Another game with seemingly no reviews...how about that?
So for those who are unaware, this is the original version of what would become Decap Attack in the USA- a game which I am a very big fan of. I'll be writing this with the assumption that you're familiar with that game- it's a cult classic in the Genesis library and enough content creators have covered it.
Magical Hat retains most of the level layouts from Decap, although there are a few slight variations here and there. The primary difference in gameplay is that there is no longer a health system. This game retains the same rules as Vic Tokai's other inertia based platformer, Psycho Fox. One hit and you're dead- unless you happen to have this weird little egg guy on your back that can also be tossed.
At first glance, that might make this one seem like "Decap Attack- Hard Mode" and in a lot of ways that is true. However, it is very easy to rack up 1ups in this game due to the totally-not-phallic springs you can bounce on giving you a 1-up each time you land on them. In Decap Attack, these same springs would just give you health. In addition, power-ups are more abundant and you're able to play a lottery game after each stage instead of at the end of each world.
There are also some exclusive powerups as well. You can transform into a submarine, a helicopter or (best of all) a gorilla mech that annihilates the bosses. Unless you happened to have a lot of the fireball shooting potions in Decap Attack, you had to fight the bosses proper. Not so much here.
I felt this version really fell short in the sound department. Decap Attack has a pretty good OST that truly has that "Genesis" sound going on. Everything here felt super generic and forgettable in comparison.
While not a bad time, I'd consider this the weaker of the two games in an ironic twist of fate (Japan usually has the better stuff it would seem). The one-hit deaths made for some trial and error even having experience with Decap Attack and the bland music was a knock against it as well. Still, it was worth playing through just to shoot the heck out of the last boss as the gorilla. (He even looks just as he did in Decap Attack!)
A note about playing this game on an Everdrive- the character sprites seem to cut off at certain points on the Mega Retron HD, even with the system switched to Japanese mode via the switch on the bottom.
So for those who are unaware, this is the original version of what would become Decap Attack in the USA- a game which I am a very big fan of. I'll be writing this with the assumption that you're familiar with that game- it's a cult classic in the Genesis library and enough content creators have covered it.
Magical Hat retains most of the level layouts from Decap, although there are a few slight variations here and there. The primary difference in gameplay is that there is no longer a health system. This game retains the same rules as Vic Tokai's other inertia based platformer, Psycho Fox. One hit and you're dead- unless you happen to have this weird little egg guy on your back that can also be tossed.
At first glance, that might make this one seem like "Decap Attack- Hard Mode" and in a lot of ways that is true. However, it is very easy to rack up 1ups in this game due to the totally-not-phallic springs you can bounce on giving you a 1-up each time you land on them. In Decap Attack, these same springs would just give you health. In addition, power-ups are more abundant and you're able to play a lottery game after each stage instead of at the end of each world.
There are also some exclusive powerups as well. You can transform into a submarine, a helicopter or (best of all) a gorilla mech that annihilates the bosses. Unless you happened to have a lot of the fireball shooting potions in Decap Attack, you had to fight the bosses proper. Not so much here.
I felt this version really fell short in the sound department. Decap Attack has a pretty good OST that truly has that "Genesis" sound going on. Everything here felt super generic and forgettable in comparison.
While not a bad time, I'd consider this the weaker of the two games in an ironic twist of fate (Japan usually has the better stuff it would seem). The one-hit deaths made for some trial and error even having experience with Decap Attack and the bland music was a knock against it as well. Still, it was worth playing through just to shoot the heck out of the last boss as the gorilla. (He even looks just as he did in Decap Attack!)
A note about playing this game on an Everdrive- the character sprites seem to cut off at certain points on the Mega Retron HD, even with the system switched to Japanese mode via the switch on the bottom.