So, my birthday is February 10th. Of course I posted about this in various online chats I was in, which led to someone I know on the How Long to Beat discord posted a single image and a joke that "here's a game you should play! ;)"

https://i.imgur.com/3kxNFxv.jpg

So once I looked at How Long to beat and saw it was like a 2 hour game I had to do it. And that's why I downloaded and played The Bugs Bunny Birthdat Blowout in 2023 of all things. So, what are my thoughts? Well, it isn't a horrible game, just one with some critical flaws that make it wear thin despite the modest playtime. The ol' Bugs Birthday Bashorama is pretty much what you'd expect from the NES in that it is a sidescrolling platformer, with one button to attack and another to jump. Six levels with four stages each. Basic stuff. Bugs controls...fine enough, not the tightest platformer ever but far from the worst, although the game's low framerate makes it sometimes feel less responsive than you'd like. I think the bigger issue comes from Bugs' hammer attack, which simply has too little range, and a bit of a windup to it. The end result is that trying to hit enemies WITHOUT getting hit yourself is frustrating, fortunately the only enemies you usually need to kill basically don't attack except by moving. But it does get pretty silly when you hammer a frog and its sprite just teleports forward and then it keeps jumping and hits you. Or lands in front of you and you're back to square one.

This game's difficulty is at war with itself, although it lands squarely in the "very easy" category. The way it gets there is mildly frustrating, in that the game is full of a lot of "Gotcha!" trickery (platforms that disappear under you being the biggest ones, with at least one required blind drop into a pit area that lands you on one and means you WILL die if you don't know to jump instantly, but also hidden enemies or the like), but when you aren't getting had the jumps are fairly reasonable and the game is mostly timing based and very easy. This is especially true because the game showers you with extra lives via the (pretty random, admittedly) bonus games (I even got a +50 lives near the end!), so you get some serious trial-and-error gameplay going on! It's far from the worst you'll get on the NES, but it does get tiring by the end of the game.

Let's talk about something good, if not fully utilized given it is a random liscensed game from 1990. I think the idea of this game's collectible, the carrots, turning into platforms for you to use after collecting them is an interesting design space. You do get some tricky jumps where you have to jump to collect them, land back onto the main stage and then use them, but they're rather few and far in between. I could totally see some modern 2D platformer use them well though, like hidden secret paths only done by backtracking after grabbing collectibles, or mix and matching it with stuff like crumbling platforms (I was shocked this game never did it) or moving platforms or whatever. It did make me think about the level design in a different way than a lot of games, so good on it. Also while the gotchas wear thin, they DO feel like they really fit the tone of Looney Tunes and Bugs in specific.

Why does this game have so many bosses when it reuses them so much? Daffy is a boss in EVERY world and like every time he is PATHETICALLY easy that's actually hilarious but also not good gameplay. You fight Elmer Fudd like three times. The fight does not change any time. The final boss is the only one who uses a truly different strategy, although Pepe le Pew is at least a bit unique. If you can't make unique bosses, at least scale them back a little bit to avoid the endless repition.

Anyway this game's plot is David Fincher's The Game so that obviously gives it an extra half star-

By any modern viewpoint Galaga is an incredibly simple game, but a simple game is not a bad game. Anyone can look at Galaga, understand what's happening, pick it up, play it and have fun, while it still gives good reward to those who memorize it and put in time to develop skills. The core gameplay is classic and direct shmup, shooting down enemy fighters and avoiding shots, with the fun addition of intentionally being captured in order to save your ship and get a cool double ship power-up.

While it is very simple, the fact of the matter is that the game released on early 80s arcades and the Atari 7800. There simply wasn't a level of hardware to allow stuff that would come later. On top of that, Galaga is one of the first games upon which all others are built. When considering for the era the game actually has fairly good graphics for the time, even.

You can pretty much find it on any platform and it can run on anything, so if you wanna fire up a shmup and waste a few hours it is hard to go wrong with some old school Galaga.

I dunno, man, this one definitely speaks to me politically but as a work of interactive art? It feels more like it could be a Twitter thread in a lot of respects. Yeah, it is true that people are overworking hours on games and causing issues, but it is not only presented in a pretty passe manner...

But also, is that actually happening for Pokemon? I don't like the annualization of Pokemon because I think it degrades the quality, but Game Freak has never exactly been top notch at that level of polish to begin with and they've implemented a version of a four day work week albeit one that doesn't seem the best. Is it that they're being crunched to death or is it that they were developers who already had issues making now open world games on a home console when from 1996 to 2018 they released a grand total of 3 home console games, and I don't think Click Medic on the Playstation was exactly relevant to their Switch coding ability. Especially when considering that, for example, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (unrelated aside: Anyone else get the subtitles of that confused as Shining Diamond and Brilliant Pearl?) was done by the third party team ILCA. Game Freak actually hadn't released a game since Sword and Shield, three years, before Arceus and Scarlet/Violet. That's pretty similar to most of their dev time (with Let's Go being 2018: They generally release a mainline and something to the side either at the same time or one year apart. See: X/Y and Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, FireRed/LeafGreen and Emerald, Platinum and HeartGold/Soul Silver), so the way the presents it as a more "modern reality" doesn't necessarily feel fitting to me. That's also not to say crunch doesn't go on either (Arceus and Scarlet/Violet released same time and importantly were bigger than most Pokemon games: It'd make sense, and crunch is common in the industry ofc), but some of the way the game presents it...I dunno, man. (Not to mention the fact I'd argue a lot of other games get more of a "pass" for similar issues but I digress)

Maybe what bugged me was the thesis the game beats over your head: Another Pokemon Game. You know, just Another Pokemon Game. I just don't vibe with that thesis at all, especially when it comes out in 2023 rather than 2019: Sword/Shield was genuinely extremely stale, but right before it was Sun and Moon which I thought brought some fresh vibes and ideas to the table. And in 2023? Arceus is obviously rather different than most Pokemon games in mechanics, and Scarlet/Violet's issues are on the technical side (the aforementioned programming). I'd argue the game actually is not only fresh but is essentially what every Pokemon fan was asking for in the Gen 3 to Gen 5 era: An open world to explore, multiple plotlines including ones unrelated to the gym challenges, a storyline with more "mature" elements (including death), anyone who was around in that era heard way too many Pokemon fans say it would be THE Pokemon game if they just did that. Sure, sure, not every Pokemon game reinvents the wheel, but honestly I feel like the presentation of "Just Another Pokemon Game" just rubs me the wrong way. It feels very reductionist. Obviously it gets mixed in with the Genwunner type complainer on the picket line, but that's just kinda general criticism (and the way it is presented in game ends up broadly applicable in a way that it is overused).

Honestly, maybe I am overthinking this myself and should just stop talking. I feel kinda conflicted about reviewing it: Maybe that shows there is a sense of a Personal nature to it, which is a positive. The bit with Tajiri felt odd to me: Obviously it is meant to be at least metaphorical, but it feels at odds with what I know about the man (and looking up sources to see if I was unaware didn't find much): It, in many ways, feels like sledgehammering in a general thought on the industry without it necessarily fitting. But maybe I just don't know Tajiri enough. The use of Infinite Jest here also felt like it had the "we're in 1984" energy to me. It is cool it exists and all, but in the end, Another Pokemon Game ended up feeling like just Another Message Game.

(Check out letshugbro talking about making Thatcher's Techbase tho, that's some good stuff)

So I couldn't remember if I had beaten Super Mario Bros. 1 in full before (I have it on NES), end result is I decided to spend the night (okay, it's past midnight so technically yesterday so w/e) beating it. Since I was going for a pretty casual playthrough, I saved after each level (but NOT in level, nor did I reload unless I got a game over), but I did go warpless obv. It's Super Mario Bros. 1, there isn't much I can tell you about this iconic, 35 year old game that you don't already know, so this won't be too long.

The level design is pretty solid for the most part, it obviously isn't as expansive as something like Super Mario Bros. 3 but it is pretty solid as a basic platformer, in particular on the harrowing mushroom stages where you have to make jumps between mushroom platforms and various platforms that will see-saw or the like. The first level of most of the worlds tended to be some of the best imo, World 1-1 is truly a great tutorial style level and most of the time they tend to be the most focused on the platforming challenge where this game excelled.

The downside of level design imo was three areas. First off, the water levels aren't all that fun to play and are veeeery easy (I died once in them the entire run) so they end up feeling more like speedbumps. Secondly, the Bowser levels could be hit or miss, I liked the straight-forward ones that tended to be intense timing or platforming challenges while the ones that went for mazes felt like a fun idea but in too primitive of a form to be particularly enjoyable. Finally, 8-3 and 8-4 are bullshit, 8-3 just has too many Hammer Bros to feel comfortable finishing even after getting it down pat and while it is cool flavorfully it could have done more, and also while I didn't die to it whoever decided to end the enemy rush level with 2 1-tile platform jumps is eeevil. 8-4 actually isn't hard but the pipe puzzle just doesn't work very well imo, it's kinda easy to get your spot lost if you have to keep doing it over and is kind of a pain.

Story? It's like the first NES game ever, it's Mario, there's a princess, go save her, that's your story get out of here. Graphically, the game isn't as impressive as games with 35 years of sprite knowledge and ability (and usually 16-bit rather than 8-bit or anything) but I'd say it is fairly good for a NES game and it has some really iconic looks for a reason. The graphical leap to SMB3 is VERY notable but, like, this is one of the earliest NES games you'll find, so no surprise there. It ultimately looks nice. The sound is solid, with the soundtrack being fairly good (the Bowser's castle themes are nice), you've got classic power-up sounds, the works.

It's SMB1. If you are looking for a basic 2D platformer, it's got you covered pretty well, the controls are actually snappier than I thought they would be even if they are a bit odd compared to some later sMB-style games, there's plenty of challenge and until the last two levels it feels surprisingly fair. You won't find anything too advanced, but it also isn't baby feeling like a Kirby's Adventure. It is a game that feels like it holds up pretty well 35 years later, and not a lot of games can say that.

I decided to play Strider tonight because I saw multiple people leaving reviews on it lately and the How Long to Beat time was about an hour, so why not check out what everyone's talking about? And I gotta say that by the time I rolled credits at about twice of said time, the main thing I had to say was "Wow, that kinda sucked".

Look, I can see plenty of reasons to like this game. The art, especially for a quite early Genesis title, is very well done. This is probably most epitomized in the Siberian Wilderness stage in the segment with power outages (where the darkened, silhouette look broken by crackling electricity is pretty badass), the ending sequence and city shots, and the detailed sprites on enemies along with Strider himself. It has the clear intent of a neo-futuristic, 80s anime style setting (given Moto Kikaku's involvement on the manga this seems particularly fitting), and there's some pretty rad boss visual designs. The music's pretty solid and the sound can be good too, although I do feel the need to note two things. First, Stage 4's Amazon enemies seem to have some oddities going on with their sound, because a lot of times I'd have them play their attack sounds on loop a LOT when they were on the fringes of the screen in a way that was outright annoying. I thought maybe this was just a glitch of some kind, but when I checked a random Longplay on Youtube and it seemed to have the same issue so IDK. Hiryu's sword swing also makes a LOT of sound when you spam it but that was probably more frustrating than when it'd be designed due to listening with headphones rather than a crowded arcade or CRT or w/e so I don't hold that much against it.

I just couldn't jive with a lot of the gameplay though. The game feels like a bad, peanut butter mashup of Ninja Gaiden's speedy action with Castlevania's jumping physics, with the end result being a game that demands precision and speed that feels stiff and, in my opinion, unresponsive. You can definitely get used to it, sure, and it is consistent (even if Strider tumbling with the horizontal jump is at first maybe a bit throwing off), but it isn't particularly fun to play. It's like a bad version of a Metroid-style two-different-jumps mechanic. I also felt like some consistent hitbox and physics dissonance was on display here, largely with any kind of moving platform, which was absolutely PAINFUL in the final level. I died at least 10 times to the run up to the final boss because you have to stay on a moving platform that will cause you to flip off if you don't grab and/or jump with the right timing, and there were plenty of times I just grabbed on and then instantly fell off or fell off for seemingly no reason and so on. There's also a bizarre inconsistency to the game: I streamed a good chunk of this with a friend on Discord and we both noted how I'd run through the same area, often times doing the same thing, and yet have enemy spawns vary for reasons that were esoteric to us.

This is particularly notable because Strider is HEAVY on trial and error gameplay, it loves to put enemies just off screen or in spots where if you don't react immediately after entering a new area you'll get hit. There's also plenty of "gotcha" moments in the game. If you don't know a trap is coming up right when you beat the first boss, for example, you WILL get hit. Boss quality varies heavily but most are unimpressive in execution, one of them felt particularly odd as it seems like it has unavoidable damage to hit it and you basically have to mash and have full health to win before you die. When I looked up other runs, I never saw them avoid the damage either. It's likely possible but I couldn't figure it out. I'd probably enjoy this more if the game's physics felt more free, because then I'd be able to memorize myself into a nice rhythm of jumping, attacking, and so on.

It's not as though gameplay is without any merit. The idea of Gradius style Options as power-ups is underexplored but interesting. The game's got some classic ninja wall jumps and ceiling clings and platform grabs and tends to mix these in quite well: If the jumping didn't feel so bad for me the actual level design seems solid if very difficult (you can definitely tell this was an arcade game!) to me albeit with way too many gotcha moments. Some of the Options do seem to sometimes work oddly, mostly just kinda going wherever they please off screen, but it's pretty cool conceptually and fun to use. Plus I love how it fits hard into the cyber-ninja theming, he has a robot dog!

Overall, Strider might be pretty fun if the way it controls and the physics hit for you, but those things just never hit for me and it just dragged down the experience and kinda devolved into a frustrating effort by the end of things. I respect the influence it had over gaming and Strider Hiryu himself is cool, but it was just a miss for me.

Hades was initially a game I kept an eye on, but wasn't sure if I wanted to buy. Hearing friends talk about the excitement they felt encouraged me to buy it for 5 dollars off on Black Friday sale over other games I was considering and I can tell you right now I was not disappointed!

From top to bottom, Hades is an excellent game. It gets you right into the action with the plot and gameplay as Zagreus, half-human son of Hades, seeking to escape the Underworld for reasons unknown. One thing I appreciate about this game is how it treats the player as intelligent, as it uses smart and strong conversation pieces to establish relationships and dynamics easily in a story you're essentially dropped in the middle of. It only takes 1 or 2 interactions to get a basic understanding of any character while at the same time having pleasurable depth to explore. The game hits the ground running.

Gameplay is crisp and responsive, playing similar to Transistor as an isometric action game but much more smoothly and refined. Dash mechanics have particularly been removed, making the cooldown between dashes feel smoother and reducing the "hitch" it felt like Transistor's dash had. There is a ton of variation for all kinds of playstyles to be represented thanks to not only the greek god's boons but also a multitude of varied weapons with different playstyles, special equippable trinkets to modify what you do, a simple talent tree and other systems which layer on top of a great feeling combat system to add substantial depth to it all. Slashing through hordes of enemies with the blade while timing dashes, your special and your cast is exhilarating and tense.

The rewards of the rooms offer interesting gameplay choices in a variety of ways. There were times I did a run or two without even planning to try to make it out, but instead prioritized nectar rooms for NPC advancement, gemstones for unlockables and so on. Risk-reward management is emphasized and smartly woven into the gameplay. You'll never be screwed over just for making a choice, but you will have to deal with trade-offs and consider situationals. The decision making aspect is also important for the early rooms, as once you advance in skill level they will provide much less threat. Having reasons to approach ordering differently or to consider trade-offs therefor helps keep these interesting even as you get stronger while not being overwhelming to newcomers. It all comes together into an addictive package that I found myself returning to repeatedly even when I booted up my Switch with the intent to play other games.

Layered on top of the top notch gameplay is a strong story, which unfolds over multiple attempts and victories. One way this game feeds into its addictive gameplay loop is by granting you bits of story or character progress with each run: Even if you're not making headway gameplay-wise you'll be making headway into the overall narrative or into getting to explore the characters more. The story itself is pretty nice and feels a lot like one might expect the image of a "greek mythology" story to feel like, it is certainly no coincidence that Sisyphus is an NPC here, which is obviously fitting with the setting. Combine it with top notch character design (all of the gods are some GREAT interpretations!) and snappy dialogue that is pretty much entirely voiced (and this game has a LOT of dialogue, so it is impressive!) and you get a real winner.

My favorite character is probably Achilles. His gentle, weary voice really fits the characterization of a dead warrior looking back at what he's done with a different perspective and you get into his head quite a bit because he is the author of the game's bestiary and glossary which gives more insight. I won't go more into spoilers, but you eventually get to interact with him in more intricate ways as well. Characters can range from the more comedic, like Skelly, to much more straight edge series like Thanatos and helps keep the interactions feeling fresh. But the game keeps a consistent tone thanks to filtering through Zagreus' view and the lovely narrator keeping his drolling voice going. It is all very well done.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the game's graphics and ESPECIALLY its soundtrack! This game has some really good music all around, first time I really noticed is in the first areas boss as "Scourge of the Furies" is a pretty killer boss theme and later on "The Bloodless" also particularly stuck out to me as great, which isn't really a surprise given one thing Supergiant Games has always done well is having killer soundtracks. Who knew lutes and banjos would mix so well with greek rocking? I'll also use this section to give a shout out to the voice actors who really bring the characters to life. From Ares' soft spoken and mild mannered sadism to Achilles' world weariness and Megaera's husky tones. Visually, the game has very lush background art, exceedingly detailed models (to the point where some of the detail can only be seen by zooming in), distinctive character designs and some striking visual effects on things like attacks and item pickups. Even through over 30 attempts it hasn't stopped looking reeeeeally pretty!

For a brief mention of things I found flawed: While the area one bosses get mixed up with time, you never get new bosses for areas two and three. Because of that it can feel a bit more stale at the end. Personally, I wish they had an alternate boss option for those areas for just a little mixing up. While I didn't have a problem with it, clearing the story DOES require multiple runs and that won't be something everyone enjoys. And while I haven't gotten that far, from what I know some of the post-end game dumps for resources are kind of ridiculous. And, yeah, that's about all I've got for issues!

In short: Hades is the kind of game where I recommend playing it and giving it a try even if you aren't a traditional fan of its genre. It blends story with roguelike gameplay in a rather unique manner, the action gameplay itself is incredibly fun and addictive, it has all the bells and whistles of great graphics and music, and I'd say there's little in the way of large flaws.

About thirty years too late to be presenting any fresh takes about Super Mario World, but here comes my thoughts regardless! This game's a classic, launching off the SNES and entering fierce competition with the contrasting Sonic 1 a year later.

Let's start out with the positives. The introduction of Yoshi is a nice touch, functioning as a power-up with his own unique rules such as being able to get him back after being hit or eating enemies for power-up variations. I quite enjoy the overworld's system of secret exits in tons of levels to unlock alternate routes, warps and secret worlds, and when I thought about it I'm actually shocked more games haven't really used this system given how popular Super Mario World was? Most games that use level selects are either pretty linear or have more direct branching paths (just look at Super Mario 3D World for example), rather than the complex web of exits that Super Mario World has. I will say though that, and this comparison will pop up a few times due to the games being connected and being my favorite 2D Mario (currently), I do prefer Super Mario Bros. 3's overworld. It doesn't have the complexity of exits, but the different ways you can tackle pathing is very interesting, and I always liked the way you could use items before entering levels.

The game doesn't FULLY utilize the SNES' power, unsurprising for a launch title, but Super Mario World is still a pretty looking game (even if I prefer SMB3's a bit more dusty, even "realistic" feel at times), and some parts of it particularly ooze quality such as Bowser's overworld or the Forest of Illusion. I really like the small touch of lightning flashes in the Bowser level overworld giving you a glimpse of the final boss! This game also does all the little things right, stuff like Peach in the final battle helping you out, that help elevate it beyond what would feel like bog standard New Super Mario Bros fare. This game clearly seeks to iterate on the NES Super Mario games and loves introducing new concepts such as springs, the aforementioned Yoshi, the cape's movement, and a toooooooon of gimmicks to mess around with. Super Mario World doesn't play it safe and when it is on, it is on! My favorite levels would probably be most of the Bowser levels, Forest of Illusion levels, Chocolate Island 2 (what a crazy cool gimmick!), Chocolate Island 3, and Ludwig's Castle off the top of my head.

This game had a lot of problems for me too, though, and when it was off it was pretty off. The most obvious thing that hurt a lot of the cool level design was the physic. Mario feels waaaaay floatier and loose compared to the NES titles, is this just me a thing? I hear a lot of people complain about SMB1 or even SMB3's physics, but when I was replaying SMB1 recently I was able to consistently bring myself to a halt on the edges of platforms and do crazy tricks. But in World, Mario retains much more of his momentum when he lands from a jump while also being floatier in the air. Great when you have lots of open space! Not so great whenever you jump on something small. I legitimately had an easier time with a bunch of the Bowser levels because they asked you to do daring, risky, precision platforming but onto large platforms than sometimes I had with simple "hit a block, jump on the block" stuff because it is so easy to slip off of one block if you get the momentum even a bit off.

Similarly, I would say I prefer the P-Speed of Super Mario Bros 3 to Super Mario World's dashing system. World feels a bit squished onto an SNES controller frankly, with both the power up and dash buttons on the same button leading to awkwardness if you want to both run and attack. You also basically want to be holding down dash 80% of the time, which can feel kinda weird to then also jump and led to me often letting go of dash to jump when I really shouldn't. You CAN just fat finger the dash with the jump and spin jump, but it often feels off and with the spin jump in particular not great. I also had a few troubles with my fingers being a bit big for the buttons for this, but I won't really dock points from the game for that because on the SNES (which it was designed for) the buttons were bigger and more spread out than a Pro Controller, so it'd work better with its intended design. P-Speed also feels more skillful, needing to find ways to keep up your momentum and plot out how to move and platform through a course, versus holding down a button. It also allows you to build it up while attacking and felt super smooth with the fire flower.

While the base graphical quality is solid, the game is sorely lacking in variety. The Ghosts Houses and Castles looking the same isn't the issue, but Donut Plains and Chocolate Island for example feel like they could easily be the same "area". It feels like for the main game at least the game has about 3-4 themes that it stretches out compared to the extreme variety of Super Mario Bros. 3 or some other platformers, without having a "unifying" feel that would make it be more logical. Valley of Bowser and Forest of Illusion not only had some of my favorite level design but were some of the only levels that had a truly unique aesthetic which I think really helped them stand out.

Thirdly the game has some VERY uneven level design, to the point by the end I was getting into a rhythm of liking about 2-3 levels fairly well then coming across one I rather disliked. Pretty much every castle level except for Iggy's, Ludwig's and Bowser's sucks. Lemmy and Larry's are probably the worst offenders here, the start of Lemmy's castle is just a needlessly annoying gimmick (and I don't think Ieven ended up clearing it the "right" way lol) which sours a fun latter half, while Larry's has a very boring snake block segment at the start that is RIDICULOUSLY easy but takes like a minute, which if you have to retry the level multiple times starts to feel like brain rot. Wendy's level also suffers from me finding the spin jump onto sawblades or wrecking balls unreliable, leading to frustrating deaths. Sunken Ghost Ship was also a level I disliked.

And while I know many people describe one of THE moments of Super Mario World as getting the cape...I gotta be honest, Donut Plains 1 is one of my least favorite levels in the entire game. The placement of the enemies feels all wrong! The start of the course clearly wants you to be able to get a cape from a Cape Koopa, then learn how to use it to fly, except they placed them in such a way that the enemies at the start will respawn super easily and make it tremendously annoying to do so! The entire level was annoying and actually one of the ones I had the most trouble with, on top of that I get the appeal of how the cape controls but I wasn't exactly a great fan. It does feel pretty nice whenever you get a very wide open space (unless there's enemies), but anything not meant for you to basically skip over everything feels trashy.

Unsurprisingly the story is very barebones and I don't think it has setpieces that match up to taking down Bowser's entire army in SMB3, but I did really enjoy all the little skits after clearing each castle. Were they necessary? Not at all. Were they one of those little things this game does quite well? Absolutely! I looked forward to seeing what each one would do, and of course this is the kind of thing that is enjoyably abusable in the SMW modding scene.

Overall, Super Mario World was a good game with some great highs and frustrating lows. It's easy for me to understand why people consider it a masterpiece, particularly anyone who really gels with the physics (watch people who REALLY know how to play this game and they can pull off soem crazy stuff!), but too much dragged it down for me for it to reach that level. I got half the exits in the game and it was fun enough I'll probably go back some day to get some more, though, so I'd say mission accomplished...and I'm pretty excited to play Yoshi's Island sometime soon. :)

In-Game Time - 4 Hours 27 Minutes
Real Time - 9 Hours 50 Minutes
Completion Percentage - 48%

In my Metroid II review I opined that Metroid II -> Metroid Fusion felt like an under-discussed evolution in the same vein of Metroid -> Super Metroid, a parallel track of game design with a heavier focus on linearity, a somewhat more "horror" atmosphere and more of a theme of hunting a monstrous species (Metroids/X-Parasites) vs. stopping the Space Pirates like Metroid/Super Metroid. What surprised me when playing Metroid Fusion is just how much this feels like a direct follow-up to Metroid II despite following directly after Super Metroid on the timeline! In the same way that Super starts by showing the cold, silent remains of the end of Metroid 1 to build mood and indicate moving on, the first boss you fight in Metroid Fusion is a mutated form of a hidden boss in Metroid II, followed by a literal recreation of SR388 (the planet from Metroid II). And while Super Metroid showed the eeriness of entering an empty space Samus had ruined through, Fusion uses Metroid II to amp up the threat of the X-Parasites. Remember those creatures from the last handheld game? Where here they are but SWOLE and dealing tons of damage to show just how dangerous they are. And, of course, the X-Parasites are an explicit result of Samus' actions in Metroid II.

Beyond the opening, though, Metroid Fusion takes even more from Metroid II, such as a more linear approach compared to the very widely open-ended Super Metroid, the aforementioned theme of hunting, but even in smaller stuff. One I didn't think of before is how Metroid Fusion actually has the same "Kill the same boss you're hunting down the entire game" structure as Metroid II, but does it in a way that feels like a much better and more subtle way. Because you fight the Core-X after every boss! The only exception, the B.O.X. robot, gets a fight with the Core-X later. This keeps up the same theme of hunting down the same enemy, but makes each fight much more distinct since the "same" part is only at the end. Where Metroid II had a constant tracking counter that went down as you opened up each area, the X-Parasites are an unknown quantity that only infects the ship and propagates further as Samus opens up each area, even directly causing new issues. It's quite a fascinating evolution!

The series' evolution is neat and all, but how about the game's quality itself? Well I am happy to report I found it hiiiiighly impressive! The controls for Fusion feel incredibly tight, although Super's controls were already good enough I find it more of a twist rather than a flatout improvement. Where Super tended to be a bit more slow and methodical, Fusion uses what are mostly highly responsive controls to put together a much more fast paced affair that also allows more precision platforming. The only part that felt off was the wall/ceiling grip: I quite like what they add to the game but I found them at times a touch unreliable, although I did enjoy them for the most part. Being on the GBA also means we didn't have the truly ideal setup of shoulder buttons for aiming, but missiles/Power Bombs being on a dedicated toggle button is soooooooooooo much smoother and you get used enough to the up/down movement with aiming. The snappy ledge jump was a nice addition to the platforming.

Combat in general has been improved from Super Metroid, with bosses who have more complex patterns or interesting weaknesses. I can see the argument that something special is lost here at the same time, Fusion has quite a few more bosses than Super and so some don't stick out as hard + Super had some special attention to fights like Draygon with his special kill mechanic, but I'm not so sure I agree with that as there's good mechanical variety between all of them and most of them have good build up. The SA-X fight is obviously one of the highlights, but the Nightmare fight is built up especially well earlier in the game with this wonderful atmosphere in the background, the battle itself has this really spooky and memorable, horror-ish vibe to it and it mechanically is very fun, twisting how it works from the start to the end to keep the battle fresh the entire time. It's also difficult in a way few 2D Metroid bosses were and in a very fun way, I am pretty sure I died to it more than any boss in Dread. It's very memorable and competes with the much later Dread for my favorite 2D Metroid boss fight (I still need to finish more 3D Metroids, so don't want to state the entire series!). I'd overall say the bosses are much improved from Super Metroid, even if you'll get some mediocre ones like the B.O.X. Robot which was a bit annoyingly simple for me.

Much has been made of Fusion's linearity given the most popular of Metroid games, Super Metroid, is extremely non-linear. This is a real graw in some people's jaw, but I didn't have any problem with it for a few reasons. First, Metroid has not always been a strictly non-linear affair, and with how much this game feels like a direct sequel to Metroid II (which is also super linear) it feels appropriate for it to be more linear. Secondly, I dislike the idea that Metroid has to be held in a tiny box of Super Metroid-style non-linear gameplay, both in the sense of not allowing linear experiences and not allowing other non-linear forms. And thirdly, the game itself plays with the linearity in some fun ways to weave together story and gameplay!

The story of Fusion, while maybe having some nuance lost in translation, is pretty fun (especially for a GBA era platformer not in the Mega Man Zero series) and messes around with the player's expectations, while melding that with the story itself. Samus herself isn't really too pleased to have an overseer, for example, but the biggest way the game does so is how the game gets progressively less linear as Samus herself wrests control away from Adam and begins questioning the apparently straightforward mission. The only way to beat the game is to go on your own for a lengthy segment without any guidance as the guidance is lessened over the entire game, until you get to the big surprise climax, and the environments are constantly changing to keep the experience fresh nonetheless. There's also plenty of little secrets to find and the map system has been improved from the last game to let you know if you've gotten an item! So I don't have an issue with it and if anything I find it very nice how well the game's linearness is folded into an in-story reason, that kind of player-character connectivity people will go on about in various games.

This game also nails the extras of it like soundtrack and art style. I love the very colorful look to the game that not only makes it feel alien to Super or Return of Samus but also just stands out environmentally in the process. It feels like a saturated candy kinda color, intentionally garish in spots, and I just love that. The spritework is quite lovingly detailed for the GBA with a lot of wild creature designs that are pretty well defined along with solid animations (Nightmare in the background of the lab, the slime scientist combos all come to mind). And while the soundtrack might not hit GOAT Level Super Metroid status it has plenty of bangers: The Nightmare Boss Theme is obviously one of the highlights, I'd even say the main one, but stuff like the Serris Boss Theme, the SA-X theme when approaching WILL make you tremble and when you get caught it is adrenaline pumping. I'll take this time to note that the SA-X felt like an effective scare monster: The AI may be very primitive, but you will get ROASTED when you do get caught, and it is truly more the buildup that is frightening in this game. The first time you encounter the SA-X is brilliantly designed so that you will almost certainly get somewhere safe via bombing before it enters...and then get to see it from below, waiting to see if it will realize you're there and attack. Or at least that's how it was for me. The soundtrack has this 80s/90s sci fi undercurrent to the soundtrack, which makes perfect sense given the 2002 release date, and harkens back to Metroid's Alien-inspired roots wonderfully. Although this game is more a tribute to The Thing, but I digress.

I can think of a few criticisms for the game, probably the most prominent being the very few truly new power-ups you get in the game. If I recall this game has some of the least "new" power-ups in it and you can really feel that, especially because the Grapple Beam was removed as it definitely could have led to some fun platforming segments. Imagine an SA-X chase over a grapple beam area! As I mentioned, the down-diagonal style of angle can be awkward without the Super Metroid shoulder buttons. The fact the game locks you out from backtracking after a certain point, and not really with clear warning, is a serious kerfluffle for 100% completion (which I didn't do but is very common!) and feels unnecessary. Sure you can go post-game to collect stuff but it feels like there surely was some fix for it.

While I think it falls just under Super Metroid (and roughly equal to Metroid Dread) for me, Super feels more fresh and I find the way it balances the open nature with signposting along with the environmental storytelling more impressive, Metroid Fusion is nonetheless one of the top games I've played and a top end (action) platformer. Atmospherically horrifying, aesthetically pleasing, challenging yet fair bosses and a strong mixing together of gameplay and story, it stands near the apex of both its genre and the Game Boy Advance. Go try it out, trust me: It isn't a big time commitment despite the game having plenty of content, it is an interesting place of gaming history and it is just plain fun.

Jesus Humanity.

Perhaps the worst thing about this game is the bizarre Intentionally behind the design. It's not just that there's no block button and that you're invincible whenever you crouch or jump (which also has flight, but no air attacks!), it's that the AI abuses it too. Or that you become unable to attack if your "Power" level, which goes down whenever you get hit and has the time it goes up depend on your actual health, which the AI WILL use to casually infinite you if your HP gets low enough, because you can grab enemies who are proned on the ground to end it early and then just grab them to deplete their power again and infinite them if their regen is not high enough. The game has horrible turning lag, which is only worsened by needing to double tap back to turn around (this is apparently a setting in the configuration that is on by default for...for some reason). The AI is subject to this as well and so will do the same thing the player does: Use their invincible jump to cross up the opponent and try to throw out their fastest attack. This also leads to the ideal way to beat the AI being HILARIOUS! Keep jumping in place while the AI attacks and try to catch them in an attack to throw them, which they will often jump themselves but you then jump back and so you and the AI keep jumping at each other for like a minute before one messes up. Oh, also, A and B are attacks, but the C button ain't jump and is in fact near useless! Wanna know how you jump and fly around? You hold up. It's as painful as your fingers as you're imagining.

Why is the timer so weird? It's like the devs have no concept of time. It begins at like 90 seconds, yet lasts about 10 minutes real time. Just like...w h a t? The super stiff controls make the platforming parts hell, although the idea of combining a platformer and a fighter is at least interesting, especially since your health is shared between platforming stage and boss fight. To be honest in the right game this could be fun, but Heavy Nova ain't it. Did I mention you don't start with all the moves? Yeah, you have to grab "Level Up" containers around the platforming stages in order to get all of them, and while the early ones are smack dab in the middle of the stage the last one is hidden. This also means needing to fight the first boss without any but like 4 moves which is about as fun as it sounds. More hilariously, fighters with attacks missing in the story mode (because the 2nd player AI ALSO doesn't have all their moves) are still missing them in the 2-player mode, so the first boss for example only has four attacks in the vs. mode. It's downright comical. This game has some instances of borderline unavoidable damage, enemies just out of sight to blow you up immediately, some absolutely BAFFLING hitboxes that will largely whiff for no good reason (same for the AI in the boss fights and missing!), and overall is just poorly designed.

The music is decent enough but mostly uninspired, although I did like that they went ham on the final boss theme, and uh. Game's preeeeeeetty ugly man, these are NOT the best lookin' robots you could find, palette swap heavy game, some real jank. Also stages don't have defined edges, so they go infinitely left/right, which led to the funniest part of the entire playthrough as I used the dash attack to escape the AI, the AI used the dash attack to follow and since they can be held infinitely we just zoomed across the entire screen like Sonic Adventure 2 for like a minute. I will also confess I didn't beat this game without a Game Genie code to have infinite Power because the AI can infinite you with two attacks if you don't have it and it just was TOO obnoxious to handle.

It's a failure on every level, but at least streaming it out to friends was a fun time. Thanks to Vee's review of the sequel for bringing this game's existence to my mind and making my friend go "it'd be Funni if you played it this sounds so BAD I'm curious".

I played Kirby Super Star entirely through co-op with a friend, something which I definitely feel enhanced the experience for me. Oft cited as one of the top tier Kirby games alongside Return to Dream Land, Forgotten Lands and Planet Robobot, Super Star absolutely brings a ton of innovations into the Kirby formula. The Helper system for co-op is fun and I liked how the second player functioned different from Kirby (such as being able to escape death by getting a different copy ability during the death animation) and how like. It's funny having to kinda roll with whatever power Kirby has on the spot and pop out your friend and then change it up later or what have you, it helps keep it from getting stale is what I'm saying. Then of course you get stuff like the ability to Guard, the NOVA, the Halberd, a LOT of stuff with Copy Abilities from how they work from visual appearances to introducing a bunch of new ones, Super Star might not be the first Kirby game around (in fact it is the fourth) but it feels like it and Kirby's Dream Land 2 form the genesis of Kirby as we'd call it today.

As fun as the sub-game and multigame format is, I gotta say that it doesn't really come across the best here. Spring Breeze is cute as a nod to the very first game but it is very much a Nothing mode, being so abridged that you kinda just complete it and then forget. Dyna Blade feels like pretty much directly a marginally more in-depth Spring Breeze, albeit it also is very short, the Kirby gameplay is unsurprisingly a fun vibe as usual (and figuring it out with my friend enhanced the fun) but these felt like very "junk food" modes. They did make me think that this game, overall, feels like it would be much more suited to a handheld experience where you're likely to be flipping between short gameplay sessions (although me and my friend did play shorter sessions). Perhaps fitting given Kirby STARTED on the Game Boy? It does make me think that Kirby Super Star Ultra might be the ideal form for this game to take. Dyna Blade DID make me think a Kirby game with a Super Mario Bros. 3-style World Map (already underutilized) could be fun, imagine one where you can have up to 4 friends and whoever has the most level completed panels at the end gets a fun bonus for some co-opetition! Kirby's large repertoire feels like it would offer up some unique options there.

I assume that it is programming or camera issues that prevent Gourmet Race from being 2-Player here, the camera failing to follow Dedede doesn't matter when it is the AI but would with a buddy, but it frankly blows that you can't play the mode with a friend. It feels like that would be super fun and without that it feels like the mode is more of a Minigame like Samurai Kirby or Megaton Punch than the main "Games" of the group. So while I was enjoying myself early, it definitely starts off overall on a bit of a "Nothing" feel to it. The Great Cave Offensive is...fun, including the BEST boss in the game for sure in Computer Virus, but to an extent it feels like maybe it drags a little bit while at the same time being a touch underbaked? It has the vibes of a bit of a Metroidvania (which makes me wanna try Kirby & the Amazing Mirror), but there's some parts that feel a bit janky (like the cloud area in the final group of levels was a bit of a Thing at points) and I dunno. I did enjoy it and I enjoyed it being a lot more unique than Spring Breeze or Dyna Blade, I could see this being fun to return to for 100% treasures.

Fortunately for this game, the last three modes are all bangers. Revenge of Meta Knight feels like the standout of the entire game as it keeps up a very pounding and frantic pace throughout the entire thing, plus I'm a sucker for these kind of cutscenes in platformers and it felt like it gave it a very unique vibe compared to all of the other games. Not to mention getting to go Wheelie Rider with my friend at the very end was pretty fun, Heavy Lobster is pretty easy but some good boss fight design, the banter of Meta Knight's underlings helped underlie the pace. I can see it being difficult to keep up for a full game but man do I wish there was some more here, I kinda wonder if combining it and Dyna Blade or Dyna Blade and Spring Breeze would have been a good idea. Milky Way Wishes is the longest and most intricate of the modes, bringing in a unique mechanic that treats Kirby's copy abilities more like a Metroid power-up which was fun (though sometimes it did slow the pace sometimes with all the ability swapping me and my friend did) and the levels had a lot more meat to them than most of the game. Marx is obviously a very fun fight (right up there with Computer Virus) and feels like a true challenge of your skills through the game.

That all cumulates with the (secret) final challenge: The Arena, something else Super Star introduced to the series, and in turn inspired Smash Brothers' own All Star Mode. This is a very fun way to do a boss rush mode and Kirby feels particularly well suited for a boss rush format. What powers are you going to choose to go through it? For me and my friend, we began with me on Bomb and them on Mirror for an offense and defense combination, but following a good fight with Computer Virus we tried a Hammer and Mirror combo due to Hammer's stronger per-hit damage. But as we got better with guarding the use of Mirror for defense decreased and so we ended up with me on Bomb and my friend on Beam for a good ranged damage combo with less risk than Hammer. When do you use your tomatoes? Getting riskier and feeling when we could press the edge at low damage was critical to us finally beating it, which was immensely satisfying after three sessions of grinding it out.

Outside of all the gameplay stuff, Kirby Super Star is a very pretty game overall with Kirby being vibrant (I love the little hats they gave him), this isn't really graphics related but I do like that each of the Helpers is their own unique enemy with their own portraits. Kirby gets a variety of portraits and all of them have a lot of personality to it and that personality oozing out really just helps the game a lot overall. Kirby's unhappy "Ouch!" portrait or him looking very nervous when he has the Bomb ability are some real standouts, Sleep and Sword too. The music is also pretty good. Marx's Theme, anyone? Gourmet Race obviously became a classic, although if you asked me for my favorite it would definitely be Meta Knight's Revenge.

Kirby Super Star was truly a game that shone more brightly the further into the game it got. The start is on the weak side, relying entirely on the charm of a polished Kirby experience more than anything, but by the time we get to Revenge of Meta Knight the game starts putting out serious bangers and leaves on a high note. High enough to surpass Kirby 64 as my favorite out of the admittedly-small-number of Kirby games I've beaten? No, but it is one I'd recommend people give a shot, especially if you have a friend with you!

Realistically speaking, this game probably deserves to be more of a 7/10. The roster is pretty small, although I appreciate they went with oddball choices like Ness and Captain Falcon even with a small roster, the gameplay is super busted past any casual level, almost every stage is a gimmick and for some reason you can't unlock reasonable stages that are present in the game like Final Destination.

But Smash Bros 64 does have its charm. While it is certainly the shortest single player experience in Smash Brothers, the Break the Targets stages are creative and fun and it's the only one with the pretty cool Board the Platforms minigame as well. I completely understand why they aren't around any more, imagine designing a unique one for 80+ characters, but it is a bit sad to see them gone. The game also looks rather good for the Nintendo 64 with vibrant colors on stages such as Yoshi's Island and Saffron City. The stages themselves are rather elaborate for the time, Saffron City might be jank but getting to see an iconic Pokemon area brought to full 3D (for the first time!) with tons of little flourishes was a treat. I've also, personally, always rather liked the hit effect sounds in this game.

But ultimately the fact is that what pushes it up that little extra bit to me is this: I used to play this all the time with my mom, easily staying up until 3 AM, and despite the fact she was terrible at it (she can beat NES Legend of Zelda easily but can't remember B/A button differences in Smash) we were able to have tons of fun, the game is good at making sure even if your skill levels are different you can find your own fun. Personal bias, sure, but they're cherished memories and simply make the game better for me personally. Not to mention all the times I did stuff like make my own CPU tournaments, or choose a character, set three of the same CPU in FFAs and record them down in a tournament across all the stages (10 points for 1st, 7 for 2nd, 4 for 3rd, 1 for 4th). It might be outclassed by pretty much every Smash game after, but it's still fun to come back to and everything someone could want at the time.

SUBSTANTIALLY worse than Ninja Gaiden Shadow. While Shadow tried to introduce new concepts to the series from other ninja-based action platformers, Ninja Gaiden (GG) is a pale imitation of the more main series that brings nothing new and feels like little more than a downgraded experience. It also doesn't exactly seem like it "gets" Ninja Gaiden.

Let's get the big issue with this game out of the way: You essentially don't have mercy invincibility in this game. It isn't COMPLETELY non-existent, but it is so much so that getting stuck against just about anything is death. You know what sucks? When you go up to a hit a boss, say one with a slightly large hurtbox like the Stage 4 boss, and because you slightly miscalculated it you clip his sprite's hitbox and take 50%+ damage before you can escape. Or, say, having a moving spike barrier against a wall in the final level, and you mistime it and get hit. Guess what: You cannot escape those spikes until the barrier itself moves because you are caught in constant hitstun, causing you to take 80%+ of your life. This fact alone accounted for at LEAST 66% of my deaths and is probably the main thing that made this game just flatout unenjoyable. It's just not good.

On top of that whenever you're NOT having this issue, the game is EASY. Almost the only challenge in this game comes from cheapness such as having enemies that are offscreen but can fire projectiles. Even then, health pickups are abundant and so dying to enemies essentially only happens if you get wombo combo'd due to a lack of mercy invincibility. Wall snapping to this game is a bit too happy and you will frequently snap to a wall when you were trying to jump up a platform which is annoying. It does sometimes interact weirdly with walls and cause you to fall and die but most of the time it is just overly happy. And on the ship level Ryu will frequently clip into the boats sides instead of gripping on. And whenever a boss isn't clipping into you like a madman, the boss is easy with the exception of the 2nd Stage 4 form which I could not figure out how to dodge and just damage racked. Heck, 2/3rds of the final boss have easily findable spots that the boss CANNOT hit you on and the third stage has an easily observable pattern to make it trivial!

At least it has Ninja Gaiden style cutscenes? Presentation-wise the sprites are, you know, they're fine for a Game Gear game. Especially a year one game that I cannot imagine had much of a budget given it was a made by a studio I can only find info on like "was a game developers outsourced mobile ports too, did such a bad job Capcom never worked with them again" and that SIMS + Sega made their own Master System / Game Gear Ninja Gaiden (...which was so late it only came out in the PAL region and was actually well received but I digress). The sound though, dude, the music is soooooooo soulless and soooooo repetitive and there's some real weird sound effects like this sword twang on the final boss that gets spammed when you hit them and is loud and is annoying. Dunno what's up with that.

There's other bad stuff here too. A big one is that this game is SHORT: It is 5 "stages" but that is deceptive, as one stage is naught but a power-up room and a boss. If you know what you're doing you can easily beat this game in 30 minutes and it has no replayability. No secrets, no difficulty levels, nothing at all. This game has roughly the same amount of content as STUART LITTLE, come on!

Ultimately a tedious and frustrating affair, Ninja "Game Gear" Gaiden will only be worthwhile those with particular interests in exploring the Sega Game Gear's catalogue (it was a top seller when it came out, to no surprise when it was a portable Ninja Gaiden), those who want to DEEPLY dive into the history of Ninja Gaiden, ooooor they just like to play 30 minute-1 hour long platformers out of boredom on a Tuesday night.

Metroid -> Super Metroid is a commonly discussed evolution of the series and one that is absolutely true, with the start of Super Metroid all but spelling it out for the player. But how about this: Metroid II -> Metroid Fusion is a completely parallel yet similar evolution of taking an older title's unique ideas and modifying them. Both of them offer more linear experiences than the game they preceded (Metroid/Super Metroid) that offer a more "horror" vibe to them and revolve around the idea of hunting, with Fusion having you take the role of the hunted and Metroid II taking the role of the hunter. This dual track of Metroid development is very interesting to consider, but how about the quality of it as a game? Well, I'd call it a game that succeeds in spite of itself.

This game runs a LOT on the general atmosphere and "vibes" of the game, this light horror tension as you're walking through stark white (or puke green if you're playing the original original Game Boy) stone enviroments while waiting to see where you're going to run into the tough boss you're going to be hunting down, seeing their discarded shells or floating awaiting your approach and THIS part of the game is pretty effective. There were multiple times where when I came across a long corridor and would move forward in little bursts so I wouldn't trigger a boss if I wasn't ready health-wise and that kind of feel is exactly what the game feels like it is going for. The final Area is particularly strong at this, nearly empty save for the final enemies and a few secrets. It really gives the feeling of traveling through a ruined and desecrated facility, continuing the Metroid trend of strong enviromental finishes to Metroid games which is what kept the game in the 7 star range for me. The strong music helps in this regard, spooky bit tunes and screeches and lowkey enviromental noises that really set the tone. The title theme is a particularly strong one, the transition from the little "scree....scree..." noises to a more relaxing tone is basically how the game goes, the kinda frantic stomping anger of the final boss theme, the general surface theme. This game really doesn't have a LOT of music but it takes full advantage of the primitive Game Boy sound options to make a pretty memorable OST.

I was also impressed by this game's use of visual langauge and how it made a game without a ton of tile variety quite legible, in addition to servicing the background story. For example, you come to the same tiered tile set of platforms in pretty much every area, which is a visual indicator of being that area's "hub" from which you'll be exploring the other areas for their designated Metroids, which gives an effective way to know when you're in a new area when combined with each area having either a unique flying enemy OR a unique hazard at the bottom of it. Simply by looking to see "oh, is this the one with spikes?" was enough to give me a good idea of where I was via mental map, helping with the total lack of an in-game map. Blast doors you need to use missiles on pretty much always lead to something good, while if they lack the missile doors you're in league for a boss fight. That sort of thing permiates the game and is very helpful.

This is great and all but all runs into some pretty serious flaws in the game. I actually didn't find the boss fights too repetitive, there's enough exploration that it turned into more of my brain tinkering how best to exterminate the next boss which given the hunting / "genocide ALL metroids" theme feels intended, but instead the problem I had is how often the fights just felt like a health/missile check. You simply do not have the mobility with Samus' stiffer Game Boy controls and the chunky sprites vs. the screen size to effectively dodge your opponents, let alone easily hit weak points, meaning that a lot of fights felt to me like spamming missiles while tanking hits and hoping my chunky dodging was enough. The Ai exploitability (which I don't blame them for it's an OG Game Boy game for god's sake) adds to this. It DOES mean some of the fights were quite intense, but it adds a pretty hollow element to a bunch of them. There's also a few of them that just do NOT work right, usually involving long vertical drops, the one with fake blocks was a specific low point as 80% of the fight was just trying to even jump to fight it. The fact that the boss only moves when on screen and the way the music/sound effects work also makes it feel incredibly artificial, just not good.

This dovetails nicely into another issue I had: For some reason this game HATES recharge stations, but it doesn't fully commit as something like Super Metroid would later do by locking you OUT from them until you finish a specific area. Instead it just puts them in horribly awkward locations, like on the ceiling or random crevices, making them really easy to forget location-wise or just take a long time to get to. Some even have enemies that circle them you need to dodge and they'll do like NO damage but force you out of the Spider Ball or Space Jump (which you need to access most of these) and now you have to go through like a whole minute of them to get back there. Why is this a thing? I could understand if it was survival horror style scarcity, but no, not only are they often not locked off, but the game frequently puts farming areas w/ enemies that respawn constantly on screen (compared to leaving and re-entering) for you to get your resources back up, so the scarcity isn't really a "thing". It is a very confused design choice.

The map is mostly easy to navigate, but I will say I ended up looking at a guide three times during the game, although I think only one was really the game's fault. The first time was wholly on me because I thought I had checked an area multiple times but despite knowing what each screen is I apparently didn't jump all the way to the top of one. The last time was just convenience after I died to the final boss to see if the area had health/missile refills or if I had to backtrack. The middle time was because I forgot what area had lava to recede after beating one Metroid batch, which DID feel like an issue as it can be kinda easy to forget where the lava areas are, this isn't too bad but it does feel like this game could use a rudimentary in-game map if possible. Even moreso than Metroid 1 in a way: It's more viable to make an in-game map on your home console Metroid game than the Game Boy one that's absolutely gonna be played on the go constantly.

A few general and short thoughts at the end: The platforming here is very simple and never too challenging, but it is still fun if chunky at times. Annoying how various late-game stuff can be when you do it without the High Jump Boots, which ARE optional and which I never found. Enemies being placed at annoying heights was overly common, especially with flying enemies, where it was hard to find a jumping OR crouching height to hit them. This is a rare game where I feel like it looks better when NOT played on a Game Boy Color, so I recommend that.

Real Life Time: 8 Hours 32 Minutes
In-Game Time: 6 Hours 55 Minutes

A rather bizarre game, honestly! I think the difficulty is what throws me off, as there's basically two ways to play: For score, which for the absolutely maximum rank requires the player to not die once while getting a ridiculous number of points, or for speed / pure completion in which case you have INFINITE continues (you only get one life, so every death is a continue) that also does not refill health and gives you back your kinda broken Boost ability at the same time. This means it teeters between something more challenging or something very easy. While I know a lot of people think they're archaic, a lives system feels like it may have been beneficial for a more smooth difficulty curve, or at least being a little bit more demanding with the checkpointing. Note that while you need to never die for the highest rank, you CAN still get high ranks by only dying a few times, so it isn't some totally hit-or-miss thing here.

Leaving all that aside for a moment, I enjoyed this game much more than the original Strider. Hiryu feels smooth to control here (for the most part), and in particular the addition of juuuust a little bit of aerial drift on his jumps makes it a lot smoother to run through and makes you feel more like the futuristic ninja you're supposed to be rather than the lost cosplaying Belmont brother. While the cool options are (sadly) gone, Hiryu gets some secret moves like a backwards flip or a bunch of spinny slashes that add a little dynamicism to the gameplay. I will admit I didn't find THAT much use for them, mostly because Strider just cutting up enemies is so strong, but they have potential and the fact the multi-slashes give you more points encourages you to not just spam the slash button in score runs. Wall jumping and climbing feels niiice in this game, with the only exception being going around corners on a D-Pad sometimes being finicky. I did also have trouble getting the dash out a few times, but I suspect that is more of a Me issue. But with how buttery smooth his jumps and dashes are, it feels gooooood to just slice through hordes of enemies, jumping wildly and doin' some wall climbin' fun.

What's up with the fact enemies seem to just...mostly lack collision damage, though? There's multiple bosses where running into them and spamming the attack button led to easy wins, sometimes dodging their attack patterns, and it felt really weird. The game's entire difficulty curve is mostly low, outside of the end I'd say most stages are pretty easy, but then spiking pretty hard in only a few sections or bosses. Most didn't feel too challenging (I was shocked how easy Meio was!), but there was definitely some that kicked my ass. The game's difficulty only really starts to ramp up in the last level or two, with the final levels feeling particularly harsh (and swapping the game's usual dichotomy of easier stages but harder bosses).

Frankly, my favorite part of the game was probably the vibes and the art. The game for the most part looks goooood, an excellent PS1 spritework combined with some beautiful anime cutscene art. Seriously, look at these! and, uh, ignore the screenshotting making them look kinda worse fsr. Even when the game isn't being mechanically dense, the vibes and control make it a Fun experience. I do think the length is a major downside, being defeatable in under an hour pretty easily and with the end result being that it DOES feel a bit shallow. The game doesn't really expand on its concepts a lot in that runtime and it even ends up re-using some elements within that timeframe in a bit of a lazy way. It also felt disappointing how often the right option felt like just moving right and mashing the attack button, the Scientists miniboss in particular felt actively harder when I was trying to dodge them rather than just spamming. Also while I am going to bet Auto Fire makes the game easier, I think I should have used it because by god does it hurt your thumb to mash attack the way you should in this! They put it in the game, so I'll take advantage of it.

Honestly, I might go for a second playthrough with Hien later since it was short and enjoyable. Totally recommend trying it out of you want some fast-paced, low commitment 2D ninja action in your life!

When it comes to its place in the Dragon Quest canon, Dragon Quest II is a rather interesting one. Undeniably, it improves noticably upon the first game: The addition of party members adds at least some depth to the gameplay, you get to travel the overworld via boat in something that I imagine helped inspire five million other games and the story is slightly more advanced. The thing is, the advancement isn't that much, and in the span of only a year Dragon Quest III completely changes the landscape of Dragon Quest and JRPGs. So, how does this awkwardly placed sequel stack up?

Well, the combat is definitely an improvement upon the first game. Not only does the multiple party allow somewhat more strategy and having to deal with more specialized characters (basically a Warrior, a Warrior/Mage and a Mage), but enemies can now appear in numbers more than one means you can get tougher encounters or a bit more variety. A definite improvement, but I do feel this game really doesn't iterate that much. Ultimately, combat is 90% of the time either using basic attacks or using your strongest spells, in part because this game has almost no bosses and almost no buffs, debuffs or status effects. Despite going to a multitude of dungeons, most of them end on nothing special or a "boss battle" that is just against a horde of standard enemies. There's only one buff/debuff spell, both for defense, and status effects are powerful but with few powerful enemies not used often. There's almost no elemental weaknesses or anything like that, some enemies resist Kaboom etc but that's it, so there isn't a lot of decision making when it comes to spells to use. Basically, it is improved but feels half-baked. I did enjoy it, but in the sense that I can kind of dig old school grindy RPGs from time to time, especially as a game during podcasts or the like. Though I honestly basically didn't need to grind in this game.

One thing I was divided on was the inability to target individual monsters in a group, instead it auto-targets. On one hand, given this is an old school NES RPG it makes things go faster which is nice, and the game's auto-targeting was on point to be optimal. On the other hand, I don't really like losing control of my character and I feel part of why it worked was how incredibly simple the combat system is, and sometimes it would kill enemies under Snooze (who I'd rather wait until later since they're asleep) first because they had less HP than enemies not under snooze. I've heard this stays for many Dragon Quest games, so I'll be interested to see how that works out.

This game is infamously difficult and obtuse, but I had little difficulty with that despite very rarely referring to a guide, I can think of only two times I did. One, to make sure the Yggdrassil Leaf's purpose. Secondly, to check the final boss' resistance to status attacks after I got one on him to see if that was supposed to be a thing. Most NPCs in any given town will talk about some specific thing you'll need or a location, so as long as you talk to everyone you'll be mostly fine. Combat is very easy early on and only really ramps up in difficulty late, I game overed once early walking around with like 5 HP like a dumbass but after that only had a few character deaths even until the end game. While the end game is harder, I actually didn't find it that hard. You'll get Kamikazed or Thwacked if you're unlucky, but Kaboom is so strong it rips through enemies. The final boss is the real pain in the ass and is essentially a luck-based boss, but if you go at it enough they'll go down.

I will note I WAS playing on the Switch version (which is based on the IOS version), which from what I can tell made a few changes (relocating a plot significant item for example)...but it is considered to be "very difficult" by most people I saw AND the final boss is if anything harder. But I didn't have much issue. I wonder if this game only having single target healing trips people up? You really need to keep everyone up at near full HP almost all the time against the tough enemies unless you can kill them, because you can't casually heal everyone. It could also just be because Kamikaze/Thwack make things bad if you're unlucky. The bosses in the final dungeon are an absolute joke though, even if one has a tricky gimmick.

There isn't much to the story but it'll pass you by and considering this is one of the first console RPGs, I don't fault it much, if anything having to search for your party and having defined characters is a notable upgrade from a lot of stuff up to Dragon Quest II's point. The finale of the game even has a cool setpiece. The music is...fine. I don't think anything was particularly memorable, the song when sailing is neat I suppose, but it was enjoyable filler music. Graphically, I think the original game's with their NES sprites is actually nice, the simplistic look combined with the textures gives a lot of room for the imagination to run wild, sadly I had the Switch port which feels like it has very generic cell phone replacement sprites with the exception of the enemy monsters which are still Toriyama. Honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of Toriyama's character design, so it's kinda mid for me there. That's not to say he's bad, just not to my taste.

I also think "up to Dragon Quest II's point" is a bit of a factor. Setting aside Dragon Quest III blowing the lid off things a mere year later, Final Fantasy 1 would come out the same year with a notably deeper battle system with a wider class variety, while Phantasy Star 1 the same year eschews the class variety but goes a lot harder on the story (and AFAIK gameplay depth). Ultimately, the game feels like an enjoyable half-step from the most primitive early console RPGs to the heavy hitters that will follow within its era. Don't be scared off by its purported difficulty if you're into these old school RPGs as it is a fun if basic time, but it isn't going to turn heads if you're not.

Bonus for being able to get an actual Puff-Puff.