I've played through this game more often than I can count, and I love coming back to it. It's a lot of fun challenging yourself to do runs with different setups, my favorite is probably Blue Mage only. The game offers a lot of customization and exploration of its mechanics thanks to the job system that allows players to mix and match abilities across different jobs to create potent combinations. To append this, the equipment in this game can do very unique things as well, from status effects, to absorption, to procs on weapons and upgrades to abilities and the like. The story is also very memorable, perhaps because of how bizarre the opening section is. The Playstation version has a very amusing translation that has many silly enemy names and Faris talking like a pirate for the entire game. I think my favorite way to play this game is likely the Super Famicom version with a translation patch. The recent remake doesn't really appease me as it was very buggy when I tried it, and the savestate system diminishes the enjoyment of the tension the game has when you traverse between save points.

Man versus the ghosts that haunt him, venturing into the darkest depths of the cavern, the mineshaft, in a perennial search for gold - the perfection of the mental, physical and spiritual. The burden placed upon him crushes his bones from the slightest elevation, his life hanging by (or quite literally on) a thread, ready to end with the slightest input mistake at any moment's notice. He may not even know that he can use flares to temporarily take out bats and end up trapped forever in an awkward poop cycle, desperately awaiting an opportunity before his declining oxygen levels spell out his demise. He may not know, but it doesn't matter, because he is giving it his best. And that's all you can do. The NES version of this game is a trial by fire, and I wouldn't want it any other way. Will you succeed, or will you perish?

Also the cart has a cute red LED on it that glows when the game is running!

Fantastic little package, big fan of the inclusion of Wardner! All 3 games are well worth playing and I have sunken many hours into Hishouzame at this point, as well as 1ccing Wardner.

Hishouzame is a very fun STG. I am very fond of how the game looks and feels, and while it can be challenging, the difficulty is very fair all throughout. Very important game historically, too, I believe it introduced things like bullet sealing? I find it to be quite addictive and I am still chipping away at the 1cc. I feel like this game would make for a pretty decent entry point to people who want to get into STGs as well, as it does sorta train you to route out what you are doing, rather than lying entirely on reflexes.

Same Same Same then, is to destroy your confidence once you have become reasonably proficient at Hishouzame. Starting at a ridiculous amount of difficulty, this game is tuned to destroy you, but that makes it all the more rewarding when you manage to get some stages out of the way. The powerup system can be quite punishing, the more undesireable powerups being pretty adamant about bouncing around the screen for ages to make your experience even more difficult. Probably the least played game in the collection for me, but it's still pretty cool. The 2 player version of the game eases down the difficulty a bit, and I believe player 2 also has some advantages in that version, but you miss out on all the gadgets, which is a little bit of a let down. It also doesn't have the side-to-side scrolling, which you may consider a blessing or a curse, as it can be used strategically in the original 1P version.

Wardner is the DLC game. It's a simple little arcade platformer with a nice child-friendly dark fantasy theming. I really like this game, it's fair and very straightforward, and has quite a few secrets to find as well. I think the backgrounds in this game are very pretty, my favorite spot is in stage 3 when a bunch of broken in half statues litter the back and foreground, and they line up at one point via the parallax scrolling to form a full statue. It's cute little details like that that make me really enjoy this one! This particular port does not sport gadgets, but it doesn't really need them anyway. As an extra, here's my first 1cc of the game.

Regarding the different console ports of the games, I have not really played any of them particularly extensively, but I am sure there are some pretty neat inclusions in there, too. Same Same Same's MegaDrive port seems pretty neat, and the FDS of Wardner could also be worth checking out. I mainly got this collection for the arcade versions, though, and as far as those are concerned, I would say this collection delivers.

It's a bit of a clunky, odd game, but behind that rather awkward initial impression lies a real gem in the rough. You wouldn't expect the platforming in this game to be a lot of fun just picking up the controller, but it actually is surprisingly fluid and ends up catapulting the game among my favorite N64 games. The setting is great, too, with unusually cinematic cutscenes (for an n64 title) driving home the atmosphere. The game does have some rougher spots, but if you do not let them deter you, you are in for a great experience with some pretty memorable encounters.

The blend of slice of life social sim and jrpg demon fusing was very fun to me, particularly due to the decent difficulty. Shadows can give you a really hard time if you are not playing smart and managing your party members with tactics is paramount to survival. The story was very captivating to me as well, the trance-like day after day rhythm interrupted with story developments that creep up on you is a lot of fun. Structurally, it's a super neat game for reasons I wish not to spoil. It's very LONG, though, so I can't really see myself replaying this probably ever.

This kart racer always eclipsed Mario Kart to me, I think the drifting and turbo mechanics just really ended up making me like this game more than any other racing game until then. Story mode is great, too. My only gripe is that you can't do story mode as Ripper Roo, but they fixed that in the remake. That being said, I still prefer this version over the remake, as it does not have that excessive store front and currency grinding stuff with skins diluting a lot of the character design and visual cohesion of the game.

My favorite track is Polar Pass!

Hi no Tori is a very enjoyable japanese-exclusive scrolling platformer with a main mechanic reminiscent of Solomon's Key, but I would say it's definitely more of an action game and won't require nearly as much thought. It's VERY loosely based on the Osamu Tezuka manga of the same name, but I think they pretty much just grabbed Gaou and a couple of settings from the manga and slapped it together, because there's very little of it in the game itself. It still manages to remind me of the manga regardless, at least.

Gaou can place blocks that can be used as platforms to traverse the level and as walls to deter enemies, and are essential to progressing in this game. Doing it in midair actually places the block underneath the player, which allows for some fun speedy platforming tricks. Aside from this, Gaou can throw chisels either infront of him or straight upward, both of which come in handy, but they can't be used to hit objects that are on the ground, providing some additional incentive to make use of the blocks off of ledges and the sort. I really enjoyed the block mechanics and it made it one of my favorite famicom games to plug in for a quick run. When you get used to it, it's very fun!

One aspect that's a bit hit or miss is the game's weird structure: due to being comprised of various level loops corresponding to different time periods, it can be tricky to find the hidden passages to swap from one level loop to the other. For this reason, I recommend keeping an eye out for destructible terrain, and making (mental) notes of where places lead you to. When you actually get a feel for what route you would like to take, it can be cleared in a relatively short time frame. I suppose the exploration aspect will increase the amount of time spent when you go in blind.

The music in this game is not bad overall, but one track that particularly sticks out to me is the lovely rendition of the Hi no Tori OVA's ending tune that makes the game well worth finishing. The OVA for this particular chapter is also very good!!!! Would probably recommend it even over just playing this, although I think this game is definitely worth checking out, as well.

As a small tip: there's a means to destroy blocks or secret walls underneath the player by holding down and tapping jump 3 times on the same block, which can easily be missed when not having access to the manual.

Incredible 1982 high score chaser game with fun jumping over obstacles while shooting mechanics. Simple and addictive. Levels are split in 3 parts, and every level speeds up the enemies and/or introduces new ones. Second section gives you cars and ambulances flying around like they're gmod ragdolls, honestly just a ton of fun. Never been as scared of ambulances in my entire life.

If I have one question, it's that I don't quite understand the difference between Original and High Score mode, considering both seem to have separate rankings but effectively seem the same. Does Original permit multiple coins or savestating and still let you end up on the leaderboard or something? I've mostly been playing in high score mode, but caravan seems neat as well.