d6_thegreat
By the traditional meaning of the term, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light is a bad game. From a modernized perspective, this game has pitifully slow gameplay, clunky battle mechanics, actually garbage item management, and a plethora of laughably confusing design decisions.
...And all of that would be right.
But it definitely has redeemable factors. First of all, the balance is great. The characters you get closer to the start are almost always the best ones of their class. For cavaliers, the best are Cain and Abel, then Hardin, and then Matthis, Roshea, and Vyland. So better players get to use the better units, those being Cain and Abel, if they don't get them killed. Worse players will be forced to use units like Roshea and Vyland the worse they play. It's kinda great, and it's less talked about than other aspects of the game, specifically the bad ones you see at surface level. The same is true with mercenaries. Ogma and Navarre are the best, then Radd, then Caesar. And the gameplay, when you get down to it....it's Fire Emblem. Plain ass, simple ass Fire Emblem, stripped down to it's core, and despite a fair amount of jank, it's fun.
Am I saying that people should play Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light as their first game in the series? Hell no. Quite frankly, you are insane for thinking that. But should a fan of the series try it out? Definitely. And if this doesn't convince you, then this should.
Oh, and if the person reading this ever plans to play this game, do me a favor...do an Ironman run. Trust me, it makes the game way better.
...And all of that would be right.
But it definitely has redeemable factors. First of all, the balance is great. The characters you get closer to the start are almost always the best ones of their class. For cavaliers, the best are Cain and Abel, then Hardin, and then Matthis, Roshea, and Vyland. So better players get to use the better units, those being Cain and Abel, if they don't get them killed. Worse players will be forced to use units like Roshea and Vyland the worse they play. It's kinda great, and it's less talked about than other aspects of the game, specifically the bad ones you see at surface level. The same is true with mercenaries. Ogma and Navarre are the best, then Radd, then Caesar. And the gameplay, when you get down to it....it's Fire Emblem. Plain ass, simple ass Fire Emblem, stripped down to it's core, and despite a fair amount of jank, it's fun.
Am I saying that people should play Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light as their first game in the series? Hell no. Quite frankly, you are insane for thinking that. But should a fan of the series try it out? Definitely. And if this doesn't convince you, then this should.
Oh, and if the person reading this ever plans to play this game, do me a favor...do an Ironman run. Trust me, it makes the game way better.
2021
Fun in multiplayer. But it's also Super Mario 3D World. I don't really know what to say. Oh also the credits theme is wonderful.
2001
You may think I'm joking about this rating but this is seriously a great game. Cute visuals, excellent gameplay for a rhythm game, a wacky plot, a fucking slapping soundtrack, and a ton of undeniable charm make for one of the best rhythm games and an unforgettable experience.
1990
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.
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.
I will infinitely leg sweep Zangief and I will feel zero remorse.
1991
Overrated. Music pretty good, Treasury theme is goated. Looks good for an early SNES game. Control works well, but the levels have no idea how to counter it, so every part is either annoying/cheap or easy. Maybe it's because I didn't grow up with it or something, but I found the game unremarkable. I guess it's kind of on me for expecting so much, hearing all the praise of the game by others. I don't know. Bonus points for the fact that you can moonwalk.
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!
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!
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, wrong thing. Hold on.
ahem.
The 80s were a different time. Video games were booming, and 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 would flock to 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. This one is probably my favourite, but that's a low bar. 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.
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, wrong thing. Hold on.
ahem.
The 80s were a different time. Video games were booming, and 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 would flock to 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. This one is probably my favourite, but that's a low bar. 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.
1992
Like my Sonic the Hedgehog review, I'm going to be splitting the game up and rating it by zone, and then averaging at the end with some added rating changes based on miscellaneous things.
Emerald Hill Zone: A blast to just speed through. It feels like a sequel to Green Hill Zone which I feel is exactly what it's trying to do. Looks great, too. 4.5/5.
Chemical Plant Zone: One of the greatest, if not THE greatest Sonic stage ever made. The stage switches between speed and more precise, difficult platforming surprisingly seamlessly. I have to say, it does have flaws...but the music completely makes up for it. Maybe I'm blinded by nostalgia, but I can't give this anything less than a 5/5.
Aquatic Ruin Zone: It isn't bad per say, but it has obvious flaws. The pacing is a little bit strange seeing as it starts out with loop-de-loops and then goes into a long underwater portion(which a flaw by itself). In addition, the leaf overlays in the foreground don't seem to look right and just get in the way. The boss is pretty fun, though. 3/5.
Casino Night Zone: What? The level design isn't that good? Sorry, I can't hear you over this masterpiece of a score that is the Casino Night Zone theme. 3/5 or 3.5/5 depending on the day.
Hill Top Zone: I enjoyed this zone a lot more than I thought I would. The stage looks generic but it feels weirdly fresh. It has hints of Green Hill Zone and Marble Zone in the design, but it tops both easily. Also, the music sounds like the connotation of the word "sass." 4.5/5.
Mystic Cave Zone: Next to other zones in this game, this one in particular does not stand out. But it's still a fun stage, and it looks great. Theming within the level is wacky and the boss is kind of underwhelming, but the music is great. 4/5.
Oil Ocean Zone: This is a big step down from the earlier stages, but it's not awful. The colours work for what they're trying to accomplish, but don't look great in gameplay. A lot of times, the path is unclear, and the foreground visuals block your view. The boss is pretty cool though. 1.5/5
Metropolis Zone: Slappin' music, but that's about all it has going for it. This zone has stages that seem to go on and on and on. They don't feel like different parts of one location, they just feel like you're going in circles. Plus, it's three acts! I get why they went ahead and included a scrapped part of another zone in this, but it just feels exhausting to go through three acts of it. Also, the boss is oddly very difficult. 1/5.
Final Zones (Sky Chase, Wing Fortress, and Death Egg): The main focus of Act 1 is the fact that you're on Tails' plane. Unfortunately, it feels very clunky. And some of the enemy choices are very strange. In short, act 2 is unfun, and unnecessarily long. Many jumps made are in vain as the graphics warp your sense of what you can stand on and what you can't. Act 3 is just a mini boss rush, starting out with a pre-Metal-Sonic Metal Sonic. After that is the Death Egg robot, which is slightly underwhelming. I'm thinking 2/5.
All in all, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a great game. It is in no way perfect, especially in the second half, but it trumps the first in the series in just about every way. THIS is a sequel done right, THIS is a Sonic game done right.
Oh, also, the special stages are good, so I'm rounding up for the rating.
Emerald Hill Zone: A blast to just speed through. It feels like a sequel to Green Hill Zone which I feel is exactly what it's trying to do. Looks great, too. 4.5/5.
Chemical Plant Zone: One of the greatest, if not THE greatest Sonic stage ever made. The stage switches between speed and more precise, difficult platforming surprisingly seamlessly. I have to say, it does have flaws...but the music completely makes up for it. Maybe I'm blinded by nostalgia, but I can't give this anything less than a 5/5.
Aquatic Ruin Zone: It isn't bad per say, but it has obvious flaws. The pacing is a little bit strange seeing as it starts out with loop-de-loops and then goes into a long underwater portion(which a flaw by itself). In addition, the leaf overlays in the foreground don't seem to look right and just get in the way. The boss is pretty fun, though. 3/5.
Casino Night Zone: What? The level design isn't that good? Sorry, I can't hear you over this masterpiece of a score that is the Casino Night Zone theme. 3/5 or 3.5/5 depending on the day.
Hill Top Zone: I enjoyed this zone a lot more than I thought I would. The stage looks generic but it feels weirdly fresh. It has hints of Green Hill Zone and Marble Zone in the design, but it tops both easily. Also, the music sounds like the connotation of the word "sass." 4.5/5.
Mystic Cave Zone: Next to other zones in this game, this one in particular does not stand out. But it's still a fun stage, and it looks great. Theming within the level is wacky and the boss is kind of underwhelming, but the music is great. 4/5.
Oil Ocean Zone: This is a big step down from the earlier stages, but it's not awful. The colours work for what they're trying to accomplish, but don't look great in gameplay. A lot of times, the path is unclear, and the foreground visuals block your view. The boss is pretty cool though. 1.5/5
Metropolis Zone: Slappin' music, but that's about all it has going for it. This zone has stages that seem to go on and on and on. They don't feel like different parts of one location, they just feel like you're going in circles. Plus, it's three acts! I get why they went ahead and included a scrapped part of another zone in this, but it just feels exhausting to go through three acts of it. Also, the boss is oddly very difficult. 1/5.
Final Zones (Sky Chase, Wing Fortress, and Death Egg): The main focus of Act 1 is the fact that you're on Tails' plane. Unfortunately, it feels very clunky. And some of the enemy choices are very strange. In short, act 2 is unfun, and unnecessarily long. Many jumps made are in vain as the graphics warp your sense of what you can stand on and what you can't. Act 3 is just a mini boss rush, starting out with a pre-Metal-Sonic Metal Sonic. After that is the Death Egg robot, which is slightly underwhelming. I'm thinking 2/5.
All in all, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a great game. It is in no way perfect, especially in the second half, but it trumps the first in the series in just about every way. THIS is a sequel done right, THIS is a Sonic game done right.
Oh, also, the special stages are good, so I'm rounding up for the rating.
1991
So I'm just gonna rate every stage individually rather than all at once and then average them out.
Green Hill Zone: Pretty great. Slightly overrated, but I cannot deny it's a good stage. 4/5.
Marble Zone: Marble Zone can suck my dick. The music isn't that good either. 1/5.
Spring Yard Zone: It's better than Marble Zone, but not by much. At least Marble Zone is fairly linear, I have no idea where I'm going in Spring Yard Zone. Worse, some parts of earlier levels in the zone are reused, making it more confusing. 1.5/5.
Labyrinth Zone: Absolute slog. It only barely makes it to one star because it looks pretty cool and the music slaps. 1/5.
Star Light Zone: I really enjoyed this one. The level gimmicks are pretty neat, and the boss of this stage is a blast. While it does lack personality in the visuals, I'd say it makes up for it with that music. 4.5/5.
Scrap Brain Zone/Final Zone: This zone is like running a marathon but with one leg, on drugs, on fire, with multiple people shooting at you. And then the final act is like doing all of that again in slow motion. Of all stages to reskin for the final act, why LABYRINTH ZONE? Plus the final boss is kinda lame. 0.5/5.
So, out of all those, the average rating is around 2.3/5. But I'm rounding down because of the garbage special stages.
Green Hill Zone: Pretty great. Slightly overrated, but I cannot deny it's a good stage. 4/5.
Marble Zone: Marble Zone can suck my dick. The music isn't that good either. 1/5.
Spring Yard Zone: It's better than Marble Zone, but not by much. At least Marble Zone is fairly linear, I have no idea where I'm going in Spring Yard Zone. Worse, some parts of earlier levels in the zone are reused, making it more confusing. 1.5/5.
Labyrinth Zone: Absolute slog. It only barely makes it to one star because it looks pretty cool and the music slaps. 1/5.
Star Light Zone: I really enjoyed this one. The level gimmicks are pretty neat, and the boss of this stage is a blast. While it does lack personality in the visuals, I'd say it makes up for it with that music. 4.5/5.
Scrap Brain Zone/Final Zone: This zone is like running a marathon but with one leg, on drugs, on fire, with multiple people shooting at you. And then the final act is like doing all of that again in slow motion. Of all stages to reskin for the final act, why LABYRINTH ZONE? Plus the final boss is kinda lame. 0.5/5.
So, out of all those, the average rating is around 2.3/5. But I'm rounding down because of the garbage special stages.
1989
Timeless.
TBD
kinda fire actually
Not a bad game, but also not a great one. It has its charm, but there are much better Mario Kart games.
1992
It's...well, uhh...it is indeed Mario Kart. I just wouldn't really call it Super.
1994
This game is incredible. This game is art. It is literally peak. Characters? Superbly-written. Sprite art? Beautiful for an SNES game, ignoring the goofy portraits. Music? Don't even get me STARTED. Gameplay? Ehhhh. Espers are cool, and it has the traditional feel of a Final Fantasy game, at least compared to the ones I've played, but it doesn't add that much to the experience. The gameplay is enough to warrant a loss of 1 star...But luckily, this game is a 7/5, so it doesn't take that hard of a hit.
also, thanks to HeroOfTim for recommending this you actual legend
also, thanks to HeroOfTim for recommending this you actual legend