With the release of Star Fox back in 1993, Nintendo had proved to the world just what the Super Nintendo was truly capable of, bringing advanced 3D graphics to the console scene where their competition couldn’t, and it definitely paid off in the end. Sure, the game may look extremely primitive by today’s standards, but it was revolutionary for its time, and it managed to sell 4 million copies by 1998, so based on this success, it was clear that not only did Star Fox have a bright future ahead (or so they thought), but so did the Super FX chip. Plenty of devs would then use this chip to develop more games for the system, including Nintendo themselves, who would use it to develop another beloved classic from the SNES’s library… which we will talk about later, but for now, let’s do Stunt Race FX.

I have known about this title for quite a while now, but I haven’t really had any interest in playing it for myself. It looked fine enough from what I have seen on the cover of the game and some short gameplay clips here or there, but it just looked like “the SNES 3D racer” and nothing more, giving me no reason to play it over others. But hey, why not, it can’t be that bad right? I have had good experiences with these experimental titles from Nintendo on this system before, so this one can’t be that much of a downgrade from what we got before. So, I went ahead and played it for a good while, and I did actually end up liking it a lot. I wouldn’t say it is anything revolutionary, or even that much better than other racers on the system, but for what it sets out to do, it does a fine enough job, and I am glad to say that I finally got it out of the way.

The graphics hold the same level of quality as Star Fox did, and by that, I mean it is polygonal as shit and extremely primitive, but once again, it is really impressive for the SNES, and a lot is happening at once to where it is visually interesting to look at at times, the music is pretty good, having some enjoyable tracks that get you in the mood to be racing, but I couldn’t really pay too much attention to that when I am trying to steer this bathtub on wheels, the control works out well for the most part, but of course, given the graphics and the kind of game this is, it can get pretty frustrating to control in plenty of areas, and the gameplay is extremely typical, just being your average racing game… but in 3D!.......... even though that had already been done at this point, but shhhhhhhhhhhh.

The game is your typical racer, where you take control of one of three-four vehicles to race on the track with, each one with their own specifications and stats in terms of speed and durability, race along plenty of different prix and courses across plenty of environments, make sure to stay on the track while maintaining first place against your other competitors, gather several power-ups that can either give you a speed boost or help fix any damage that has been done to your car, and check out plenty of the other modes available, such as obstacle courses, a time attack mode, multiplayer modes, and the bonus stages that will make you tear your hair out. A lot of this is pretty standard for a racing game of this time, but once again, the main difference between this and all the other ones is that it is using ambitious 3D technology, and for the most part it works… well enough, and I had fun with it, despite how rough around the edges it is.

Unlike a lot of racers, where they are all about going fast and making quick turns to make sure that you can reach the goal before any of your opponents, this one takes things a little slower, not just because of the graphics are the frame rate, but also by having cars that feel much heavier to drive around with. This can even be seen whenever you collide with something, as the cars’ parts will jitter around all over the place, with you flopping about like a fish before you can get back on track and into the race again. Some may see this as a downgrade from other racers, and I can completely understand why, but for what it is worth, I think it works well enough for this kind of game. I can’t even imagine what playing this game would feel like if all of the cars were meant to go as fast as cars in other racing games go. It would probably feel like an absolute nightmare to try to get a handle on. Not to mention, this game gives the player plenty of things to do despite how simple its set-up is, so if you end up really liking what you get here, then the game will keep you busy with quite some time with all of the other modes and tracks that you can race on, each featuring plenty of detail and fun inclusions that spice the gameplay up.

Of course, with all that being said, this game leaves a lot to be desired in terms of a 3D racer, even at this point in time. At this point, we have had Virtua Racing, Ridge Racer 1/2, Daytona USA, and even by the end of the year, games like Sega Rally Championship and Cruis’n USA would be released, all of which manage to be great early 3D racers that don’t need to sacrifice speed in order to maintain proper gameplay. Sure, this one has the benefit of being able to be played at home, but not only could it be doing a lot better to keep one’s attention for much longer, but there were also much better racers on the console to check out like F-Zero or Super Mario Kart, making one question why they would bother playing this over others.

Not to mention, while most of the game works well enough to where I didn’t have too many problems with it, the turning on the tracks can definitely give you a hard time, especially when you are taking control of specific vehicles. One instance I had that was really hard to get a proper handle on is with the bonus stages in the prix, where your car would go inside this trailer truck, and you would have to drive it through all of these gates, and let me tell you, trying to turn with this thing is beyond impossible if you are hoping to have a smooth and clean turn. They were trying to make it so that the turning on this thing was as realistic as possible, which I guess I can appreciate for a game like this, but considering that this is the same game where all of the cars have goofy-ass eyes on them, I’m clearly not playing this for realism, and I would just like to have a much smoother race.

Overall, despite there being many better options out there and having the turning be a pain in the ass in plenty of moments, for being the first racing game to take use of the Super FX chip, Stunt Race FX did a pretty decent job with what it had, providing plenty of enjoyable races, modes to try out, and yet another showcase of what this console can really do, and while it certainly doesn’t reach the same levels of other racers that came before and since in terms of quality, it still does a good job with what it has. I would recommend it for those who are big racing fanatics, as well as those who like the more experimental titles on the SNES when it comes to presentation, but for everyone else, again, I would stick with any of those other titles I mentioned earlier before playing this. But hey, I guess if anything, the game is much more memorable than other racing games that used the Super FX chip, like Dirt Racer or Dirt Trax FX. Yeah, bet you don’t know what either of those games are, don’tcha? Don’t feel bad, I didn’t either until I looked it up 2 minutes ago.

Game #548

This is gonna be a conflicting one.

In 2021, I first saw the trailer for NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139. I was a huge fan of Automata and had also played a bit of Gestalt before dropping it, so I was no stranger to the series. I wanted to play Replicant but also wanted to play every prior game beforehand. Alongside going back to Gestalt and finally beating that, I also decided to buy both Drakengard and Drakengard 3 since I knew they were connected to the series somehow. Fast forward to 2022, I randomly decide to finally dive into the Drakengard games. I play up until like chapter 3 or 4 I think and drop the game due to a skill issue. What did I think of it? I thought it was shit! Not only did I not like the gameplay, which most people don't ofc, I also just thought the story was super boring up to that point. The story was the main reason you'd be playing the game, so for me to not be into the characters or story at all, I just wasn't motivated to continue playing it. Fast forward to present day, fellow user Lemonstrade eggs me on to play it as a joke. Well I didn't back down and decided to beat it this time. The first mission or two, I immediately thought "yup this is still shit". But then I remembered some of the gameplay mechanics that made the game more tolerable and bada bing, I started to enjoy myself more.

So let's get into the absolute most contentious aspect of the game, the gameplay. The biggest issue I had with it, and it's still its biggest issue now, is it doesn't flow the best due to the camera. It's a fixed camera depending on what way you're facing and the right stick only tilts the screen a bit and goes back in place when you let go of it. If there's an enemy behind you, this can be really clunky feeling as you manually have to face the enemy before you can see them in front of you. I got used to this pretty quickly but this is the only major issue I had with the gameplay tbh. Otherwise, it's just a perfectly fine hack and slash/musou game. The actual gameplay, not including camera issues, is perfectly serviceable I felt. It actually does get satisfying killing hoardes of enemies while the side characters talk about how brutal Caim is. That plus there's combos that can knock enemies down which makes the gameplay more tolerable, there's summonable characters that can just mow down hoardes of enemies like nothing and the magic that changes depending on what weapon you're using. The combat is surprisingly more in depth than you'd think, and that's not even getting into the air combat. I found that more enjoyable from the start tho that can be even more frustrating than the ground combat at points just because how slow it is to aim sometimes. That's only an issue with later encounters and bosses but either way, the combat in this game? Not bad honestly, it's not great ofc but in the end I found it a lot enjoyable than when I played the game initially.

The music is honestly super fitting and also really experimental and out there. A big chunk of the songs sound like looping messes. It kind of sounds shit at first, and look I aint listening to the OST outside of the game, but it really is memorable. Playing this 2 years later, I still remembered all the early game songs. I wouldn't say I actually "like" the ost, except for maybe a couple of the more comprehensible songs, but it's still a good ost since the game is trying to drive you crazy.

Diving right into the story, I'm gonna just say it. I didn't think it was mind-blowing at all or even that amazing. My issue with not caring about the story or the characters still applied to a good chunk of my playtime here. It wasn't until like the last third, and all the endings, where I was actually interested. I really really enjoyed how crazy it got near the end, and I really loved the dark fantasy elements. I just wish more of the game was like that, and that the earlier chapters weren't so boring. But I also think that was the whole point, it was to subvert expectations and make you think it'll just be a boring fantasy game only to surprise you with all that craziness in the endgame. It also wasn't until post ending A, where you got cutscenes with all the side characters. Those were entertaining every once in a while but I just did not care about the cast in this game. Even Caim, who has an iconic design (which may have been caused by a very iconic user on this site) I just didn't like as much as I should've. I know the whole point of him not speaking is for the characters to describe how awful his slaughtering is and for you the player to basically take his role. That's a cool concept but it just made me not care about his character. It's funny how I'm more positive on the overall gameplay than the story, but the peaks of the endgame story cutscenes overshadow everything else at least. I just wish there was more idk. Also, that final boss, holy shit idk how you're supposed to do that without the pause trick or looking up inputs. I had to do both cuz otherwise I would've just not beaten the game lol.

Additionally, I may not really care about the cast in this game, but I can't deny the voice acting is actually surprisingly good. It's a mix of British and American voice actors but it works surprisingly well, especially for a game from 2003. Aroch, specifically when you summon her and she screams "WHERE ARE MY CHILDREN", holy crap is it satisfying. Idk who voices her but that voice actress was cooking.

So yeah, like I said, it's a very conflicting game for me. Usually you see people either loving or hating this one but I just personally think it's a decent little game that does some really unique things. I'm glad to finally have beaten this as a huge NieR fan and I'm glad I did end up enjoying this one overall. Excited to play 3 in the future, tho I also own that physically too and idk if I'm ready for the framerate lol.

6.5/10

Like with After Burner, I had practically forgotten about the Space Harrier series shortly after I had checked out the original game, which is a shame too, because I had a great time with that game when I played it. The game itself wasn’t all that complex or interesting, and it was pretty short, but like with After Burner, it kept things exciting with its blinding speeds and constant action, fun gameplay, and challenging scenarios which were pretty satisfying to overcome. It’s too bad there weren’t too many other games in this series that were released after the original, but there were a few, so I figured it’s about time I got to playing another one by completely ignoring the weird 3D one and moving straight onto Space Harrier II.

Unlike the original Space Harrier, this one was originally released exclusively for the Sega Genesis, made to be one of the launch titles released for the system right alongside others like The Revenge of Shinobi and Altered Beast, and when you learn that little tidbit of info about the game, you can pretty much figure out what you are getting into with this game. While a good number of these launch titles were original games, games like Golden Axe and Ghouls ‘n Ghosts were pretty much just home console versions of their arcade counterparts, so in many ways, Space Harrier II is essentially an at home version of the original game. It does feature some new elements, some that improved upon some small issues that the original had, but it is pretty much just the original game, except worse, to the point where I can only say it is ok and nothing more.

The story is as basic as sequels get, where Harrier gets a distress call from the 214th sector of space, and when he goes to investigate, he finds that Fantasy Land is being taken over by evil creatures once again, so it is to him to set off on his own to take them all out, which is an alright story, not doing anything new or exciting from the original, but it is a sequel to an arcade game, so I would’ve expected nothing less. The graphics are pretty good for a launch title, looking close enough to the arcade game’s graphics, but with an obvious downgrade in terms of both the animations and general visuals, the music is pretty good, having plenty of good tracks to listen to while blasting robots in the face, but nothing that leapt into my ear and decided to stay there for the rest of the day, and the gameplay/control is identical to that of the original, to the point where you wouldn’t be blamed if you just mistook this game for being a downgraded port of the original.

The game is a 3D rail shooter, where you take control of Harrier, go through thirteen stages through various very-similar lands full of dangerous baddies, dodge plenty of obstacles and enemy fire as you are flying forward at the speed of sound, shoot down as many things as you can, living or otherwise, while watching that score of yours soar higher than you ever thought it could possibly go, and take on plenty of bosses that have such mind-boggling tactics to beat such as shooting them in the face and… waiting a bit, and then shooting them in the face. Any veteran Space Harrier players (all two of you) will be all too familiar with this gameplay style, and be able to jump into it all too well, even if it will most likely make them just want to go back to the original game.

When this game is practically identical to the original, I mean it, as if you take a look at both of them side by side, you can barely tell them apart. This isn’t limited to just the visuals either, because nothing is changed about the gameplay at all, which can be good for those who just want a version of Space Harrier they can play at home without needing some 3D glasses, but it could be disappointing for those wanting some more out of the sequel. But hey, to the game’s credit, it doesn’t feel like a complete repeat, because it does improve on one aspect of the original game: the bosses. There were a good handful of bosses to take on in that original game, but a lot of them were repeated throughout the game, making them not as exciting to get to and take on. Thankfully though, with this game, not only are most of the bosses unique from each other, but a good handful of them do incorporate some challenging scenarios to overcome, which I did enjoy taking down. There is only one boss in the game that you have to take on again (aside from something I will mention in a second), which I am pretty grateful for, and thankfully, the boss that does get repeated is simple enough, so it doesn’t take too long to get through that.

If that doesn’t interest you at all, then I wouldn’t say anything else about this game will. Not only is it basically a worse version of the previous game, but it still has all of the same problems the original game had, such as being extremely repetitive and how the last stage is just a boss rush, even though there REALLY didn’t need to be one. Also, one other thing that did get on my nerves quite a bit with this game in particular is with the frame rate. I’m not the kind of guy that really tends to complain about frame rates in games unless the downgrade is pretty noticeable, and you can definitely see that with this game, as it is chugging along the most of the time, unable to handle a lot of what is going on on screen at once. Obviously, this was gonna be the case no matter what, given the limitations of the Genesis, but it is still something to point out just in case you wanna try this game for yourself.

Overall, despite having more boss variety and keeping the fun gameplay in-tact, Space Harrier II is pretty much a nothing sequel, doing nothing to make itself stand out as better or more original compared to its predecessor, and giving you no reason to check it out when the original is already accessible and readily available for people to play. I could only recommend it for those who LOVE the original game, and just want nothing more then just to play more of it, but for everyone else, you are much better off just playing the first one only, and nothing else from there. It’s no wonder why this series never managed to continue after the second game, only to be brought back for some obscure arcade spin-off game after a decade of nothing…………… although, now that I think about it, if there ever was a modern-day reimagining or remake of the original Space Harrier, that would be pretty cool. I’d be all over that shit, so Sega, if you are looking to revive any more of your dormant IPs, this one is just begging for another chance.

Game #547

For being pretty much the only wrestling game they would ever make, Capcom did a pretty great job with what we got from Saturday Night Slam Masters, providing plenty of possibilities for fights against many formidable opponents, fun moves to pull off, seamlessly implementing some fighter mechanics to make it more engaging, and having the feeling of being a proper wrestling game with the inclusion of items to use and intros for each individual character at the start of a match. The game was really good all around, and it would’ve been cool to see a proper followup to it at some point, expanding on the characters’ movesets, the type of rings you could enter, and possibly raising the stakes with new characters and story elements introduced…………… that would not happen though, and instead, we would get Ring of Destruction: Slam Masters II.

Despite being a wrestling game at its core, the original Slam Masters game did implement enough fighting game elements to where, when the time came to develop a sequel, I guess Capcom was just nervously twitching around, like a drug addict who needed their fix, and just exclaimed to themselves “FUCK IT!”. Thus, what we got out of this sequel was just your typical Capcom fighting game, still being themed around wrestlers and containing several wrestling techniques, while focusing on the one-and-one aspect above all else. That kinda sucks, but at the same time, this was a Capcom fighter from the mid-90s, and thus, it turned out to be pretty damn good, not quite on the same level as some of their other releases around the time, but still great enough to where anyone could go in and have a great time battling it out with friends.

The graphics are very similar to that of the original game, still being lively, having wonderful designs for all the characters and stages, while also having plenty of over-the-top animations for all of them, which is great to see, the music is still effective in getting you in the mood to perform a piledriver on any poor fool that dares to challenge you, and plenty of the tracks are great to listen to whenever they pop up, the control is greatly improved upon here, feeling a lot more smooth and responsive, which makes sense given the company is more suited to this genre, and the gameplay is… exactly like any other one-on-one Capcom fighter, so you know pretty much what you are going to get out of a game like this.

The game is a 2D fighting game, where you take control of one of the ten fighters from the original game, as well as any of the newcomers introduced here, or if you are me, you still just pick Mike Haggar anyway above anyone else, take on plenty of opponents in rings from all across the world, throw out plenty of punches, kicks, and special moves to deplete your opponents’ two health bars down to nothing, perform several wrestling moves during the fights just to remind you that this is supposed to be a wrestling series, and bask in your glorious victory as you prove to everyone else that you are the slammiest master of slam masters. Any Capcom fighting veteran would be able to jump into this with no problems, and for those who were big fans of the original game, while this is quite different from that previous title, you should be able to adjust to this new style pretty quickly and have a great time with it all the same.

While it is a fighting game at its core, the game still manages to keep the wrestling motif front and center, with all the characters being wrestlers of some kind, all of the fights taking place inside of a ring, and with the many different wrestling moves, throws, and techniques that you can pull off. It isn’t much compared to what you could do in the previous game, but hey, it is still there, and they can help change up the tide of a fight and add a little pizzazz into your typical match. Not only that, but unlike the original game, the characters in this game actual have some notable differences between each other, especially with some of the newcomers. For example, there is Rip Saber, a wrestler who is rocking a military theme, complete with military maneuvers and throwing grenades as part of their moveset, and then there is also The Wraith, who is pretty much a zombie-grim-reaper-wrestler-thing, with plenty of spooky techniques to accompany him. It is a little ridiculous when you compare it to the previous game, but since it all takes place in the Street Fighter universe, it all makes complete sense to me.

Despite all of that though, at the end of the day, this is still yet another Capcom 2D fighter, and it plays exactly like you have seen plenty of times before. It still manages to be fast and fun, especially with some friends to fight with, but there isn’t anything else to make this stand out or be more preferable from other options like Street Fighter II or its many, MANY different variations. Not to mention, if you were a die-hard fan of the original game, like it was one of your favorites of all time, then you definitely aren’t gonna like this game. Yeah, it still does have the wrestling theme and several of the moves, but it is a fighting game more than anything else, so it will probably be pretty disappointing for those hardcore wrestling fanatics.

Overall, despite not doing anything too special and completely abandoning the gameplay of the previous title, Ring of Destruction still lives up as a pretty good fighter, one that has plenty of fun with the wrestling motif while still providing the fun, fast-paced and addicting nature that you would find in any of Capcom’s other fighters from around that point. I would recommend it for those who are big fans of Capcom’s other fighters, as well as those who just need another thing to play with friends, because while it doesn’t stand on its own like the original game, you could certainly do a lot worse then what we got here. Too bad though that, after this game, we would never get another Slam Masters game again, and the series would forever be thrown into the realms of obscurity. But hey, the original game would at least get plenty of re-releases overtime………….. while this one would forever be stuck in the arcades. Way to go, guys.

Game #546

Kirby's Adventure was actually the first game I ever let's played when I still had my old YouTube channel back in the day. I chose it because around that time, I got an NES and figured it was a good game to play first because it's so easy. Turns out, I really sucked at the game lol. Since I was using a camcorder and didn't know how to edit videos, I had to keep every single death in too. I may have sucked ass but I truly wish I still had those videos, as sadly they're lost to time now. Anyways, playing this again brought me right back to those memories of making the videos 10+ years ago, good AND bad memories.

Let's start with the biggest addition, the copy abilities. This was the first game to have then. And it kinda shows. You have a ton of classic abilities here; sword, hammer, cutter, needle etc. The NES was very limited with its buttons, so the move sets are super simplistic, but it works well. The reason I said "it kinda shows" was they have abilities that would later just be combined into one. Ice/freeze and fire/fireball. Freeze and fireball are both so much better than ice and fire, there was just no need to have both. But of course, they had to be split due to the NES controller only having two face buttons. Overall, a decent selection of copy abilities but not great imo.

For an NES game, and compared to dreamland 1's graphics, this game looks great. While I'm personally just not a fan of how NES games look in general, this game does have a very consistent color palette which I can commend. It's no Dreamland 3, but again it looks nice for the console it's on.

The OST is ofc good again, all Kirby games are. This game introduced a buncha songs that have become staples now. Butter Bridge is a big one, such a banger. Honestly might be my favorite version of that song too, it's that clean.

The level design is solid though I feel like no level really sticks out and they all just blend together. The levels have these switches that you can find in the stages that unlock little parts of the map outside of the levels, and let me tell you some of them are mean. I only found a couple this playthrough, but I feel like with some of them, you'd absolutely need a guide. Like I said, there's a map. Besides the main levels, there's other stuff you can do. There's little arena sections where you can fight a boss for a maxim tomato. There's a copy ability room where you can get a specific ability anytime you want. And then there's the little minigames that can net you some lives. All of them are fun but my personal favorite was always the crane game.

Something I did not like back then, and this still applies to the NSO version, is the lag that happens in game. Every single room you're gonna get some sort of lag, and sometimes it chugs hard when there's like 4 enemies on screen or a fire/ice/electric effect is happening. I get they wanted to make the game look super good but it was at the cost of the game not running well which stinks. Apparently the 3DS version fixes this funnily enough? But the E-Shop is now closed so ahhh that blows. Also I never really liked how you barely have any invincibility frames in this game. The game is easy but it can be super easy for enemies to stun lock you in certain circumstances, especially since enemies respawn. Not a huge issue but it did annoy me somewhat even on this replay.

This game brings back a lot of good memories but sadly this was never one of my favorite Kirby games. It's definitely a solid time but I like most of the other mainline games more. Honestly, I think I like Dreamland 1 more just because it's so short and comfy. Ah well, still recommended for anyone looking to get into Kirby or NES games in general!

The original Athena game was, without a doubt, the absolute worst game that I had ever played from SNK so far. I could admire some things that it tried doing, such as having plenty of neat items and upgrades to find that encouraged exploration, as well as the fact that the game didn’t take itself too seriously given the story, but all of that couldn’t distract me from how horribly the game controlled, how relentless it was right from the start, how awkward it felt to do anything aside from walking to the right, and giving you little chance to do anything to defend yourself from the start before you are ambushed by all the enemies that are thrown at you. I don’t understand how anyone could release a game like that and say it was good and ready to go back in the day, or even how they thought that following the game up with a sequel would be a good idea, but nonetheless, we got one just one year later in the form of Psycho Soldier.

Naturally, I wasn’t looking forward to checking out this game whatsoever. The original game had already left such a bad taste in my mouth after the short time I had experienced with it, and given SNK’s pattern with sequels, I assumed this was gonna change practically nothing about the formula, and it would end up being yet another complete mess of a game. However, in the biggest plot twist of the 20th century, Psycho Soldier actually turned out to be a MASSIVE improvement over the original game in just about every way. I wouldn’t say that it is anything more than just simply being good, and it also has its fair share of issues that did get in the way of how much fun I was having, but needless to say, I would choose to play this game over the original Athena title any day of the week.

The story is a bit more generic than that of the previous game, where suddenly out of nowhere, evil creatures from the land of Shiguma appear on Earth, Japan specifically, and start terrorizing its many citizens and destroying everything in sight, so it is up to Athena Asamiya, a descendent of the Athena from the previous game, to team up with her friend Sie Kensou to take out the villainous scourge using their psychic powers, which is a basic enough set up, and it works well enough for what this game is. The graphics are very similar to that of the original game, but it does look a lot more appealing, both in terms of the environments you travel through and the designs of the characters, enemies, and bosses, the music is good, having plenty of enjoyable tracks, and even one that has someone singing what I can only assume is the theme song of the game… with the singing being incredibly compressed and amateur as shit, but hey, A for effort I guess, the control is much better here, with you having plenty of control over what you are doing and all of your actions feeling just right, and the gameplay is also a major improvement, mixing things up to where it isn’t as ambitious as its predecessor, but this style is executed much better here, which I prefer as a whole.

The game is a 2D action platformer, where you take control of either Athena or Sie, go through a set of six very similar stages through several different environments, jump in-between each lane and take out the many enemies that you will find along your journey to prevent them from getting an upper hand on you, get plenty of different power ups, weapons, and special items to help you out along your journey, and take on several different bosses or enemy gauntlets that range from being relatively manageable to the exact kind of difficulty that you would expect from an arcade game. In most aspects, it is your typical arcade platformer, but that is a step up from the last game, which was an abnormal arcade platformer, so I will take it at this point.

If I were to make any comparison of this game to something I have already reviewed in the past, I would say that it is a more flashy version of SonSon from Capcom. The game will constantly be scrolling from left to right, and you will need to hop up and down between four different rows to not only take out enemies, but also to get the various different power ups in the game. This definitely isn’t the kind of platformer I like to play, but for the most part, this kind of approach works, and you can cover a lot of ground in these levels before the screen forcibly pushes you to your next destination. In addition, the weapons and power ups that you get while playing this game are pretty fun to mess around with. From the start, you are equipped with a lightning laser shot that can be upgraded to get bigger and do more damage, as well as these spinning orbs that will surround you whenever you are on the ground. Not only do these act as a shield from incoming projectiles, which really helps in plenty of cases, but you can also throw them at enemies to do more damage and to break blocks quicker, making some sections a breeze when you are caught in a jiff.

In terms of actual new weapons that you can get, the sword makes a return from the previous game, and it is a lot more useful this time, because not only can you use it to slash your way through enemies, but it also helps break a lot of the bricks in the level much faster, allowing you to find more items and to get a move on in the stage. But none of that compares to the best power up that you can get in the whole game, where if your energy bar is full and you find a big green egg in the level, you can turn into a whole ass phoenix, able to fly all around the stage and set your enemies ablaze with your fire breath. Unfortunately, this form is temporary, as it does go away upon beating the stage you are currently in, or if you get hit too many times, but it is still fun to just decimate everything in your way with this transformation.

Naturally though, since this is an Athena game we are talking about here, it has several issues that I was not that big of a fan of. Arcade syndrome is present in this title, and while things start out pretty smoothly, and you can build up plenty of support to protect yourself, by the last couple of levels, there will be enemies and projectiles flying around everywhere at you, to where it feels impossible to beat the game without at least a couple of credits on stand by, which does kinda suck. That’s not the only aspect of difficulty in this game though, as while the scrolling of the stage is slow enough to where you won’t feel like you constantly have to hold down the right stick to not die, there can be plenty of instances where you will get ambushed by an enemy or so in a corner, and due to the fact the screen is constantly moving, you have no choice but to die just to get a move on, and that shit always blows, no matter what kind of game it comes from.

And finally, while there are plenty of power ups that do help you out and make you stronger, there are also several power downs, taking away whatever you got for yourself and leaving you extremely vulnerable. There will be these red beams with skulls on them that will drain all of the energy from your meter, not only making you less stronger, but also giving you very little chance to transform into your phoenix form or get better equipment, which especially sucks when you don’t see it coming until it is too late. That doesn’t even compare to the worst power down, the golden skull, which upon contact takes away EVERYTHING from your arsenal. Your sword, your orbs, your upgrades, all of it: gone. It is absolutely painful to run into one of these, especially in some instances where, again, you don’t see it coming until it is too late, and you end up feeling like a chump as a result.

Overall, despite the difficulty in certain areas, the power downs, and the scrolling getting in the way of your enjoyment at times, Psycho Soldier was still a good game that I am glad that I checked out, excelling in every area that Athena fumbled in through several means, and providing you with a fun and engaging time that I would say is worth checking out for a good while or so before moving onto something else. I would recommend it not only for those who liked the original Athena, but also for those who HATED that game as well, because while this isn’t a masterpiece by any means, it does still manage to be more competent and enjoyable then that piece of shit ever managed to be. It’s too bad though that, after this game, we would never see any hint of a third game in the Athena series ever again………….. until 12 years later, that is. Because I guess the demand for another one of these games was just too high at that point, clearly.

Game #545

A very clearly LucasArts inspired adventure game, Mystery really captures the essence of the cartoon and offers some fairly obtuse challenge for better AND worse. The Mega Drive version is a bit shorter, but has some fun art variances that make it worthwhile in my book even if the "inferior" version.

Played it so much as a kid before I was smart enough to beat adventure games but am very happy to come back after my Grim Fandango days to see why they grabbed me to such an extent even when I stayed stuck.

Actually really really good! Caught me extremely off-guard. Somewhere between Lemmings and modern programming games like Exapunks or Human Resource Machine, this title has you guiding a small monkey named Bazaru (the mascot for the PC-Engine system in Japan) through hazardous obstacle course by pre-loading his actions in a chain of events.

You can use simple commands like jumping and running, but also have access to wilder ones like sleeping, moon-walking, or a spin-dash-like roll.

It's short but incredibly fun, and its child-like art direction keeps it feeling fresh and bouncy even once you reach some of the harder puzzles. Definitely worth the time for puzzle fanatics.

It may be a bit premature to say, since I haven’t really thought about it all too much, but out of all of the shmups that I have played and reviewed so far, the original Aero Fighters was definitely one of my favorites that I have covered. It definitely had its fair share of quirks that I wasn’t a fan of, such as how short the stages can be and how the game makes you beat it twice in order to beat it completely, but it had multiple characters to select from, plenty of fun shot types to mess around with across each characters, and enough explosive action to make my brain go brr in excitement, which was all enough for me at the end of the day. And hey, it was enough for plenty of others as well, to the point where it would end up getting a sequel not just for arcades, but also for the Neo Geo systems, to ensure that the series would join the SNK Cinematic Universe, or SNKCU, which is totally a real thing. So after two years went by, we would then get the sequel to the original game in the form of Aero Fighters 2.

Repetition is the name of the game when it comes to most shmups, and if there is anything SNK was good at back in the day, it certainly was repetition. While this hasn’t been the case for all of their titles (from what I know anyway), a lot of SNK’s major releases around this era, especially when it comes to their fighting games, have very little differences between them to make them stand out from each other, so it only makes sense that they welcomed a series like Aero Fighters into their family. What I am trying to say here if you haven’t picked up on it at this point is that Aero Fighters 2 is a very “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” title, which in this case is a good thing, because Aero Fighters 2 turned out to be yet another pretty good game, one that doesn’t quite surpass the original game, but one that still manages to be fun and frantic for any shmup enthusiast to enjoy.

The story is, what a shocker, aliens are attacking the world again, and it is up to you and an even bigger cast of even more colorful characters are the only ones who can take them down, which I would say is extremely lazy, but the pretty colors and explosions are distracting me and making me forget about all of that. The graphics are almost identical to the previous game, which I would be a teensy bit upset about, but it is an SNK game after all, so there is no use in complaining at that point, the music is pretty good, having plenty of great tracks to listen to while blowing shit up, even if nothing really stuck with me after the playthrough, and the gameplay/control is also identical to that of the original game, which some people could be tired of at this point, but again, I can’t focus on that because of the pretty explosions.

The game is your typical arcade shmup, where you take control of one of eight different characters in different fighter jets, go through a set of ten different stages through locations around the entire world, and even in the depths of space, shoot the fuck out of everything on screen, even if it isn’t trying to kill you at all because you need them bonus points, gather plenty of different powerups to assist you along the way and gather plenty of money icons to increase your points so you can dominate those other chumps in the high score table, and take on plenty of big, bad, and overly-detailed bosses that are a blast to fight, both figuratively and literally. It has just the right blend of familiarity and adrenaline that can be imprinted into your head and make you not want to stop playing, as it remains really fun, despite how, at the end of the day, not too much has changed from the original game.

To summarize this game as a whole, it is basically just Aero Fighters but with more stuff. Not only are all of the stages, bosses, and obstacles that you find new, but there is also more content as a whole, and more fun quirks added to make it that much more memorable and enjoyable. You can even see that as early as whenever you are selecting which fighter jet that you are going to use to use, as not only is there a greater selection then in the last game, but the pilots themselves also have a lot of personality to them, with some of them consisting of an actual baby, a robot, a ninja, and even a motherfucking DOLPHIN! Seriously, how can you not like that? Not to mention, there are more stages, more weapon types to mess around with, more explosions to be seen, and more fun to be had, so if you have a friend that is also a big shmup person like you, you two can jump in and have a really good time with all that is given to you here.

However, for those of you who aren’t so entranced by the art of bullets making contact with objects and watching them burst in an explosive way, then you will probably not find too much enjoyment out of this game, as it is not only yet another typical arcade shmup, but it also has basically zero changes from the original for the most part. Not only that, but the game doesn’t fix any of the problems that I had with the original, with it still being too short, only around 20 minutes or so, and you still have to play through the game twice in order to get the true ending. This isn’t too much of a big deal, especially since the stages themselves are really short, and not to mention there are these new types of stages that just pour power-ups down your throat like it’s candy, but it still doesn’t warrant a second playthrough just to see the stages again with maybe one or two new bosses. Or maybe it does for you, I dunno, but I’m a real one-and-done guy when it comes to shmups, so this is disturbing my natural flow, and I hate it.

Overall, despite its lack of change and its refusal to fix any of the issues I had with it from last time, Aero Fighters 2 manages to still be a really good shmup from the mid-90s, one that gives you all the explosive, fast and fun gameplay that you expect from this series, and one that is just baaaaaaaaaarely better then the original, by a small margin. I would definitely recommend it for those of you who were fans of the original game, as well as those who are shmup fanatics in general, because while you may be short changed of new content, you certainly won’t be short changed of that good ol’ fashioned arcade fun. Again, I have to ask, how can you hate a game where you fight a giant space monkey as a boss? Not only that, but they even one-up themselves here by having a giant eyeball with human hands, and a… weirdly anime-esque octopus boss………….. Japan is weird.

Game #544

This game is absolutely stunning visually!
Combat and movement is fluid and speedy!
Depiction of Gotham City is eerie and clearly crime ridden mainly due to the event of the story.

But I couldn't see myself enjoying this as much as the others in the series, noticeable crashes at random parts, feeling way too overpowered at times, to a point that I did not even play predator sections how they were intended because it was so easy to go guns blazing!

Best thing about this was the story tbh, I was shocked with it! The whole Arkham Knight reveal got me! and seeing Batman struggle to process Joker is dead is a sad one to see.

Although I have yet to do Knightfall protocol, Im kinda sick and tired of Riddler so I cba to do it, might just look it up.

But my god the whole setting and the way the story overlaps with the side quests was a welcome one, even if Deathstroke was underwhelming. Kinda makes the tease for him being part of the suicide squad irrelevant Fuck you Arkham Origins!

Over the course of time, specific genres in video games have become staples of the industry, to where we wouldn’t be able to imagine it without them nowadays. Platformers, adventure games, metroidvanias, first-person shooters, visual novels, and of course, role-playing games, or RPGs are just a few of the genres that continue to be relevant to this very day, through brand new releases that either try to reinforce what the genre is capable of delivering, or even ones that try to elevate the genre to new heights that weren’t thought possible before. However, it wasn’t always like this, for some genres like RPGs weren’t always as big of a staple on the industry as they are now, in America anyways, being outshined by other genres like platformers, shmups, and fighting games at every turn. Some developers would take notice of this, and as a result, they would try to make these types of games more “accessible” to audiences in these territories, all for the better… and for the worst. One such instance of this would be with one odd-ball of a title known as Final Fantasy Mystic Quest.

At this point in time, Squaresoft, the primary developers of the Final Fantasy series, had been working towards making RPGs more accessible through audiences in several ways, such as with the release of Final Fantasy IV in the US being noticeably much easier than the original version, because Americans just can’t handle a game with normal difficulty! They are too stupid, obviously! With this mindset in mind after changing up that title like that, they would then go onto making Mystic Quest, the first side game in the series that was specifically made with the U.S. market in mind, which, as we have seen from games like ActRaiser 2, isn’t exactly the best mindset to have when you are making anything. But nevertheless, the game was released, and has gone onto having a divisive reputation ever since. I only played through the game for the first time a few months ago, and from that experience, I can say that, as a whole, the game is… ok. It definitely has some interesting ideas and quirks that do make it stand out from the rest, but it is primarily a repetitive and sluggish experience, one that never elevates much further then what you are presented with.

The story is, appropriately, extremely basic, where a young adventurer by the name of Benjamin has his village destroyed seemingly out of nowhere, and he is informed by a strange old man that, because of this, he must fulfill the “knight’s prophecy”, where he must travel across the four continents, gather the four crystals, and use them to defeat the demon king, so Benjamin then sets out to do just that, which is a very basic premise, one that is way simpler then what FFIV gave us, but it does fall in line with previous FF games, and it is as simple as they are wanting, so I guess I can excuse it. The graphics are good, having plenty of good monster and dungeon designs, but a lot of it does feel uncreative and artificial, much like the rest of this game, the music is pretty good, having plenty of great tracks that I enjoyed listening to like the battle theme, but it doesn’t quite reach the heights of previous games’ soundtracks, and the gameplay/control is very familiar to those who have played any other Final Fantasy game before this, except now it is much more simplistic to the point where a toddler could play this game and have an easy time with it.

The game is a traditional turn-based RPG, where you primarily take control of Benjamin, go across a vast overworld through four different continents, talk to the many inhabitants of the world who will either give you helpful hints/advice or help you on your journey in some way, find plenty of items that you can use to either upgrade your defense, mobility, or attack, purchase items from the shop, or heal yourself whenever you need to, and naturally, get into random battles, where you will attack your opponent using either your main weapon or whatever spells or items you have lying around in your pockets, gain experience points, and level up to increase your stats. Any RPG veteran knows this set-up by heart, and they will be able to get used to how this game works pretty quickly… in fact, too quickly, if you ask me, and while a lot of it is passable and appealing to said veterans of the genre, it is also completely shallow in its execution in many areas.

If I were to describe this game in one sentence, I would say it is a Final Fantasy game made for babies. Everything about the game, which we have seen time and time again from previous games in the series, has been extremely simplified and dumbed down for the player, which could aid less experienced players along, yes, but it also becomes mind-numbing and unengaging as a result, therefore making it tedious to trek through. Some stuff in the game remains the same, such as walking through towns and dungeons, talking to people, buying items from the shops, and sleeping at inns, so that is all well and good, but in terms of the raw gameplay, the meat and potatoes of what any player would come to an RPG for, that has all been completely changed around for the worse.

Starting off, we have the overworld of the game, which is no longer a vast open land that you can explore freely to see what kinds of locations and creatures you can find, but instead, it has turned into a world map from a Mario game. You travel from location to location with nothing in-between, which does make things faster and more convenient, yes, but it also completely removes any sense of an adventure or its grand scale from this entire journey, making it feel empty and lifeless. The same can be said about the battles themselves, which are no longer random, but instead, every single enemy you can fight in this game appears on the map, to where a lot of the time, you can simply avoid them if you don’t feel like fighting them. Not only that, but instead of encountering enemies while walking along the overworld, you now have these designated enemy spaces, where you can fight 10 different battles in the row to get a certain reward.

Once again, this is a very beginner-friendly approach to something you would typically find in one of these games, which I am all for, but the problem with this is, to make up for this, they spam the fuck out of these enemies, especially in later parts of the game. If you choose to fight every single creature so that you can get as strong as possible (which I tend to do in most RPGs), then you will be spending hours just fighting these random enemies over and over and over again, each one dealing out the same EXP every time, and it is, once again, an absolute slog to go through. Yeah, you can avoid plenty of these fights, but there will be many instances where you CAN’T avoid these fights at all, and will be forced to take on every single thing in your way, and you can imagine how fun that would be.

And speaking of which, the battles themselves aren’t that much better than what you find outside of them. The Active Time Battle system is gone from this game, and we are back to the traditional turn-based system, and it works pretty much how you would expect it to, with the only real difference in this being how the perspective is shifted from the back rather than the side. That is cool and all, but what makes these battles so boring would be because of, again, how simplistic they are. The enemies barely do anything that’ll cause too much harm for you, and even if they do, you can just easily remedy that in a matter of seconds, given how much money you are given to purchase potions and elixirs for healing and revive spells, and the only thing you need to do in order to win these battles is just to spam the attack button and then wait until you win. Not all battles are like this, but it is rare you will find a fight that needs a little more strategy then that to win, and while this is, again, beginner friendly, it is still extremely mind-numbing and boring, especially with the previously mentioned abundance of foes that you will need to take on, a lot of the time at once.

However, with all that being said, I can’t say in good conscience that this game is bad, because it really isn’t. It lacks any of the complexity and innovation that previous Final Fantasy games had, and it can be a chore to go through, but it does manage to accomplish the one goal that it sets out to accomplish: being an RPG for beginners. I could definitely see someone who isn’t really familiar with RPGs at all being able to sit down, play this game, and have a good time with it, even if it wouldn’t be my first recommendation for someone who isn’t all too familiar with the genre. In addition, while a lot of the gameplay features here have been dumbed or are just not that fun to deal with, I do like some of the mechanics and ideas that this game tries out.

For one thing, in a lot of the dungeons and towns you go through, you can interact with various things using your weapons that will help you proceed forward, such as with cutting down trees with your axe, pressing buttons with your sword, or climbing along walls using your claw. It doesn’t offer too much variety, but it does offer some more mobility through these dungeons that hasn’t been seen previously, which is nice. Not to mention, you can jump as well, which also increases the mobility you have in a lot of areas, and as a personal note, I also like how, whenever you are dealing damage to an enemy, their appearance changes depending on how much health they have. It isn’t much, but it is a neat little touch that makes battles somewhat more enjoyable.

Overall, despite its beginner-friendly nature and some interesting ideas that I enjoyed messing around with, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest is one of the most bland and basic RPGs that I have ever played in my life, one that doesn’t offer anything revolutionary or interesting for this series or genre as a whole, and instead ends up being a repetitive slog that you can beat in a single day if you spam through a lot of the fights by just attacking over and over again with no thought. I would recommend it for those who are HUGE RPG fanatics, or for those of you who aren’t familiar with them and want to give the genre a shot, because despite all my gripes with it, who knows: it could potentially become a new favorite of yours. Although, if you are asking me, I would recommend a Pokemon game for your first RPG, preferably FireRed or LeafGreen. Those games at least have adorable creatures you can catch and battle with. This game has some creatures that you could say are adorable, but I can’t catch them……..

Game #543