(meant for cartridge version)
This is an addicting and very well designed puzzle platforming game, the game fully explores it's mechanics and almost never reuses a puzzle or course layout, it's extremely creative. The main mechanic is storing and placing blocks to reach platforms, as the game goes on it introduces new mechanics that all add to the core platforming.

This is also one of the hardest games of it's kind you will find, for me it was refreshing to find a game that simply did not hold back, no idea or precise movement was considered too much by the developers, the game takes it's time training you to be the best at it, then expects you to be the best, I was able to fully complete it without any hints or guides and it was one of the most satisfying game experiences I've had with a SFC/Snes game.

Still I have to mention that this game will not be enjoyable for everyone, if you don't have the patience or time for it you will likely get frustrated and give up on it, and if you aren't into precision platforming with puzzles it does not offer much else.

This game being extremely difficult might sound like it will lead to frustration and overly punishing difficulty and it can get close at times, but don't let it intimidate you.

This game is accommodating for less skilled players and casual play. If any puzzle is too much there are hints that give you the info needed to solve the course, for the game to be this difficult you need responsive and intuitive movement and it has that as well.

The game is designed around using a built in save-state so you can save right before a precision jump or possible softlock and retry as much as you like (and you definitely should!)
it's balanced around perfecting every step so you can replay without saving or checking hints, and doesn't have any real penalty for using it.

In addition to everything I've written the game is full of content, an amount that I found surprising, not counting optional tutorials there are 120 levels to play through and some secrets to search for, along with extra endings for meeting certain requirements.
It will keep you busy for awhile, I've had this game for over 5 years and I still replay it while trying to get faster completion time.

You'll be spending up to an hour or more per level when the game starts getting really difficult so it's good that there's catchy and calm cheery sounding music playing it's enjoyable, but not something I'd search for outside of the game.

Lastly you would expect a game form 1999/2000 on the SFC to look great and the game has very nice detailed visuals, the backgrounds use lots of color and are highly detailed the in-game characters are smoothly animated and the environments look good too.
The backgrounds are static images some animation or layers would've been nice but that's the only negative I have with presentation. overall it has a polished presentation.

All of this adds up to being what i consider to be one of the Super Famicom games that I have enjoyed the most, play this however you can especially if you like this genre, it is something special.

This is one particular game that my perspective has wildly changed over time, I'm still on the fence how good I consider it to be.

What I can say for sure is that you will not find another N64 game that has so many unique and risky ideas crammed into it, it doesn't always stick the landing and can come off as incoherent at times, but no matter what the game is fun (about 90% of the time anyway) There's so much "charm", style, and personality that really comes through in this game, in a way that few games of this genre have. It's one that I can tell the developers actually enjoyed making.

The story of this game is complete nonsense it's very quirky and random, there is a plot but this is not a game you should play for story and it isn't meant to be taken seriously, even though they clearly spent a lot of time on it, the game is full of cutscenes and character interactions, the best aspect is how much character is given to the main protagonist.

The movement in the game is perfect, you can cancel other moves into each other and this creates opportunities for more skilled play. The movement and variety in what control you have is amazing and extremely well polished.
One problem most players will probably deal with is that the way you control the game is also completely non-traditional and will take some time to adjust to, it can be a lot to come to terms with.

The point of the game is to grab, throw, and shake things and there's secrets and small simple puzzles built around it.
The bosses are very unique and fun to fight, mostly a test of reaction and problem solving.

I went back to play this years later and noticed how easy it was to break, and how some bosses are just a pattern of moves you repeat until it's defeated, and many levels are a gimmick and nothing more, at times it's so easy it's mindless, few parts were truly challenging it felt shallow in ways I hadn't noticed before.

Even worse is that the game doesn't have any "real" levels until halfway through world 1, they knew the controls would be hard to learn so it's a disguised tutorial that teaches all of the mechanics, this is great your first time, but repeat playthroughs these aren't as fun.

Now I tried going for 100% and then speedrunning it, and I realized what the developers were going for, sometimes the game is expecting you to create your own difficulty and try a certain playstyle and it isn't inherently difficult.

It's a lot of fun dashing through levels, and defeating bosses quickly without making damage, this game can be fun in that when you're good it makes you feel invincible and it is rewarded with a letter grade for how fast you were.

The sports competition level (yeah there's a sporting event level) is the big low point of the game for me and I never look forward to it, it doesn't really fit the rest of the game and doesn't add anything worthwhile character or story related.

There are a few places where the frame-rate drops sometimes in the 20s or 15s and those stick out unfortunately, the game typically will run at 60 and when it really counts and matters (when precise timing is needed) it doesn't slow down thankfully.

The worst thing I can say about this game is that it just ends too early, it feels likethere should have been a bit more, the final world is just a few empty levels with some (very good) bosses at the end, it feels a bit unfinished but it doesn't overstay it's welcome.
A few of the bosses really are just throwing them over and over for 3-4 minutes while they do nothing and those are just bad.

The main boss fights are definitely the best part of this game, I replay them the most and they are varied and have mutiple phases, in addition to just looking really cool, even for an N64 game there are moments that left me speechless because of how stylish and impressive they were, this game can be technically and artistically impressive sometimes.


The soundtrack fits the game, it's super weird but extremely catchy and has a good number of themes, most levels will have their own theme so they don't get repeated to much, and the boss themes really create intensity and tension that adds a lot to the "feel" of fighting the harder enemies.
It's unforgettable, for better or for worse you might hate the wierd music.

Characters have voice lines that are very memorable too, so there's that.

The game is 2D, meaning not polygonal, it's almost entirely pre-rendered so if you typically like or dislike that look you will probably feel the same here, the game does this quite well, and the animations are expressive and detailed the backgrounds are nice to look at.

Overall this game is hard to rate and even harder to sum up because it's all over the place, a real mixed bag, it just so happens that I enjoy a large portion of what it has to offer.
This is a very devisive game but you will never know what to expect and it's one that will likely stick with you. If you enjoy a unique challenge this may become one of your favorites but it may take some time to come to terms with it's strange quirkyness, there really is no other game like it.

It has several shortcomings, but the highs make up for a lot of it to me, you might not be so forgiving though.

A Bomberman like no other (except Bomberman pocket adventure on Game boy)
This game doesn't follow series tradition and basically does it's own thing, you can jump. That might sound mundane but Bomberman does not jump, he just doesn't (well except in this game obviously).

The way you attack in the game is bombs as you would probably expect, though you mainly throw them in this game.

The writing is terrible, I think they shouldn't have bothered with this games' plot, just skip the cutscenes thankfully that's an option, you wouldn't be missing anything.

It's a fun, decent action platformer, the platforming works momentum feels good and most levels are enjoyable to navigate.
Any time you have to use a vehicle the game takes a very steep drop in quality and enjoyability, it does add some needed variety and a few of the vehicle levels are fun, but most of them slow your character down a lot and remove the platforming element. Aside from the snowboarding levels, those quick and enjoyable though a bit unpolished.

For about every 6 good levels there's one dreadful boring one, but they usually won't take too long to get over with.
You will dread the underwater levels, you move extremely slow in addition to those levels running at 10fps for whatever reason, they leave a horrible impression.

The level design isn't very cohesive and you kind of just repeatedly stunlock enemies with your explosions until they blow up, it's not a very deep game, the "combat" is not it's strength, this is ok since the focus of the game is platforming and enemies are more of an obstacle.

This was an early N64 game and it's very noticeable, many N64 games have low quality blurred textures and this one doesn't try to hide it, it can be just ugly at times, some enemies are so poorly modeled that you can't even tell what they're supposed to be, there's some"charm" in it's simple visuals especially if you are nostalgic for this system.

I wouldn't say it's just bad looking overall, just that you will notice the blurry look it looks about as good as most mid-budget 3rd party N64 games.

There's a pretty good amount of levels and completion rewards just don't expect multiplayer, this game doesn't have it.

The most well known thing about Hero is the music, if you like "drum and bass" style it's legendary, it's one of my favorite game soundtracks on the N64 and it's well done for what it is, even if the tracks are short.
If you hate this style this will not change your mind.

For 3D Platformers you could do a lot worse, this one is pretty good all things considered.

It's fun though a bit too easy, the lives system is pointless, losing does nothing and a game over is fairly unintrusive.
The bosses (which are sometimes copy-pasted) are not challenging, deep, or impressive in any eway, they're just kind of there.

The levels are fun and use the water mechanic in interesting ways, it feels good to move around in this game, just playing the levels is the best part.

Some missions are great and others are very annoying, you cant play them out of order anymore which is a major disappointment.

It's a good game, has some noticeable problems but it's otherwise inoffensive and a good playthrough.

I would be more forgiving if you got more than a static after-credits image for getting all of the tedious blue coins, no reward for 100% is a huge misstep to me in any game where you collect medals, stars, or whatever.

I went into this game expecting the worst, late release, no one talks about it, I was burnt out just having finished the other Kaitos game, this game wasn't cheap used and it left me with a horrible first impression.

So I'm extremely glad that I eventually came back to it and gave it a chance, I went from not thinking anything of it to it being possible, or very close to being what I consider to be the best RPG game that generation, and I truly mean that.
Every single problem I had with the first game was improved in this Prequel game.

This is an RPG where you use a deck of cards as attacks in battle, it's explained in the story and is part of the lore of these games, it sounds boring and un-fun to use cards but in practice it's more of a nice theming story element than a game mechanic.

This game looks incredible, if you've played other
Tri-ace/Monolith games you will know what to expect, it has the same kind of level of detail and art you might see in Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile, ect
Except both Baten Kaitos games have a sky/nature themed art style, it's really impressive and highly detailed, most backgrounds are animated, and are often layered creating a real sense of depth, considering the game takes place on floating continents this is very important. I often would just stop and leave the game running while appreciating the art and music.

Everything about the game starts slow, and this is my only complaint and it's a big one, the story is a "slow burn" and the first town you start in is actually a maze-dungeon that is dreadful to navigate, it took me 4 hours to get to the "good part" It's honestly horrible and probably a large reason why fans of the first game typically regard this as a bad sequel after playing a few hours and never coming back.

If you start this game or have dropped it early on I encourage you to give it another chance, I insist it gets MUCH better.

Battles are actually fun, the first game was more about planning and setting up your card deck before battle, that is still an aspect in this game but it has been simplified a bit in favor of chain attacks and fast battles where you have to make quick decisions.

Most people who complain about it being simple I believe have not played up to where mechanics are added that add a great amount of depth to the battles.

This game if you give it the time becomes extremely satisfying, at one point I was pulling off 15-card chains with my party uncovering the secret attack combinations that result in powerful and fun to watch super moves, I was beating super bosses on the first turn, there's no way I can describe how it feels to bide turns waiting for the perfect lineup of cards and unleash a super long chain attack that carries over between all three party members, I can't say enough good things about the battle mechanics, they eliminated all the turns where you get stuck with non attack items and have to waste all of your turns.

The story in this game... It starts slow as well, you slowly uncover a mystery, learn about the characters, the game explores some themes I don't typically see in this genre and there's some very well done plot twists that I wont spoil.

Most RPG plots and twists fall really flat for me, so it says a lot that I was engaged with it the entire way through, the backstories, lore, ect are super interesting and well expanded upon, the story isn't typical I somehow grew to appreciate the characters, it's weird to say this is a game that caused me to Feel things, like actually got a response out of me at several points, I'm cynical and have played a decent number of RPG and story games so that's an achievement, a bit at the very end hit Very hard unexpectedly, it was truly moving and made the final fight unforgettable much like Xenoblade did if you have played that. I would give the story and writing a perfect rating.

The writing is mostly entertaining, the main cast often has a lot to say about everything (no silent protagonist here) and they often bicker and go back and forth in ways that come off genuine, this is helped a lot by the voice acting which isn't perfect but far above average for the time and a massive improvement over the below amateur quality in Eternal Wings (the first game).

This game is 70 hours long I assumed the quote boasting this on the back of the box was exaggerating but no, it really took that long, the good news is mandatory backtracking and fetch quests are kept to a minimum and the game doesn't have many archaic illogical moments to get you stuck or waste your time, the game has a good momentum introducing new towns and dungeons as you go, and this time there's some good side content if you're up for it too, you're typical RPG coliseum is one of them and it included several extra hours of gameplay.

And as if I haven't already explained so much I like about this game the music is incredible, almost too good for words, the composer somehow came back from Eternal Wings' already amazing ost and did it better, comparing both Origins has a lot more variety in music genres, tempo, and atmosphere, some themes manage to be very emotional, the rock themes are well appreciated and create high energy, best of all the main battle theme never gets old, it's extremely good. Whether it be instrument choice, depth, track length, originality, most racks are near unmatched, I think this is the composers best work to this day, Le Ali del Principio is incredible shockingly good, every track fits the scenes they are used in perfectly, this is a legendary soundtrack.

If you take anything from this review, if you bothered to read any of this, find a way to listen to this soundtrack I think you will not regret it. Personally, as a game soundtrack CD collector this was a must-have and one that I treasure owning, the soundtrack stands on it's own as a great experience even outside the context of the game.

The game comes on 2 discs, you cant save when starting 2 and you start on a hard boss, this in one of the most frequent complaints I've seen about this game and it is very true, I was fortunate that I took my time exploring so I had the best equipment and was leveled enough, but you can permanently softlock after about 30 hours so it is important to be aware of this.

So yeah I think I've gone on long enough, TLDR this a fantastic Gamecube exclusive RPG worth it for the physical copy if you want to play that way, and worth the time investment, just don't let the prologue ruin it for you.

Have you played Super Monkey Ball to death and are looking for another high-difficulty precision arcade style game? This is a game you should try.

This is the third game in this series, the first two were on Game boy Advance, this game is on gamecube and makes use of the analog stick, you can make extremely gradual sensitive movements because the game makes use of the GC analog very well, all 180 degrees of movement are used as well, this game is perfect for the Gamecube hardware.

You pilot a rectangular aircraft that constantly spins, and you cant control that, so the object of the game is to navigate through narrow mazes without bumping your rectangle wings into walls, it doesn't sound like much but the game gets a lot out of this, it's extremely enjoyable and I found myself coming back to this often eager to see what the next levels would be.

New to this entry are boss fights. they're neat and it's impressive they got them working in this context, in a game typically with no way to attack or defend the boss fights work really well, they're mostly unconventional and each one is different from the last.

Levels start out easy but just difficult enough to still be fun, and gradually becomes more difficult, all the way until the final few levels which are as hard as I could've possibly imagined the game getting I was still able to clear it.

each world introduces some new game mechanics that are only used on that world, these include guns attatched to your aircraft, diving to a lower layer, being stuck on a rail while constantly moving forward and several more, these are done well and used sparingly, I appreciated these new ways to play the game and they add some identity to the game.

The game has nice pastel aesthetics and each world is distinct, it's very "cozy" the music is from the Umihara series composer and fits perfectly, World 2-A has a very addictive and catchy tune and the rest of the game has great sound.
There's over 60 levels in the game and a shorter challenge mode filled with another 50 so there's lots of content int he game.

The final level took 8 hours of attempts and I still haven't done it with all collectibles, so that's how hard the game can get if you play that far, it never stopped being fun even when the difficulty was pushed that far, you will need to be extremely skilled to clear this game.

This game was made for a very specific kind of person, if that's you, you will adore this game, most people will probably hate it.

I'm one of those people that really enjoys this game despite it's faults. The story is near non-existent, the voice acting is possibly the worst I've heard in a game, the camera is uncontrollable and clips into the ground or nearbly walls, the key to winning is circle-strafe and hold shoot for most of the game, you do battles over and over until the game ends.

Does that sound fun? I am making this sound like trash, but thankfully there's more to this game


You can play as over 100 different characters, and there's a lot of variety, lots of them play completely differently, a lot of the enjoyment of the game comes from building a team of varied bots and surviving waves of enemies, the sheer number of varied playstyles and possible team combinations keeps the game from getting stale.

You only start with one, the main borg (as the game calls them) you start with is the most stylish and can link attacks together.
Most character moves are fun to pull off and are visually appealing, some borgs can fly freely or dash around the arena extremely fast, these are simply fun to use, others are more tank-like besides the literal tanks you can play as, you get all kinds of vehicles including airships or even a Dragon that is way too big for the game its in, yes you can play as the bosses too.

It's Guardian Heroes if you mixed it with Virtual on and it's amazing.

you randomly get new borgs after each battle and the cutscene that plays for it is always exciting when it unexpectedly shows up, it seems like you never know what you'll get to play as next, it could be a boss enemy, something rare? or a duplicate o f one you can already own so if you want a team of all the same borg you can do that too.

the 1P mode is decently long and every time you finish the game you can start over with new more powerful and rare borgs possible to unlock so if you get into it you could be playing this for 100s of hours, if you want every borg it could take much longer than even that.

The game has multiplayer, you can use your teams and other players can build them from your set or bring their own via memory card, playing against another person might be the most fun way to play the game, as a multiplayer game this is one I could see people keeping in their rotation.

I want to rate this higher but when I really think about what I played I can't honestly say that this was a good experience.

Graphics are poor, background tiles have textures that don't match, could've had more color and detail, most bosses are an image that moves around the screen usually in a circle.
Stage 5 boss actually has the masking layer accidentally left in it's animation for a frame, somehow the artist was that bad they actually left in the bg layer of the sprite, I've not even seen that in the worst games and this is an official retail game people paid money for.

the weapons are extremely unbalanced, unpolished, and unsinspired.

there are only 6 levels, level 5 is an empty nearly blank void with an airship that flies by and then it's over in about 1 minute, most levels are short.

I would have given this 3/5 but there is a laser sound effect in this game that is unreasonably loud and sounds really off-putting, I find myself having to mute the game sometimes, the final boss makes this sound effect constantly, I'm not exaggerating, it's a 5 minute onslaught of the worst sound effect I may have ever heard in a game and I've never not had the game muted during the final fight, usually I just turn the game off at stage 6 though.

Still the game is fun in a mindless "turn your brain off" kind of way, I sometimes put this on just to relax and enjoy the great music.

Yeah this terrible game has one of the best Megadrive osts, and I would give the game a lower rating if not for that. There's something strange about this game I can't explain that keeps me coming back to it, I know I shouldn't like it, I know there are far better shooting games, but I just slightly like it for some reason even with the flaws it has.

Don't play this game, listen to the soundtrack, but don't play it

I don't know how they managed to pull it off but this game was everything I'd hoped it would be and more, I was hooked from start to finish.

Amazing cinematography and texture-work I was not expecting from a PS1 game, the game has it's own film worth of memorable scenes, some dramatic, others are more action heavy, but the game keeps surprising and pushing things further than most.

I expected a standard Square JRPG but this was so much more than that, the story and atmosphere are brooding, mysterious, deep, and thoughtful.
It's a story that tries to explain an entire fictional universe, spanning thousands of years, and somehow it all made sense to me by the end, you'll have a lot of questions playing through this, and most will be answered.

the attention to detail in this game was unprecedented
The battle were mostly enjoyable, not too slow and enemies mostly don't take too long to defeat. The Deathblows you unlock ingame are a spectacle, so many and a lot of them have some nice effects, it made the tedium of some battles a bit more bearable for me.

The battle mechanics aren't that deep, it gets the job done, Xenogears is more about being prepared for battles than descisions you make in battle, there is some depth to be found with gear equipment and some hidden mechanics they introduce of the player wants to look for it. overall it was serviceable, challenge felt perfect and not too gind dependent, sometimes I had to make some tough decisions in boss fights just barely getting by and it was satisfying to overcome.

Locations in-game were varied and every town was fun to explore. The atmosphere is perfectly set up in each area.

Important characters are well written, the writing was very believable. The story can be tense and foreboding, it managed to be emotional, tragic, and hopeful by the end.

There's so many cool and unexpected things in this game I wouldn't even know where to start, there were many highs and not many lows, if you are curious about this game at all, play it for yourself.

If you know anything about this game you've probably heard about disc 2, I did not know when I played. I liked the change, the dungeons were just starting to get tedious and underdesigned, if they'd had a whole extra 40 hours of... That? I don't think I'd like the game as much, disc 2 was extremely to the point, I was glad to get so much plot without it being padded or drawn out.

I know this is a strange opinion, but I like the game exactly the way it is, and I think it has enough content as-is to justify it's existence, a "real" disc 2 would risk ruining that balance.
I don't for wish for "the full experience" because what's here is already everything I wanted no more, no less.

Some games from this time "don't age well" but this isn't one of them, I played this for the first time last year, never had a PS1 no nostalgia, this game hits hard. It made me rethink what kinds of stories could be told in a game and that no idea is too out there as long as it's set up and executed well enough. It was an unforgettable experience.

Considering the context the game was made in I think it should not be as good as it is.

Cho Ren Sha 68k (which translates to Super Rapid Fire) is a top down view arcade shooting style game that was originally made for the Japan exclusive X68000 computer in 1995. I'm playing the PC version

This game doesn't hide its influences, much like a modern indie-shooter like ZeroRanger it feels like a celebration of mid-nineties arcade games made by someone who is not only a true fan but has a deep understanding of the games they appreciate.

In this case; late Toaplan and Raizing games and maybe a touch of Recca and Raiden 2.
Despite being inspired by other games by very talented developers with decent budgets it is somehow competes with that level of quality and (arguably) transcends it while having its own identity and unique mechanics in a time when high quality indie and homebrew games were very uncommon.

There's nothing about this game (besides a few minor elements) that feels outdated, it seems like they wanted to make a challenging game but prioritized making it as fun and inviting as they could.

This game has style, it's really nice to look at, there's shrapnel, explosions, and particle effects that often fill the screen and the enemies and boss designs are top-tier, all-around it's just a pleasing spectacle to watch.
animations are smooth and sometimes creative, this game can impress from visuals alone.

But it's more than just a good looking game.
This is a game that seems simple at first but has more depth and intricacies to discover than most games in this genre at the time, after over 10 years I am still discovering new things when I play it.

It can be deceptive, at first it won't seem like much more than a typical STG for it's time, but the more time you invest the more secrets and game mechanics you discover the better it gets.

There are hidden extra enemies that can show up if you play a certain way, some bosses have secret attack phases, or alternate ways to fight them under certain conditions, most players might never find them.
And that's just on the surface; there's also hidden modes and options that completely change core mechanics of the game.
You can fine-tune the game to play the way you want it to if you know how.

This game is difficult, as you might expect. but it is far more reasonable than the arcade games of this generation, extra lives are not finite and powerups are frequent, you can get a sheild to take an extra hit or stockpile powerful bombs that leave you invulnerable for a short time.
There's a creative risk-reward mechanic within the powerup system that feels ahead of it's time, but even at base power the ship is powerful enough to take care of enemy waves and won't take that much longer to take out even the most intimidating bosses, recovery from losing a life is thankfully very forgiving.

Enemy bullets are easy to see and follow, I never lose track of my ship even when the screen is covered in enemy projectiles, hitboxes feel generous as well, I can slip through walls of bullets often without getting hit.

The game has a nice flow to it and there's no wasted space, new enemies and patterns are introduced often at a quick pace, it's an extremely varied game that doesn't get stale.

Not only does it flow well but the in-game music fits each level perfectly, the music always matches the intensity, and pace, slower levels have calmer themes that typically put me in a trance like state while playing. levels where enemies are dense and oppressive have equally intense music to match, tracks like the final level theme "all or nothing" give the impression that you're up against an impossible threat but always has hopeful undertones it really motivates the player to keep trying.

The boss theme is great, late into the game the theme unexpectedly changes and the boss is so much larger and aggressive than what came before, it perfectly gave the feeling of intimidation like you know you're in for a tough battle before it even starts, it goes way harder than you would expect and makes those later challenges even more memorable despite still being fair. If the player can overcome them it feels superhuman like you've transcended your own abilities. I wouldn't hesitate to call the final few bosses iconic.

The soundtrack really is very good, this is to be expected from games like this but it still stands on it's own. I like every track, the stage three theme "Pleasure Trip" especially stands out in a great way.

The soundtrack is incredibly good I can't do it justice with this review even with the sound limitations the composer was working with I think it so well done and still holds up.

The sound effects for things like powerups and enemy explosions are satisfying as they should be.

So far I've been going on and on about how great this game is, but there's just a few things I need to point out.

First of all, you don't have rapid-fire and have to repeatedly tap to fire, it adds to the intensity of the game. thankfully this is a PC game so if the player doesn't want to play that way all that's needed is a controller mapping apps and a decent controller and rapid fire can be used.

But there's two real weakness this game has:
For all of it's 7 stages there is one background. just one endlessly scrolling image, to make up for this the game is continuous.
It never fades or has to load in a new level, it's completely seamless and it pays off in a way I won't spoil, the player will have to manage to beat the game once to understand what I'm referring to.
Like many games of this time from Konami or Cave the game will loop when you beat it, but there's some extra content if you manage to clear it again. While the game does end there is no ending cutscene, no credits, no intro, no story, the game lacks this category of presentation, this may be a deal-breaker for some players, the game is all about it's gameplay and not much else.

Typically a legendary, well-polished decades old STG like this will cost way too much. The good news is, it's free.

The bad news is it has not been ported to modern systems, it's locked to X86k or Windows 10, you might have to make a serious effort to get it running properly, but it is more than worth the effort.

All of the positive elements I've mentioned perfectly come together to make a very addicting game I never stop playing and one I could never forget, it comes very close to being my overall favorite game. I think it was truly ahead of it's time and a game I don't think will ever be perfectly replicated.

If you like overhead arcade shooting games this is one you really should find a way to play.

An ambitious adventure with an engaging plot, simplified game-play, and lots of spectacle.
Solatorobo is a game that was filled with talent and potential, deserved to succeed despite it's shortcomings, but was quietly released on a platform when it was no longer relevant.

This is the kind of game that has severe flaws that get in the way of playing it, while having other elements made so perfectly that turns an otherwise dull game into something special and memorable, if someone values those elements they can easily make up for this games flaws, it's the kind of game that has a "cult following" for a reason.

Solatorobo takes place in floating sky islands, much like it's predecessor; Tail Concerto, and very similar to games like Skies of Arcadia.

The environments are extremely nice to look at, 3D backdrops and hand drawn layered backgrounds are seamlessly blended together with dense detail important characters and enemies are modeled polygons, textures in-game are surprisingly clean and sharp for a DS game.
Really everything in the game looks incredible for the hardware it's running on, the flat animated pixel art characters, environments, the various main character models, portraits, and even the pre-rendered and in-engine cutscenes which there several of. It's a very pleasing game to look at. The vehicle/mech the main character uses in particular is a design I like a lot and was what immediately had me interested in this game

All of this and the performance and framerate hold up well throughout the game, there are a few places where it slows down a bit when there's a lot on screen but it's rare that it happens.

The game feels large despite the actual playable areas being small and constrained. you cant navigate an overworld map as it's menu based, it's not an exaggeration to say the game is a series of small rooms and hallways connected together with a few exceptions.

Story is a major focus, there is decent character development and some very well done plot twists. The world and setting are very carefully set up to be believable "lived in" and enjoyable to experience. The game can be text heavy there is a lot of character dialogue.
The game tells an engaging story though it can come off as generic at times, it remains engaging throughout and has a great setup, conflict, and conclusion to the story, this game has a ton of lore and world-building players may find themselves getting invested in the characters struggles and the overall story. I was totally caught off guard by something I won't spoil, this plot twist is even worked into the main intro and menus after you boot up the game again which was a really nice touch.
The characters in the game are part of the appeal, I am not into anthropomorphic style characters, it doesn't appeal to me, but even so the characters in this game made an impression and were memorable, they're really well designed with distinct looks and plenty of personality. Players may find a lot of the lighthearted parts of the game charming.

So I've been very positive so far, but there are some problems with his game
First of all, the in-game music is outright terrible with a single exception. The opening animation has uncompressed "redbook" music with lyrics and it's quite good, the translators chose to keep it in Japanese and added subtitles, it still sounds nice and is a good main theme for the game.
Everything else though was bad enough to detract from the experience music is grating and overly simple. Every ingame song... Every single one uses a compressed cheap sounding stock midi instruments and too often it's a grating flute, not just as the main melody but the backing parts too, drums, beats, whatever are extremely rare in the tracks. Any time the game has tension or action cutscenes the music fails to live up to it miserably, the set of soft calm instruments do not fit whatsoever and detract from the feeling the game was going for. it's an extremely underwhelming soundtrack.

I have been avoiding talking about gameplay so far because it is this game's most significant flaw.
The core gameplay consists of light beat-em-up style action with very simplified RPG mechanics. the main action is to button mash, grab, then throw the enemy and that's mostly how the player attacks throughout the entire game.
It's not unpolished or badly implemented in any way, it just gets old kind of fast because there isn't much depth to it, there's some strategy introduced to help like special attacks, limited weapons and projectiles, and some enemies will introduce strategy like having to be grabbed only from behind or only damaged by being hit by another thrown enemy.
Sometimes you need to catch a projectile and throw it back, most of the action is done through QTEs. It's sort of cinematic and fun to watch but isn't always fun to do.
There's a customization mechanic that prevents this shallow gameplay from ruining the whole playthrough, players can build stats such as speed, power, ect and choose where to spend stat boosts essentially making your own class or build, these boosts are from parts hidden throughout the world and buyable in shops, they are physical tetris-like objects you have to try and fit into a grid so it's also a mini puzzle game, this helps add a lot to the game and is fun to try and find these parts.
The gameplay sounds awful the way I'm describing it, but I think it was inoffensive overall and has a few occasional highlights.

Between combat you can get out of your vehicle/mech to do very basic puzzles and occasional stealth sections, these are never fun to be completely honest and the puzzles are mindlessly easy, they thankfully don't use this aspect of the game very often.
It does get very stale, but throughout the story there are mini-games that play differently and keep it engaging, there's one where you can freely fly around a 3D sky area and find hidden items that was one of the highlights of the game, it was fun to control, this was followed by a decent flight-racing minigame, there's several more for the player to discover like a rail-shooting section.

The progression of the game is an entire other issue, you start in a town having to talk to certain npcs to progress the plot and find your next objective but before you can start you have to do mandatory sidequests to reach a certain number, this happens in every town and can break the pace depending on the quests selected.
Nearly each one warps you into a small room to defeat a wave of enemies, others make you replay sections of the game sometimes large parts at once to defeat X number of enemies or find a bunch of items, they're generally distractions that don't add much, some are more interesting scavenger hunts or have new locations, but this is a deal breaker for some people, exploring the towns and some dungeons is the most enjoyable part of progressing.

Once you are qualified you can go to each main objective which is basically a JRPG dungeon, these are typically linear with some hidden treasures to find and an occasional hidden room and end with a boss, the bosses at least are more interesting and involved than regular enemies; they usually have other ways to defeat them and require problem solving to figure out how to damage them and dodge their attacks.
There's lots of optional content in this game, it ranges from chore-like to decent, I found the arena to be one of the better examples.

What makes the game fun to explore are hidden collectibles that either enhance your abilities or unlock art for a gallery, it kept the linear hallway dungeons from getting unbearable.
It was difficult to stay invested when most of the game was the same gameplay loop and it was mindlessly easy, I was overpowered the entire game without intending to be. I didn't grind or do every sidequest, it's definitely a problem when the intimidating final boss that was being built up to in the story was defeated in a few attacks in under 30 seconds, the gameplay has almost no challenge outside of post game content.

Overall I enjoyed the game despite these problems, it's something someone has to try for themselves, I recommend playing in short bursts, this is a game that I enjoy finishing but would not replay again for several years, it's not as easy to go back to.
It is a game I would still recommend trying and the things it does right it does exceptionally well.
I am giving this a high rating, that should convey just how great those aspects were.

Anyone invested in retro games for long enough knows this situation well. This is one of those...
Games like Panzer dragoon Saga, the original Klonoa, Earthbound, ect. Games that failed to sell despite being unusually high quality, that were virtually unknown at the time.

Try this game if you can.

I played this without knowing any Japanese, what this game is could be described as a "virtual fish tank" game, this is a niche genre typically not localised, I've seen other examples of it.
Another way to describe this game would be similar to the chao garden in Sonic adventure (2) where you raise a creature, and maybe watch it compete in a race. In other words it is a "virtual pet" game only less interactive.

Visually it's a mixture of cel-shaded and very colorful abstract environments. It's not very polished looking using simple geometry and sparse areas but the way it looks was striking to me.

Most of the game is just watching this Mutsu creature randomly wander around as it finds collectibles and talks to other strange abstract creatures.
You can only start with one area out of 12, so when playing the actual game you can't really interact, pushing directions seems to indicate you are directing the character but for me it always ignored it, you can talk to it with typed messages or give basic commands in japanese but these don't seem to do much.

The character randomly finds items you can select to make it transform what you get is random every time, I think they also improve it's attributes in some way, it seems to have a mood status too.

Each of the 12 areas has an objective, I couldn't really figure out what they were but when waiting around long enough the character would eventually wander to whatever it was supposed to and activate these events, once this happens other levels open up.

2 of these are completely non interactive race levels where you watch Mutsu navigate them, again just like Chao Races in Sonic Adventure, I lost once but came back later and won both but I'm not sure what changed to cause it to swim faster.

The nice thing about these areas is they all look distinct and unique from each other, it more or less the main feature of the game, the colors are vibrant sometimes neon, one area was mostly pastel, but I appreciate the creative and otherworldly look some of them had.
It took forever to complete these levels since the creature randomly explores them sometimes looping around or talking to the same npc over and over again, I feel like I'm missing something but I still have no idea.
once you "complete" all 12 you can reach the credits.
I never figured out how to save and left the game on to complete it. There is no fail state, the game seems to be intended to be as stress free as possible.

The entire point of the game it to watch it, like you might a fish tank, it's not really about playing it. This is something you could leave playing in the background while doing something else.
It was nice just looking at the vibrant and trippy worlds as nice catchy music was playing, the game has a specific mood and atmosphere.
I think it does this aspect well enough.
I really enjoyed the soundtrack too, it's varied and music tracks are unusually long to not get repetitive as you may spend hours in each area, it was one reason that I went out of my way to get it.

I have mixed feeling on this, it's not fun to play, but it has really good atmosphere and it's a unique experience.

So if you want something strange to play in the background or want something else to relax with this might be worth looking into.

If I had played this at launch I probably would've liked it more.

Other than some great animation outside of battles and very good music the game feels standard in a lot of ways.
The story could have elevated the game but instead it's not very coherent or memorable, it felt very disconnected and more like an afterthought I can't actually recall any of the plot points or events in the game.

The battles can be slow in terms of framerate.
What I played was easy, there was never any real strategy or thinking I had to do in battle, it's fine for what it is.

At times the game does a poor job letting the player know where to go, once the world map opened up I had no idea where the next objective was and backtracked through the entire game trying to find it, I had to use a guide several times to get a sense of direction, I ran out of patience eventually, but that might be my own fault for not paying enough attenion or missing some important dialogue, it still felt meandering.

I never found what was supposed to be my motivation to keep playing, it had a strong start, but at some point it was no longer clear what the characters are fighting for what is important in the plot or when the game would start being enjoyable to play, and I lost interest.

I think there was a lot of potential here that just hadn't been reached yet, Maybe Wild Arms 2 will be an improvement I will give it a chance sometime
I'm glad I played this just to try it. It's an inoffensive RPG, there's nothing wrong with a game being simple or easy, but I think it could have been executed better. regardless this was good for an early PS1 game when there weren't many games to choose from.

I'll never forget the first time I started up this game on N64, whenever that windy atmospheric music track starts playing all the memories I used to have playing this for that brief period of time come back.

All this time, that's what has really stuck with me, the sound and visuals of this game were really something unique, the music (only in the N64 version) really nails the apocalyptic war theming the game has, yet it's juxtaposed with cartoon style characters and environments with goofy voice lines and comical weapons.

It's always been the identity of this game series, but Armageddon does this the best out of any of them.

Sometimes returning to something I haven't played in many years might turn out to be different or not nearly as good as I had thought, but this is one game where I enjoy it even more now. I think in terms of age it holds up alright.
(I'll get into that more later)

That intense nostalgic presentation, paired with the inviting art style and immersive catchy music makes this game relaxing in a way. It's easy to just jump into a quick deathmatch or random map and blow away some bots while taking everything in, it was great stress relief.

It would be easy to write this game off as mindless shallow fun, a disposable multiplayer game, just for kids, it looks that way on the surface but there's more to this game.

First of all there's a good selection of modes available, there's your typical mission based campaign mode, and several others for quckplay, or others that vary based on how customizable they are, there's a good selection of modes here and a decent amount of content to keep anyone playing.

The main 1player mode has good variety and is extremely challenging, it was mostly fun to overcome it and learn new skills to beat the game, the difficulty curve is all over though, and there will be missions that a player will get stuck on for awhile, then clear the next in just a few attempts.

There's a lot of weapons to use and they come in a wide variety, coming up with solutions with the tools given can be satisfying and fun, the destructible environments add a lot to the gameplay, players can dig through or destroy any wall/floor and hiding in them can be an interesting strategy.

The games biggest gameplay strength is definitely the variety of actions the player can take at any given time and paired with any map this can mean tons of possibilities, the weapons and maps aren't always balanced the best, but that's part of the fun of the game, sometimes you never know what situations you'll end up in.

The bot A.I. is not great but good enough to keep me entertained, they can be easy to exploit once their pattern is noticed, they can be unfair in how good they play as well.
It's best to play with the "retro" game style to keep it balanced.

Before getting into how the N64 verison plays I have to make it clear that I am reviewing the N64 port of this game, and it is the only version I have played at the time of writing (I should give the PC or Dreamcast versions a chance sometime)

The N64 port has several differences I think I prefer, and others that make it worse to play. I am not blinded by my nostalgia for this game, there are significant flaws here.

To start with positives, there's the soundtrack which was added for just this version, it's really good, but I've said enough about it already.
The game is lower resolution, in just about any game this would be a downgrade but (at least to me) it's more like a pixel filter, on PC it looks like random clip art and characters drawn in an old flash animation, when pixelated it has more of a hand drawn look, it looks more like a Video-game and less like an app played in an online browser or something.

There's more color and variety in the backgrounds than the blank ones in other versions, and some extra options like the map randomiser.

The game is a bit more zoomed in and that does cause some problems, while it's nice to be able to see my character more closely for platforming and aiming, moving the camera around is required much more than usual.

There's less options for multiplayer, and some others are locked behind completion, the game is a bit buggy too it can occasionally crash and if you beat the campaign and try to re enter it in the menu it will also crash the game, you can't replay it by normal means, there's a lot that feels unfinished in this way, and important progression info is not displayed on profiles or in the menu.

Completing the game was fun but frustrating
Getting medals in 1 player modes unlocks more weapons and gameplay modes for multiplayer but there's a big problem. You do this by getting silver medals or gold, but they way you get these is not told anywhere not even in the manual and you can't see what you have/haven't done it's not shown anywhere.

I assumed it would be based on turns taken, time used, damage taken, ect. but it's the number of times you've attempted the mission, it's nonsense. The player has to beat each mission in at most 2 attempts (resetting or quitting out still counts) and with how difficult and punishing the game is that is unreasonable.
This is so much worse because core multiplayer options like retro or all weapons are locked behind these medals, most players will likely never get to play multiplayer the more balanced or fun way.

What is also affected badly is controlling the game, the N64 controller is already more difficult to get used to, but in this version some button mapping makes no sense an is overcomplicated, I find myself pressing the wrong button and accidentally wasting my turn or throwing a grenade at my own character, worst is the flight movement is extremely sensitive, so much so that 2 levels built around it were cut from this verison, what is still there is nearly impossible to play, as just pushing left/right for one frame will nearly turn it a full 90 degrees, just passing the tutorial for the game was difficult.

This game is turn based and AI characters take more time to make their move in this version, it's generally a slow game when against a computer opponent.

So there's definitely a lot going against this game, but a lot I like about it, I can see why players would not prefer this port or find this game in general difficult to get into, but there's enough added to it.
If someone can overcome the difficulty and get used to the game is becomes very enjoyable, not to mention the multiplayer can be endlessly enjoyable, it's easily one of the best multiplayer games on N64 or any console it was on, and one I still return to once in awhile, the one player modes are varied, provide plenty of content, and can be enjoyable at times but are less consistent.

This is a very unique and ambitious game. It was clear that despite the N64 port having a limited and possibly troubled development, it had a lot of care put into it and is worth trying at least for the multiplayer. This is one of my favorite games of this generation in spite of everything.