[Revisitation of my Childhood, Part 2]

Okay, what..? This was honestly a crazy experience for me because my whole life, I was thinking that this game was definitely the better out of the two LEGO Indiana Jones games. But this is...much worse. Not saying it's actually bad, but there is a clear drop in quality from the first game. The best way I can describe it is "undercooked additions and confusing exclusions." Example: Hub world. Definitely the most notable new feature of this game from it's predecessor, the hub world is probably the biggest example of an undercooked addition. Everything besides playing levels, including unlocking characters, vehicles, bonus levels, and actually going to the story/treasure levels is done in the hub world. And uh...it's not fun. The minikit equivalents are basically dropped, and everything is unlocked through the hub world, which gets VERY annoying after a while, because of how much slow transportation you have to do during it. Another example of this game's motto of sorts is the shorter levels. All of the levels in the game are shorter than they are in the previous game, and while many would argue that doesn't mean a drop in quality of those levels, in this case, it most certainly does. Oh, also, after you beat the story of an episode, in the hub world there is now treasure levels(basically replaying the story levels with changes to the level design and sometimes appearance of the stage) and bonus levels(custom levels made in the level builder VERY LOOSELY based off of moments in the story not in the story levels, which just comes off as lazy of all things) to do as well, which means a total of NINETY levels to do, EXCLUDING the stupid million stud levels. Other examples of this are the level builder, and the vehicle levels. Oh god, the vehicle levels. Not only are they super annoying to actually play, but the True Adventurer stud counts are stretched SO FAR that you're better off just going for that after you've gotten stud multiplying red bricks. The only new additions that I actually enjoy are end-of-episode boss battles. Most of them ROCK, like Raiders, Temple of Doom, and Crystal Skull 2 and 3. Also the Green Brick extra "Snake Whip", all my homies love Snake Whip.
Also, THERE'S NO BOULDER TEMPLE LEVEL IN RAIDERS STORY. HOW DO YOU HAVE RAIDERS WITHOUT BOULDER TEMPLE

I'd be lying if I said I didn't love this game. Everything about this game is done incredibly: the story, the music, the fourth wall breaks (if you don't know what I'm talking about, play the game, you'll be in for a treat), and especially, the overall presentation, which was especially amazing to me. The only reasons I'm holding off from rating this a 5/5 is because of the gameplay (I personally didn't find it that bad, once you get used to it, and the bosses used it in such creative ways anyway) and the fact that apparently 2 and 3 are BETTER. THEY'RE BETTER? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE BETTER

Anyone who says this game isn't good is just plain wrong. Anyone who says this game is better than Super C...is also just plain wrong. While it's definitely inferior to it's NES sequel, this is still a classic game, and a blast in multiplayer.

First of all, let's get the most insignificant part out of the way. The story. Contra has zero story. That is, if you don't have the manual. (Edit: Apparently, the Japanese version has things such as cutscenes, a map in between levels, numerous graphic changes, etc. You can see them all here)). Even then, it's a few paragraphs, that's it. But genuinely, who in their right mind would play Contra, fuckin' CONTRA for the story? It's a game about buff men with guns who kill a bunch of aliens. Need I say more?

Next is the music. Contra easily has an inferior soundtrack to it's sequel, in my opinion. But I can see why many people would disagree. Contra is a much more popular game, and much more people have nostalgic thoughts of it. Inferior, though, does NOT mean bad. Far from it. This still has one of the coolest soundtracks on the system. The title theme is hype, Jungle is iconic and awesome, Base is headbanging, Waterfall is slapping, Snow Field is just plain cool, Energy Zone is energetic and exciting, Alien's Lair is foreboding and atmospheric, yet gritty, and the Credits theme is truly rewarding after a game like that.

Onto the difficulty. It's no surprise to anyone that Contra is a hard game. When people say "Nintendo Hard", this is what they mean. And yet, unlike many NES games, Contra is at a very good difficulty level. Despite so many deaths, so much trial-and-error, it doesn't feel unfair. There are exceptions, as always. But it really does have a well designed difficulty level, which thankfully carried over to Super C.

And finally, the big one. GAMEPLAY. This is what you play Contra for. For the normal levels, the controls are tight. Jumps are sometimes stretched fairly far, but it's no Castlevania: The Adventure. But what good are good controls if the stages aren't designed around those good controls?(cough cough scv4 i meant uh anyways) But fear not, this is no problem. The controls are designed around the stages and vice versa. On the topic of stages, they are very well designed. Let's take the first stage as an example. In the first stage, better guns like Spread Shot(our lord and saviour) and Machine Gun are on top paths, after the bridges. If you play better, you will get the better guns. If you fall off the bridges, you will get guns like Fireball(coming from Super C as I played that first, it's such a "look how they massacred my boy" despite the fact that this iteration came first) and Laser. It's not just the first stage that has this type of game design, it's recurring, most of the game is designed in this way. Now, for the hallway stages, these are much different. There are only two in the game, and these are stage 2 and 4. Honestly, I question the decision to put them both close to the start, but I digress. These stages...are weird. They take a lot of getting used to, mostly because of the odd angle. But I assume these types of stages worked much better in the arcades; I can see how it would be difficult to move something over to a much weaker console. These are the games' "gimmick stages", the counterpart to Super C's top down stages. And...if I'm being brutally honest, which of course I am: these stages are kind of lame. The top down stages are streets ahead of the hallway stages. It's certainly one thing I think they could have improved if it was kept in the sequel, but I'm glad it was swapped in favor of the top down stages.

Phew. That was a long one. All I'm trying to say is this:
Contra is a great game. Unfortunately, because of my history with playing its sequel first, I can only see it as an inferior game to Super C. But it's still an awesome game with great stages, slappin' music, and amazing gameplay.

This game ROCKS. I beat it in multiplayer and it was by far the greatest co-op experience I've had. The gameplay is simple yet slick and controls great for an NES game. The graphics are probably the best I've seen for the system. And the music, oh, the music. All bangers, every single one. (Don't even get me started on the song names. They're badass. "Massacre Mountain", "Xenophobic Organs", "Hotter than Hell", etc.) I have yet to find a NES soundtrack better than the wonderful tracks this game boasts. The story is quite barebones, "shoot alien, kill bad guy, save the world", but, come on, no one played this game for the story. It's Contra. All in all, this is a great game for the NES library. I can see why it's not the best NES game to some people, but I had an absolute blast playing it, so much so that I'd regard it as the best game on the system, most likely even in my top 10 favourite games ever as well. Nothing will ever compare to the accomplishment I felt seeing that beautiful sunset behind the mountains as the helicopter flies off into the distance.
I am excited for what the Contra series will bring next!

Keep in mind, in this playthrough, I used the 10-lives-2-continues code. So, uh, don't attack me about not being purist about it. I'm not THAT good.

The first time I played through this game, I proclaimed I had beaten it, and rated it 1 star out of 5. That was around half a month before the time of writing this review. However, on that run, I used save states and rewind multiple times. Many people would count that as "cheating", or at the very least, an illigetimate run. I have thought about it, and I do agree with that statement. I played through Castlevania: The Adventure a second time, completely devoid of elements such as save states, fast forward, rewind, etc. As I played, I thought about what this game meant to me. It changed me. So, if you will listen, I would like to share my thoughts on this game.

Castlevania: The Adventure is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after dea--wait, that's the definition for hell. Hold on.

ahem.
The 80s were a different time. Video games were booming, and in some cases, people would buy anything. In one special case, developers put a unique new way of torture on store shelves disguised as a video game, and people bought it. This is how, in my opinion, Castlevania: The Adventure was made.

One of the first noticeable parts of the game is that the protagonist, Christopher Belmont, moves incredibly slow. You would think this is the game where he's in his forties, but no, that's the sequel, taking place 15 years later! I'm guessing this was to help the game run better, but it barely helps, because even after that the game runs like garbage. Framerate is inconsistent, and the pair of that with Christopher's walking speed make for an unbearably slow time.

Sadly, this also carries over to the jumping. If you've played the original Castlevania, you would know that the physics in that game are rigid, but feel polished and mostly responsive when you get the hang of it. In The Adventure, this is thrown out the window. Christopher's jumps are pathetic. Many times when you try to make a jump, you have to be on the last few pixels you can stand on before jumping or you'll miss the jump. This strategy is completely flipped on its head with falling platforms, where you usually would want to jump around the middle of the platform.

Another very interesting design choice in this game was the fact that you lose a whip upgrade every time you're hit. I don't understand the point of this feature. It adds artificial difficulty and length to the game while they could have done this by just adding more content. Speaking of length, the game is short, but it doesn't feel like it. It's four stages, all of them fairly long, but it probably only feels that way because of the speed.

The difficulty curve is weird as well, I'd say. The first level is very easy, but I won't criticize because it lets the player get used to the awful physics. The second level has some hard bits, but it's around the same difficulty as the first level. The third level is difficult, featuring a uncomfortably long slog of an autoscroller where mistakes are punished with a loss of precious minutes of your life. The fourth level is an absolute gauntlet. The platforming feels the most unfair here; this stage took me hours to beat. And the boss difficulty curve is worse. The first boss is only remotely difficult if you don't have the chain whip, and it's still not that bad. The second boss isn't that difficult either. The third boss is easier than the second boss. And Dracula, the final boss is very difficult.

While I am absolutely dogging on this game, it has good parts. Not everything is bad. Here, I'll list everything good about this game.
-the music
-it has Christopher Belmont

In conclusion, this game is awful. I would be completely satisfied with my life if I never have to go near it or hear of its existence ever again. So, yeah, this game is a dumpster fire, it sucks, and it can go die by not jumping at the very edge of a platform and missing the jump completely.

[Revisitation of my Childhood, Part 0.5]

This game and it's followup were not the first LEGO games I played, but they...were also not the ones I remember the most. While it is a game from my childhood, I have some semblance of nostalgia for it, indeed. But that does NOT mean I like the game. It has very little merits, and even someone with the most nostalgia for this game can agree with that. I believe my file said 100%, as as far as I know all you need for that to be accomplished is to complete all levels. So I could technically say I mastered this game...but I don't think anyone wants to master this game.

This game is pretty cool, actually. It seems unfair to compare it to the thing that people call "Castlevania: The Adventure", but it at least puts up a fight compared to the NES releases.

It suffers from lots of limitations from the Game Boy. It's short, without colour, etc. But in some cases, I feel like the Game Boy's limitations helped this game. Some of the ways things are laid out are incredibly creatively. The game has emphasis on ropes, like it's predecessor, but it uses them in much cooler ways. For example, there's a section where you're hopping between ropes and whipping skeletons(yes, you can whip on ropes. one of the many things this game improves on compared to the adventure.), a section where spiders descend, making webs you can jump from, and a section where conveyer belts bring one rope down and the other up, switching frequently. Like, THAT'S INGENIOUS! Well, at least compared to gimmicks in the Castlevania games at the time excluding SCV4.

However, the sequel isn't completely free from some of the flaws from The Adventure. Christopher is still pretty slow, isn't too long of a game, etc. But some of these flaws have redeeming factors. The game may not be long, but it makes up for its lack of quantity with quality. Levels here are well designed and look great for a '91 release. Not many subweapons? Well, they're THERE, at least! Only the Holy Water and Axe, Holy Water and Cross if you live in Japan, which doesn't boast a large roster of weapons, but they're implemented well. There's a section where under the bridge you're traveling on, enemies shoot projectiles, and eyeballs drop. These eyeballs usually explode when hit and break the bridge, letting in the projectiles, but when you throw holy water, they don't. In another section, the room routinely goes dark, but the fire of holy water lets you see for a bit of time. However, the slowness issue...I can't really combat that one.

Another thing I have to talk about is the music. If Castlevania: The Adventure's OST slaps, this one is an actual beatdown. Original Sin not only has a badass name(like many others in the soundtrack) but is probably one of the, if not THE best song on the Game Boy. The soundtrack pushes the limits of the sound system, and at some points sound on par with the SEGA Genesis. Honorable mentions for the best song in the OST include New Messiah and Ripe Seeds.

But the lowest point of the game BY FAR...is the final boss. Yep, the final encounter with Dracula is the worst part of the game. The strategy of the boss is to memorize where he goes and whether to duck or jump for the attack. Notice I said "the attack" and not "the attacks". That's right, Dracula has one attack that he uses very often. No second phase either. It's a very difficult fight, but for all the wrong reasons.

Overall, though, Belmont's Revenge is not a bad game. This is a true Castlevania game on the go. And it accomplishes that very well, shining moreso than the home console releases in some aspects, and much worse in others. In my opinion, usually, a great sequel does two main things: continue the story in a way that makes sense, and fix flaws of its predecessor. No complaints about the story continuation, except for the implication that Christopher IMMEDIATELY got laid after the story of the first game, lmao. Not a complaint, just found it funny. And Belmont's Revenge fixes the biggest flaw that The Adventure had...it wasn't a good game. And Belmont's Revenge is, excluding the final boss! 3/5 at very least, high 3.5/5 on a good day.

P.S. Konami, finish the trilogy! We need a Soleil game!

[Revisitation of my Childhood, Part 1]

Yes. You saw that rating correctly.
This game is ALSO not my first LEGO game. But it is one of the ones I remember the most from. Not from playing it with siblings or anything, I just mean I remember the levels. From my memory of the levels, it seems I beat Raiders, got most of the way through Doom, and got about halfway through Crusade. Despite my last playthrough of this game easily being at least 6 or 7 years ago, one of the levels I most remember was this horrid Last Crusade motorcycle level. And replaying it, I realized...actually, it was still pretty bad. But it wasn't as bad as I remember. Definitely the worst level in the game, as with most of Crusade. It's quite funny to me that, when I'm older and have actually watched the movies, Last Crusade, in my opinion, is by far the best one. But in the game, it has probably the worst set of levels, while still being great. It's mostly just the shudders motorcycle level that brings it down. Raiders and Doom both have really good levels too. The bonus levels are okay, with Young Indy being awesome, and the other two being really boring. But they are the classic LEGO 1,000,000 stud levels, so, it's fine I guess. Anyway, this was a blast to 100%, and a great time.