personally hurt some immersion for me.

At least the presentation is quite nice. While the game can have some copy and paste with dungeons and stuff, the graphics and music are still very good. I love the style for the backgrounds and the sprite art is really good too. The portraits for dialogue are also really good but sadly there’s not too many. The music is also a bop from beginning to end. I especially love the vocal songs that play throughout the game, they’re even dubbed if you enjoy dubs. (The JP singers are available as an option if you want that). While I should say again it’s not perfect, it’s nice this aspect of the game is good as it makes traveling not feel as miserable as it could.

Sigh, I feel kind of sad the more I think of this game, the more I wish I could have loved it and not feel so negative. Rhapsody to me in many ways is a bad game but yet, is it weird the good bits kind of keep it out of it for me? It made the experience memorable and I appreciate the game for that. I just wish the gameplay itself was fun because it just gets extremely dull by the 2nd half and the presentation and story have to carry the rest of the game on the hike. When I view all of the art in this game, it makes me appreciate just how much work went into it. I could imagine this was a fun project to work on. For the record, if you like this game, I’m not going to judge so please don’t take this review the wrong way like I’m trying to be the only correct take. Rhapsody would get two more mainline sequels and this game is also available on the DS remade with a new battle system if you wanna play it there. I’ll probably play Rhapsody II in a couple of months and I’m hoping it’ll fix issues I have. Rhapsody on Switch also contains the PSP game La Pucelle Ragnarok so maybe expect me to play that too sometime this year. For now, guess I’ll just go chill and sing those catchy vocal tunes.

Captain Toad Treasure Tracker is a game that surprises me. It took a gameplay segment from 3D World that I wasn't a big fan of and made them good. Now I wouldn't say they were awful in 3D World but there weren't many and they were very basic and easy. It kind of felt like they did it intentionally since you couldn't do them in co-op (On Wii U) so they probably just made them easy so the other 3 didn't get bored of you just being there for a bit.

For the actual game this page is for like I said it takes what it had and made it rather interesting. I like how a lot of it uses elements from 3D World's normal Mario levels and makes it it's own level. Stuff like having a level with the double cherry or having those beat blocks in a level. The game even added this new powerup that is basically a pickaxe version of the hammer from Donkey Kong. I also like the new gameplay of picking up stuff ala Super Mario USA.

Toadette was also added for this adventure though she plays the exact same but it's nice to see her. I also got to compliment the game for even adding new gameplay ideas like trying to make a runaway from this new dragon like enemy or riding a minecart and shoot turnips at enemies or obstacles. There's a lot here to excite a player. There's also not many levels that are too annoying though there's not really any level that will make you think too hard which could also be a good thing but it's up to you.

If there is one big complaint I have with the game, it's got to be this thing where you go up to this wheel and spin with the right stick to move a thing in the environment. I guess should say I think this is a Switch exclusive problem but I'm not positive about that but when you step on these the game puts this image of the wheel that covers most of the screen and it's really annoying. I think they did this if you were playing in handheld mode and could spin with the touch screen but it's still awful to look at. I'm also not a big fan of using gyro for stuff like those touch blocks, at least in 3D World's Switch port I didn't have to use it much but it wasn't the case here.

Also what's the point of lives here? Personally if I was making this game I would just remove them and have the challenge be if you die you lose the gems you collected on that run. 3D World's Switch port also did this but I hate how if you die you just keep the collectibles even if you reset the level manually it lets you keep them. I just feel like it's really not satisfying to get a collectible and then die and have no consequences outside of just spending about 20-60 seconds getting back to where I was.

There's more I could talk about here but I don't wanna drag this review out. As a game I played for free (Thanks to the Online Game Trials thing) it was a good time. There's a lot to like about it even if it's not the most enjoyable thing in the world. Not sure if it's worth $40 but it's a charming game and has a lot of good going for it. Also the Odyssey connection they do in the end was dumb, you don't even play these kind of levels in Odyssey. They like missed the whole point for why it was connected to 3D World in continuity. Oh well I'm not really that mad about it. Also the music is really good I can't believe this is really how the review is ending this is awkward now.

I enjoyed the original Hebereke when I played it back in 2022 and I’m glad to say Hebereke 2 delivers. The game tries to be different with the approach to level design going for more of a linear progression with slight differences and a bit of a new level design in some revisits. The game still does lock some levels behind characters you need to unlock or abilities like the original. It’s clear here that a lot of passion was put into this title. It really does respect the original game with how good it feels like this could have been a game from the 90s outside of the graphics. Even the writing and charm is perfect here outside of the whole schtick of video games sure being different nowadays kind of talk. I also really love seeing more conversations, the group can be really funny sometimes. Freeon Leon and Bop Louie from the PAL version of the original even cameo in this game, I don’t even play that version and that got me excited seeing that.

Going into that early, the game graphically is a treat. I adore how this game looks and while it does in some ways hide the budget the game probably has, I appreciate them going for this rather than something like the usual pixel art. I think one of my favorite details was the text boxes and Famicom sprites of the cast being made out of perler beads. The music is pretty good too in its own way. I wouldn’t say it’s better than the original but think of it more as a nice alternative to the OG soundtrack. I will say though that the Switch version has frame drops so be thoughtful of the version you play, I assume it runs better on Steam.

The only real negative I had with Hebereke 2 was the bosses. Look, the original was not hard and that also went for the bosses. I don’t even mind the game being easy because the journey is just so fun and relaxing at times that I can ignore it being easy. This isn’t the case for the bosses as they feel like a huge afterthought especially with the final boss. It’s a shame they weren’t given more interesting ideas but I guess it’s better than being frustrating.

If you want to play a game that’s fun, has really good graphics, isn’t $40, isn’t using bland 3D graphics and is a remake of a Famicom game, Hebereke 2 is not a bad choice to play. I will say though that you will probably enjoy it all that much if you didn’t care for the original. If you haven’t played the original, I’d recommend loading it on an emulator or waiting for the new rerelease coming this month to Switch to give the Famicom game a try. While the game isn’t $40, it’s still a $25 game and for how short the game is, that will probably be a tough sell for anyone that wasn’t a fan of the original game. I feel like my rating of Hebereke 2 might be too high but for me, I just had a lot of fun playing it and I’m glad it was worth the wait, glad to see Sunsoft return and hope they continue to make more cool games.

Also please Sunsoft, remake Wing of Madoola I’m BEGGING!!

“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.

Back in 2021, I played this game for the first time and really didn’t care for it. Wasn’t bad or anything but something I felt wasn’t close to good either. I wrote a short review for it and moved on with my life. I never really thought much of the game afterwards. Then out of nowhere I see in my notifs a couple of people liking my old review, wasn’t really sure why seeing as none of them had played it but I went to go look at that review and I was disgusted. I was like “I wrote this??” it’s been deleted now but I realized I needed to replay this and give it the review it deserved. So I did and now for an actual proper review of this game from me.

Psycho Dream is a 2D Action game similar to other stuff Riot worked on like Mugen Senshi Valis. You’ll need to get through 6 Tracks to beat the game and you’ll be given the choice to choose between two characters named Ryo and Maria. Ryo uses a sword for his attacks while Maria uses claws and a whip at the weakest level. Grabbing a Yellow gem will upgrade their weapon while grabbing a blue weapon upgrades their projectiles. By the highest level you’ll be very strong and hard to stop but be warned that you can be downgraded to the lowest level if you get hit too much. I should also note Maria has the ability to glide if you have the butterfly wings. You can also run with the L or R triggers. You also have a F.AT attack where pressing A lets you hit anything on screen with it though you can only carry a max of 6 of these and you must grab purple gems to get a use of F.AT ability. There’s also a shield for invincibility, too bad it only lasts 4 seconds and red gems for healing some health.

This game is just weird, it’s something I can’t really describe well. Psycho Dream certainly fits with the setting. I remember in that old review I mentioned how the setting and just out of this world feel it had carried the game and in some ways it does but I don’t see that as a bad thing. Say what you want about the devs but I like the way they try to make an action game that wouldn’t be too interesting but give you an experience you’ll never forget. There’s stuff like enemies infested on trains in a subway, running fast in the city never being able to stop, going through locations that often feel gross and otherworldly, and even you as one of the characters never feel truly human in a way. Even the level clear screens make you ask questions just what is even going on. I think not being able to read the supplementary material helps with my mind thinking just how wtf everything is. It’s hard to really wrap my mind around all of it.

The enemies themselves despite not being original at times still feel so fitting to the dream-like world. Even stuff like hazards feel out there and just don’t feel like they have any explanation to them. Some of it is even disgusting like the ones based on insects. Yet the power you receive can make you so powerful, it’s like being an intruder and they don’t want you here but yet you’re the only one to put a stop to it all. You apparently are saving a girl in this which I guess explains the two in game cutscenes but I’m wondering is the stuff with her doing this? Wait, is this even a dream to begin with? Maybe it’s a metaphor, a thing designed to make you overthink to really not know the answer before you go too far and never end up finding it.

That said, not everything is perfect. Levels can feel like they lack good pacing and just never feel like you’ll know what comes next. It’s like a curveball, you’ll never know when they’ll pitch it. It’s such a weird feeling as I know it’s really not all that complex or deep but I can’t help but just look at things and wonder to myself just what it was like making the game. I do wish that running level didn’t punish you so hard if you lose your powers because it can be pretty punishing if you screw up. The game isn’t really too hard but it has that problem Super Valis had where the hitboxes can be kind of screwy and the projectiles you have are pathetically weak at times making them not worth being relied on. I wonder what my character is even thinking when walking/running in this world, do they have any feelings? Who knows…

Bosses in this game are sadly the weakest part as it’s hard to tell if you’re doing a good job or not. They provide awful feedback to the player if they’re even hitting in the right place. It’s a shame because some of the designs are pretty good though I can’t stand the 4th boss, it’s freaking disgusting! Seriously when I got to boss 3, I knew what the next track boss would be and I was dreading it, good god it’s gross. The final boss is also pretty awful as it’s not only a long fight but if you’re at the lowest level going into this or early on, you just got put into a really hard situation. It’s doable but it’s pretty poor for the last part of the game.

The game is graphically stunning for the time. Ok it’s actually not that great but I love the environments in this one and I just can’t stop thinking about it. It's filled with a lot of variety and I think this is why it was probably made for the Super Famicom. I don’t think this would have pulled off as well on the other two consoles. All of the environments are just something I feel should be appreciated more by people who are into 16 bit games. Even the more standard looking areas feel off to me. This might be because of that music, it’s all just so…different. There’s stuff like the Sky Scraper song that really makes me feel uneasy like I’m not safe. The Runner song feels like a panic on the soul like you’re running from your life but from what? You don’t know. Maybe you’re running not away but to the one you need to save before it’s too late, you’re so close but you don’t wanna lose now right? God I’m getting so deep about a song that loops after like 20 seconds. I think it’s easy to look at stuff like this out of context and go wow that is kind of bad but I think it all works in a weird twisted way. Even the sound effects never feel normal including items you collect making them feel other worldly as well like they are a new thing the player has never seen before.

Psycho Dream may not be a good game, it could even be a bad game to some. But behind all those flaws is a game that needs to be experienced as it’s something you would never find in another game. I think it could make for a good thing to look into. You know I’d imagine when this game came out on NSO worldwide, I wouldn’t be surprised if most people scoffed at it and continue to beg for something they don’t need like Super Mario RPG but I think it was a great addition considering it really is something I think deserves some attention for once. I know I’m probably overthinking so much but listen, it’s just how I feel when I try to put my thoughts from this game into words. Psycho Dream succeeds at what it was probably aimed to be. It’s far from the best thing Telenet has put their name on, most Valis games sweep this game to begin with. But with all that said, at least try to play it or watch a playthrough. It’s a shame the game never came here back then. It was meant to come over here as Dream Probe, published by Renovation but sadly Sega bought them out so the only people who have ever played that release were magazine reviewers. The ROM has never been found. It almost feels appropriate for a game like this. Maybe someday someone will go through a dream, call it a psycho dream and find it for others to finally see. Hopefully it was more than just a name change. Well that’s all for now, time to rest up and hopefully not imagine giant gross insects. Goodnight.

Angel_Arle Rockman reviews
Part 1: Rockman for Famicom
Part 3: Rockman 3: Dr. Wily no Saigo!? for Famicom
Part 4: Rockman World for GB
Part 5: Rockman 4: Aratanaru Yabou!! for Famicom
Part 6: Rockman World 2 for GB
Part 7: Rockman 5: Blues no Wana!? for Famicom
Part 8: Rockman World 3 for GB
Part 9: Wily & Right no RockBoard: That's Paradise for Famicom
Part 10: Rockman World 4 for GB
Part 11: Rockman 6: Shijō Saidai no Tatakai!! for Famicom
Part 12: Rockman's Soccer for Super Famicom
Part 13: Rockman World 5 for GB

Well I decided I will be continuing doing these Rockman reviews at least until I get tired of them. So hope you’re all ready for me to go on deep analysis on many of these games because it’s going to be a big journey. Rockman 2: Dr. Wily no Nazo (translated as Rockman 2: The Mystery of Dr. Wily) is a direct sequel to that first game. What started as a side project due to Capcom not really approving a sequel at first went to become a big hit when it arrived on the Famicom. In fact Rockman 2 for the longest time was the best selling game in the entire Rockman franchise. It’s cited as not only one of the best games in the series but just on the Famicom alone, it’s that popular. Even in western territories it’s popular. Though nowadays you might find people who will bash it calling it overrated. Where do I stand? Well I gave it a replay so let’s dig into it.

One thing you’ll notice as you begin playing is now there are 8 robot masters to choose from. This was something they wanted to do in the first game but now it’s finally been fulfilled here. The game itself though is the same as before, you can jump and shoot and still climb those ladders like there’s no tomorrow. This time your opponents will be Bubble Man, Air Man, Quick Man, Heat Man, Wood Man, Metal Man, Flash Man, and Clash Man. There’s even a plot this time where Dr. Wily is back and is out for revenge on you and unlike last time, he created these bad bots to destroy you for good so it’s off to defeat all eight and defeat Dr. Wily once more and Roll will once again do nothing, she isn’t even in the credits this time.

The controls have been a little improved from last time, you don’t have as much delay when beginning to move which will feel really nice for anyone who didn’t like that aspect of the original game. Rockman still has the plasma cannon to defeat enemies and it works as well as it did last time. Sadly if you were hoping to have anything from the 1st game well you don’t, it’s all gone. Rockman also has new physics for being in water where he jumps very high so be careful as this can end being the death of you if unaware of surroundings. One big improvement is they fixed his air momentum where in the previous games you could sometimes plummet really fast though there’s now a new issue. If you pause in the air while you’re falling fast, you can delete all that speed you have, meaning sections that time your movement while falling really fast have absolutely no challenge to them.

Stage design has really improved since last game with not only better theming to them overall but adding some really cool ideas. You have stuff like being in the sky and riding on clouds and jumping on strange giant red platforms in Air Man’s stage, Fighting various robotic wildlife in a forest for Wood Man’s stage with a strong mini boss in the middle of the stage, and icey physics and a top route that will reward you with an E-tank for your platforming skills in Flash Man’s stage. Oh yeah this game brought in a new item called E-tanks where you can have up to four and using one will refill all of your health so make sure to collect one if you can! Just be careful as a game over will get rid of any you have. While stages are much better here they also aren’t perfect. One of the main problems I have is just the difficulty of it all. Though this really depends what stages you do in what order. If you’re wondering what order I did it was: Heat -> Wood -> Air -> Clash -> Quick -> Metal -> Flash -> Bubble. Because of this I had to do the really hard appearing blocks section in Heat Man’s stage and Quick Man’s trial and error instant death laser section. While I’ll compliment the game for having ways to make levels easier, I do think it makes the difficulty feel very inconsistent which I felt like the first game wasn’t too bad about doing.

Boss doors also now just act as a checkpoint and you fight the Robot Master immediately so don’t worry about any obstacles here. They got all new strategies to take you down so let me go over them. Bubble Man has you with him in the water with spikes at the top which is pretty evil though Wily programmed him to only be able to move while in the air making him pretty easy to hit. Air Man has a weak defense but his tornados are hard to dodge and block your attacks so it’s best to hit him as his tornadoes are gone or as he’s jumping to the other side. Quick Man is hard like you’ll need some practice as he loves to jump around and dash at you and his stage layout benefits him way more than you, he even shoots quick boomerangs at you giving you even more to dodge. Heat Man is pretty easy as he’ll shoot three projectiles and he’ll try to dash at you everytime you hit him, it’s very easy to put him in a loop till he’s down making him an easy first stage if you can master his stage. Wood Man can hit you hard with his leaves and even throws his shield at you as you’re dodging other leaves so you better beat him fast if possible. Metal Man likes to change the conveyor belt movement during the fight and throws fast metal blades at you when you shoot at him so just don’t let the belt get to you. Flash Man really only moves around and does tiny jumps until he stops time and gets a free easy shot on you if he has you in his sight. Clash Man likes to attack as you attack so try to recognize that and learn a safe pattern to knock him down. The robot masters here are still great compared to the ones from last game and I’d argue are down better here and provide a nice fight to end off some already good stages.

Once again you’ll get weapons from each one that use up limited ammo that can be refilled by the same pickups from before though now they have a new design along with the life ups. Now it’s once again time for me to rate all the weapons that will no doubt make this paragraph massive. First we have Bubble Lead from Bubble Man which is one of the worst weapons in the series like I’m not joking. It’s meant to move forward on the ground but it’s never useful anywhere outside of a few invisible pits in a Wily stage but once you know that, it’s pretty much worthless besides maybe killing those roomba things. Air Shooter from Air Man is okay but it’s only good in niche situations due to just not really being helpful for enemies you think it be good for. Quick Boomerang from Quick Man is really good and I’d argue underrated! You not only have a ton of ammo for the move but it’s got rapid fire and its angle makes it good for hitting some enemies like the monkeys in Wood Man’s stage. Atomic Fire from Heat Man is bad and has very limited use due to the large amount of charge time on it and limited ammo, you can only fully charge twice with a full bar. Leaf shield from Wood Man is good. It’s got nice utility protecting you from many things especially with stuff that constantly spawns and can even make for good refill stations, sadly you throw the shield if you move with it limiting some of its possible use. Metal Blade from Metal Man is busted and you all know this so I’m not even gonna bother explaining it. Time Stopper from Flash Man lets you stop time but you can’t shoot during the move and you can’t cancel it meaning you have to use a full bar of it. That said it can be useful like stopping the lasers in Quick Man’s stage or to skip the mini bosses of Wood Man’s stage, it’s just a shame its negatives bring it down so much. Clash Bomb from Clash Man can be used as a normal projectile but can even break down specific walls with the explosion. Sadly its ammo is very small leading it to not be as useful as one could hope. Now while the magnet beam is gone, never fear! Dr. Right is here to help as after defeating three specific robot masters, you’ll get one of the 3 items to use for stages. They all specialize in having a use to find items you normally can’t reach and it’s best you try to get them early if you know where they’re at. Sadly the weapon balancing isn’t as good as one can hope but I’d still argue that metal blade isn’t the only good weapon here, that said however I’d argue the first game had better balancing even if two of the weapons were atrocious in that game.

Like before, once you finish every stage it’s now time to face Wily. He even has a map to show you the progress you’re making which is pretty cool. The stages here can be pretty tricky and make good use of your weapons including the items but be careful as like before, weapons don’t restore on ammo as you use them in stages so make sure you preserve it as much as possible. Thankfully there’s no more of that bs of being forced to get an item to beat a stage that you weren’t told to do. That said the balancing of it kind of reminds me of the first where the first two stages are harder than the last few in the game. It even feels like by the end they were running out of time. Stage 4 has some pretty poor enemy placement, Stage 5 is just a boss rush room, and Stage 6 is just a hallway with barely any obstacles in your way. While I do feel this is the weakest part of the game, at least the first two stages offer a nice challenge.

The bosses here also suffer from this same problem. It starts out so good too. You have to run away from a mecha dragon as you do tight platforming and then you fight him on three tiny platforms as he can instantly kill you via touch damage and even has fire that does a lot of knockback on you. Tip from me, just be on the top block as knockback won’t get you killed. Next is a guard room with these things called Picopico-kun that come from the walls to attack you and do a lot of damage, just be aware of the spots it's already been in and use Bubble Lead and it’ll be down quickly. Next is a…Guts tank? What the heck, why base it off Gutsman? Come to think of it, there were also those statues from Rockman 1, what does Wily think he’s like peak robot form or something? Regardless, just stand on the left edge of his tank and fire away with boomerangs and he’s out, what a riveting fight. The boobeam trap though for stage 4, screw this stupid fight! You need to kill it with clash bomb but you have to navigate through it a certain way or you won’t have enough to defeat it meaning you’ll have to die and grind for more energy to refill the ammo, easily the worst part of the game and I have no clue who thought this was ok, I’d take Yellow Devil over this stupid thing anyday. After the boss rush you’ll fight Wily Machine 2 where he forgot to make his machine fire resistant this time and then you can chuck metal blades at him till he’s done for, he does do a lot of damage so try to keep an E-tank if you can just in case, you wouldn’t want to do that boss rush again now would you? Though you can kill Metal Man in 2 hits with his own weapon so maybe that be funny to see twice. Wily does have one more trick however because he was an alien this entire time! That’s right he’s fighting back without machines and he even heals from all of your weapons except for Bubble Lead. Once you defeat him for good you find out it was just a projection to fake his look…what? Well I guess he’s done now because he begs for forgiveness as Rockman just…leaves I guess. I never understood what the ending meant but maybe I’m too stupid. For now, Rockman can rest easy knowing Wily knows not to tempt evil anymore.

Graphically, Rockman 2 is a big improvement over last game. I mean just the intro alone will amaze you as it’s a vast improvement over the simple title screen of the 1st game. Stages having more varied locations help the look of each one really stand out and while the game isn't hesitant to still use single color backgrounds at times like in Clash Man’s stage, the positives do outweigh it. The enemy designs are also improved having a lot more fun designs to even match the levels more just giving those levels more of an identity. If there is one complaint I do have is the sprite flickering. It’s horrible and happens a lot and I can’t stand it during the Mecha Dragon fight. Later rereleases and emulation can at least make it more bearable so you can at least rely on those. The music is also legendary stuff with almost every theme being great. Really the only stage theme I don’t like is the 2nd theme for the Wily levels, it’s very droning and annoying. Some would argue this is one of the best OSTs in the franchise but to me it’s up there but not my favorite. I also love how the beginning of the ending theme from the last game is used as the same beginning piece as the intro song before going into a brand new melody, it’s so good. If you somehow haven’t listened to it, do it when you can!

Rockman 2 really did launch what was a beginning for Capcom into a greater galaxy. Rockman 2 wasn’t just a sequel, it was a burst of light that showed Rockman wasn’t just a one and done idea and this game proves that. While I don’t love the game as much as other people do, replaying this game made me realize how my older score doesn't really match with how I feel about the game. It does have issues don’t get me wrong but it also improves so much of the 1st game that it makes up for that. I still think you should play the 1st Rockman first before playing this but Rockman 2 is still a must play for anyone who hasn’t tried it already. There are still 4 more Famicom games left to tackle so I’m very curious how I’ll feel about those when I get to replaying them. To this day I’ve played this game countless times and I’ll continue to replay the game in the near future, thank you Capcom for this awesome game!

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.

This has a GB version which I’m reviewing but isn’t listed as a version. I’ll update it if that ever changes (edit, thank you for whoever updated), also here is the cover art.

There’s not much to say about this game, it’s a fun little puzzle game that originated on the MSX. You drop eggs on seesaws to bounce your chicks up to the top while a hungry wolf is out for them constantly. You need to have the eggs hit him before he gets a chance to eat them. There’s a lot of strategy especially if you want the high score as you have to make sure you do it fast, have as many chicks as possible, and beat the level in less than 30 eggs. Though you don’t have to worry if you only want to see the end as long as you only have one chick alive. Lose them all and it’s game over with limited continues.

There’s also some bonus games that can award you with a new baby chicken. The first is catching eggs with a basket while also not having the wolf eat the babies holding it. The second and third are both mashing B before the chicken or chicks meet their demise. The last one is whacking wolves from eating a chick.

Yeah it’s a pretty neat game with five difficulty options too for people to enjoy and be able to see the ending on any of them. Surprised no one talks about it but maybe GB puzzle games are just usually at the bottom of the barrel of discussion if you’re not one of the big hits or slightly big niche. Give it a try if it looks or sounds fun to you! What’s surprising is it doesn’t even have a US release despite the only thing Japanese is the logo of the game. How weird, wonder why it wouldn’t get a US re-WHAT THE FU-

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!