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Shinobi is a very conflicting game for me. As I said in my Nightshade review, I find it far too hostile and unwelcoming for me to truly love it, and at some points I really hate playing it. But sometimes it all clicks and the concept on hand shines through.

It never manages to with the aerial combat though, which despite hours testing it out and figuring out how Hotsuma can reset jumps, nothing ever felt consistent or good to do. While Nightshade had very clear rules on how Hibana could deal with enemies in air, Hotsuma feels more rigid and inflexible in this regard, making stages like 6-A absolute nightmares whereas in Nightshade they would have been highlights. Having the kick be a directional move also is a massive pain-in-the-ass as the camera can often make inputs like that difficult to pull-off in the moment. While I think Shinobi tests the player on different skill-sets than Nightshade does, i felt like Nightshade better gave me the means to pass the test.

The level design in general is nothing special, the bosses are middling and the controls feel really stiff, with a lock-on that is just never on the same page as you. What is there to like about this game?

Style, really. The TATE sequences, Hotsuma's incredibly long scarf, the brooding and dramatic narrative, and the brilliant music are what kept me motivated to play this to the end. The design of Hotsuma is fantastic, and maneuvering through dudes to drum'n'bass is always a hook I'll fall right into. Hotsuma looks impossibley cool all of the time and animates stunningly, as I could watch him just stand there with his arms folded for hours.

While Nightshade is a game I adore and love, Shinobi is only a game I can like strongly. It's worth playing on an emulator with save states; I could not in a million years recommend you try something this punitive with its checkpoints on original hardware. Also note the American release excises Easy mode entirely, which is very odd as I think this game needs a mode just for on-boarding as the actual game is not interested in teaching you shit like that. The downside of THAT though is that the whole appeal of Shinobi is the difficulty, so stripping that from it renders the game rather non-descript. So, what the fuck.

I will warn you though, that if you aren't very fond of dogs, the dog enemies in chapter 3 that can block your attacks might make you apply at your local kill shelter. They are some of the most annoying fucking enemies in a game, ever. Miyazaki only wishes his games could have dog enemies this irritating.

That's all I 've got. it's a very simple game, and I love it for that! No extraneous bells and whilstles, just Shinobi brilliance.

A couple of years ago, they announced a rerelease of Hebereke/Ufouria and I played the original on an emulator to prepare for the official release and to promote it saying it would come out soon. Turns out it took way longer than expected. It’s weird as the Gimmick one came out a long while ago and we also got Trip World DX. It then just randomly got announced right as Hebereke 2 was going to release. What made this rerelease interesting was we were even getting the Japanese version and not the PAL version that was shown years ago. Now that it’s finally out, should you get this Enjoy Edition? It’s hard to say really.

Let’s get this out of the way now, this is a pretty similar release to the one Gimmick got so any opinions you had on that rerelease will probably be true here. Not much was added outside of the usual borders, scans of the boxes and cartridges and manuals, achievements, and a speedrun mode that you can post to the leaderboards. There’s no challenges, no hard achievements to earn, no interviews, no scans of just the artwork, not even a sound test. I think the reason it lacks a sound test is because you can pay additional money for the OST to listen to on Steam which is kind of stupid if you ask me. I’m not really sure about input lag or the sorts as I’m not one to notice that stuff, I heard Gimmick had some little issues with that so it might be the same here? Though this is a much easier and more relaxed game, you’ll never really cry foul for any input lag shenanigans.

Actually I guess there is one important feature that is the Special Snaps. You see, the original has always been Japan only, you needed a fan translation to ever read the dialogue in English. This release sort of adds English support but it’s kind of weird. Once you see a dialogue box, the game will let you view it there and translate the scene in English. You can even compare it to the PAL version called Ufouria the Saga. While these are cool, it might hurt the experience for some as you have to go to the menu and then look at the Special Snap to even read what the dialogue said. The translation can feel a bit iffy at times but it's not unreadable. There’s also a before and after scene that’s incorrectly placed for the Ufouria images. How this got past testing is beyond me and hopefully a patch can fix it. They also hilariously made an error where pressing the A button does “ChengeTitle” according to the bottom of the screen. Speaking of Ufouria, I wanna talk about something related to it.

Look, I don’t like Ufouria at all. I always hated the replacement sprites, especially Bop Louie. The dialogue has also lost a lot of the charm it once had and it’s why I always recommend the Japanese original. That said, I can understand why someone would prefer Ufouria even if I don't agree. Which is why I find it very disappointing that you just can’t play it here at all. It makes no sense to not have it here as it has scans, the comparisons in Special Snaps, and even a border. It’s even more of a shame as every release of Ufouria that was on Virtual Console in the past has been delisted meaning there’s still no easy way to play it outside of emulation. I don’t get why there’s no toggle to play that version. This makes me even more confused why they even bothered localizing the sequel under the PAL name if they were just not gonna do that here for this rerelease. It’s something I hope they can patch in but I don’t expect it to happen.

Should you buy Hebereke Enjoy Edition? Honestly, it’s hard to say. It doesn’t add too much to warrant playing it over emulation unless you just don’t feel morally okay with doing something like that and the release just isn’t perfect in general. They did make this one cheaper than the Gimmick rerelease with this being $9.99 and it’s a dollar off currently but this still could have been better. Hebereke is an expensive Famicom game unfortunately and the rerelease on PS1 has poor sound emulation so this is your best bet for an official release. It also might be a nice buy if you wanna compare it to Hebereke 2. Hebereke is still a wonderful game and I enjoyed my time replaying it here and got every achievement as well (even though it’s super easy to do). Stick with emulation if you think the price isn’t worth it but this is still a playable release of one of Sunsoft’s greatest games.

I think I should have been told not to play Telenet games again when I started this one. I’ve played the other Final Zone games and they range from OK to Good. When I remembered the first one was on MSX, I wanted to try it. Telenet games are usually interesting despite their quality. This one presents a ton of dialogue that I couldn’t read not because it lacked a fan translation, though it does lack one but the japanese text was bugged on the ROM I used. So if I can’t enjoy the story, is the gameplay any good? Sadly no it is not.

The game is a top down run n gun like the sequel if you’re familiar with that on the PCECD. You first can choose from two of the four characters that work with the main one to be by your side and then you select the main guy and you’re off. You can choose to bring just one or none but don’t worry if they die in a level as there’s no punishment after the level is over. Be warned though you only have one life and it’s game over, you even have to watch the credits if this happens. Though you won’t have to worry cause the game is so flawed and easy once you learn some things.

Alright let’s go over the fact that just rushing towards the end is better than actually shooting enemies. I can’t comprehend how you make a game like this and just have that be optimal. Your helpers just shoot automatically and be warned that they kind of move in a formation and can even get stuck which means you can’t move either but don’t worry just hold up and the game will push them out eventually. Nothing about the game is that satisfying and it’s only six levels long. The bosses aren’t too challenging either especially when four of them just have blind spots meaning they can’t hit you. Even the final boss is like this. The enemy AI also just feels like they don’t even know you exist and blindly shoot forward. There just isn’t really anything fun about the game which is a shame.

At least it graphically isn’t too bad and the music sounds nice too but there isn’t much of it. It also does that thing I think Valis 1 did where being at low health plays this you’re about to die tune. The cutscenes look nice but are pretty still looking though shoutout to this hilarious moment from the bios given on the title screen. Honestly there just isn’t much else to say. It’s disappointing that I can’t really find much good here as again the sequel is a good game. Now it’s not fair for me to say seeing as I can’t read it but it feels like a game that probably was more impressive for the story than the gameplay and when I can’t read it, it wasn’t the best use of my 20-30 minutes playing through this game. Oh well at least you can skip them fast but all you have now is a badly designed game.

They did it… I can’t believe it… they really did it! They gave a backstory to the greatest character in the whole game!

THE ROOMBA!!



Playing this just after beating and trying out what Seal the Deal had to offer gives the biggest whiplash imaginable, and not just because the reasons you may be thinking of; yes, opinions on Seal the Deal are widly mixed and Nyakuza Metro seems to be regarded as amazing pretty consistently, but those matters are still subjective all things considered, and I won’t ignore the many fans the former DLC has.

No, what I mean is that after playing such an expansion so focused on fixed objectives and more concised tasks, jumping onto the trains of Nyakuza Metro is like playing a completely different game, and a pretty rad one at that.

Alpine Peaks had already experimented with the idea of Free Roam, and if you read my review on the original game, you’ll know that I really, really love that area A TON, so one of the DLCs exploring that idea again was pretty exciting, but even tho both chapters are open in nature, the metro couldn’t be more different, and I mean that in every sense of the world.

These cat-infested tunnels feel… alive, moreso than any of the previous chapters ever did. Both chapters 1 and 4 introduced more open areas with defined sections you could access at any moment or order, but neither the world itself nor the characters and enemies that inhabit could escape that feeling of ‘’playground’’, of existing simply for you to have cool stuff to jump and dive over. Admittedly, Alpine Peaks (my beloved) came the closes to breaking this with its amazing sense of scale and design, but it still felt a bit gamified, like this was still a place that existed first and foremost to have platforming challenges, which is the objective of any platformer don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t fully succeed in making you forget that, which seemed to be what it was going for.

Nyakuza Metro doesn’t fail, and in fact, it goes above and beyond everything I could have ever expected. The neon lights of the underground are striking from the very first moment you arrive, and if it wasn’t made clear by the far more fluent animations of the Empress and her goons, then everything else will make you realize just how insane of an upgrade everything has received. Food stands and restaurants and every corner, groups of cats gathering together and having conversations you can overhear through out the chaos and movement, trains carried by the tails of huge cats and light the way with their eyes, vacuum cleaners that mix the bouncing platforms and paint mechanic from previous chapters to amazing results, the many side paths or stops you can take and the huge amount of new cosmetics and badges you can purchase… it gives the the metro a feeling of sense and place, one that allows it to feel like a natural space that is, in all honestly, pretty impressive with how pretty and creative it can get, both with new ideas and previous ones.

It makes you feel like a mouse in a crowded kitchen, somewhere you shouldn’t be, yet you manage to find a path. As you hear cats complaining about the complications of the metro system and how hard is to get around, you find unconventional ways that lead you to unexpected paths, it doesn’t feel like someone planned an obstacle course for you to get through, it feels like you are going against the tides and making progress in probably not-so-legal ways. For a platformer to accomplish this while also giving you actually fun challenges is a monumental task, but here they make it look so easy; I never thought running through railways and jumping over electric flyers could be so fun, and yet, here we are! And even in the moments where it feels more like a usual platforming venture, it never feels that striking visual look and it always does something intelligent of fun with its gameplay, like putting the time-stopping hat to much better use than the base game ever did or sections like the electricity ball gauntlet.

It's honestly impressive how well it’s pulled off, how such a cool idea is realized while almost never losing the fun factor… and its exactly why it saddens me a bit that they didn’t go harder with it or explored areas of its potential it clearly had. The metro is divided into colored sections, each with barriers you can unlock by buying the respective ticket and with its time pieces, which an amazing way to go about it… but the fundamental way the time pieces work clashes with the ‘’you gotta open the metro for yourself!’’ idea. Sure, you may grab the ticket before the second or main time piece and that may make getting to the next a liiittle easier, but usually, but the time you get it… there won’t be much left to do in the area, and that goes for every single section. Sure, you can get the stickers and buy badges, and while is fun to grab those little extras, they are a side thing that don’t really impact thing much, and you’ll need money (and probably also farm it, which you know… not fun) for the badges either way, so opening the metro partially or even completely doesn’t make the actual main objective any more satisfying, and in fact you’ll probably won’t interact with it much, which is a huge bummer, ‘cause if they made you to not teleport every time you get a time piece on this one or at least near the entrance of the color area you are on, it would go a long way into actually using the connected nature of the metro, because how it is right now, it isn’t that far off with how Chapter 4 handled it, which worked really well there… but not so much here.

How things are right now, they would have felt much more justifiable if the story played a bigger role this time, but saldy, we only get snippets. The Empress is one of the coolest chapter ‘’villains’’ in the whole game, and the idea of the nyakuza as a whole is super cool, but sadly, aside of the initial presentation and one unique cinematic halfway, you always get a the same cinematic of the goons taking your piece and the Empress saying a new bit of dialogue, and honestly, considering how every single corner of the metro is filled with detail, even the random posters, the fact they main bads/allies don’t have much to say or do until the last mission is a huge bummer, and it double sucks, ‘cause that final mission is amazing!

It does what Chapter 4 and 6 tried to pulled off, except WAYYY better and WAYYY more enjoyable and fun, having one last run through the metro, dodging everything and everyone after the Empress outs a bounty for you is the coolest finale possible and the best possible built up for the final battle, a final battle that…. Doesn’t exist. Yeah, while I talked negatively about the last mission of Alpine Peak and Artic Cruise, them not having a final boss made complete sense, but this time the fact a final confrontation is also mission is the biggest hungover of the chapter. You could say the whole finale is the final boss, and I can kinda see it as that, but the whole time things seemed to be leading up to a fight that just didn’t happen, and it ultimately makes the very ending of the DLC pretty anticlimactic… tho maybe at that point, I’m just lamenting that this could have been greater than it already is.

Nyakuza Metro is an amazing final DLC, most of its problems residing in things carried over from the base game or just small, missed opportunities here and there, but ultimately, it’s a success, and nothing will take that away. Its time rift is a perfect example of it: it isn’t hard, especially when compared to the one from the last chapter, but its’ creative, it feels natural, it’s fun, just like the rest of the package, and when viewing it alone, it’s an incredible platforming experience, and probably the best chapter in the whole game.

The Nyakuza are so cool, I wish cats were real…

Guess I’m now playing MSX games and I decided to play a game that’s a port of an Arcade game. It’s oddly given the name Nemesis just like the Game Boy game. Honestly the description for the game on this page does a good job of explaining what this version is like as it’s similar to the Famicom version but has some new features like a completely new level which feels like it could have been in the original Arcade game. It even has warp zones but I never saw those.

Sadly there are compromises like the choppy scrolling but it’s not the biggest loss. There’s not much for me to say as again it’s the same shmup gameplay you enjoy or maybe you don’t enjoy. The game still looks nice even if it’s downgraded and the music is pretty good and reminds me of the Famicom version. The new content does add some reason to try this one out and if you have a copy of Twinbee for MSX, you can have the Vic Viper become Twinbee. (Wish I knew this before I finished the game).

The game was rereleased on Wii U but sadly that is gone nowadays so emulation is your best bet unless I’m forgetting some other rerelease. There are more shmups Konami did and there’s even two other Gradius games on the system so maybe those will be even better? Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

I love the way exploration works here; the refusal to budge on fast travel save for diegetic ox carts, snatching back dark arisen's infinite ferrystone, and stretching the landmass both horizontally and (especially) vertically is wonderful. in many, many ways it's a bigger, slower, denser game, and they did it all while focusing on the most mundane environments devoid of giant theme park attractions bulging from every flat surface

likewise I love the idea of elaborating on the sense of traversal and moving toward a holistic spirit of adventure. deteriorating health ceilings aid attrition and help answer the inherent slime of menu heals, and having campfire rests operate as something of a risk/reward mechanism goes a long way toward giving each journey a greater heft and substance

even something as transparently gamey as designing the map as a network of funnels and chokepoints stippled with smaller threats and crosshatched with bigger ones was very clever; it's all just nouns crashing against nouns as they fire down chutes, but when coupled with the meaty physicality of the game's interactivity it goes a long way toward building up those Big Moments

but the consequence of trash mobs operating as speedbumps means moment-to-moment encounters operate more as filler than anything you could consider independently engaging scenarios. it also means that despite the map being several times larger than gransys it ends up feeling a lot more suffocating due to all the overlapping nouns slamming and interrupting each other without end

I just about luxuriated in the rare opportunities to enjoy brief spells of negative space; I savoured it like one of those FMV steaks. I'd kill for more moments like the arbor or the battleground where I was able to inhabit the world as a pilgrim or wanderer rather than serial wolf slaughterer or battahl sanitation expert, but they're very few and far between

there's no escaping the impenetrable walls of goblins, wolves, harpies, and saurians polluting every inch of the world. the already slender DD bestiary's been ported over nearly 1:1 with about as many additions as subtractions, and between the absurd density and massive landmass the variety ends up looking and feeling significantly worse than it did when it was first pilloried twelve years ago in a notoriously incomplete game

when the Big Moments do happen they're often spectacular, and it's easy to see why the chaotic intersection of AI, systems, and mechanics was prioritized so heavily and centered as the focal point of the entire experience. early on every bridge that breaks behind you, every ogre leaping from city walls, and every gryphon that crushes your ox cart feels huge and spellbinding; the game's at its best when all the moving parts align just right to achieve dynamic simulacrum, leveraging unpredictability to carry encounters well above their station

where that stuff loses me most is in the complete lack of friction. for a game with so many well considered means of drawing tension out of discovery it manages to render most of them meaningless when you're never being properly threatened enough to let them kick in. camping, eating, crafting, consumables, ambushes, and setpieces all take a significant blow from the chronic lack of bite, and it's frustrating to see so much potential go to waste when everything's already set up unbelievably well for success

even if you choose to go it alone, or do as I did and run with a party of two (ida + ozma: wily beastren + weakest creature), it only does so much when every corner of the map has CAPCOM Co., Ltd superpawns and npcs popping out of the ground to aid you unbidden and monsters are all mâché sculptures begging to be stunlocked. where's hard mode? why does it feel like everything DDDA did right got ignored? we just don't know

I'd have been happy if the game yanked a bit of control back with some kinda endgame/post-game dungeon, but there isn't one; there aren't really dungeons in general. in opting for quantity (50+!!) over quality we end up with none of them feeling particularly curated, and none of them having the scope or menace of the everfall, let alone bitterblack. no ur-dragon either, which is just baffling. the entire run from endgame to post-game is a gaping hole where something oughta be but certainly isn't

when I hit credits I felt almost confused, like I'd just been tricked into playing a remake or reboot of the original dragon's dogma that somehow had less material stretched even thinner. I enjoyed what I played for the most part, but the more thought I put into it the more it feels compromised and unfinished in all the exact ways itsuno promised over and over it wouldn't be this time around

there's a lot to love here: stuff like fucked up modular teeth, the sphinx, seeker coin platforming, pawn bullshitting, the dragonsplague, cyclops ragdolls, opaque sidequests, intentional tedium, and bizarre interactions. much of what was good in the past remains good here, and even bits that stumble backward generally land someplace close to decent regardless. some of the vocation/gear downgrades aren't to my liking, and there's an odd shallowness that hangs over the experience, but I think I liked it?

I just don't really get it

Massively underrated or just Made For Me to a degree no other game has ever been? A little bit of both. Either way, this is going in my 5-star Favorite Games Of All Time Superstar Club.

A much superior game to Shinobi 2002, and also maybe the best action game I've played since Ninja Gaiden, Nightshade is exactly what I like in my action games to a degree that I wonder if I actually designed this game through some rift in time. We need to start considering games like this and Ninja Gaiden Black as art games. I think incredibly stylish and well-choreographed action are as artistically unique uses of the medium as boring-as-fuck shit I'll never in a million years finish like Kentucky Route Zero.

One of the absolute best designed ninja suits ever, worn by a badass woman, incredibly fast and skillful gameplay, style and substance, with an incredible drum'n'bass soundtrack to boot. The game would have to periodically cut to episodes of Columbo if I were to rate it any higher.

This is a 5-star based on vibes alone, as I really don't think this one is for everyone. It's incredibly difficult, requires precision and mastery on a level that most will find frustrating, and the camera, while a massive improvement on Shinobi's, is still not ideal for the later level's bottomless pits. From my personal standpoint, you absolutely should play this with save states, as the general checkpoint system is far too punitive for the kind of accuracy it demands from you. It's VERY old-school in that sensibility.

It also has many difficulty options, including a beginner mode which I found very welcoming of the game after the US release of Shinobi cut the easy mode for god-knows-why. Shinobi is a game I really like, but find WAY too unwelcoming and prickly to truly love. It's like a friend's really ill-behaved cat, where you know that little piece of shit is going to scratch or hiss at you just for daring to exist near it. Impossible to love but too endearing to hate.

A lot of this comes to Hibana feeling better to control than Hotsuma, especially in-air. Shinobi would demand a lot of perfect air-combos, but Hotsuma didn't feel quite as maneuverable and lacked a dedicated kick button, meaning enemies who could block you were a massive pain in the ass. The most immediate improvement Nightshade adds is that Hibana can kick from the air, giving you better gap-closing opportunities, better combo extension, and allows for you to deftly navigate the game's bottomless pits through knowing how to RESET those in-air combos. It feels much more stylish and skillful than Shinobi, while giving it the necessary bit of streamlining to feel more approachable.

I also played the undub of this game, as one of the biggest "What the fuck" changes is removing the Japanese dub entirely. Shinobi was pretty unique in letting you listen to the Japanese voice track instead of the English dub. This isn't a huge problem as for the era, these dubs aren't actually that bad. I like Hibana's voice in the English dub, and my research indicates that her voice actress also was interviewed in documentaries about Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo, which is curious. More curious is Hisui, who is voiced by "E. Cahill", which, and I'm not sure, might be Erin Cahill, better known as Jen Scotts from Power Rangers: Time Force. I have watched many hours of Power Rangers throughout my adult life, and a lot of them was on Time Force, and I REALLY don't know if they are the same. Who is the same though is Hibana's japanese voice actress, Atsuko Tanaka, who has been in EVERYTHING EVER. You might know her best as Motoko Kusanagi in Stand Alone Complex and the dub voice for Lisa in Night Trap. Her voice for Hibana is sooooo good, applying a very deep and professional tone with this cool-guy edge you rarely get to see a female character have. She manages to be a consummate professional like Hotsuma while being incredibly distinct from him in her devil may care attitude in contrast to Hotsuma's grave seriousness.

One of the most striking things about Hibana is her flare for style. Hotsuma's TATE poses were classic ninja-movie stuff: dude puts his sword away calmly while his enemies collapse to pieces. Hibana is more willing to strike a pose: spinning her knives, holding her sword in the air, and the more TATEs you build up the more dramatic. Pulling off the 30 TATE might be when I decided this was a 5-star game, it was so enormously difficult, as Nightshade punishes you HARD for input spamming, forcing you to get a rhythm down to approaching TATEs. It was then I realized that Nightshade was cooking in a way no one really appreciated, in the similar way Sekiro feels rhythmic in its combat encounters, building long-stretches of TATEs in Nightshade is the same way!

The rhythm of this is enhanced by the BEAUTIFUL MATSERPIECE M'WAH PERFECTO soundtrack consisting of the best drum'n'bass ever fucking PRODUCED. Composed by a ton of Sega pros, one of the most notable names on here is Fumie Kumatani: the composer for all the BEST TRACKS in Sonic Adventure 1 and 2. She was also responsible for the best tracks in Shinobi!! She can do no wrong!

Here are some of my favorite tunes, including the composer name as sourced from VGMDB.

Shinobi Tate by Fumie Kumatani
https://youtu.be/Nl930cF0tVU?si=EwDidZuTuXPeROaJ
Overcome Speed by Keiichi Sugiyama
https://youtu.be/MjCJuppjOG8?si=iyzeCCjOLmNjRb5p
Dark Kingdom by Tomonori Sawada
https://youtu.be/8ZN8vzehu4c?si=bLXEisdEXEYjQmQN
Jade Water by Fumie Kumatani
https://youtu.be/hZT1ZB-VQBc?si=eqM6PIEcUsxpAklq

As with Shinobi, this OST is a must-listen if you like D'n'B, as they assembled the fucking Avengers of the Amen Break on this one.

I have written more words about Nightshade than have been written in 20 years, so I'll try and wrap it up. I find this an immensely stylish and rewarding game with a surprisingly dramatic and well-directed storyline, with gameplay improving on everything Shinobi did while adding in more. Bosses are more mechanically interesting, levels feel more considered, and movement feels fantastic once you get its intricacies down. It's not gonna be for everyone, but it was for me more than any game really could hope to be.

Genuinely what is your excuse for not playing/beating this yet. I want to hear the people speak.

Today we have some garbage specimen that was laying around in my playing tab for much too long. Apparently it did well critically and commercially though, which is a bit of a surprise considering somewhat of a lack of playability. Gambit's levels in particular are about on par with and reminiscent of Action 52 on Genesis.

It doesn't look too great, either. Feels like a bunch of random assets mashed together, not only in terms of like cohesion between levels but player sprites as well. Gambit has smoother animation than the others for some reason, while Storm has two completely different looking sets of sprites in two different sections where you play as her. Funnily enough, she's the only playable character who doesn't have a sheet on Spriters Resource, so here are images for reference. This in particular is fucking hysterical to me. How does something like this even happen?

But honestly, aside from the absurd difficulty and the ugliness, there's nothing really to say here. The Follins did the soundtrack, I guess? It didn't really stick out to me in any meaningful way, though, and it gets overshadowed by bad sfx. That's pretty much all there is to this one. Away it goes, into the corner of my subconscious with all the other dogshit video games I've made myself endure. I don't really know what the point of this whole schtick is sometimes. Not that it'll stop, though.

The odd one out of the original trio of childhood games I had on my N64, which still functions today thankfully. Mario 64 needs no introduction, Wave Race 64 wowed me with it's realistic water effects and attracted me with it's ocean scenery, and Top Gear Rally was kinda just over there chilling and not bothering anyone. Absolutely a dad pick if I had ever seen one.

Very much feels like Nintendo's unofficial secret answer to Sega Rally Championship, with a ton of care obviously put into the weighty movement of the cars, realistic suspension systems, and actual damage modeling. Using the control stick to steer of course means the handling becomes about as touchy as me on a bad Saturday morning with no caffeine. This is where the customization before each race becomes crucial to making or breaking how the driving feels on the course under certain weather conditions. I feel this is where most people give up on this game, but with such a small set of options to experiment with it shouldn't take much time to find your favorite setup. I definitely don't recommend the default steering/handling 1 for beginners, it's quite a tight endeavor~

What Wave Race 64 did with water and sea for me, was what Top Gear Rally tried to do for me with land and dirt. The depiction of the jungle track under rainy conditions looked simply remarkable to me in 1997, the N64's infamous ability to utilize fog to hide draw distance was done masterfully here and coming back to it as an adult reminded me of that along with realizing the little things like the headlights blaring from the front of the cars. It was something I hadn't seen quite yet even on Playstation or Saturn, and this game along with Wave Race really showed off how powerful the N64 was. It's a small wonder what would happen if the console were not held back by the storage capacity of it's cartridge format, but alas...I just wish I could've used the paint tool option, because I never had a memory pack growing up. ;-;

The crown jewel of the package however is Barry Leitch's soundtrack. I'm not sure if some prohibition era gangsters held his family hostage to force him into making one of the most beautiful menu themes I ever heard or what, but it's a drop dead gorgeous piece that I remember listening to for ages as a kid. Meanwhile PAL/JP got this insane energetic piece that has the exact opposite energy. The actual course themes are nothing to sneeze at either, the music for the Jungle course is crazy good with a side of crazy bread, and really gets your adrenaline pumping for racing in the rain. It really brings me back to realizing how good we had it for music during this era for all kinds of genres. These days if you boot up a mainstream rally game on Steam nine times out of ten it would blare some forgettable licensed garbage at you, which I would turn off near instantly and start playing my own stuff on Spotify.....or perhaps start playing music from Sega Rally, Top Gear Rally, etc...

sighs

I miss game composers man...

I think often about how this game takes place over like a day and half. usually when i hit the gym i can handle like an hour or so of lifting, and then im spent for the day. i think after the del lago fight if i was leon i'd throw up and try to walk back home

i've been thinking about my relationship with art, and my thoughts at the moment are that what i want in a piece is to feel something. it's not only about being entertaining, it's about catharsis. it's about feeling extremely happy or deeply miserable. it's about having the teeth grinding, the foot tapping, the head scratched. it's about going insane over the details. i want to feel alive. maybe it's a sick thought. maybe i should just live my own life, but i can guarantee, i've been living my own life a lot! much more than i would like to, sometimes.

all the games i've finished this year so far (very few) were a good time, some of them were amazing, really thought-provoking like anodyne 2, but none of them hit me like a truck. until GOD HAND.

GOD HAND makes you feel extremely happy, deeply miserable, with your teeth grinding, your foot tapping, your head scratching... pretty much at the same time! it's commonly known as a very difficult game and it's not an impossible one, but it does require you full commitment. starting with learning the controls: when action games were about swords and guns, with fast-paced movement, GOD HAND was about throwing punches while moving in tank controls. it's all about positioning, a 1v1 it's already a difficult task, but a 2v1? a 4v1? does not help when your crowd control movements are slow as hell! but don't be confused: GOD HAND is not a slow game! actually, if you can't keep up, you will pretty much ended up cooked lol, you have to adapt to the rhythm of the fight. it's all about learning and once you learn, it's about going wild.

and it's not a flashy game. you throw punches. real punches. punches that hit, than you can feel when it hits. GOD HAND it's a dudes rock game but every single dude is rocking on you (in a not-homosexual-way (unfortunately)), and you got rock on them instead. GOD HAND it's a videogame that loves action games. it's a videogame that recognizes the masculine archetypes about the action genre in overall media and at the same time it honors it and it also makes fun of it. GOD HAND is very "manly"! i mean, having blackjack and poker and dogs races as a way to make money makes me think that shinji mikami and the team are either the funniest guys ever or the most heteronormative of all time! and it's very funny either way.

what really matters is that GOD HAND is a videogame that made me feel everything, and in a year that is definitely NOT being my year, with a lot of work and study and personal problems as well, making me sometimes lost my interest in my favorite hobby, it reminds me how great videogames can be and how i can always just punch a son of a bitch when it needs to. you better watch out mf!!!

After playing Super Mario USA (Super Mario Bros. 2) for so many years, I wondered why I have never played the original FDS game that starred non-Mario characters. I always heard people call it inferior but was curious if it truly was.

Dream Factory Doki Doki Panic in many ways is impressive that a team could take a platformer formula and make it more expansive with more emphasis on verticality. It’s not about jumping on enemies but picking up various items and enemies. The game sacrifices level count for this only having 20 levels. Not only that but it has four different characters with different stats really making each level feel different for the benefits and disbenefits a character can have. There’s also a boss in many stages with a lot of them being Catherine (Birdo) which can feel a bit repetitive. They also make you fight three Mousers in a playthrough and it never gets challenging. The game is pretty easy too, especially once you learn the ins and outs of it.

It should be discussed right now that I think the hate of there being no run button is a bit exaggerated. Yes it is nice to have a run button that was later added in the Mario version but the game is really well paced and designed without it. Outside of a shortcut or two being impossible without the run button, I never really felt like I needed one. I think a lot of the vertical level design helps with the notion of not needing it. Now this will always be a preference and me saying that is not gonna convince most or even all people but I just wanted to express that the game is completely enjoyable without one.

In the end it’s just what you expect if you have already played the Mario version, so it’s a pretty fun game and you’ll find lots of differences here like the music being more limited and even some new songs, Phantos not activating in the room you get the key, unlimited continues, and loading times cause it ain’t an FDS game without those. Though there is one other thing that does kind of suck. You see, you can’t see the ending without beating it with every character. Every character is on their own path to the end so once you do one playthrough, it’s back to the beginning with someone else. While Dream Factory is fun, trying to do four playthroughs just to see a small ending feels like a very poor way to extend the runtime. The most positive thing I can say about it is it’ll help you master every character but this is something I’m glad stayed with this entry.

Is Dream Factory a footnote in the history of Nintendo that will probably stay as just a footnote and nothing else? Ehh kind of? It’s such a weird feeling because it is still a very good game but the multiple playthroughs kind of hurts the curiosity and idk if doing just one playthrough would satisfy a player enough to warrant doing it. Mario USA is just easier to play nowadays as well due to that not having licensing issues. It’s even gotten remakes on the SFC and GBA. There’s better ways to play the game now so while I have my defenses, it’s hard to recommend you all to see this game till the end. It feels bittersweet writing this but that’s just how it is sometimes. This is still a must play if you’re looking for FDS games or wanting to see all of the history regarding the game but otherwise, it’s a footnote in gaming and sometimes that's not a fully bad thing to witness.

In 1985, Bomber Man was released on the Famicom and then got a sequel called Bomber King and then the series remained dormant for a couple of years. In 1990, the series got back on its feet and Hudson would keep it going strong. The notable one was the first PC Engine game which featured a lot of levels and even bosses. Bomberman II is basically a watered down port to the Famicom. It does have differences like the story but it does use that PC Engine game for a lot of things.

The game has 6 areas with 8 stages in each as you’ll once again be facing every enemy and then having to find the door along with other power ups to help. Getting stronger and not dying is the key to winning as this game will lay the smackdown on you if you lose them. It doesn’t help that powerups feel a lot rarer in this game and I never once saw the speed up which I know exist. It doesn’t help that later stages can have really strict time limits. Stages now vary from one screen affairs to ones resembling how the first Famicom game did them. There are bonus stages if you can find the Bomberman icon in stage 6 of each area and these will get you points and if you’re lucky, you’ll catch a running Bomberman to get an extra life. The game is a lot less generous with them this time.

If you’ve played Bomberman before you know what to expect and sadly this one is in a weird spot. It’s fun to play and does stuff like have even better music, keeping the awesome bomb sound effect, and even has neat little cutscenes at the beginning of each area, it has issues. Like I said, the game can feel impossible if you lose your stuff which feels pretty bad here. While there are passwords, it might not be enough. Also doesn’t help when you really want a new powerup and the game decides to give you invincibility when everything is dead or something lame like just points. Where the original Bomber Man was pretty good for the time, Bomberman II just feels like a confident game, it knows what it can do well but doesn't strive to do more unfortunately.

The game does have a battle mode but like the PC Engine game, it’s real humans only. Sadly I’m still a pathetic loser who can’t play with others so no multiplayer for me. It’s nothing special anyway as it’s one map and can only go up to three players. You have better battle modes available to you.

Not sure how to fully set in stone my thoughts here. I like the game but part of me wonders if I’m overlooking some issues. I think Bomberman II struggles more in the future sense. There really isn’t a good reason to play this game nowadays which is a shame as it’s a pretty well made game and besides some small issues and the difficulty thing, it’s worth putting in your collection. It’s just not something I could see someone going through a list of Bomberman games and wanting to come back to this one ever. Really I just have no ending words here that really make sense. At least we get to see christianity is canon in the Bomberman universe, that’s something.

I've been wanting to play the Trouble Shooter series for years (or Battle Mania as the series is called in Japan.) due to it's overall premise. It's a bit of a parody of the shoot 'em up genre in some ways though it does try some mechanically interesting ideas with it.

You control two combat operatives called Madison and Crystal who have been hired to save a kidnapped prince. Both characters have jet packs and blasters as basic gear and in between each level can select between 4 special weapons for their packs. This power up is their super attack essentially, (like a bomb in other shoot 'em ups) that after use recharges to fire again like it's an 80's powerpack. There are a variety of choices from lightning waves, missile barrages and lasers. If you don't like one then you can change it on the next mission to find one you like most though I found some more useful than others but that did also vary by level.

The main weapons they carry don't change, Madison fires little blue balls whilst Crystal carries a blaster that rapid fires some kind of orange arc beams that seem really powerful. You can get a few basic power ups that strengthen their attack, (In Maddison's case expand her cone of fire) and some speed ups, health ups and slow downs as well as one option turret that flies along firing with you. Overall the upgrades are limited and will mostly come down to your choice of special weapon. So load outs and power ups are pretty limited but where Trouble Shooter is interesting is that Crystal is more like an invincible option that follows you rather than a playable character. Only Madison actually takes damage and with a push of a button you can have Crystal flip 180 to start firing backwards to cover the rear if needed or have them both face forward for a full frontal barrage.

It's a really neat little idea to have it as a flexible use mechanic and what got me so interested in the series in the first place but it's just so bizarrely underused as a mechanic. Some enemies come from behind occasionally and a couple of bosses move around making it useful but it just doesn't feel like the game is designed around it enough and the limited weapons and lack of equipable load outs for each character compound that further. The level designs occasionally use it like in the second level with buzz saws coming from both directions as you travel down an underground base shaft which I liked and one boss in particular utilised it more than the others. Speaking of levels the game has 6 short stages even for a shoot 'em up and there seems to be little variety between playthroughs and it's on the easy side.

Though I enjoyed playing this quite a bit I was hoping to like this game more than I did overall. On the presentation front it has some decent music Stage 5 theme especially stood out as action packed and upbeat when I played. I like the visuals with chunky colourful sprites, paralax scrolling, level settings and anime character portraits during scenes. The mechanics and story writing though leave it as a good overall experience but it could have been an amazing one. So a good game but with missing potential as a final verdict.

I hear the sequel takes the idea and amps it up to 11 so I look forward to trying that.

+ Nice visuals and music.
+ I like the cover art of two sci-fi aerobics instructors, haters be damned.
+ Two characters with left or right shooting options is neat...

-...but severely underutilised.